Scuba Diving

A couple people I have met down here are into scuba... I think it would be a blast to do. Is anybody on here into it? Whats involved in getting certified?

I wish I was... I've never done it, BUT WANT TO!!!

I am certified Senior Diver. There are different levels of certification, one of the highest being instructor and concurent with / below that rescue, then salvage, etc. There are different schools out there but the one most recognized is the PADI school. To get certified you need to take classes from a PADI instructor, so many hours in the class and so many hours in the pool / open water, depending on the type of certification you are going after.

I have to say that after jumping out of planes that SCUBA has been the second most spiritual experience for me (outside watching by kids being born). I would recommend it to anyone, any age. There are schools and clubs all over the states. GO FOR IT!!! :thumbs:

I was a commercial diver in Washington State for years. I miss it tremendously.


Stay away from "Resort Certifications". Their purpose is to get you into the water while your on vacation. That's fine for someone who's not looking to get into it seriously but you can't learn to be selfsufficient (always dive with a buddy but should something go wrong...) in a day or two. They pretty much just go over the basics because you'll be diving with their dive masters, in waters that they've been diving, under what they would consider "control conditions". Again, that's all fine for someone who's not getting into it seriously.

If you're looking for the real deal then remember that even with proper training, diving can be dangerous so take the training very seriously. Decide which certifying agency you prefer. Each one has its own philosophy, some take the aproach that you should take pictures not life while others may be more inclined to teach how to spear fish (in an advanced class). Find a local dive shop that has a pool. Shops with their own pools will let you use their pool for 'refreshers' later. Take the basic Open Water class, STUDY THE PHYSICS, pass the written and open water test, then go blow bubbles.

Saxjazzman said:

I have to say that after jumping out of planes that SCUBA has been the second most spiritual experience for me (outside watching by kids being born). I would recommend it to anyone, any age. There are schools and clubs all over the states. GO FOR IT!!! :thumbs:

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Well said, Diving is a more than a great sport, its a great way to experience life. Enjoy!!!

I dived when I did a stint in Gitmo, but never got certified! Something I have always wanted to do though...

Something I would love to do.... found out that I can't about a year ago..... something that happened to me about 20 yrs ago.... collapsed lung.... told me I can't go diving

xRanger said:

I dived when I did a stint in Gitmo, but never got certified! Something I have always wanted to do though...

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Brother, you and davidr2340 are right in the middle of one of divings best kept secrets. Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan DeFuca have some of the best diving in the world. PLUS, there's nothing in those waters that wants to eat you!! :laugh:

Actually... I originally moved out to CA because I was into shooting pictures of fish (underwater photography).

I'm a PADI Divemaster. There's lots of fantastic diving down in FL... West Palm Beach, the Keys, etc...I can tell you that if you contact your local dive shop they'll be able to help you out. I would stick with any of the large certification agencies like PADI, NAUI or the YMCA.

Have fun and don't forget to breathe, breathe, breathe. :thumbs:

preembargo said:

xRanger said:

I dived when I did a stint in Gitmo, but never got certified! Something I have always wanted to do though...

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Brother, you and davidr2340 are right in the middle of one of divings best kept secrets. Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan DeFuca have some of the best diving in the world. PLUS, there's nothing in those waters that wants to eat you!! :laugh:

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Yep, I've heard this before... We need to take advantage Bill!!!

Pics of undergoing yet another certification in 2000... ice diving (and total blackwater diving). As a long time member of the AFD Dive Rescue team, I've done my share of diving!


Me sitting and waiting my turn


Talking a dive plan out with my tender... I'm the 'dope on a rope'


Signaling my remaining air


that's me... with my shulder pressed up against the ice underneath, and all I could get to show was my hand. The ice was that thick!


any questions?
:laugh:

I have about 30 dives under my belt.
I am a Advanced Open Water diver.
I love it but haven't had the time to travel and dive some more!

-Rob

Jim, that's some serious shiznit. I've never done any ice diving, I just could never see the appeal. I've known a few lunatics who do it every year but I'll leave it for the rescue divers.

That AGA full face mask is the way to go. I've dove the superlites but nothing beats the AGA for comfort and performance.


Edited to add:

I'm surprised to see that you're on scuba not surface supplied air. I'd have thought that for rescue diving under the ice that you'd be diving a hose with a COM line so that you could talk to your tenders and other rescue divers.

preembargo said:

Jim, that's some serious shiznit. I've never done any ice diving, I just could never see the appeal. I've known a few lunatics who do it every year but I'll leave it for the rescue divers.

That AGA full face mask is the way to go. I've dove the superlites but nothing beats the AGA for comfort and performance.


Edited to add:

I'm surprised to see that you're on scuba not surface supplied air. I'd have thought that for rescue diving under the ice that you'd be diving a hose with a COM line so that you could talk to your tenders and other rescue divers.

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:laugh: not sure I can speak for the 'appeal' other than a few extra percents on my paycheck! Actually, it is a blast believe it or not. it is a very trippy feeling to be crawling across the ice, upside down, like a spider on the ceiling! And even more so when the ice is clear and free of snow, so the guys on the surface can walk with you while you crawl under them, under the ice.

The AGA masks rock... although it took some time to get used to them. I'm a 'pinch the nose to clear' kinda guy... never can clear by the swallowing or jaw wiggle. So it took some getting used to but no problems now. And as far as the supplied air and comms, well, we do have comms. The wire runs down with the tender line, but to be honest, they suck. I'm sure there are better systems out there, but since we are a city fire dept. dive team, we operate under city rules... ie. budget and bidding process. Sad when your life depends on low bid. And the supplied air is a safety issue- the lake around here are FULL of snags - trees, cars, picnic tables, you name it, it's probably in the water. We dive free bottles in case of entaglement - we can cut the tender line free, but cutting an air line is a different matter. Plus there are other issues- air quality, length restrictions, budget again, and so on. We dive with a secondary pony bottle for backup, and regularily practice rescue scenarios on our own divers getting entangled, off line, and so on.

One day I'd like to do some real ice diving, where you can actually SEE something. Our lakes we dive in are so gooey (with goose shit and other floatie type crap) we had to also get blackwater certified... it is literally pitch black when we dive. ZERO viz... you actually cannot see your hand when you put it on the lens of your mask. I'd love to go to the south pole and do some diving with the penguins, seals and such. Better than the dead bodies and muck we deal with now.

NAUI Advanced Open Water diver here, but I want to go back and get rescue diver certification.

TBaGZ said:

A couple people I have met down here are into scuba... I think it would be a blast to do. Is anybody on here into it? Whats involved in getting certified?

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I've been certified since I was 12... currently at "Rescue Diver" through PADI... I don't dive enough on a regular basis to justify the yearly fee needed for DiveMaster.

seadub said:

I'm a PADI Divemaster.

Have fun and don't forget to breathe, breathe, breathe. :thumbs:

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Go figure...you say THIS after I was out in Cali. I've been a padi diver since 1992 or 1993. I just never moved onto higher levels as I certified as a Altitude diver which is a blast. The second to my last dive the Dive master miscalculated the free dive after we got done with the steps you do at around 20 to 25 feet deep. Like taking off your mask and clearing it. Including taking off the tank and BC gear for a set time and putting it back on. Anyways...after doing the steps we was supposed to do, a dive master would say take us down to 60 feet and just free dive for a certain amount of time depending on how much Oxygen we had left. So..this dive he messed up bad and well we was lucky as we both was in the danger zone. Luckily this lake we certified at had a nice slope from the bottom up so we went up slowly as we didn't have the oxygen to set up at 15 feet for the allotted time frame that is in the safety rules. He felt really bad and stressed how important it is to factor in the altitude aka elevation the lake is at into the figuring out how far you can go down for and for the specific time down.

As for certification its pretty damn easy. This site will be your friend. http://www.padi.com/padi/default.aspx
Can find many different places that certify you as a Padi diver. I certified at the University of Utah as many big schools will offer Scuba diving classes which was cool. This was my first actual college course along with Linguistics. :laugh:

Thats diving...LOVE it

enerjay said:

Thats diving...LOVE it

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No, THAT'S insane!!! :whistling: I snorkeled once in the Bahamas and that's good enough for me. The whole, "...stuff that can eat ya.." scares the chit out of me. Swissy, you da man!!!! Stay safe, Brother. :thumbs:

Floyd T. :thumbs:

Love to dive, Open Water Advanced. Unlike Swissy, I like my water warm and clear. So all I need is swimsuit, t-shirt, tank, mask and fins.

I have been on a few night dives, really cool.

Ken

Jim,
I was FREEZING after just looking at those pictures!!! :0

Hmmm, I just realized that I have this place about 2-3 blocks from my house!!!