When I did my honeymoon dives, I took a "resort course". It consisted of 1 hour of training in an 8 foot deep pool followed by two open water dives. Both dives went to depths of 60 feet and one of them involved swimming through a 75 foot rock tunnel. After going though PADI certification, it's clear to me that these types of resort courses do not adequately prepare divers for open water dives. A big part of PADI training is practicing to avoid problems and to handle them when the arise. There is no substitute for practice.
I was working under the impression that Sandals was offering a similar, short "resort course". If that's the case, then I'll stick to my recommendation of getting PADI certified before the honeymoon for safety reasons. *IF* Sandals offers full PADI certification, then I agree it is safe to do the course during the honeymoon.
WOW!
Times have changed!
When I taught back in 1989 we did offer introductory dives.
I guess you could call it a resort course?
You did not get any certification from it except the opportunity to do shallow water diving under the direct supervision of a diving instructor.
The 1 hour pool class was followed by 2 dives the next day.
*But* the dives were limited to 30' deep. We were only allowed to bring up to 4 people with us. You had to have direct access to the surface. No caves!
I could not imagine taking a group of 'intros' down to 60'! Or trusting them in a cave, even a swim through with openings on both ends.
We were fortunate that we had very shallow fringe reefs. You could have an awesome experience in 25' of water.
Spent plenty of dives with 3 people doing fine and me holding the 4th persons hand while doing most of the swimming the entire time.
(Decades ago I was pretty good on air. Now, well, it's just pathetic. [emoji17])
(If the person tenses up you have instant knowledge of it through your hand. Easiest way to keep an eye on them and still give them the opportunity to dive safely. )
In an earlier post I mentioned about 40% of the couples had different skill levels.
What I didn't mention was that about 10% of them had one person excited and the other person dreading the entire experience.
They loved their significant other and were not physically handicapped and refused to say no to going scuba diving.
Working with these people and helping them feel comfortable in the water was the greatest job satisfaction.
Over the years time that I taught I only needed to recommend that 2 people simply enjoy the boat ride (at a much reduced price) and go out and enjoy the day watching their spouse dive.
Figuratively strong arming the dominant spouse and helping them get a clue isn't really supposed to be part of your job description but you do what you have to.
Some couples are both part fish and have a fantastic time.
You look forward to them getting their C card back home (again with the time commitment) and when they come back on their next vacation you can show them even cooler stuff. [emoji846]
Other people would rather walk on hot coals then have to stick their head under water and breathe off a regulator.
Some of those people can't or won't explain that to their spouse and you may have to be the one who is willing to do it for them. [emoji53]
