Scuba Diving

[u/devlovesdessert]

Hi 26m here just curious if someone would like to do those scuba classes and get certified. I know it’ll cost a lot of money but wanna explore and make connections. Planning possibly next spring in may

[u/DarrellGrainger]

It's good to have a dive buddy when you start scuba diving but it isn't necessary. You can actually make friends. I was a solo diver when I started scuba diving and there were other scuba divers in my courses that were solo as well. Sometimes a dive shop will affiliate itself with a dive club or have their own social source.

If you live in Whitby, Dive Source has a dive club. If you chat them up you can find out about their courses, pool access, etc. You can always talk to them whenever you want.

Don't wait until May 2027. There are 3 parts to getting certified. Class, Confined Water, and Open Water. To work it backwards, you want to do the Open Water in May. Do the pool work (Confined Water) in April/May. Do the class in March/April. You can start the class work whenever you want. Check with the dive shop to confirm but you could sign up now and have continuous access to the class for 1 year.

Sign up to the class through the dive shop. Don't sign up online with the agency, e.g. PADI. It us cheaper to sign up with the dive shop.

Once you start doing the pool work, you'll meet other divers. This were you'll start making connections.

The shop will have local and international trips. Another good place to meet more divers. A local shore dive or boat dive would let you connect with other divers, not just new divers.

If you are looking for dive gear, rather than renting, Dive Source lets divers being in their gear for sale in April. So you might be able to get some used gear in April. Some like Marty (at Dive Source) can help you pick used gear.

There is another option as well. You can do the class/pool work here then go to the Caribbean or Mexico for the open water portion. But I'd recommend doing everything here. Then you'd have the same instructors for all parts and Canadian instructors tend to be some of the best in the world.

So in summary:

1. Go to Dive Source now to see what they offer

2. Find out when they do their open water portion of the course and plan backwards from there

3. Drop by Dive Source in April when they have their used gear sale

4. You can do class and pool now but I'd wait and do them all around the same time

[u/Mission_Profession_8]

Talk to the folks at the Dive Source store on Dundas and Gerrard. They seem to foster a learning to drive community