W Maldives - learning to dive?

Hi,

Has anyone learnt to dive at W Maldives? Just wondering if it%26#39;s possible and worth it?! And can you do it in a 1 week stay? complete beginner!

many thanks!

W Maldives - learning to dive?

Cant answer for the W - but all islands have dive schools and yes you can learn in a week, it will depend on cost and which course you take - diving costs seems to increase in line with the resort.

You may depending on when you go think about learning in the uk - If you dont fancy the cold water, you can do your theory and pool work here, then a referal in the maldives(the 4 open water dives) to qualify - leaving you more time to dive.

Sg

W Maldives - learning to dive?

Nomad1976,

My husband and I stayed at the W about a year ago and both took the beginner scuba class. We both have snorkeled a lot but this was our first time scuba diving. I ended up having to quit after the ';fill your mask up with water underwater and then clear it'; test since I knew if that happened to me down under I would panic. So I realized I%26#39;m more of a surface person :) BUT, my husband had an absolutely fantastic time. After a 20 min video, some time in shallow water to practice, you move on to deeper water (I think you%26#39;re only able to go 40M on your first dive). The instructors were great, very friendly and patient (especially with me!). So yes, it%26#39;s very possible to learn to dive in one week let alone a couple of days. My husband felt so comfortable and enjoyed it so much after only an hour or so!

its possible to do in a week - at least the scubadiver cert . you can%26#39;t dive on your first and last day from safety reasons (too close to a flight)

but if the vacation is dedicated to diving , its quite possible to even get your open water in that time ...

.. of course , even an open water cert will not let you dive to 40 meters ...smiles .

limits for the scubadiver is 12 m , 10 m for open water and 30 m with the deep dive certification .. but thats just a side..

what i would recommend , however, is to start the course at home and get all the bookstuff out of the way , so you don%26#39;t spend your entire time studying . just tell your diveschool here that you want a referred course - the theory only. then finish up with the beautiful part - the diving and certification in the amzing underwater world of the indian ocean . that way, you can fit in more dives during your short stay and save having to study .

correction to my previous post .. that is 18 meters for the open water diver , not 10! sorry :)

also , i should mention that i have not been to the ';W'; as i enjoy more quiet and serene resorts and i am still nostalgic for the time before ';W';, when the island was one of the most beautiful in all the maldives .. but all the diveschools operate the same since their are under PADI or CMAS guidelines .

I would agree with Spammie . The Referral dive program is a good idea if you have time to take a class in the UK before your trip. No point is spending time in the Maldives looking at video tapes or studying books.. 12 M limit on the Scuba Diver cert might cause some complications with dive site choices but I have gone to many dive locations in that part of the Maldives where we purposely dont dive more than 12-13 meters. You can actually see many things (fish schools beautiful table top coral etc ) much better at a shallow depth. I would suspect that this wont be the cheapest way to get certified (the referral program) but I suspect that the W%26#39; in general is certainly not the cheapest dive center in the Maldives by a long shot. If you can afford the place to begin with a few hundred extra for dive costs shouldnt be a problem and the reef at that island is actually one of the better house reefs in the Maldives so even if you just do an intro to scuba where they drag you around the house reef you certainly could find a worse place to do that!