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When I did my diving course, I was told that it was much easier diving in warm waters so if you finish your course in colder seas, you don't have to have a diving skill check before your recreational dive with a new diving operator. On the other hand, if you finished your courses in warm waters, they test your basic skills before they let you underwater.

If I understood correctly, cold waters are considered those that are not in tropical seas so not that chilly to start with but I would like to know where the coldest place that offers PADI diving courses is? That diving school should not be specializing in cold-water diving but should have all the courses, starting with Open Water Diver course.

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Try learning in the UK in the winter in a lake, they don't quite have to crack the ice but it's pretty close... – Gagravarr Nov 2 '12 at 22:21
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Is this on topic here or just another candidate for outdoors.stackexchange.com? – Marcel C. Nov 2 '12 at 22:41
Considering I would visit the location would qualify this question for this site. I don't believe I have to mention that in each question. – rlesko Nov 3 '12 at 13:14
I don't know much about diving, but maybe the Norwegian diving association would have some hints toward an answer to this question. – gerrit Nov 3 '12 at 13:51

2 Answers

up vote 6 down vote

The PADI Dive Centre at Scapa Flow in Orkney is the coldest in the UK, and at a latitude of 59 degrees north it has to be a contender.

It would certainly qualify as a cold water dive centre, and as a bonus you can see the German High Seas Fleet that was scuttled there on 21st June 1919.

From their website, they have the following courses:

  • Try a dive
  • Open Water Diver 4 day course
  • Advanced Open Water diver
  • Rescue Diver
  • Emergency First Response
  • Divemaster
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up vote 1 down vote

When I did my diving course, I was told that it was much easier diving in warm waters so if you finish your course in colder seas, you don't have to have a diving skill check before your recreational dive with a new diving operator. On the other hand, if you finished your courses in warm waters, they test your basic skills before they let you underwater.

It is up to every dive center to ask you for a diving skill check before they let you dive. They normally much rather take a look at your divelog or make you take a "welcome dive" than asking you what temperature your first dives were in.

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I've experienced what was described several times, so it does happen! They hear my accent, ask if I learnt to dive in the UK, shake their heads and call me crazy, then let me go diving! Those from warm dive schools normally get the questions and log book checks – Gagravarr Dec 20 '12 at 8:17
I can imagine that they have a worry that people who learned in Asia (i.e. on holidays) do not have a proper training or do not take diving as serious as someone who learned it in a rather uncomfortable situation. However I think it is a far stretch to go do your padi in "the coldest place possible" and assume that nobody ever will look at your divelog or make you do a welcome dive just because you tell them the temperature you did your padi in. in the end you could have done so 10 years ago and not have a single dive since then. – uncovery Dec 20 '12 at 8:24
They do always ask when my last dive was, I just normally get to skip a lot of the other questions. It's not a get-out-of-jail-free pass, but it does seem to help! – Gagravarr Dec 20 '12 at 10:45
This is not an answer for the question. – VMAtm Dec 21 '12 at 10:12

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