Real good brillant ideas, even if I am a civil engineer I say there is nothing like learning whatever you age is….

sorry to hear about your bad experience in Thailand. I have heard stories of dive-schools that don’t follow the courses properly, hoping to get people through quickly so they can get paid and never mind the consequences. It sounds like you found one of them. One of the good things about the PADI course is that, if you have time to go through the material properly, you can compare it to what you are being taught, and can see when a dive-school is short-changing you. Then you can challenge them about it. I know it can be hard to find the time to study in depth on holiday (I found it so!), but I would encourage people who take the course to do so, so they may avoid problems like yours.

The PADI organisation is very keen on protecting its standards, and if they hear of a dive-school that is cheating, they will take action against them. The dive-schools know this, so people should not be afraid to speak up! I’m glad you finally got good advice in New Zealand. “Just dive and have fun” is more like the PADI approach.

When I started diving with a camera I was advised to test it if it had been out of use for a while. Take it on a dive without the camera first, as deep as you would normally dive, and see if it’s OK. Hope that helps!

I decided to learn to scuba dive on a whim in Thailand!! I wanted to do the Open Water, but hadn’t learnt mask removal BEFORE we moved from the pool to the sea, so the following day failed my essential mask removal and “swim to surface on one breath” exercises, which a little longer in the pool the day before would have eliminated! Was too tired to complete the following day, would have been dangerous!

I wanted to dive the Great Barrier Reef, but was unable to get on a completer PADI course, so had to do a discovery dive, which was a real shame, so in New Zealand I planned ahead and went to the Poor Knights, where confidence in diving was re-instilled in me through having to retake dives 3 and 4, with a lot of helpful advice. We talked about starting the Advanced Diver, but the best advice I got was to come back and just DIVE and enjoy it with no pressure – best diving day yet, which I built on with a couple of days in Brazil. Unfortunately, haven’t had a single dive for nearly a year… need to earn some money and get back there (and see if my dropped underwater housing can cope with the pressure!)

I look forward to hearing how you get on. I hope the water warms up early there, I neglected to mention that it’s easier to learn in warmer water!

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a well-thought-out post. I think I’ll give it a shot. My husband was resort-certified to dive with an instructor two times, but I was too chicken and stuck to snorkeling (also, reading on the beach).

There is a local outfit that teaches (using PADI) where we spend time in a pool and a few local lakes. I’ll let you know how this goes, although it will probably be March or April until we can sign up for classes.

Thanks again — much appreciated!