Diving

This page is for those of you who are interested in improving your diving skills or just want to advance to the next level of diving education.

These are some of the classes that you can take here in the warm, transparent, turquoise waters of Cozumel. Some of you may already be Advanced Certified and some of you have only done resort course diving and are curious about certification. I hope the following peeks your interest in continuing education. If you would like more details, or would like to make a reservation, please email me: alison@scubawithalison.com or send me a note from my "contact me" page.

The Resort Course:

Includes about one hour of instruction, skills practice in water shallow enough to stand up in; along with a relaxed, easy dive. It is a great introduction to scuba diving and allows you "check out scuba diving" to see if you are interested in being certified. It also allows you to do limited diving on vacation under the direct supervision of an instructor. (Hopefully me...) without wasting precious vacation time studying or taking exams.

Open Water Referral:

Includes four Open Water scuba dives. The idea is not to spend vacation time reading or learning dive tables. You can start at a local dive shop near your home before your next vacation. You can get the book or CD Rom and begin studying on your own. Then go over knowledge reviews with your instructor and practice using scuba and learning skills in the pool with him/her. When you complete the knowledge development and swimming pool dives, you receive a signed referral from the instructor at home. Bring this with you to Cozumel and I will finish the four certification dives here in the clear waters of Cozumel. It takes two days to complete the dives. I can certify through PADI, NAUI and the Universal Referral Program.

Full Open Water Certification:

Includes reading the PADI Open Water Diver Manual, five quizzes, a few hours of instruction, and five pool dives, a test of 200 yards, and treading water for 10 minutes. Following completion, we will do four Open Water Scuba Dives. Allow at least four full days.

It does not necessarily take four full days, but it might, so it is better to allow for it. Doing the full course here in Cozumel is a great option when your job or personal life keeps you too busy to take the course at home. The course will result in full Open Water Certification with PADI and you will receive your "Diver's License" in the mail.

Advanced Open Water Certification:

Includes reading the Advanced Open Water Diver Manual, knowledge review and five open water dives. There are two core dives with the PADI course. You must complete one deep dive and one navigational dive. There are many different types of dives to choose from for the other three dives.

They are:

Peak Performance Buoyancy Control
Reef Fish Identification
Underwater Naturalist
Night Diving
Drift Diving
Boat Diving Manners and Procedures
Multilevel Diving
Underwater Photography

You get to choose dives that are interesting to you, personally. For example, a newly certified diver may decide to take the advanced class immediately following Open Water Certification in order to gain more experience and confidence while diving under the direct supervision of an instructor. This diver might choose Peak Performance Buoyancy Control, Drift Diving and Night Diving. He/she probably still feels a little out of control in the water and can fine tune his/her buoyancy and learn to manage their position in the current.

If you are an experienced diver and feel very relaxed and confident in the water, you might choose Fish Identification, Underwater Naturalist and Underwater Photography. This is a way to get an introduction to your areas of interest and have an idea as to what you are looking at underwater. If you just bought a new computer and do not know how to use it, Multilevel Diving might be your choice. I guess you get the idea.

Maybe you want to take specialty class and learn a lot about your area of interest or curiosity.

The specialties that I teach are:

Peak Performance Buoyancy Control: includes watching a video, instruction and two practice dives to put to use what you learn in class. You learn proper weighting, how to maneuver yourself in the water, streamlining and good diving techniques. You gain confidence and look cool!

Fish Identification: includes several hours of instructions and two scuba dives to identify fish groups, body shapes, and behaviors and, of course, their names! I strongly recommend the purchase of Paul Humann's Caribbean Reef Fish book before you come. It is available at many dive shops and through Amazon Books. Slates to write on will prove invaluable also.

Underwater Naturalist: includes several hours of instruction and two scuba dives to identify vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, symbiosis and effects of man. I strongly recommend the purchase of Paul Humann's Caribbean Reef Creatures and Coral Identification books before you come. Why not splurge and get all three? This is my favorite class to teach. There is nothing I enjoy more than Mother Nature underwater.

Drift Diving: includes several hours of instructions and two practice dives. Several times per year the currents here in Cozumel get to be EXTREMELY strong. Keep this course in mind in case you have the good fortune of arriving during this time period. They can not be predicted. They do not occur during certain weeks or months out of the year. It just happens. There are, of course, natural influences, which we learn about in the course. We learn how to control our speed, position of our body, and direction of travel when diving in strong currents. This course is a must for divers when they sometimes feel "out of control, and swept away".

Deep Diving: includes several hours of instructions and four deep dives. Sometimes there are interesting sites down deep like shipwrecks or coral formations like the devil's throat at Punta Sur. Maracaibo is a deep wall and sometimes we spot pelagic there. It is good to get some training in deep diving techniques before we hop on the boat and explore. If you have a new computer but you have not quite figured out how to use it, what good does it do? Learn to dive deep safely.

Night Diving: includes several hours of instructions and three night dives. When I did my first night dive, I was convinced that something was "gonna get me" so I kept turning around to look behind me. Now I know that there is nothing out there at night that is not there during the day. I now love night diving because the coral comes out to feed and I can see animals not visible during the day. The flashlight makes the colors appear brighter and night diving feels more peaceful.

If that's not enough for you, you can take Medic First Aid and Rescue.

With the completion of five specialties and Rescue Diver course, you can qualify as a Master Scuba Diver.

Please feel free to email me with any questions: alison@scubawithalison.com or send me a note from my "contact me" page.

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