Christmas in Cozumel: PADI Certification 🤿

Typically Christmas for Jews involves a movie and Chinese food, but this year my friend Jenny and I decided to spice it up. Dreading the upcoming cold snap and looking for adventure, we researched multiple locations in the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico that offered flights that were reasonable for me traveling from New York and Jenny from San Fransisco.

Our top two contenders were Belize and Cozumel based on our online research and my parents’ recommendations. After hunting for flights during the busiest season of the year to travel, we agreed that Cozumel was the best choice for us.

After we booked our flights, I did some initial research on the PADI website while Jenny researched resorts with scuba diving offerings on booking.com. One fab feature of the PADI website is that it tells you which dive centers are onsite at each resort, which helped narrow down our options. At the end of the day, the prices for most resorts were exactly the same, I’m talking within $100. Plus, booking directly through PADI, you get everything taken care of with an agent in one fell swoop.

Booking through PADI.com would be my recommendation. HOWEVER, we decided to book through booking.com because PADI only had a pool view available and we preferred the ocean view that booking.com offered. Once again, same price, more work, and lord knows what their inventory is at any given time. So if you’d like to save time, trust going through PADI! I utilized the chat box and had immediate access to personalized agent who was extremely helpful and sweet.

Filtering through the resort options, we went with Secrets Aura Cozumel based on our budget which was ~$2,500 total for 6 days during peak season. We liked the pictures of the place and loved the fact that it was adults only, so we wouldn’t have to share the pool with the mini-sized mistakes/blessings of others.

Deciphering the PADI options also took some research so let me save you that time:

• PADI® Open Water Diver is the first scuba certification level (and what we signed up for). A PADI Instructor will teach you how to scuba dive, and by the end of the 3-4 day course you'll be certified to dive domestically and internationally.

• If you have qualms and don’t want to commit a few days to getting your certification, PADI offers a Discover Scuba® Diving experience (~3 hours), so you can try scuba diving for the first time in a pool before deciding to commit to a full PADI® Open Water Diver scuba diving certification.

• PADI also offers continuing education (CE), such as Advanced Open Water (3-4 days), a ReActivate course to refresh your previous certification skills (<1 day), and even a Digital Underwater Photographer course (2 days) once you have your Open Water Diver certification!

Because we didn’t go through the PADI website, we booked our PADI Open Water Diver scuba certification directly through the onsite dive center via calling and booking (once again, more work, this ocean view better be worth it). We also opted to buy the online PADI course for independent study rather than classroom study - we were fortunate enough to find a discount during black Friday to buy it for $160 but it’s usually $200. This purchase wasn’t necessary, but we opted to save a day in the classroom so we could burn ourselves by the pool instead.

It down-poured Christmas day, so we ordered room service for breakfast and lunch and watched a Harry Potter marathon. For dinner, we were good Jews and went to the Chinese buffet.

After a rainy Saturday and Sunday, on Monday we started our scuba class!

PADI Dive Certification

Two drowned rats

Day 1

Our instructor was a PADI Divemaster named Javier. He was extremely calm and supportive, which is exactly the energy I needed.

We filled out our paperwork and learned about our gear: how to assemble it, keep it clean, and how to put in on. Once we were in the pool we practiced breathing, taking our gear on and off underwater, taking out and replacing our regulators, free-flow regulator breathing, and how to control our buoyancy. Jenny was able to fill and clear her mask, while I freaked out popped up to the surface every time I tried. Javier was patient and told me to continue getting used to the sensation of breathing underwater - it’s obviously foreign and I needed more time to acclimate.

The pool was cold since it was a cloudy day, so we got out, warmed up, and learned how to properly disassemble our gear.

Day 2

A beautiful rainbow popped out!

🌈

It was time for our first open dive! Javier assured us the shallow water was much warmer than the pool (it was - it was about 82ºF). We went to the pier and had the boat to ourselves. After riding out for about 5 minutes, we put on our gear and back rolled into the water. Once we got to the buoy, Javier had Jenny remove and replace her mask in the salt water. I had a hard time trying to switch from the regulator to the snorkel, so he had me wait to acclimate. Once we descended, I felt really comfortable underwater! We practiced additional hand signals and Jenny and I made our own, a little heart with our hands 🫶🏼, to ensure we were both ok.

We dove to a maximum depth of 37ft and our first dive was 40 minutes. We practiced our buoyancy, safety stops, and proper swimming form. It was both drift and current diving in Cozumel, so we had to learn how to let ourselves be carried by the water.

Our second dive was nearby - we got out of the water, took our gear off, replaced the oxygen tanks, and put everything right back on. Another standard back roll, except this time at the buoy Javier had me attempt to fill and clear my mask. Just like in the pool, the second the salt water hit my nose my Neanderthal brain forgot that I had a regulator in my mouth and I had a cute little full-on panic attack. Javier re-inflated my BCD and Jenny held my hand as I hyperventilated at the surface.

I think this is important to include because I want others to know that it’s ok! PADI instructors don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with and have an endless amount of patience.

Once I caught my breath and relaxed, we began our second descent. Once again, I was much calmer underwater. I was able to explore a bit and improved my buoyancy. The visibility at this reef was about 200ft, we saw brilliant orange and purple coral, angelfish, butterfly fish, a barracuda, a stingray, and my favorite, a pufferfish. I hung around a minute or two to watch the adorable pufferfish, and saw that Javier and Jenny were 30ft ahead of me. They turned around in surprise that I felt comfortable enough to explore and had controlled my buoyancy so well in the drift.

Jenny had difficulty equalizing her mask on the second descent, so Javier spent more time with her at a shallower depth. After the dive she still felt pressure in her ear, so she was recommended to avoid cold drinks and take a decongestant before our dive the next day.

Day 3

We passed! 💯

Final day. Last opportunity to clear my mask. I woke up at 8am, took my snorkel to the pool, and practiced submerging my face while breathing through the snorkel. I spent about ~10 minutes doing this over and over again until I could convince my brain not to freak out. Jenny sat on a pool chair and cheered me on.

Javier then did the worst thing imaginable - he chose that specific moment to take god awful pictures of us. I know it doesn’t matter, but Jenny and I are vain and we look absolutely busted in those pictures that will stay with us forever. I refuse to show anyone. PADI will be hearing from us begging to send them better pictures.

We took a final written test and headed to the dock. Javier was convinced that I would be able to clear my mask that day, and the memory of the adorable pufferfish emboldened my determination.

We had a lovely lady group on the boat with us: Jenny and I (best friends), two other women (either dating or engaged), and one solo woman (we love a solo traveler). Jenny and I both broke the plastic connectors for our snorkels (oops) so we just went in with our regulators.

I practiced breathing in my mouth and out my nose to clear my mask. As Jenny had passed this test already, Javier could solely focus on me. We completed our first dive and saw a bunch of other divers in the water, along with a stingray swimming about 15ft away from us. Stingrays are extremely graceful but I still hold a grudge for Steve Irwin.

For our second dive it was go time. Time to clear my mask and get it behind me once and for all. I remained as calm as I could, Javier held the strap of my jacket/BCD, and I practiced a few more clearing breaths, in through my mouth, out through my nose. I closed my eyes and whipped my mask off. In my regulator, out my nose. I stuck it back on my face and cleared through my nose three times for good measure before I opened my eyes again.

Javier shook his finger at me and signaled to ascend.

“Do you need me to do it again?” I asked, proud and ready to take on the aquatic world.

“I’m just kidding! You did perfect!” I knew you could do it!” He laughed and shook my hand.

I faced a huge fear through support from Jenny, patience from Javier, and all the encouraging messages on Instagram I got from dive certified friends who assured me that the mask clearing was the biggest hurdle.

Our second dive had more of a current, and at one point the three of us were separated as we tried to cross over the reef. I saw Jenny swimming in place with her hands and legs and was confused, so I went closer to her and tried to tell her to swim more with her legs than her arms. Later I learned that she was caught in a current and was having her own cute little panic attack as Javier was drifting further away. I stayed in her line of vision until she was able to swim out of it and we caught back up with our divemaster.

Proud and exhausted we climbed back on the boat. Once back on shore, Javier filled out our final paperwork and we tipped him for his endless patience.

We had lunch, napped in hammocks, and called our families to tell them the good news.

I’m excited to dive again!