Many would-be divers have mixed feelings about certifying while on vacation. On one hand, holiday dive courses can make your trip truly memorable and provide a better learning experience, particularly if you’re traveling somewhere tropical. On the other hand, very few people want to waste precious vacation time poring over textbooks or learning theory in a stuffy classroom. Fortunately, most training organizations offer a referral course, which can offer students the best of both worlds.
Entry-level referral courses split the learning process into distinct segments — theory, confined-water sessions, and open-water dives. New divers complete their theory and pool skills with a local dive center, which then provides referral forms to allow the student to complete the open-water section of their course while on vacation. Here we’ll explore both the benefits and drawbacks associated with referral courses and try to help prospective divers decide whether or not this option is the right choice for them.
Pros
The most obvious benefit of a referral course is that it eliminates the need to study while on vacation, allowing new divers to make the most of their time abroad. It also gives divers more time to enjoy their destination after becoming certified, since time that would have been spent in the classroom at the beginning of the trip can be spent exploring dive sites instead. With the exception of a brief knowledge quiz and a short skill review in confined water, referral divers are ready to go diving from the moment they reach their chosen destination.
Perhaps even more importantly, divers who complete their theory and pool sessions at home often have a better understanding of theoretical concepts and a greater mastery of essential scuba skills. Without the constraints of a 3- to 4-day vacation course, students can learn in a more relaxed environment over a longer period of time, ensuring that any problems are properly addressed and resolved. Additionally, learning at home can be more productive than learning abroad, where vacation distractions can hinder studying.
A referral course also gives new divers the opportunity to choose a destination with excellent conditions for their open-water training dives, helping ensure that their first scuba experience will be positive. This is especially relevant for new divers from temperate countries, where local dive sites primarily consist of murky quarries and cold lakes. At the same time, a referral course also introduces divers to their local dive center and offers the chance to become involved with their dive community at home. This is important, as the camaraderie and support of a local dive center is often the key to continuing diving long after the vacation ends.
Cons
The biggest drawback of a referral course applies when a diver allows too much time to pass between the theory and pool sessions that they complete at home and the open-water dives that they complete abroad. The second part of a referral course must be completed within 6 months or a year, depending on the training organization), but after just a few weeks, newly learned skills can become rusty enough that performing them in open water while on vacation is difficult.
The other potential disadvantage of a referral course is its necessary lack of continuity. During the course, a student will have at least two instructors — one at home and one abroad — and may be exposed to different teaching methods or contrasting personalities. This can be good for some students; for others, the change may be unwelcome, particularly if they were especially comfortable with the first instructor’s approach. Instructors aren’t the only changing variable from dive center to dive center, either; signing up for a referral course likely means that new divers must adapt to different equipment and a different daily routine as well.
Ultimately, a referral course can be an excellent way of getting certified, giving divers the chance to experience foreign dive sites while also becoming a part of their local dive community. If you do choose to sign up for a referral course, though, aim to complete both parts of the referral course in quick succession. It’s a good idea to choose a local dive center that sends its referral students to an affiliated foreign center, one that they can recommend from personal experience. Most importantly, make sure that you complete a quick knowledge and skills review upon arrival at your destination to refresh what you learned at home, while also giving yourself a chance to get used to any changes in equipment.
