SCUBA Divers in the Playground

[Triscuitable]

I'm on my way to becoming a certified scuba diver, and I'm wanting to know, is anyone else on the forums a certified (or interested) scuba diver? If so, please, take some time to share your experiences, post photos, link videos, and whatnot. It's a sharing corner to show people your experiences whilst diving.

I'm going to Belize, where I'll take my 4 certification dives (completed my first in Hawaii, one year ago) to complete my diving instruction. Then I'll dive casually for the duration of my vacation. In February, two months later, I'll be in Maui. Yeah, my parents love tropical things.

[Icewalker]

I got my Advanced Open Water about two years ago in Hawaii, but haven't done any diving since. It's something I'd like to continue, but I haven't found a good way to. Wonderful stuff, I find I am very comfortable underwater, and I can deal with the pressure change quickly, which is good.

[Triscuitable]

I got my Advanced Open Water about two years ago in Hawaii, but haven't done any diving since. It's something I'd like to continue, but I haven't found a good way to. Wonderful stuff, I find I am very comfortable underwater, and I can deal with the pressure change quickly, which is good.

It's funny how that works. I wasn't enthusiastic about diving when I began my lessons, but my sister was. Midway through the course, she gets frustrated that she can't equalize by blowing gently through her plugged nose, so she spends the next half-hour mastering the swallow-wigglejaw method. Me? I can do those two, and get this: YAWN with my regulator! That's talent!

[Jack Squat]

I'm the current president of the Scuba Club at my college. First certified in 2007, have my Advanced Open Water, Nitrox, and Rescue certs.

My first dive was what got me hooked. My family went down to one of the resorts in the Riviera Maya during the summer of 2006. One day we took a boat out to isla mujeres, and did a few of the normal touristy things, then found a shady looking dive shop. The guy spoke English, and offered discovery dives, so we figured why not. We sign a few waivers, pay $40, and get driven out to a little 18 foot boat, where we're turned over to one of this guy's assistants, who didn't speak English so well.

We were given instructions on the way out, barely making out the divemaster's broken phrases of instruction between the crashes of the waves. When we arrived at the site, my brother's regulator didn't work (no octos on them, so he couldn't just use the spare) so he was left on the boat. During the dive, I had to abandon the group and surface from almost running out of air. If anything, you'd think this would have driven me away from the sport. But the water was crystal clear, the coral was vibrant, and it was a hell of a lot of fun.

I've been on a lot of dives since then, but that one makes the best story :smallwink:

Here's some pictures (not of that dive, unfortunately).

Here's the only picture you'll see of me in my dive gear. I'm normally the only guy with a camera.

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad322/utscuba/292045_2141129217125_1513020451_32079486_525618723 _n.jpg

Here's a shot of Devil's Den in Williston, Florida
http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad322/utscuba/devilsden2.jpg

The rest of these are either at Vortex Springs or Morrison Springs near Ponce de Leon, FL.

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad322/utscuba/065.jpg

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad322/utscuba/077.jpg

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad322/utscuba/050.jpg

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad322/utscuba/049.jpg

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad322/utscuba/082.jpg

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad322/utscuba/094.jpg

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad322/utscuba/038.jpg

[The Underlord]

Belize is awesome, I went diving there over thanksgiving. We went with Blue Angel dive shop, instead of the cruise. much easier than the one with the cruise, it cost less and they did all of the work. Oops, I was thinking of Cozumel, Mexico :smallredface:
I got certified recently, finished a week befor thanksgiving. My brother suggested that we do that instead of doing the lame 'get taught, dive 15 for 10 minutes' kind of dive.

[Howler Dagger]

I got my certification 2 weeks ago, so I could go carribean diving during thanksgiving. My certificatiom dive made me appriciate diving. I had 2 wetsuits, freezing cold, and five inch visibility.

[Jack Squat]

I got my certification 2 weeks ago, so I could go carribean diving during thanksgiving. My certificatiom dive made me appriciate diving. I had 2 wetsuits, freezing cold, and five inch visibility.

5 inch vis, and your instructor had you go in it?

Cold water sucks. As soon as I get a decent paying job, I'm going to splurge on a dry suit, then proceed to still not get in the water because all of my dive buddies will be freezing in their wetsuits :smalltongue:

[Borgh]

padi open water here. I've only dived in the local dutch water (my exam dives were in 11C water) and i've so far liked it a lot.

I have been told many dutch schooled divers get into trouble in the tropics as they think "well I can still see the sun, how far down can i possibly be?" and then it turns out they are 40 meters down.

That said, I'm curious to try diving in water where you dan't need a 7mm hood and gloves to not freeze.

[Flickerdart]

Also PADI Open Water, got certified on the Black Sea. Great place to practice, shoddy for sightseeing. I hear the Red Sea is a great place to dive, but you should know your way around your equipment first, because the people there will offer to put it on for you, and they can screw up sometimes. That's what my instructor said, anyway.

[The Underlord]

SSI open water here! Yeah, I wish I had a dry suit too(our instructer had one *grumble*)

[RndmNumGen]

I went SCUBA diving several times about 6 years ago(Hawaii, Cancun and Mazatlan), and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do it recently due to financial and time constraints. It was a lot of fun though, and I would love to do it again. Probably need to get re-certified...

[Triscuitable]

SSI open water here! Yeah, I wish I had a dry suit too(our instructer had one *grumble*)

No, you don't. You sweat in them, they're a sealed environment, and it's harder to move in them than a suit of rubber.

[Flickerdart]

You need a special certification to use a dry suit (at least under PADI), so whether or not they're worth it over having to peel wetsuits on and off is really up to you.