Has anyone looked into Scuba Certification in Riviera Maya?

[MarissaDC]

My FI would like to get certified, but its very expensive in our area. I heard that you can get certified in Mexico rather cheaply and it only takes a day or two. Does anyone have any information on this? Please share! Thanks!

[dinogomez.com]

Try this:

 

www.personaldivers.com

[Jacilynda]

Where are you going to be in RM? almost every town has options

[~*Kathy*~]

My sister got her scuba diving certification while she was in RM for my wedding this past February. I think it cost her about $300 USD and took her 3 or 4 days to complete. I know they had to postpone a few of her dives while we were down there because the water was too rough. She was so thrilled she was able to do this since she lives in Vancouver and she was worried about doing certification dives there as the water is too cold most of the time. Anyway, hope this helps!

[SunPrncss85]

I believe that you can get at least temporarily certified at certain resorts. I know that the Dreams resorts offer this. If I remember correctly it costs between 150 and 200 dollars for 2 or 3 practice dives in the pool and then you are on to the real thing in the ocean. Another good option that is similar to scuba diving is "snuba" diving. The difference is that you can only go down a certain distance and instead of the air tank being on your back it is above you floating on a miniature raft.

I "snuba" dove last time I was in Mexico and it cost me 75 dollars for 45 minutes of going 35 feet deep. It was well worth it. I hope this helped at least a little bit. Good luck and Happy Diving!

[Jamaica0619]

When you are checking into the certifications you will want to confirm if you are going to receive your c-card which means you can dive anywhere as opposed to a "resort certification" which means you can dive only with the resort's dive shop while you are there for this particular vacation/trip.

[Jacilynda]

Check out Riviera Maya Hotels, Resorts, Rentals: Mexican Caribbean Vacation Go under trip research, go to services in specific towns, select what town you are staying in and it will bring up dive centers. there are lots of different classes with basic PADI cert and open water, etc.

[BlakleyBrideToBe]

Congrats and Welcome!

[Dmitri_Markine]

I actually just got certified myself not too long ago. It was about $370US. It took me 2 days to complete it and it was A LOT of reading and studying!!

I think normal courses are usually 4-5 days. I did have about 20 previous dives in the past so that's why I was able to complete it in 2 days. Normally you wouldn't want to do that as there's a lot of safety and procedure info you HAVE to know.

I would not trust a dive center that tells a completely inexperienced diver it's easy to complete it in 1-2 days.

Most resorts offer 1 free introductory pool lesson for free. Dive fees depend on resort/country,but are often around $60/dive. Some 5 star resorts offer free open ocean diving for all the guests!!!

I also suggest to do at least 1 ocean dive before considering to get a certification. This way you'll know this is what you like and want to continue doing.

 

Cheers,

Dmitri

[O'Driscoll Photography]

Congrats and welcome, Marissa!

 

Hope your FI can get certified while you're down there, and have fun planning your big day!

 

Best wishes,

Tod