Aquatic Adventures Children and Scuba Diving Specialists in Northern Virginia

Family Scuba Diving Vacation:

When I was single I would go on a scuba diving vacation where ever I wanted and when ever I wanted.  Now that I am married and have children I have to plan my vacations around my children.  When they were little my wife and I would take them everywhere we went.  We would take turns diving, one of us would go out on the dive boat and the other would take the kids to the beach or pool – then we would switch.

Once my children reached school age we could only take them on a trip during the summer vacation or during the Thanksgiving break from school.  Again my wife and I would take turns diving and taking the kids snorkeling.  Since we are both PADI Scuba Instructors we were careful not to push them into Scuba diving.  They learned to snorkel and loved it, especially since they had their own child size mask, snorkel and fins.  When they were older and asked us to teach them to dive we did so.  It was “their idea not ours.”

Training Children to Scuba Dive

Once the decision was made to teach my children to scuba dive the first question would be where to have them trained?  For us it was a not an issue, since we are both Scuba Instructors, we would do the training ourselves.  Children, however, cannot expect to use adult equipment and learn without problems. Properly fitted equipment designed for children is a must. Since we own our own Dive Center we ordered a buoyancy control device or BCD designed for children and a regulator specially fitted with shorter hoses and a child’s mouthpiece.  We also fitted each of them in their own wetsuit.  If children get cold they will not enjoy the experience and will not want to dive.   We now have several of each of these in rental for training children.

The Boys Scouts of America now has a Scuba Diving Merit Badge in addition to a Scuba BSA patch. The Girl Scouts of  America has an Interest Participation Patch for a Scuba Diving Pool Experience.  The Boy Scouts also have a summer camp called Sea Base that offers snorkeling and Scuba Diving for Scouts and Scouters (adult Scout parents) accompanying them.  There is even a Scuba Diving Merit Badge for Boy Scouts.  If you are a non diver consider taking the course with your child.  It is something fun and exciting to do together.  If you learn to Scuba dive with your child can be a real bonding experience.  It is also something you will do together long after your children have grown to the age where they want to be with their friends.

If you decide that this is something worthwhile for your family, start by selecting a Dive Center that is “into children.”  Make sure that they have equipment specifically fitted for the adolescent diver.  Ask questions.  Not all Scuba Instructors have the patience necessary for younger divers.  Those who have children of their own or who are involved in Scouting often make the best Scuba Instructors for children. Once they are certified consider getting them their own Scuba equipment.  Most resorts do not have children sizes of equipment in stock.  Making do with adult equipment can be very difficult for anyone, especially children. The extra expense is well worth it if your children develop a love for diving and if you consider the extra safety factor.

Take a little time and you and your children are in for a life time of fun and adventure.

Today, more than ever  you have many choices in where to book your Scuba diving vacation.  The internet makes travel shopping very easy.  However, the internet does not specialize in dive travel, and ease is not the only criteria for selecting your travel assistants.  When you book your vacation you seek a quality dive location, good service from both your resort and travel broker, and last but not least a good price. The staff at Aquatic Adventures Scuba Academy loves to dive and have personally been to most of the finest dive locations in the world and dive vacations are our specialty!

QUALITY:
Finding a great country or island to spend your Scuba diving vacation is only part of your search.  You also want to stay at a quality resort.  You want great dive sites and a reputable dive outfit to see to your needs.    What is best for an experienced diver is not necessarily the best choice for a new diver.

SERVICE:
You work hard for your vacation time and you do not want to waste it!  When you call Aquatic Adventures Scuba Academy in Alexandria Virginia for your travel needs we will do all the work for you.   We work with many reputable Scuba Diving Travel Companies.   We can help you check hotel and airline availability.  We will help you obtain the best flights and connections.  We will even arrange airport to hotel transfers to simplify your vacation.  As a PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Dive Center, in Northern Virginia, if we cannot help you we will try and refer you to someone who can.

We will save you hours of time that you would otherwise spend trying to do things for yourself.

PRICE:
Preventing Mistakes: Many divers spend more than they really have to when they book their dive vacations.  A very common mistake for new divers is to book a week of diving in addition to booking the certification dives that you might want to complete on your vacation.  Since the certification dives often include boat diving your are actually paying twice for the first two days.  An experienced Scuba Trip planner will know this and when we book your dive vacation we will make sure that you only pay for what you need!

Aquatic Adventures Scuba Academy in Northern Virginia, has group Scuba Diving Trips scheduled throughout the year.  Our group trips are all meticulously planned and all you have to do is show up.  Most of our group SCUBA trips also have special pricing for those who wish to snorkel and not dive.  Want the easy way – join us on one of our regularly scheduled Scuba Diving Vacations.  If your Dive Travel plans do not match ours – no problem.  Simply contact us at scuba@learn2dive.net and let us know where  you want to go and when and we will be happy to help you schedule your very own Aquatic Adventure.

Having been a PADI  SCUBA Instructor and SCUBA Diving Trip Leader for over 25 years, I have seen a number of problems.  The majority of these problems ;are scuba dive equipment related and most are the result of diver error.  Simple precautions can prevent them and help insure a fun diving experience.  The following are seven of the Most Common Dive Equipment Errors.

Not wetting your Buoyancy Control Device (BCD) strap. If your BCD is fairly new or has not been used in a while you should wet the strap prior to putting it on a cylinder.  This allows a new strap to stretch prior to tightening and softens an old strap making it easier to tighten properly.

Not turning your air off and purging the line after your initial check. When you board a dive boat or prior to a shore dive it is customary to assemble your equipment, turn on the air and check to make sure everything is functioning properly.  Since there is often a delay prior to getting into the water it is important to turn the air off and purge the line during this wait.  Failure to do so allows the heat to increase the pressure in the line often resulting in a blown 1^st stage seat prior to the dive or even worse for the seat to dislodge during the dive.

Not opening the valve all the way and back ¼ turn. When getting ready to dive you need to make sure that your air is turned all the way on.  A scuba cylinder valve only partially opened will breathe normally during testing but at depth will often become very hard or impossible to breathe from.

Since a tight valve is often hard to open when trying to turn your air on – you may think it is already open.  By closing it only ¼ turn it is still open all the way but will move slightly letting you know that it is open.

Not looking at your gauges while checking your air. Look at your Scuba gauges or computer as you either breathe from the regulator or press on the purge, if the valve is not opened or not functioning properly you will see the SPG needle move during this test.

Not doing a buddy check prior to the dive. A pre-dive buddy check is one of the first things we are taught as beginners and is often neglected.  There have been numerous accidents, even deaths where a diver entered the water without turning on his/her air.  A simple buddy check will prevent this from happening.  Yes, you should do a Buddy Check even when diving on a Dive Boat while on your Scuba Diving Vacation.

Using high pressure air to clean your dust cap. Everyone does it, but never use the cylinder air to clean or dry your dust cap.  It pushes moisture in past the 1^st stage filter into the regulator, causing flooding.  Either wipe or orally blow on the dust cap to clean it prior to replacing it.

Not having your regulator and BCD serviced annually. Your Scuba regulator and BCD need to be serviced at least annually.  This is the recommended interval from the manufacturer and is necessary to not only maintain your warranty but for safety.  Even if not used rubber o-rings and diaphragms can dry rot or get out of tune.  Annual service is designed to prevent equipment problems during the dive.

Follow these simple rules and you will prevent the most common dive equipment problems.  For more information on SCUBA diving equipment care check out the PADI Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving or take the PADI Equipment Specialist course.