Posted by Mike | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 15-09-2011
Tags: australia, scuba diving, sports, travel
I’ve wanted to learn to scuba dive my whole life. And with a holiday fast approaching in Cairns Australia I thought I’d better learn fast.
I contacted all the local dive centres and they made it all sound so difficult and horrendous as well as being expensive. So a little disappointed I searched for for “Scuba Diving in Cairns ” . And what a great idea that was. I was given literally 100’s of options of Cairns dive shops and local booking agents only too eager to help me learn to scuba dive.
After sending out lots of emails with lots of questions I was excited to find out that it wasn’t as scary, difficult or not cheap as I’d previously observed. Pretty much, in Cairns you can do a dive course in four, five or six days. Four days is the minimum to get your PADI certificate. A PADI certification is the worlds largest and most accepted.The five and six day courses give you more scuba dives and you get to do a liveaboard on the Cairns Great Barrier Reef.
After a some thought I decided to do a 5 day liveaboard dive course. Fistly I had to get a dive medical examination done. Now this shouldn’t worry anyone who is reasonably fit and healthy. If you have no major illnesses or lung related problems you should be OK. The largest issue is Asthma I beleive.
The first 2 days are spent in the swimming pool and Classroom. This is when you learn the theory behind scuba diving and some basic skills. The most difficult part about this was having to stay afloat stationary for 15 minutes. And rather unfairly the chubbiest people float better than the muscled ones. Those wines after work everyday finally have assisted me.
The third day you depart for the great barrier reef. You are transferred to your boat at the reef by a transfer boat full of daypassengers, but immediately they get you into the water. You start your training dives immediately. The initial four dives are part of your course, where you learn a few more skills. After that you get to do four more dives with no lessons included. You are now a certified scuba diver. And I got to do it on the Great Barrier Reef, not in some polluted mirky city water.