Scuba
Diving Yacht Charters
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Scuba diving is a wonderful addition to your crewed
charter vacation. The Virgin Islands, in particular,
have some of the most beautiful diving in the world
and it is a great spot for beginners and advanced divers
alike.
Many of our charter yachts offer diving aboard and there
are a few terms that you need to be familiar with to
help you decided which yacht's diving choices are right
for you.
Who can dive?
Almost anyone, as long as you are over 12 years old
and are in pretty good health, can dive. Certified divers
(divers who have been trained by a professional agency),
need to only bring their C Card (certification card)
to be able to dive and complete a medical release form.
If you are a certified diver, any boat that has a dive
master or dive instructor would be good for you. From
here it is a choice of how many times you want to dive
and the different package each boat offers.
If you have never been diving you have a few options
of how you can dive on your vacation.
Rendezvous Diving
- there are any number of dive companies that will meet
your yacht and whisk off those in your group who wish
to dive. Your yacht may then continue on with other
activities and meet you in another location. If some
in your group wish to dive or you'd like to dive only
once or twice during your week. There are locations
around the world where government restrictions to preserve
areas mean that you may only dive with a local company.
Resort Course or Discover
Scuba Diving: This is the fastest way to get
in the water and diving. It starts by teaching the basics
scuba diving with a review of what you have learned.
Next, you will learn a few fundamental skills in the
water, these are typically done in shallow, calm water.
And once you have mastered these skills, your instructor
will take you on an actual scuba dive in water that
is less than 40 feet deep.
After successfully completing this initial dive, you
can dive the rest of your vacation with your dive instructor.
- To be qualified to participate in the resort course
you must be over 12 years old (if a minor, have the
permission of a parent or guardian) and you must fill
out a medical release form. (Click
here to read the PDF release form)
- A dive instructor
is required to teach this course.
- If there is not a dive instructor aboard, most
yachts can arrange for a "rendezvous course" with
an outside dive agency. After this initial course,
additional rendezvous dives can be arranged with the
same instructor if you wish to dive more during the
week.
If you want to become a certified diver you have three
options:
Complete an Open Water Diver
Course before your trip: The open water diver
certificate is the basic scuba diving certification
level. The course has three parts. Academic training
is by using a textbook, lectures, quizzes and tests.
Water skill training will, for most parts of the US,
be done in a swimming pool or in calm shallow water.
Open water check out dives are the third and final part.
This consists of 4 to 5 dives over a period of at least
two days. These dives have a prescribed set of skills,
which the student must successfully demonstrate and
complete. The full course can be completed in less than
a week (if you have the time) or can take a couple of
months if you only have an hour or two a week to devote
to it.
Complete the first parts of the Open Water Diver Course
before your trip and do your open water dives on vacation:
This is the most popular way to complete an open water
diver course. Before you leave home, you complete the
academic and water skills portions of the course. Then,
instead of completing your open water dives in the cold
northern waters (often a quarry), you can get a referral
from you dive shop and complete your open water dives
in the Caribbean
Dive Professionals:
A dive professional is someone who has been trained
and certified by a respected, qualified agency. The
two most important distinctions are dive master and
dive instructor.
A dive master is
qualified to lead certified divers on dives. If you
haven't been diving for a couple of years they can also
do a "scuba tune-up."
A dive instructor
can teach people to dive. An instructor is qualified
to teach a resort course (i.e. discover scuba diving),
can do your check out dives for you or can offer a full
certification course*
If you are a certified diver and do not wish to take
any courses, a dive master can help you plan your dives,
adjust your gear, and, if your desire, lead your group
on dives. These professionals are insured and have tremendous
local knowledge that means your valuable vacation time
is spent diving in the right places.
If you are not a certified diver and want to try diving
on this vacation, look for a dive instructor who offers
a resort course where you can get in the water and dive
today.
Most yachts do not offer a full certification course
aboard because it is time consuming. If you do want
to get certified, your best option is to do your course
work/class room work at home and then get a referral
from your dive center to complete your certification
dives aboard. |
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