How to pick a dive center for learning to dive

Critical Factors in Picking a Dive Center for your Open Water Course

Let’s start by making a list of attributes that do matter when it comes to training, and which are somewhat easier to quantify:

• • Duration of the course (# of days) – you get better at diving by spending time in the water. The more time you spend, the better you get. And in my experience, it is also more useful to spread that water time over multiple days. So 3 days of 4-5 hours each is better than 2 days of 8 hours a day – both in terms of reducing learning fatigue and also in terms of imprinting the skills in your muscle memory. Unless you have already tried diving a few times and are very comfortable in the water, I’d say 3 days of in-water time is the bare minimum needed to achieve competence, and 4 days is even better – and for some people, maybe even longer.   

• • Length (time) of the Open Water dives – the Open Water course consists of 4 dives. During each of the dives, you practice some of the skills you have learned during the confined water training, and the rest of the time is free to just dive – and that time is critical in reinforcing your dive skills and building comfort.  But some dive centers will do a 20′ dive – 10-15′ of skills, 5′ of swimming and done.  Other dive centers will do 55-60′ dives (the legendary Vikas Nairi, one of the best instructors I have ever come across, would take his students for 70’+ dives). Which do you think improves your skills more?   

• • Ability to accommodate specific needs/requests – if you have any special needs or requests, don’t be afraid to ask. A nervous diver may want more personalized attention. Someone who has tried diving earlier but failed over some specific skill may require additional time to get over this hurdle. And so on. If there is anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask – you may not always get the exact solution you are looking for, but a good dive center will always try to provide some solution to your issue.

• • Scope For Additional Sessions If Needed – not everyone has the same comfort in the water, and soo not everyone will take the same amount of time to complete the skills training. So what happens if you do need more training or are not able to complete your skills in the scheduled time? Does your training not go any further? Do you get additional sessions? And if so, how much do you have to pay for those additional sessions? Similarly, what if the skills are done but you want some more training in order to feel comfortable? Will the dive center allow that? It is very important that you clarify this, because both you and the instructor need to be comfortable with your development before you continue into open water – and you should always have the option for additional dives.

• • Student – instructor ratio – in general, this matters – the smaller the class, the more attention you get from the instructor and the more efficient the class.    However, it isn’t the be-all/end-all.    I’d rather send a friend to learn from a good instructor teaching 4 students in a class, vs a poor instructor teaching 1-2 students: the former’s class may run longer, but the students will still get good training.    Of course, this only works up to a certain point: something like 10-12 students per instructor (even with a couple of assistants) is a warning sign

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  • Instructor’s Style – yes, this matters to the extent that if the instructor’s style is incompatible with how you prefer to learn, you are going to have a problem. That being said, in the real world, it is rare to have that significant an issue in terms of teaching style, atleast from a good, experienced instructor.

• • Instructor’s Experience – one would expect a more experienced instructor would be de facto better, but while that may be true for more advanced or pro programs, it is not always the case for Open Water/beginner training.   Often, newer instructors are more enthusiastic and willing to do the extra distance in their classes, and sometimes, that matters more than experience. 

• • Reviews from friends:    first-hand information from a source you trust is always good.    But be aware that a newly-certified diver doesn’t always have the experience to objectively assess the quality of their training – they rely on the vibes with the instructor and other cues, which may not always be reliable.      But this is still useful information and should be one of the factors you consider.     Now, an unbiased recommendation from an experienced diver or industry professional?    That’s something else altogether

What Doesn’t Matter When It Comes To Deciding Where To Do Your Open Water Course

There are also a few points which are not as important as people make them out to be. These include:

• • Price – Would you pick a school or college based purely on price?    Diving works the same way – for the most part, you get what you pay for.   Better student/instructor ratios, more water time, more experienced instructors, longer training sessions – all of these cost money and a center selling courses at a very low price is cutting corners somewhere.       Not what you want in the first step of your diving journey.

• • Agency – Another thing that you can ignore entirely is the agency offering certification – PADI or SSI or NAUI or whoever. I have a full article on “Which Agency is Better” but the short version of that is: it doesn’t matter. All agencies are universally accepted by all dive shops, all agencies have the same curriculum and a good instructor will make you a good diver regardless of agency (and the inverse is also true). The only time it matters is if you are doing your pool training at one center and your open water dives in another – then you need to make sure both your dive centers can teach the same agency.

• • Dive Center “Star” Rating:   A “5 star” center.  A “Diamond” facility.    Sounds great, doesn’t it?    Except… it is absolutely meaningless.    I ran a “5-star” dive center from a popular agency and all it meant was we met a certain minimum volume of courses and were exclusive to that agency.   It meant absolutely NOTHING in terms of quality or anything like that.     This is purely a marketing term, and I will recommend you give it no attention whatsoever.

Conclusion

In summary, picking a dive center is not like buying vegetables at the market. This is the foundational piece of your diving journey and getting it right opens you up to a lifetime of adventure – on the other hand, getting it wrong can set your diving journey back in a big way. So it behooves you to get it right.

And the good news is – you can tell a dodgy dive center when you see one (especially in India).   And most reputable dive centers do offer a certain basic degree of competence, so even if your training isn’t fully up to the mark, remedial sessions can get you there.    So you shouldn’t let “paralysis of analysis” stop you from getting certified.