How long does it take to qualify for the type of diving both you and Arfie do?
I can't speak for Arfie, but I have been diving just over a year. however I have fallen in love of the techy stuff, so I am pursuing ever more technical and deeper diving. The first PADI course is a 4 or 5 day affair often, while BSAC tends to take longer but is cheaper and done in an amateur club style. PADI is good to get you in the water, but BSAC is better for teaching you to dive in British waters. And if you can dive in British waters then the rest of the world is easy.
If all goes well I may be able to hit an unknown wreck in a couple of weeks, so I could have some pics for you.
That pretty much sums up my feelings on it
PADI (Pay And Dive Immediately) get you in the water and BSAC seem (I've not joined a club yet, but I'm off to see one tonight) to take their time and train you to a better standard at a recreational level
When I started I did my Open Water as a rush job in 2 weeks, (3 nights a week and 2 days in Stoney Cold in the algae bloom) but normally it's a 5-6 week course doing 1 night per week and your OW dives at the weekend.
I'm the opposite of Andy though, all the techy stuff means nothing to me, the deeper you go, the darker and colder it gets and 20 mins on the bottom looking at a lump of rusty metal at 70m can lead to 3 hours hanging around midwater decompressing with nothing to look at.
I've just booked a holiday to the Red Sea Riviera and i'm going to try diving. I can't wait. Its something i've wanted to try for ages.
It's only a 1 week holiday and the PADI course is 4/5 days so i won't be doing it on this visit, but just to swim with the fishies in the red sea should be absolutely amazing!
I would recommend doing your training over here but if you don't fancy diving in a cold lake (why wouldn't you? ) you could go on a referral course, that way you do the classroom and pool work here so you don't waste time on holiday, then do your qualifying dives in t'egypt in the warm clear blue water.
As for the claustraphobia/agoraphobia, I have no issues with either (or rather I've not had YET!) but my buddy gets paniced sometimes when swimming over large expanses of nothing like sand or in mid water with no solid point of reference. When that happens he signals that his ears are hurting and I tend to take the lead and he'll follow me until he's recovered his composure.
Well I did Stoney at the weekend and it was pants viz so I left the camera in the car both dives, but I did get 2 more dives in my drysuit and am ready to hit the salty stuff. Oh yeah and I got sunburned too.
Arfie
in the middle of the midwest USA (south dakota).
