Swap the Cold Quarry for the Coral Reef: Why You Should Get Certified in Bohol
You have finally booked your flights to the Philippines, and you have decided that this is the trip where you are going to get your PADI Open Water Diver certification. Congratulations!
But almost immediately, a well-meaning friend gives you a piece of advice: “You should do your certification at the local dive shop here at home before you fly. That way, you won’t waste your vacation days learning.”
It sounds like logical advice. Why sit in a classroom or do drills when you could be drinking from a coconut on Alona Beach? So, you look up your local dive center in the UK, Canada, or the USA, and you see that your open water training dives will take place in a murky, 12-degree Celsius (53°F) local lake or an abandoned rock quarry.
At Sierra Madre Divers, we hear this story all the time. And we are here to tell you: getting certified in the tropics is infinitely better than getting certified back home. Here is why you should save your training for the warm waters of Bohol, and how you can use a simple digital hack to avoid “wasting” a single moment of your vacation.
The Comfort Factor: Warm Water Equals Less Anxiety
Learning to breathe underwater is a psychological hurdle. You want to be as physically comfortable as possible while you master the skills.
If you learn in a cold-water environment, you will have to wear a thick 7mm wetsuit, a neoprene hood, and heavy gloves. You will need significantly more lead weight on your belt to sink that thick suit, making you feel clumsy and restricted. The cold water can shock your face and elevate your breathing rate, which increases anxiety.
In Bohol, the water temperature sits around a bath-like 28°C to 30°C (82°F – 86°F). You can do your training in a thin 3mm shorty or just a rash guard. You have full mobility, you need very little weight, and you stay incredibly relaxed. When your body is warm and comfortable, your brain absorbs information much faster.
The Views: Turtles vs. Sunken Shopping Carts
Your first four open water training dives are something you will remember for the rest of your life.
In many North American or European training lakes, the visibility is often less than 3 meters (10 feet). To give students something to look at, local dive shops often sink old school buses, shopping carts, or plastic flamingos.
In Bohol, your training takes place on living, breathing coral reefs with 20+ meters of crystal-clear visibility. Instead of navigating by a sunken tire, you are practicing your neutral buoyancy while a school of colorful damselfish swims past your mask. It is not uncommon for our Open Water students to see sea turtles, clownfish, and blue-ringed octopuses before they even officially receive their certification cards.
The Ultimate Hack: PADI eLearning
The main reason people want to certify at home is to avoid spending their tropical vacation sitting in a classroom reading a textbook. Thanks to modern technology, you don’t have to do that either!
With the PADI eLearning system, you can split your course into two parts:
- The Theory (At Home): You purchase the digital eLearning package before your trip. You can complete all the reading, watch the instructional videos, and take all your quizzes and final exams on your laptop or tablet from the comfort of your living room couch or during your daily commute.
- The Water (In Bohol): When you arrive at Sierra Madre Divers, the “boring” part is already done. You show us your completion certificate, we do a quick review, and we jump straight into the pool and the ocean.
By using eLearning, your course in Bohol takes just two and a half days, and every single moment is spent in the water having fun.
Vacation Mindset
Learning to dive back home usually means squeezing evening pool sessions in after a stressful day at the office, and then giving up your entire weekend to drive out to a cold lake. You are stressed, rushed, and thinking about your Monday morning inbox.
When you learn in Bohol, you are on “island time.” You wake up, eat fresh mangoes for breakfast, stroll down to the dive shop in your flip-flops, and learn at a relaxed, vacation pace. You are well-rested, completely disconnected from daily stressors, and fully present in the moment.
Start Your Adventure the Right Way
Your introduction to the underwater world should be magical, comfortable, and awe-inspiring. Don’t freeze in a local quarry just to save a day of your trip.
Set up your PADI eLearning today, pack your swimsuit, and let the instructors at Sierra Madre Divers introduce you to the ocean the way it was meant to be experienced. Contact us today to secure your Open Water course dates in paradise!
