Learning advanced skills while diving in Zanzibar
If you´re an open water diver, becoming an advanced one is the next step to go deeper, to try different experiences, to build confidence and to learn new scuba skills underwater.
You can do your diving course in many places, but if you have the chance to do it in Zanzibar, it´s certainly a great place for diving! It has some of the most beautiful dive sites of the world! I did my Advanced Diving Course in Zanzibar with Spanish Dancer Divers, and it was great!
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HOW IS THE COURSE
I did my course with Spanish Dancer Divers, a great diving school located in Nungwi and certified by PADI.
When you do your Advanced Course, you gotta do 5 dives. Two are mandatory: Navigation and Deep Dive. The others you can choose between many options offered by PADI, such as Peak Buoyancy Performance, Night Dive, Underwater Photography, Fish Identification, Underwater Video etc.
The course includes theory and practice. You receive a PADI book with all the info about advanced diving. You have to read 5 chapters (from the 2 mandatory dives and the 3 ones you chose to do), and answer the questions about them.
Usually you do 2 dives a day, so in general it takes you 3 days to finish the course. In case you pick the night dive, you may as well complete it in 2 days, as you can do 2 dives in the morning, then a night dive, all in the same day.
It costs 395 U$ (Oct/16) and includes the PADI material, the gear you´ll need, the 5 dives, the instructor and the snacks, fruits and water on the boat.
Bloggers tip: if you book it in advance, you get 10% discount
After you complete the course, you receive your Advanced Certificate at home, in your mailing address.
Bloggers tip: Travel safe using the best travel insurance, which covers even adventure sports! Get a quote here
MANDATORY DIVES
The dives you have to do when doing an Advanced Course are Navigation and Deep Dive, both very important.
– Navigation: on the Navigation dive you learn how to get oriented underwater, using a compass and also natural references, such as bottom surface, reefs, plants, currents, and also by using your kick cycles or time lapse. It´s great to learn how to find your way out of water (finding the boat or the shore), I usually felt so lost while diving before it!
– Deep Dive: on this dive, as the name says, you go deep! While with the open water license you could go only at 18m, with the advanced one you can dive as deep as 30m (the limit recommended for recreational diving). You get to see different sea life going that deep, and might also experience gas narcosis, that makes you feel kinda “drunk” underwater.
Are you going to Zanzibar? Here you can check all the accommodation options, from hostels to hotels and resorts. And if you book it through this link, you help to maintain this blog online, and you don´t have to pay anything for that.
OPTIONAL DIVES
You gotta pick three more specialties to complete the diving course. The most popular, and very important, are Peak Performance Buoyancy and Night Dive. I also pick Underwater Photography.
You can also choose between Fish Identification, Underwater Video, Underwater Naturalist, Dry Suit Diving, Wreck etc.
– Peak Performance Buoyancy: in my opinion, it´s one of the most important things to learn to dive properly. If you manage to keep a neutral buoyancy, you get much more relaxed while diving, and save lots of air. Also, you manage to appreciate more, as you assume the control over your movements – you get to go close to the bottom without touching it.
Btw, for me this was the hardest to learn! But the good thing is that you can keep practicing all you learned in your next dives.
– Night Dive: such a great experience! For this dive we went from the shore, which was also interesting. It´s totally different to observe the sea life at night, just with the light of the flashlight. Also, you see some species that only go out at night. Another cool thing about the night dive is that you get to see the bioluminescence, so nice!
– Underwater Photography: perfect for who likes to take photos, the underwater views and the sea life are amazing, so colorful and interesting! In this dive you learn many tips about how to take good underwater photos, considering the angle, the light, the movement etc. Also, you practice a lot your neutral buoyancy, as you gotta be leveled and steady to be able to take good photos while diving.
WHO OFFERS THE COURSE
There are many diving schools in Zanzibar that offer the Advanced Course. I did it with Spanish Dancer Divers, and I definitely recommend it. They are very good, super experienced and they´re also cool guys!
The school has highly skilled PADI dive instructors and experienced dive masters. Also, they guide/teach in English, Spanish, French, German and Swahili!
It´s located in Nungwi, in the Northern part of Zanzibar, close to the main dive sites of the archipelago. They offer all kinds of diving courses: Open Water, Advanced, Rescue, Dive Master, Instructor etc.
A cool thing about them is that they offer a free refresher course, in case it´s been a long time since your last dive, so that you can remember all about it. Also, you can borrow a gopro for your dive, for free! They offer coffee, tea, water, hot shower and wifi, all for free as well.
Btw, if you´re staying far from the diving school, they pick you up at the hotel.
If you are diving in Zanzibar, you should definitely look for these guys!
How about you? Have you already been to Zanzibar and have some cool tips about the city? Or do you plan to visit it and have some doubts? Share your ideas leaving a comment here!
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Planning your trip:
– Accommodation: you can book your accommodation here – hotels/hostels comparing and free booking cancel
– Travel Insurance: travel safe using the best travel insurance that covers even adventure sports – get a quote here
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The blogger did the Advanced Diving Course by invitation of Spanish Dancer Divers. I’d like to thank again for the opportunity, and also make it clear that all the opinions present here are independent and personal.
