For all of your Underwater Adventure needs, Aquanauts is the way to go and if I had ten thumbs... I would give them ten thumbs up. Professional, down to earth, experienced, and reassuring, they effortlessly have made Grenada a hundred times more exciting. How often will you come across an opportunity like this one? Take advantage while you're here and you won't be sorry. Brian and I went during winter break and scored a special deal for open water certification. It's so National Geographic down under and it's so great. I love you Aquanauts <3
Visit their website below and contact them for more details.
Click HERE for the Aquanauts website.
To break it down simply, here's what we did:
1. Called Aquanauts, inquired about different levels (from basic to advance, higher levels of certification will allow you to dive at deeper depths) of certification and pricing.
2. Read required chapters from Padi Textbook for Open Water Certification and watched supplemental DVD (basically same content as what you read in their textbook).
3. Took a test for each chapter (very simple).
4. Depending on your schedule, you may start training on the same day or another day, in a swimming pool. In our case, training was scheduled on a different day at the Dodgy Dock swimming pool.
5. Training may take anywhere from 1-3 hrs.
6. You go out on your first, second, third, and 4th dives (this is for open water level). They work around your schedule. At your first two dives, you will do all the skills you learned in the swimming pool, out in open water (test to make sure you're able to handle yourself). Make sure you go over anything you're unsure of with your instructor in the swimming pool or else you're likely to panic when you're out in the sea. For example, for the mask clearing exercise, you're instructed to fill your mask completely underwater. In order to clear the mask, you must take a deep breath from your air regulator (without breathing water in from your nose), tilt your head up, and take a deep breath out. You repeat this process until your mask is fully cleared.
Some Quick Tips:
*If you're prone to motion sickness, don't eat anything before your dives and take motion sickness pills as instructed on box of pills.
*If you freak out, you'll most likely to want to inflate your life vest and surface to the top of the water. Here, the waves can be shaky and rough. This is where you're more likely to get sick. If you relax and stay under, the current won't be able to shake you up.
*Invest in an underwater camera
*Sometimes, it feels as if there's water in your mask, when there really isn't any (due to the way you're breathing). if your eyes aren't burning, leave your mask alone and try not to over-clear your mask. This can cause dizziness and cause frustration.
*If you feel like scuba diving will be a favorite past time activity, investing in a good quality mask/tube that fits your face will be ideal.
12.2012
Grenada, West Indies.
© Katherine Fung, All rights reserved.
