I am glad I made the effort to research and find a local,
private dive club and to not go with the 'easy' option of the
tour operators affiliated shops. It was easy to organise with
ECO DIVING CUBA TEAM over the phone and email once at the hotel
and I was pleased that they took us away from the 'tourist'
spots to dive in places where we were the only ones underwater.
We organised 3 days of diving (wanted to do more but time was
short). We were picked up at the hotel, the equipment was good
quality and the dive team were friendly, professional, relaxed,
and good guides.
We did 4 dives around Matanzas and 2 in the Bay of Pigs. The
day trip to the Bay of Pigs included a fantastic lunch at a
family's house giving you a real glimpse into local life. It
was a great day out.
THE SCUBA TEAM were all perfect hosts and it was lovely to have
a coffee or juice at the house before heading back.
Thanks all - give Charlie a hi from me too!
The Scuba Experience program is not a certification course, but an introduction to diving. On completion, the participant is issued with a certificate of participation, but this has no validity as a diving qualification. However, if you enjoy the experience, you can continue onto the Scuba Diver course directly.
The Scuba Diver course, is the fastest way to become a diver. The international Scuba Diver certification permits you to dive all over the world, to a depth of 12 meters (40 feet), on the condition that you are accompanied by a diving professional. This is considered a non-autonomous diver certification by RSTC standards.
The Open Water Diver Course provides you the training and
skills necessary to become an autonomous diver. If you have
already attended the Scuba Diver Course... you've already got a
head start and the training received during that course may
count toward your open water certification!
The international certification you will attain enables you to
dive with a buddy (without the requirement of being accompanied
by a diving professional) to a maximum depth of 18 meters (60
feet).
My partner and I wanted to learn how to dive in Cuba and were so overjoyed to have found Eco Diving Team with whom to do our training! they are very warm and friendly, but also very serious about safety and attention to detail. We felt incredibly safe with these staff. They ensured that we met all the requirements of the PSS dive certification so that we would feel safe comfortable enough to manage our own equipment in and out of the water, and to be able to deal with unexpected situations underwater calmly while under the water.He was able to operate in both Spanish and English and we enjoyed a lot of personal attention. There were only 3 of us in the course and there would be 2-3 attentive instructors with us on each dive. We were taken to some very beautiful reefs and saw lot of incredible sea life. A couple highlights were a coral wall and an enchanting cave full of fish! We enjoyed some wonderful lunches with the gang and were welcomed warmly by their entire family.
The Advanced Open Water Diver course represents the level of dive training where you will learn to manage some special activities such as exploring deeper and navigating with and without a compass. You may also learn to search for and salvage objects, dive in a current, on wrecks, in conditions of poor visibility, or at night. The international certification you will attain during this course certifies you to dive, with a dive buddy, to a depth of 30 meters (100 feet).
The Scuba Rescue Diver course is one of the best ways of learning how to deal with diving emergencies. However, in the PSS training system there are two other courses dedicated to rescue: First Aid - CPR and Oxygen in Diving Emergency. The first has general applications, while the second deals with the administration of normobaric oxygen to an injured diver. These three courses are therefore complementary and designed to deal with scenarios associated with a diving emergency.
Although the Advanced Open Water Diver certification opens the door to many new diving opportunities, going deeper, without the proper training, is irresistible. If you want to venture to deeper depths, you can attend the Deep Diver course. At the end of the training you will have the knowledge and skills to make no-deco stop dives, with a dive buddy, to a maximum depth of 40 meters (130 feet), which is the maximum depth limit for recreational divers.
The PSS training system provides many specialized courses that are aimed at mastering the diving techniques already acquired or maybe trying something completely new. Some of the courses you can choose from include: Night Diving, Limited Visibility Diving, Wreck Diving, Drift Diving, Search and Salvage, Underwater Ecology, Nitrox Diving, Digital Underwater Photography, and many more.
