The first two steps is always certified in scuba diving, make sure that you are a reasonably proficient swimmer and you get a medical certificate from your doctor to take up the sport. As for the swimming, you do not need to master for any type of stroke. Scuba certification only requires that you be able to about 200 meters with every stroke you want and being able to hover, or get on the water for about 10 minutes to swim. If you are in good general health and comfortable in the water, then you should be able to dive without any problems arise.
There are about 1,900 professional scuba diving centers in North America alone and the local ones should be checked out anyway. Most will run basic certification programs on a regular basis. These centers or shops should be listed in the yellow pages and you can also use Web sites of some of the major diving certification agencies such as PADI or NAUI examine how they have ads. Sometimes diving courses are offered at the universities of.
Make sure that you are interested in the route below, their teachers, with one of the main dive training agencies certified. This ensures that you will need the proper, safe training for both the technical background knowledge and practical skills required for certification as a diver. You want to be at the end with an internationally recognized certification card if you dive at various locations around the world.
Some resorts offer 'resort' courses a day or two to offer beginners some very basic training to try out diving. These are not certification programs. Full certification programs involve classroom work, exams, practical skills sessions at the pool and usually about four open water dives in the sea (lake or sea). The duration of the theory and pool sessions ranging from a very intensive weekend (with advance reading) to once per week over several weeks. The open water dives usually last two days. Dive Centers in the tropics also offer basic certification programs, the number of days to a week. Although the intensive weekend programs are quite possible, many feel that basic scuba diving courses are spread over a few weeks to help beginners learn the skills better. Diving is a result of new skills and to learn about them all, while a full weekend may be too much for some people.
As for the diving certification training agency is the best, there is not a recognized organization that is better than another. PADI is the most popular in the world, but not necessarily better than NAUI or SSI. NAUI course are often offered in technical classroom by PADI but both will adequately train you to be a diver. More important factor would be the individual teacher and their own effort during training / studying. In fact, many instructors have certifications from various educational institutions.
For people in the northern regions, there are a few possible routes to take to get the certification. One can travel south to the tropics and not the entire base certification course down there in warm weather. However, this takes a good amount of vacation since reading, classroom, pool and open water dives must all be performed during this period. A second possibility is the entire course, including the open water dives back in to take their own territory. Usually offers beginners the most time can be spread out over several weeks since prices. However, the water up north is not as warm as in the tropics could be seasonal and diving. A third option is to take all the classroom and pool sessions back home and then go south on the open water dives to be done in warm waters. Many people have gone this way. Your teacher will give you back home to overthrow a doctor's letter to an instructor located in the south who will oversee your open water dives. This is a good combination of taking ample time back home, to practice skills in the pool and the classroom always work out the way by his nice warm water to dive in the open water dives. One thing to be aware of when considering this option, is to ensure that your trip to the tropics for your open water dives is not too delayed after finishing with your pool sessions at home. If too much time has elapsed, one could easily forget the skills coming into the pool by the time a vacation learned.
The underwater world is so much to offer and only a small percentage of the world population will always have the privilege to make it in person, rather than on television. Are you one of those people who have the honor of exploring the oceans by becoming legalized in diving.
