First Dive

Does anyone know if it's possible for me and the GF to go out and take our first dive?

We would ideally like to go out alone with an instructor as we have never dived before.

We will be on the island from 10/28-11/7

I would check out something like this: http://www.st-barths.com/st-barth-plongee/

I'm sure they can arrange whatever you want... and there are other dive boats as well...

you could try birdy as well, he speaks very good english

Premium IV can set up the whole thing and leave you worry-free.

"St Barth Plongée" = "Birdy" = "Bertrand". Three different names for the same instructor. Bertrand is a very good instructor and has been on the island for over 20 years.

Contact him directly, there is no need for a third party such as Premium IV (and a commission to them) to organize your "baptême" (French word for 1st dive).

St Barths is a very nice place for easy and shallow diving. Enjoy!

Thanks All! Will contact Birdy directly for the details.

Normally you would do your book work and pool dives with a dive shop before you travel to St. Bart's ,, and your dive shop would give you a "referral" to give to the dive operator on St. Bart's that allows you to do your check out dives on St. Bart's to complete your certification....... Best to set it up with the St. Bart's dive operation before just showing up...

or, I guess if you we're going to be on St. Bart's long enough to complete an entire class, book work, pool dives and open water classes, you could just do that....

So, I have never been scuba diving before. Am I correct to assume I would not have to do any book work or pool dives before arriving to St. Barts? I could just contact Birdy, tell him I have never scuba dived before and he would set me up? Is that safe without any prior diving knowledge?

Kenneth

Hi Kenneth.....It is perfectly safe with a good instructor and a shallow dive, less than 20-30'. Having gear on in a pool first is a big plus, so you are already familiar with the BC and actually realizing you can breathe underwater. I had a student panic on me once and shot out of the water from 30' like a Polaris missle .....I told him to find another instructor.....

MartinS said:

Normally you would do your book work and pool dives with a dive shop before you travel to St. Bart's ,, and your dive shop would give you a "referral" to give to the dive operator on St. Bart's that allows you to do your check out dives on St. Bart's to complete your certification....... Best to set it up with the St. Bart's dive operation before just showing up...

or, I guess if you we're going to be on St. Bart's long enough to complete an entire class, book work, pool dives and open water classes, you could just do that....

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this is only in case you want get a certification.
To discover scuba diving, or for a 1st try like any other nautical activity (sailing, jetskiing etc....), no need to all of this. Just make a reservation and show up.

rock13 said:

So, I have never been scuba diving before. Am I correct to assume I would not have to do any book work or pool dives before arriving to St. Barts? I could just contact Birdy, tell him I have never scuba dived before and he would set me up? Is that safe without any prior diving knowledge?

Kenneth

Click to expand...

definitely yes.

We did a Discover Scuba dive on our honeymoon with Plongee Caraibes. We were the only two people booked that day so our instructor, Franck, was very attentive and actually held my hand for pretty much the first half of the dive because I was so nervous. We had a fantastic dive and have now become certified divers. Unfortunately, I believe Franck is no longer on the island but he was wonderful!

For our certification we actually did what Martin is suggesting and did our classroom and pool dives at home. We then did our open water dives through Low Key in St. John while on vacation one year. If you are thinking of becoming certified doing a referral is a great way to finish your certification and get to dive one your vacation. For us it also meant diving in lovely warm Caribbean water rather than a cold rock quarry back at home!