Check the PADI website (www.padi.com) for a list of their diveshops in your area, or look in Yellow Pages. Get yourself along there and sign up for the first part of an Open Water "referral course". You'll get a textbook and self-study it first (allow a week of occasional evenings), then present yourself at the dive center for videos, brief classes, and some sessions in a swimming pool learning basic skills. You'll have an exam which isn't rocket science. Then your diveshop will give you documents certifying the training you've had to date. Bring those with you and give them to the instructor at the San Pedro dive center of your choice - the nearest PADI ones are Victoria House's own, Caribe Island's nearly next door, Ambergris Caye just up the beach towards town, or my own (Protech) a little further on. We and I'm sure the others will pick you up and drop you off for no charge. You'll do two dives your first day (morning or afternoon) and two the following day and that's it!

Doing it this "referral" way is a little more expensive overall but it avoids any rush during the early part of the course, where some people have initial difficulty with tiny aspects of diving (clearing the mask is a common one), and of course minimises the time taken out of your undoubtedly expensive and all-too-brief vacation.

Check the websites for any of these dive operations and contact them directly for further details, like prices, quality of equipment, group sizes, etc.

thank you all so much!!!! I really appreciate all of your help I can't wait to come to Belize

hey Peter, are you by any chance the Brit guy?

It looks like you could get the referral via online correspondence course and get the proper paperwork. I don't know much about this, but it looks like it's only $29 and with free support.

www.aquastrophics.com

I would be cautious of the online certification and fully explore it as it appears to just be the academic portion. There would still be the need for confined water ie. pool sessions and the open water dives which equal hidden costs. Just my opinion but it sounds to good to be true.

I agree with RobertE. Now I know scuba diving ain't rocket science, but that is in fact life support equipment you are strapping on your back. Do you trust your life being in the care of an online course? I don't. Trust me, just bite the bullet and get certified.

With full certification you'll be able to see more of the reef than you'll get to in a "discover scuba" course and San Pedro's reef is AWESOME!

Look at it this way. If you end up loving it, you're gonna want to end up getting certified anyway so doing it now will save you the time and cost of doing the discover scuba deal. If ya get down there and realize you hate it and freak out..you're gonna be glad you had the proper training to get yourself back to the surface.

Freaking out under water can get you killed (the bends, air embolism, etc.). recreational diving is fun and easy, but sometimes the sh*t can hit the fan...if it does you'll be glad you were properly trained.

I became cert on an island..I put my wife on the beach and gave $ to cabana boy to keep an eye on her(feed her pina coladas).

We would have breakfast together and then I would spend a few hours at class, which was on the beach near her. Each day I would get to dive as a part of training and by the 5th dayI was certified.

also..my wife and I would have lunch and then I would go on my class dive.

Summary'''wife was happy that I wasn't bored and I got to dive everyday. After 2nd day instructor let me go out with groups too( not in class format) which was great..

Frozen in NJ

Yes, Bobber, guilty as charged.

And as to doing your cert or any part of it by "mail order" or on-line - don't. For a multitude of reasons. As with so many other qualifications you have to decide whether you want to learn the skill to any degree of mastery or just do the minimum to get the plastic. Diving is normally very safe but you are after all in a very hostile environment, and the more informed training you get the better. That can't happen remotely. And of course you can't do in-water practice over the phone. Sounds a bit of a con to me.

Peter, just wanted to thank you. My compatriot Denny was the guy with the faulty depth gauge that you so kindly ran through your sonic cleaner. Worked fine after that.

Correct, don't do any mail order. During courses, the instructor watches you very closely to evaluate your comfort level, which means just as much as the technical familiarity with the gear. On cert dives, they watch even closer.

Hey Bobber, good to hear that the gauge worked. I wasn't sure it would, and when Denny didn't come back assumed it hadn't.