ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- Ernie Miller says scuba diving is like going to the opera.

"If you like it at first, you'll learn to love it with a passion. If you can tolerate it, you might just learn to like it," says the Professional Association of Diving Instructors course director.

For the past 12 years, Miller has provided scuba diving certification classes to area residents in conjunction with SJ Scuba, a dive training and travel club in St. Joseph. And they're not alone.

Michael Marriott, owner of St. Joseph Scuba and co-owner of The Dive Shop in Kansas City, has been teaching certification classes at Missouri Western State College for the past 25 years and at Northwest Missouri State University for the past five.

"Everyone goes traveling to the Bahamas and to Cayman and all these places and see it (scuba diving) and say, 'How can I take these classes?' That's the biggest draw they see it and come back," says Marriott, who received his PADI certification at Missouri Western 30 years ago

Clearer colors

For Mike Dorband from Liberty, Mo., all it took to get him interested was a short scuba experience seven years ago at a resort on his honeymoon in Jamaica.

"I just got hooked. The colors were just so bright and so much clearer than all the colors above the surface," says Dorband, who is now enrolled in the current SJ Scuba certification class at the YMCA. "I wanted to get certified but couldn't fit the classes into my schedule. I had friends who did, and after hearing all their stories I knew I had to make time."

Eleven-year-old Tyce Vanmeter has different motives for joining the certification class -- to see sharks during an upcoming family trip to the Cayman Islands this winter.

"I just want to see mostly sharks and all that," he says.

And for Tyce, it's a family affair. His uncle, grandpa and father are all certified divers as well.

And while Alicia Guinn from St. Joseph doesn't have any family members who dive, she has plenty of friends who do and says she wouldn't mind seeing sharks either.

"I'd like to be up close and personal with a shark ... for a little while ... at least until they started showing their teeth," she says.

But her biggest concern, and what kept Dorband's wife from joining him in the certification class, is claustrophobia.

"Some people have a fear of being under the water, and some people fear the underwater, aquatic life. It just depends on the person," Miller says. "But during the course, we address all these issues."

Cindy Burri says she was a "timid diver" when she and her husband started diving in 1999.

"I was timid. I was not a very good diver when I started," she recalls. "But then they took me down to 30 feet in Cancun, and I saw a stingray. I decided that I had to suck it up because there was just so much to see."

She is now a PADI master scuba diver trainer.

Completing coursework

Both SJ Scuba and Marriott plan diving trips and offer different types of courses.

For open-water certification classes, SJ Scuba provides either six-week or weekend courses, and Marriott provides six-week courses, weekend courses or courses at the Missouri Western and Northwest campuses, all of which add up to about 20 to 24 hours of classroom and pool work.

Students complete a pre-class medical screening form, and those who may have a potential health risk, like severe asthma, are asked to obtain a physician's permission to take the course. But almost anyone can dive, says Miller, who's even had students start the class who couldn't swim.

"Basic swimming skills are an exit requirement, but not an entrance requirement," he says. "It was a life-changing experience for them. They learned to scuba dive and overcome an inability to swim. One even went on to become an instructor."

To complete certification, students must complete four open-water dives at any PADI facility to demonstrate mastery of the skills learned in the pool environment.

"It's really not a test because when you get to the open water environment you've already mastered the skills or you wouldn't be there in the first place," Miller says.

The initial investment is the class, Marriott says. Both SJ Scuba and Marriott provide all the necessary equipment for their students.