New to diving

I realise this might be slightly cheeky as it is not currently related to underwater photography but might be in the future.

I am considering taking an OW Diver course in the summer and wonder if anyone has any suggestions as to where might be a good place (thinking quality of course, cost and underwater scenery).

Once qualified I am tempted to buy a housing for my compact G12 (realise it won't be great but it's a start)

Best advice, if you hadn't started diving yet is to spend the time and interview instructors. There are a couple of different agencies that certify open water divers...PADI and SSI being the big two and while there are some slight differences they aren't as big as some would have you believe. Either will get you qualified to blow bubbles locally or in an exotic local; dive boats, resorts, and rental companies will recognize either card equally. What are not the same are the instructors. Some courses are very formulated...show up for the next two weeks, stay awake, don't kill yourself or anyone else and we will issue you a card. Some are quick. I have a mate that got an open water card in three days. My initial instructor told me if I was worried about how long it would take to go to someone else to learn to dive. He would issue my card when he was comfortable that I understood the principles, could repeatedly demonstrate the skills, and was comfortable in open water. I probably burned twice as many cylinders of air as some and more than most, but that was what I was looking for in an instructor. I wanted to be sure I "got it". But that's me. Be honest about what you want from the course, then look for an instructor that will provide that experience. Remember, it is quite literally, your life.

Michhiker,
Sounds like you had a pretty good instructor as too many people seem to be all about how quickly they can get certified and some agencies are all too accommodating.

Neilwood32,
Michhiker gives you some pretty good insight...talk to several instructors and see what kind of "vibe" you get from them. Ask them about what kind of dives they do for fun...or is the only diving they do for teaching classes...their answer will give you even more insight as you should look for one that does dives beyond Open Water classes. once you start down this path. the biggest advice I can give you is be patient with yourself...and have fun. Then once you have a solid foundation of dive skills and can maintain your buoyancy, then get into the photography side of things. The reason I say that is once you have your foundation dialed in, you won't spook the fish being all over the place, you won't bounce off the coral and kill it and you will have more fun as you won't be stressing over the task loading of diving / photography.

Careful though...diving as well as photography are two VERY addictive activities...

Best regards,
Don

I'm a seasoned diver & still shoot a G9 underwater so you're all set camera wise AND rookies shouldn't be concentrating on their photography until they've mastered buoyancy but you can do some with a P & S as you advance. Join Scubaboard & do some research on instruction in your area. Here's the link for the British Isles section.

http://www.scubaboard.​com/forums/british-isles/

As a very old & long time water person who has seen a lot of people who really didn't get good instruction, many others who did, and everything in between it really comes down to being comfortable in the water, knowing there are fish there, and that you can't control the current & must deal with it or surface because you're in charge of your safety whether certified or just swimming with a snorkel in your mouth. Divers learn at different rates, but need to be comfortable with their instructor & in the water.

Hey Neilwood,

You can also try looking for local dive clubs and groups. They will have great recommendations near you. If diving locally, you will probably need a thick wetsuit or drysuit, so you could also look into doing the classwork at home and then the ocean training somewhere warmer - your call. Also, the G12 is awesome underwater, especially for macro!

Well did my OW course and loved it. What people said about a good instructor was so true.

The instructor was quite young but was quite happy to spend time going over anything I had issues with - which was great as I was struggling a bit with maintaining a hover while in the pool. We spent quite a bit of time on it, I still wasn't getting it so he stopped the session, said to go have a break and we can come back in an hour once you have cleared your head a bit (think he realised I was pretty much "task overloaded". Took a break, had a bite to eat , went back in and it had become near perfect (gone from yo-yo over 2m to maintaining depth within a foot).

Got all my skills done by OW dive 3 so the last one was pretty much a leisure dive (except me planning it). Great sights underwater but I think carrying a camera would have been too much this soon.

BTW thanks for the link to Scubaboard - now joined it and posting on the forum. Starting to look at my diving gear list (which in on a par with photography for cost!)