USVI-On-Line

We are planning a trip this summer and my husband and 13 year old are interested in becoming scuba certified. Does anyone know if this can be done on STJ and what company may be the best to go with?
Thanks for any help you can give!

I don't remember many details, but I have seen people getting trained in the Westin pool. I am pretty sure they do teens also as I asked some questions a long time ago and I think I remember 12 or 13 as being the age they can start.

I think it is Cruz Bay Watersports that has a desk at the Westin, so you might find something out from them.

If this is your first trip to St. John, you might be surprised how much you can see just snorkeling at various places. But I am sure scuba is wonderful.

Yes, it is very possible.

If you search, you may be able to find jimg20's trip report from 2008. He and his wife became certified with Low Key Watersports.

I have been certified since 1988 and I guess I have a couple of comments:

Scuba diving can be dangerous. I have seen these “quick certification on vacation” programs before and have a hard time believing that you can really learn all that and practice properly in such a short time. If they only plan to go twenty feet or so, then maybe I would be ok with that, but I doubt that is going to be the plan. Most dives are much deeper. You really should be comfortable with your equipment. For instance, you should be able to take your mask off under water, put it back on and clear it. What if it gets knocked off by another diver by accident? If you are at 90 feet and you panic, you are dead. Your natural reaction is to go right to the surface for air, but that will kill you if you go up too quickly. You need to learn how to buddy breath and/or get to your dive buddy’s secondary air supply. I am by no means trying to scare you. I just would feel sooooo much better if I knew they were properly prepared. You can do a proper course over two weeks or so after school/work and on the weekends. How about a great Christmas present? Get them lessons at home that start in the late spring. Get them real comfortable with what they are going to be doing. Then, when you get on vacation, you are NOT spending all you time in a pool learning, but in the ocean doing. This is just my opinion and I am sure that others will tell you those quickie courses are fine. In fact, one of the scuba guys at the Westin used to live in my hometown and had a scuba shop. I know he would do a good job, but maybe look into lessons at home. Go to a scuba shop in your home town and see what they say to do.

Thank you all for your suggestions...This will be our families first time to STJ and we DO plan on mainly snorkeling around the beautiful island! However my husband and son are a bit more adventurous than my daughter and I are! We are planning on visiting for 2 weeks so I will talk to those outfits and see what they say. Great advice John...I think my husband and son were hoping to start their (pool) instruction here in MO and then the actual dive instruction/certification in the beautiful clear water of STJ rather than the murky lake water in Missouri!
I am having a lot of fun with all this planning!
Thanks again!

If you haven't heard of it, you might want to purchase "Feet, Fins and Four wheel drive"- I think it is sold on this site?

Anyways, there are quite a bit of "advanced" snorkling opportunities if the diving doesn't work out. The book is a great resource for hiking, snorkeling, etc...and if you will be there for two weeks I would highly recommend it to get the most of what the island has to offer.

Have fun!

islandjo2010 wrote:I think my husband and son were hoping to start their (pool) instruction here in MO and then the actual dive instruction/certification in the beautiful clear water of STJ rather than the murky lake water in Missouri!

That is quite common in scuba - a referral from the local dive shop, and the check out dives someplace where the diving is more interesting. It may not be the most economical way to do things, but they won't be wasting precious STJ time reading a dive manual and learning how to inflate a BCD!

Yo....I did the pool/class work here and got my referal to do the open water part on STJ through Cruz Bay Water Sports. As already said this worked great. That was back in 1994. Hope this works for you as well.God bless....Bill

I also took the theory and pool session at home and did the checkout dives in STJ. It worked really well and you had plenty of time to do all the things in the pool that was needed.

Getting certified and continue to scuba dive, is the most fun I've ever done i my life.

Good luck and happy safe diving. STJ has many fairly easy dive sites, not too deep with lots of fish to look at. A good beginner dive destination.

Yes, we did the complete certification at Low Key in STJ. It was absolutely the right way to go for us. First of all, we had just a little background that prepared us. Second, we had the books and video before we left for STJ. Third, Low Key will make sure that they are certifided while they are there. That does NOT mean that if you pay your money you get certified. What it DOES mean is that they will teach you as long as it takes before they will be willing to put their name on your card. With all the instuctors they have, someone will relate to your husband and son and be able to get the concepts across to them.

John is right to tell you that there are people who will certify people without proper preperation. Do they exist? Yes they do. Did I meet anyone like that on STJ? Not yet. I was made to demonstrate flooding and clearing my mask, sharing another's secondary air, remove and don my BCD and weight belt at depth, and many other skills. We had classroom time where we worked with a dive table that was 4 feet tall and 8 feet wide. We took the chapter tests and final exam also. It was a complete course that included six dives in the Virgin Islands.

The referral route is a very expensive solution. It is like paying both instructors for a full course. You can acquire the books and videos before you go and prepare ahead. The concepts are not difficult. Almost anyone can get this.

We had great success with Low Key. Others have been equally happy with the other shops.

Please PM me if you like. We are not too far from you. We can share resources.

If I wasn't clear up til now, we are big fans of getting the certifications in the VI.

JIM

My husband and I got our scuba certification just before our first trip to St. John in August, 2002. I'd say think about getting the whole thing done first. There's too much to look at to want to spend your vacation time working.

We've only gone with Low Key but from what I've gathered on the whole any dive outfit in St. John is worth your time.

One word of caution to your husband and son: diving in the clear waters off the VI's can spoil you. I haven't been diving since 2007 because I just can't work up any enthusiasm for the local rock quarry.

-Sandy

One option is to get your certification "class & pool work" completed Stateside ... possibly through a Y or college.

Then, complete your "check out dives" down in the VI. My son & daughter did it this way at Cruz Bay Water Sports.

Hello and thanks again for all the great advice!
We had not checked into the cost of the referral route...sounds like it is an expensive way to go about this. Very interested in the way Jim went about getting certified...this may be a good option for my guys...study the books and video before going. It looks like I need to get in-touch with Low Key.
Thanks again everyone!
Jo

I did the online classwork, pool dives here and then my OW Certification in Kauai. The certification dives were so much fun, just a few skills and then the rest of the time diving!
I would suggest doing as much as you can at home and then your certification dives in STJ. My husband may do that next summer!

Here is a link to Low Keys elearning through Padi. http://www.divelowkey.com/basic.html#elearning

I would do the online course work then the open water cert while you are here.
Jay