Estepona Diving Center – PADI – Don’t be fooled

 

Estepona Dive Center – We give you the keys so you don’t get ripped off.

For Estepona Diving Center and all those that we have as a hobby, we go deeper into the depths, we already know, more or less, everything we need to dive or update our level with courses or our rights or obligations, but if you are new, You have been diving for a short time or just want to know how this world works, we will explain each section so you can go with a firm foot to a diving center.

Let’s start with someone who just wants to inform themselves to get started in the diving world.

In this case, you should know that many dive centers, not all, use a small hoax to hook a potential customer. The diving courses or try dives are divided into different parts and can be done in several ways, for example, the PADI Open Water Diver course, It has a theory part, another exercise in confined water (pool) and another dive in the sea. In addition to this, it must be said that the manual (online or physical) must be added, the certification fees for PADI are called “Pic”, the use of diving equipment, boat services, mandatory insurance, etc. etc. ..

The trick is to announce a lower price than the competition and then, once the course has been hired, add things. In the end you pay more expensive!

So if you ask for information for something, I recommend that you always ask if it is the final price so you don’t get surprises.

If you are already certified and want to get experience

Congratulations, you are already a certified diver. From now on it’s just about diving.

In these cases you should no longer pay for courses (if you are not in the process of leveling up). Now you just have to pay your dive. Of course you should know several things. A diver has the right to be informed of final prices, types of immersion, types of courses and their obligations. These obligations consist of presenting your diver’s card and your document proving that you have an updated diving insurance.

Where diving insurance is compulsory

This insurance is mandatory throughout the Spanish territory as well as in many countries. If you do not have diving insurance, many centers or clubs have the insurance service. Our Estepona Diving Center is one of them, yes, you should know that you can get an annual, monthly, weekly insurance or if you are one of those who do little diving, you can become one for a single day. These are the most economical. Logically !! you can see the prices here.

Diving equipment

The diving equipment is something you can choose if you buy it full, partial or always rent it. Depending on how many times you go diving per year, it is that profitable to have it of your own. All dive centers have equipment rental service, prices vary depending on the site, but when you rent, it will always be for 1, 2 or more dives, daily rental. Ask the price before booking?

Diving boat

The boat in diving is an almost indispensable tool for many diving areas. Being able to reach more remote places and the comfort of diving from a boat is something that all divers like, although the type of boat is something that influences comfort and capacity. The boat service, for example in  Estepona Diving Center is already included in the price of the dives, so they may seem more expensive than elsewhere, but if you ask in other dive centers for the price of the dives from the boat , you will see how there is not so much difference.

If you just want to try diving

For Padi there are 3 ways to try scuba diving (they are commonly called diving baptisms). You can do these in the pool, the sea, or hire the hybrid of both, first pool and then in the sea. You should know that when talking about the sea, the instructors are obliged to respect maximum depths and acceptable conditions for a quiet dive. Just as an OWD titled Diver cannot go down more than 18m, or an Advanced cannot go down more than 30m, a diving baptism cannot exceed 12m in depth. Be careful with that, do not take deeper. Perhaps it is exciting to lower more, but the risks multiply with every meter you go down and it is not worth putting yourself in danger during a hobby.

The diving instructors pay their fees corresponding to their respective federations every year and also have a diving insurance that covers themselves and their students provided that the rules of depth and time are respected. In this way, someone who does not have a diver’s qualification can dive accompanied by an instructor being covered with the latter’s insurance. Do not try to charge it separately!

Information for diving trips

Diving trips are increasingly fashionable because the number of divers multiplies every year.

These trips to paradisiacal sites for diving are an alternative to typical beach trips, cultural or leisure. Depending on the place you visit and the culture, you will find very good diving professionals and some not so good. These with less professionalism, will take care of taking you to dive and not give you the service as you deserve. This way they get more profitable and the profits are greater.

Every year, divers who have dived in hundreds of places and others who have taken advantage of their vacations to do their diving courses arrive at our diving center Estepona. I have to say that not always getting your degree in an ideal place for diving is the best.

Recommendation

When one learns to dive in places with high visibility, without currents or with temperatures that almost reach the body, it is more difficult to dive in a not so easy place. The recommendation I give you is that you learn in a place closer to your home, where it is more difficult to dive, where visibility is not the best and where there are currents or sea in the background. Make the comparison with learning to drive with a truck and then take your usual car. Something similar happens in diving. Who learns to dive in those paradises, then he hardly knows how to react in more difficult conditions. It is better to learn to function in difficult places and then travel to those sites than vice versa. You will appreciate it.

However, if you have any doubts, you have the right to be clearly informed of everything, so that no surprises come to you. If you want to clarify something else you can contact us, we will help you in every way possible.

 

 

Find us also in Sotogrande