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Tomberforce
May 30, 2006

Hung out for about 10 minutes today with a Hawaiian Monk Seal. Amazing!

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Mr.AARP
Apr 20, 2010

I was born after Kurt Cobain died. Now you feel old.

Just dropped my Faber HP100 off for it's first hydro. Can't wait to enjoy more air than I'll know what to do with.

SlicerDicer
Oct 31, 2010

PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE

Tomberforce posted:

Hung out for about 10 minutes today with a Hawaiian Monk Seal. Amazing!

Where are you in Hawaii?

Tomberforce
May 30, 2006

SlicerDicer posted:

Where are you in Hawaii?

This was at Spitting Caves off Oahu. Was over for a conference in Honolulu but flying back to Australia the day after tomorrow so no time for the other islands this time :(

pupdive
Jun 13, 2012

Tomberforce posted:

This was at Spitting Caves off Oahu. Was over for a conference in Honolulu but flying back to Australia the day after tomorrow so no time for the other islands this time :(

Who'd you go with, how'd you get there etc?

South Shore diving on Oahu is hard to dive, but worth it.

Tomberforce
May 30, 2006

pupdive posted:

Who'd you go with, how'd you get there etc?

South Shore diving on Oahu is hard to dive, but worth it.

Went out on the boat with Island Divers Hawaii. Seemed a pretty decent outfit really. Did 3 dives about a week ago - the YO-257, Sea Tiger and a 'drift' dive (with no perceptible current) called Sea Cave. All were fantastic, though the YO had a pretty gnarly current running. Dive conditions on the Sea Tiger were pristine.

We did the LCU today and hung out with about 4 white tips reef sharks inside the wreck. Swarm of Eagle Rays were floating around under us for our safety stop too. Swell was up quite high, but the dive conditions were fine - the swell doesn't seem to stir up the visibility too much in Hawaii like it does in Perth. Jumping in at Spitting Caves we heard whales straight away, and also saw another White Tip shark, but the Seal was the highlight!

Would love to stay and check out the diving in Kona, but not going to get a chance.

Tomberforce fucked around with this message at 10:10 on Apr 9, 2013

SlicerDicer
Oct 31, 2010

PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE
Kona has the manta thing at night.

I have my hammerheads, galapagos, oceanic blacktips etc :P

Crunkjuice
Apr 4, 2007

That could've gotten in my eye!
*launches teargas at unarmed protestors*

I THINK OAKLAND PD'S USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE WAS JUSTIFIED!
Well, this is just like, all my favorite things in one gallery. http://www.dallascowboys.com/multimedia/photo-gallery/DCC-Calendar-Shoot-Team-Scuba/53afecdc-4be9-47eb-a26f-029097f2bcea

Mr.AARP
Apr 20, 2010

I was born after Kurt Cobain died. Now you feel old.


On a loosely related note, Scubatoys is pretty awesome. You just can't beat that $50 regulator overhaul.

SlicerDicer
Oct 31, 2010

PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE
NEBLAR ENDAR SHARK ENCOUNTERINGS

https://vimeo.com/63715130

Will post more later once I get it processed. That one was worth it that shark bolted at me at first then broke off its ramming speed, at that point I hit the trigger and started recording. I shot the footage of it going for my buddy Bob.

Orions Lord
May 21, 2012
We once did a night dive in the Red Sea.

There were white tip reef sharks hunting.
When they found something they went crazy.

For their length like 1.5m they did do some real damage to the fish and it almost seemed they would eat the coral itself also like they didn’t care.

I have a huge respect for them even the really small ones.

Hip Hoptimus Prime
Jul 7, 2009

Ask me how I gained back all the weight I lost by eating your pets.
Just checking in again...

I was supposed to work a triathlon with my water rescue squad last weekend, but I got laid up with a kidney stone the night before, and at the ER they gave me morphine, so I couldn't drive the morning of the triathlon to get there. But, I later heard they pulled about 30 people from the water (no one drowned, but some swimmers had to get out).

I just got done booking me & my husband's honeymoon. We're headed to Placencia, Belize in July, so do you guys have any dive suggestions while we are down there? We could get my husband's OW while we are there, but I'm thinking we will just have him do it ahead of time.

Finally, I'm doing my advanced OW and Nitrox certs at the end of May...my main instructor *finally* made a Facebook event for that. Can't wait. Once I have that, I'll have all the prereqs for getting my dive master. :dance:

Crunkjuice
Apr 4, 2007

That could've gotten in my eye!
*launches teargas at unarmed protestors*

I THINK OAKLAND PD'S USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE WAS JUSTIFIED!

Hip Hoptimus Prime posted:


Finally, I'm doing my advanced OW and Nitrox certs at the end of May...my main instructor *finally* made a Facebook event for that. Can't wait. Once I have that, I'll have all the prereqs for getting my dive master. :dance:

Rescue? or did you do the adventure route and skip AOW.

Hip Hoptimus Prime
Jul 7, 2009

Ask me how I gained back all the weight I lost by eating your pets.

Crunkjuice posted:

Rescue? or did you do the adventure route and skip AOW.

I got rescue before AOW. So yes, I guess I did take the adventure route. :)

rockcity
Jan 16, 2004
I'm planning on getting my Rescue cert sometime soon. My instructor buddy from my dive club wants to set up a class for a couple people so I want to hop on board for it, especially because he's contemplating taking a job in another part of the country.

egyptian rat race
Jul 13, 2007

Lowtax Spine Fund 2019
Ultra Carp
Does anyone have a favorite outfitter on Maui they'd like to recommend? Preferably one who won't hassle me about my lack of recreational dives. I dive commercially and sometimes scuba shop folks like to start a pissing match. It wasn't a problem on Oahu, but you never know.

Also if there's a must-see site that a baby diver could visit, let me know! I want to take my fiancee out, but nothing too advanced.

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Vroom Vroom, BEEP BEEP!
Nap Ghost
In the same vein, I could use recommendations for Punta Cana if anyone has been there.

DreadLlama
Jul 15, 2005
Not just for breakfast anymore
After diving in Korea for a bit I've decided that I don't want to take the IDC here. The instructors are alright but the water is cold and the locals ate all the fish. So I have been shopping around for Cool Places for Attractive people to take the IDC. Specifically, I only want to take the course at a place I'd want to work right after completing the course. Diving in Korea kind of sucks. Aside from no fish, you also can't night dive because people coming out of the ocean at night = North Korean spies and then the police want to talk to you.

A friend told me there's lots of dive centres in Honduras and quite a few jobs available. There's a place called Utlia that looks especially good. At least one school is busy enough that they can guarantee 2 weeks of whoring you out for free labour if you want before the IDC (good for remembering what you're doing). Not only that, they offer Dive Boat Mate training courses. http://www.utiladivecenter.com/course.php?uuid=74&desp=10

I could get a full set of gear, take the IDC, and learn to become boat crew for less than $10,000. In a few years, with experience, I might go MSDT and take their boat captainship course. It's in the Caribbean, too. So I could probably talk like a pirate and they wouldn't mind. It could be the best thing ever.


Potential downside: Honduras has the highest murder rate on Earth. I don't like that. As a Canadian who's only ever lived in Asia, certain parts of the world are scary. I'm not too concerned with barracuda - they leave me alone. I can handle stonefish: just keep your eyes open. It's the human element that scares me. What's it like living in Honduras? Anyone gone diving there?

pupdive
Jun 13, 2012
Utila and Thailand are test beds for a lot of stuff.

Go there and learn speed, because efficiency is really one of the most important things an instructor can learn.

DreadLlama
Jul 15, 2005
Not just for breakfast anymore
Oh yeah. I did my OW --> DM on Koh Tao. If you ever meet Guy Bannister, tell him he's awesome and have your gf give him a blowjob. I loved it there.

But I can't ever visit Thailand again for no reason. So I need to work on somewhere else. Is the murder on Utlia bad? It seems like it could be a good place but I like to be drunk in public.

MA-Horus
Dec 3, 2006

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.

Hahahahaha diving in Korea. Lots of black rock and no fish and REALLY lovely Korean divers.

DreadLlama
Jul 15, 2005
Not just for breakfast anymore
I don't want to mention that because I'm trying to be POLITICALLY CORRECT. But they ate all their fish and they'll shoot you for diving past 7pm here. So Honduras sounds good by comparison. Otherwise I'm stuck teaching English to 12-year-olds forever.

SuitcasePimp
Feb 27, 2005

The bay islands of Honduras (basically Roatan and Utila) are a lot different from the mainland in terms of crime. I think a lot of the murders in Honduras probably have their roots in the drug trade while the islands are kind of useless for that since they are out in the middle of the ocean. From what I hear Utila is pretty small and much less developed than Roatan, which is a huge diving destination. There are probably a lot more jobs on Roatan but probably more competition as well. I can say the diving is pretty sick, really short boat rides and tons of life with great vis. I'm going back next week and am super stoked.

MA-Horus
Dec 3, 2006

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.

DreadLlama posted:

I don't want to mention that because I'm trying to be POLITICALLY CORRECT. But they ate all their fish and they'll shoot you for diving past 7pm here. So Honduras sounds good by comparison. Otherwise I'm stuck teaching English to 12-year-olds forever.

I quit doing that last August. Fun for a while but it got old (and all my friends left and Mokpo became a ghost town)

DreadLlama
Jul 15, 2005
Not just for breakfast anymore
The guys I was/am thinking of doing the IDC with had a horror story about Korean divers. Apparently Ehwa or Sookmyung or some other Women's University in Seoul has their own dive program. While it would be awesome to maybe postpone the IDC, take a TESOL MA course, then do the IDC and try to get an English teaching/diving gig at a Korean Uni; the idea seems too esoteric and specific to be viable. Anyway, speaking of lovely Korean divers, said University was doing their OW course last August. The instructor was too lazy to swim a significant distance off shore, and had the students do their mask floods in like 8 meters of water under the harbor entrance channel. One girl panicks and bolts to the surface under a boat. Lost both her hands to the prop.

The nice thing about being in Korea is that as of October, they were still sewed back on and she had >80% function and improving.


So, built up could be good. I'm not going to discount having access to 1st world medical care. If that'd happened to a local on Koh Tao, she just wouldn't have hands anymore. Not to mention, after living in Asia for ~5 years, there are days when local authentic food gets old and you just want a cheeseburger. I would love to hear your Rotan/Utlia trip report. Diving conditions, surface life, tap water, strip clubs, Quiznos, everything. What's it like to live there?

Finch!
Sep 11, 2001

Spatial Awareness?

[ ] Whaleshark

404 Not Found

DreadLlama posted:

Oh yeah. I did my OW --> DM on Koh Tao. If you ever meet Guy Bannister, tell him he's awesome and have your gf give him a blowjob. I loved it there.

I know Guy but I don't think Petra would approve of the bj bit :v:

pupdive
Jun 13, 2012

DreadLlama posted:

The guys I was/am thinking of doing the IDC with had a horror story about Korean divers. Apparently Ehwa or Sookmyung or some other Women's University in Seoul has their own dive program.

It was a Korean Dive Training Agency who first came up with the wonderful idea of diving 'licenses' which require diving with an instructor. (In the PADI system, that is what the current "Scuba Diver" ""certification"" is).

I hate the fact that this idea took off. I dove with basically the first group of these Korean 'divers' to take these 'licenses' abroad, and man what a freaking nightmare. Of course their accompanying instructor did not bother telling us beforehand that his 'certified divers' were basically intro divers he had given this bogus 'certification' to.

Many many things to like about PADI. Following along with the bogus "Scuba Diver" certification is one of the reasons to hate them. That and allowing DM's to take intro divers made PADI look like the greedy profit based corporation they are rather than a responsible leader of a self-regulating industry.

eviljelly
Aug 29, 2004

DreadLlama posted:

After diving in Korea for a bit I've decided that I don't want to take the IDC here. The instructors are alright but the water is cold and the locals ate all the fish. So I have been shopping around for Cool Places for Attractive people to take the IDC. Specifically, I only want to take the course at a place I'd want to work right after completing the course. Diving in Korea kind of sucks. Aside from no fish, you also can't night dive because people coming out of the ocean at night = North Korean spies and then the police want to talk to you.

A friend told me there's lots of dive centres in Honduras and quite a few jobs available. There's a place called Utlia that looks especially good. At least one school is busy enough that they can guarantee 2 weeks of whoring you out for free labour if you want before the IDC (good for remembering what you're doing). Not only that, they offer Dive Boat Mate training courses. http://www.utiladivecenter.com/course.php?uuid=74&desp=10

I could get a full set of gear, take the IDC, and learn to become boat crew for less than $10,000. In a few years, with experience, I might go MSDT and take their boat captainship course. It's in the Caribbean, too. So I could probably talk like a pirate and they wouldn't mind. It could be the best thing ever.


Potential downside: Honduras has the highest murder rate on Earth. I don't like that. As a Canadian who's only ever lived in Asia, certain parts of the world are scary. I'm not too concerned with barracuda - they leave me alone. I can handle stonefish: just keep your eyes open. It's the human element that scares me. What's it like living in Honduras? Anyone gone diving there?

Koh Tao will get you very well experienced in a hurry. The IDC should cost under $2000, plus all equipment for about $2000. They use Burmese guys for boat crew here, so that's not training you can get, but otherwise everything else is pretty cheap. And it's safe here, crime-wise. And the lifestyle is cheap and easy.

DreadLlama
Jul 15, 2005
Not just for breakfast anymore
Oh I know Koh Tao. It's awesome. But I can't go back to Thailand for reasons I don't care to go into. I'm more interested in the Caribbean now.

I agree about Koh Tao teaching efficiency. It was 4 dives, (5 with night) every single day for 2 months doing my DMT. It's a fantastic lifestyle. I'm not normally a morning person, but getting up at 6am to go swimming about in the ocean was the best thing ever.

gently caress Thai immigration policy though.

MA-Horus
Dec 3, 2006

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.

DreadLlama posted:

Oh I know Koh Tao. It's awesome. But I can't go back to Thailand for reasons I don't care to go into. I'm more interested in the Caribbean now.

I agree about Koh Tao teaching efficiency. It was 4 dives, (5 with night) every single day for 2 months doing my DMT. It's a fantastic lifestyle. I'm not normally a morning person, but getting up at 6am to go swimming about in the ocean was the best thing ever.

gently caress Thai immigration policy though.

It's weird that I look forward to the times in my future when I'll be laid off, because I know I'll be able to grab my gear bag, hop on a plane and go back to Koh Tao. My friend I was travelling with didn't like it because there wasn't enough party. I loved it for exactly that reason.

Finch!
Sep 11, 2001

Spatial Awareness?

[ ] Whaleshark

404 Not Found

MA-Horus posted:

My friend I was travelling with didn't like it because there wasn't enough party. I loved it for exactly that reason.

:stare:

Not enough party? What did they want - multi level indoor clubs or something?

Crunkjuice
Apr 4, 2007

That could've gotten in my eye!
*launches teargas at unarmed protestors*

I THINK OAKLAND PD'S USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE WAS JUSTIFIED!
So koh tao, what are the chances of being able to Dm over there for a while without going through one of those factory programs to become an instructor?

Finch!
Sep 11, 2001

Spatial Awareness?

[ ] Whaleshark

404 Not Found

Crunkjuice posted:

So koh tao, what are the chances of being able to Dm over there for a while without going through one of those factory programs to become an instructor?

Pretty good if you're not an idiot. There are tons of DM's there but not very many great DM's. It's not uncommon to have freelance DM's with gigs at five or so places. Bonus points if you're a competent videographer, too.

NPR Journalizard
Feb 14, 2008

Just booked a dive at the Navy Pier in Exmouth, the day after we are swimming with the whale sharks. Super Excite Mode ENGAGE

Finch!
Sep 11, 2001

Spatial Awareness?

[ ] Whaleshark

404 Not Found

Frogmanv2 posted:

Just booked a dive at the Navy Pier in Exmouth, the day after we are swimming with the whale sharks. Super Excite Mode ENGAGE

Nice. Which company are you checking out the whale sharks with?

NPR Journalizard
Feb 14, 2008

Finch! posted:

Nice. Which company are you checking out the whale sharks with?

http://ningalooblue.com.au/

Finch!
Sep 11, 2001

Spatial Awareness?

[ ] Whaleshark

404 Not Found

Ah nuts, A friend of mine works for another company. I was hoping you could pass on a message about her pixie ears for me.

eviljelly
Aug 29, 2004

Crunkjuice posted:

So koh tao, what are the chances of being able to Dm over there for a while without going through one of those factory programs to become an instructor?

You can expect to stay afloat if you're competent, but that's about it, unless you get in the good graces of a shop and become one of their permanent DMs.

Tomberforce
May 30, 2006

Frogmanv2 posted:

Just booked a dive at the Navy Pier in Exmouth, the day after we are swimming with the whale sharks. Super Excite Mode ENGAGE

Cool I'm going to try and make it up there in May. You dive in Perth much?

Finch! posted:

Ah nuts, A friend of mine works for another company. I was hoping you could pass on a message about her pixie ears for me.

The dive shop I'm doing my DM with owns Exmouth Diving centre who also do whaleshark tours, so I know a few of the Exmouth crew.

Tomberforce fucked around with this message at 14:27 on Apr 16, 2013

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MA-Horus
Dec 3, 2006

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.

Finch! posted:

Pretty good if you're not an idiot. There are tons of DM's there but not very many great DM's. It's not uncommon to have freelance DM's with gigs at five or so places. Bonus points if you're a competent videographer, too.

That's what a friend of mine does, and she's an OUTSTANDING DM. I know she DMs with New Way and Big Blue.

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