How To Get The Most From Your

ay?can use this to their advantage. I generally advise
As part of my business, I get a lot of people lookingpeople that their best option is to complete the
to book up a diving holiday so they can learn to divetheory and confined water dives at a local dive
in the sunshine. For the novice, Egypt is an excellentcentre. This means that once they arrive at their
place to learn to dive. The weather is always great,holiday destination, all that remains is to complete
the water is always warm, the visibility is alwaystheir open water dives and they are certified. In turn,
good and the sea is generally quite calm. As part ofthis means they have an extra 3 days of their
my business, I get a lot of people looking to book upholiday left to enjoy their new found status as
a diving holiday so they can learn to dive in thecertified scuba divers which would otherwise be
sunshine (usually Egypt). I’ve personally beenspent studying or in the swimming pool.
diving in Egypt for years and consider it to be one ofThe way to do this is quite simple. The most popular
the best places in the world and as a PADIentry level diving certification is the PADI Open
Divemaster, it’s a subject I’m alwaysWater Course so what you need to complete prior
happy to talk about.to travel is the Open Water Referral. This covers the
For the novice, Egypt is an excellent place to learn to3 days of theory and confined water elements of
dive. The weather is always great, the water isthe Open Water course. Once completed, all that
always warm, the visibility is always good and theremains is to complete the final 4 open water dives
sea is generally quite calm. However, the problem iswhich is usually done over 2 days whilst you are in
that when you go off to nice warm destinations suchyour holiday resort.
as Egypt, your time there is limited. If you areThe way to do this is quite simple.
learning to dive, you want as much time as possible in   1. Find your local dive centre which will be listed in
the water not spending time with your head stuck inthe Yellow Pages and give them a call to tell them
a book.your situation. Explain that you want them to take
So how do you get round this problem?  Thethe Open Water Referral (theory and confined water
answer is actually quite simple. When learning to dive,dives). This shouldn’t be a problem for any
the initial course is essentially split into 3 parts; theory,dive centre and they will discuss when you can
confined water dives and open water dives. Thecomplete this.
theory part of the course involves reading a manual   2. Contact the dive centre in your holiday resort
and understanding some basic concepts of the sport.to book the final part of your Open Water course
The confined water dives are performed in awhich may also be called Open Water Referral. They
swimming pool where you learn a number of skillswill advise you what you need to bring along and the
such as clearing your mask underwater (don’tfinal 4 dives normally have to be completed no later
worry, it’s not as bad as it sounds). Thesethan 12 months after the theory and confined water
skills are completed over the course of a couple ofmodules.
dives and once they are to a sufficient standard,   3. Complete the theory and confined water dives
they are repeated in the open water (ie —before heading off to your holiday resort.
the ocean).   4. At your resort, spend just 2 days instead of 5
Many people don’t realise that youcompleting the final 4 open water dives and
don’t need to complete the whole course in acongratulations, you are now a certified scuba diver
consecutive days and those wanting to learn to divewith most of your holiday ahead of you.