Hello all,

I seem to recall that Club Med offered PADI certification in certain locations. I'm thinking about getting Open Water Advanced certified at a Club Med in a few months. I would like to know if this is possible, and if so how much it costs and what it takes.

Also, I would like to know if it's possible to take the theory classes before my trip and only do the required dives at CM, so I can enjoy my time there as much as possible. If so, how much would it cost then?

Thank you very much to anyone who can help me.

Cheers,

Zizou.

Hi Zizou

I did my PADI certification at Club Med Faru - the dive outfit there is run by an external dive outfit called Eurodivers. Although Club Med Faru no longer exists, I've also dived with Eurodivers in other Club Meds in Kani (Maldives), Phuket (Thailand) and El Gouna (Egypt).

Eurodivers is a pretty good place to do your course as I think they're strict on safety issues, organaized, professional and great fun to dive with. There is a price list on the PADI courses they offer at their website www.eurodivers.com. It's a good idea to do your theory first at home as there's quite a bit to read up on for the Open Water - e-mail Eurodivers to check how much it would be to do the certification with prior completion of the theory portion.

Kani is a good place to do your PADI course as the confined water lessons are done in the lagoon instead of the pool.

Cheers
Miki

Zizou,
I don't know where you are from or which zone you want to visit, but Columbus Isle has an extensive dive program.

John

I've heard but excellent comments about the Eurodivers team.

Miki, for some reason, your URL doesn't work. Here it is again:
http://www.eurodivers.com/

Thank you all for your answers.
John-Chicago, I'm from Montreal, so I guess it would be either Columbus-Isle or Turks (where I've dived before). I was also impressed by the professionalism, which is why I thought about getting my advanced at CM.
On the website, I couldn't find any info about certification though.
Do you know how much it may cost in full or alternatively for the certification dives only? Or even if this last option is allowed? I'm not sure Eurodivers is the norm for the NA zone.
Thanks again!
Zizou

zizou,
if i'm reading your post correctly you are already certified as a PADI Open Water diver, yes? and you want to take the Advanced Open Water class, correct? if this is correct then there is no need to take the theory class before going. the advanced class is mostly diving and at the most there would be 1-2 hours of reading for each dive before you do them. i will pm you an email for scuba at turks and they should be able to quote you prices.

Dive deep, live shallow...Padre
www.clubmedxgo.com
http://photos.yahoo.com/padre_57

Thank you Padre, I got your PM.

www.euro-divers.com

For whoever is researching this and stumbled upon this conversation, here is the reply I got from chief of scuba at Turks, in case it can be useful to someone:

Yes you can do your advanced open water diver certification here at Club Med turkoise.
The cost for it is $325us included 5 dives + book and certification.
If you buy the book in a dive shop in advanced we can make a little reduction on the package, you can start to read deep dive, navigation, night, drift, fish identification and complete at each end of those chapiter the knowledge review questionnaire.
You do not need to reserve the course in advanced, we do give in priority the open water and advanced course every week.

Thank you again abdella for the contact info.