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Scuba lessons
Scuba lessons are a wonderful way to start exploring our underwater world. I started diving in the Puget Sound in 1982 and have been learning and teaching scuba diving ever since. It’s a sport I truly love and hope that everyone will take a little something away from the sites I have created on the topic (see the links section to the left).
Before you jump into scuba lessons, you should understand the reasons people take up scuba diving. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Over 70% of the earths surface is covered in water…why not explore it?!
- It is a relaxing sport.
- Scuba diving is accessible to people of all ages.
- Scuba diving is the best way to interact directly with marine life in their natural habitat.
- It is a safe sport with little risk as long as you don’t push your personal limits.
What are the advantages of taking scuba lessons?:
- Scuba lessons will provide you with the certification necessary to dive all over the world.
- Scuba lessons will help you avoid the physiological risks you undertake when breathing air at pressure. These include nitrogen narcosis, oxygen toxicity and decompression sickness.
- Scuba lessons will provide you with an overview of the array of equipment needed for safe and enjoyable diving.
So where do you find scuba lessons? The best way to get lessons is to contact a local dive shop. The YMCA used to offer lessons, but they recently announced they are going to discontinue their program.
Please use the search box below to find a local scuba shop. Just type in your city and the word ’scuba store and a list of local scuba shops will be returned. Example: if I wanted to find a list of scuba stores in Seattle, I would type "Seattle, scuba store" (without the quotes).
One of my favorite options is to combine the checkout dive portion of the scuba lessons with a vacation (this works especially well for people living in a colder climate). The Open Water Scuba Diver class offered by PADI contains three core elements, knowledge development (classroom) confined water practice (pool) and open water dives. Just let the instructor know at the beginning of class that you want to do the classroom and pool work with them and they will give you a referral to another instructor or dive shop at your vacation location. Then when you go on vacation, your first few dives are with the instructor and you are certified! The primary reason people from colder climates do this is to avoid diving in the cold (and usually murkey) water of their home town.
After the core classes, you can go on to the advanced classes and even take specialty classes!
- In the U.S. there are three primary dive certification agencies:
- Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) – PADI is based in the United States and they are the largest recreational dive training and certification organization in the world
- National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) – based in the United States
- Scuba Schools International (SSI) – based in the United States with 35 Regional Centers and Area Offices around the globe.
