Winter Scuba: Time to Get Tanked

Here's how it works: Before you venture into the depths, reputable dive operators will require you to be "open water certified," which means you have knowledge of basic diving equipment, safety and emergency procedures, how depth affects the body, and so on. This process can take anywhere from three days to a week, or longer if you choose. You can complete the classroom and swimming pool portions of the certification at home before you go, and finish up with open ocean testing on vacation, or you can complete your entire certification while on vacation.

If you're not sure whether you'll like diving, it's a good idea to check out the "discover scuba" experience similar to the one that I tried, which was at Anthony's Key Resort in Roatan. (Diving is certainly not for everyone. On the day I did my discovery dive, a few people returned to the boat and swapped scuba gear for snorkels.)

You start in the classroom, learn basic information about how water pressure affects your body and then proceed to shallow water, where you learn a few safety skills, such as how to clear your mask below the surface if water gets into it, how to find your regulator if it falls out of your mouth, how to equalize the pressure in your ears. If you decide to move on to open water certification, you'll find all of that information helpful.

The first task is to select where you'll go for your dive experiences. Here are some exotic, yet easy-to-dive destinations: