|
SuitcasePimp posted:Something like this? http://www.divereport.com/locations/central-america/honduras/roatan/ This is the one! Thank you! I'm travelling soon and want to make plans based on what I expect to see.
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2016 01:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 18:00 |
|
|
Sigh. I'm pretty sure I blew out my left ear. My hearing is fine, no ringing outside of my normal mild case of tinnitus. But if I have to blow my nose, ouch!!! I've never had ear problems in 20+ years, so I wasn't sure what was happening... all of a sudden the left ear just wasn't clearing when the right one did. Two newbie problems in one week; drat it sucks getting old. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2016 00:32
|
|
|
Anybody ever got certified on Ko Tao in Thailand? Is it really that much cheaper? If I did, should I do some online thing first for prep?
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2016 01:17
|
|
|
When I did my DMT I was with a bunch of instructors who worked in Koh Tao. They said that half of the schools there were terrible, and the other half alright. I think I heard that Roctopus was alright (though could be mistaken). If you can, do as much bookwork as you can at home. Nothing sucks more than homework when you're on vacation, especially when the beaches and oceans are right there to beckon you.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2016 03:16
|
|
|
Yay, it's just an infection from being in the water all week! The St.Thomas hospital is decent, and I liked the doctor. Too bad it's US territory, or else something like this would have been free. Trivia posted:If you can, do as much bookwork as you can at home. Nothing sucks more than homework when you're on vacation, especially when the beaches and oceans are right there to beckon you. Truth. Learn as much as you can ahead of time. Actually, ideally you could do everything but the last check out dives at home: take the Open Water course with your local dive shop, including the pool work, and then get a referral for the check out dives. Squashy Nipples fucked around with this message at 11:46 on Dec 3, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2016 07:55
|
|
|
[Whining]Why are OW classes always on the weekend?[/whining] Some of us aren't fortunate enough to have Saturday and Sunday off. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2016 02:40
|
|
|
I'm going to South Florida next week. What dives in the Keys would you suggest for a person with a basic cert and hasn't been diving in a while and who would you recommend I hire to take me? Diving won't be the whole focus of the trip but it's something I definitely want to get back into.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2016 02:43
|
|
|
Which key? I've had a few good dives off of Key Largo. Conch Repulic Divers was the shop, and we went to Davis Reef, Davey Crocker Reef, and Horseshoe Reef (all ~25-30 ft down). Saw a shark scatter a school of fish on a night dive on Davis, along with a stingray and a loggerhead hanging around. Saw a few eels hanging out on Davey Crocker too. That's all I've got in my log from there, though I'm sure someone else has some experience on some of the other keys (or different dive sites off of Largo). Diving by NASA's NEEMO lab (near Key Largo) may be one of my bucket list dives at this point 😍
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2016 05:18
|
|
|
Icon Of Sin posted:Which key? I'm going to travel the whole length of them with no real plan other than catching a boat to Dry Tortugas from Key West. So, any of them? Thanks for the info. Even that's a good start!
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2016 05:25
|
|
|
Tree Dude posted:I'm going to travel the whole length of them with no real plan other than catching a boat to Dry Tortugas from Key West. So, any of them? We've been all over the keys and a place that we just dove a few months ago that somehow we never hit before was big pine key. Check that out, an easy wreck plus some really good shallow reefs that make for a great dive day. The dry tortugas trip is really interesting too, good call on that.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2016 20:32
|
|
|
MrYenko posted:[Whining]Why are OW classes always on the weekend?[/whining] Same reason the conditions are always better in the middle of the week. I think you come out ahead on this one ;-)
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2016 02:15
|
|
|
Tree Dude posted:I'm going to South Florida next week. What dives in the Keys would you suggest for a person with a basic cert and hasn't been diving in a while and who would you recommend I hire to take me? Diving won't be the whole focus of the trip but it's something I definitely want to get back into. Generally the best diving is in Key Largo, but there are reefs and wrecks all the way down. Today on Molasses Reef (marine sanctuary) we saw 5-6 sharks and there has been a big hammerhead cruising around for the last few weeks! I haven't seen it yet but someone else saw it on a dive I was on 2 days ago. If the conditions are good diving in the Keys is great if you haven't been in a while since most of the reefs are pretty shallow in the 30' range. I mentioned the conditions because it's been very windy the past few weeks which has made for variable visibility and wave action. Yesterday we had about 10' of viz on one dive and today the worst was about 50'. It's going to be a crapshoot next week but if you're going to be down in the Keys anyway you are in a good position. We dive with Rainbow Reef in Key Largo, they are one of the bigger shops but it is very well run and caters to all levels of divers and include Divemasters/guides in the price which not all shops do (you want a guide). One thing to keep in mind is that depending on how long it has been since you've been diving you may need to do a ReActivate refresher program before your first dive, the shop will tell you if you need one when you book and you can do the course work beforehand.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2016 02:27
|
|
|
So I'm heading to cave country earlier than expected  My other plans fell through, and I'm heading to Blue Grotto on Friday, Devil's Den on Saturday, and Ginnie on Saturday before heading back home Sunday. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2016 15:28
|
|
|
Icon Of Sin posted:So I'm heading to cave country earlier than expected Cavern certified? Get some intro to cave training...you'll never look back
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2016 16:00
|
|
|
I'm good on doing caves, that's not something I've got any real desire to ever try. This trip is all pleasure diving anyways, almost every dive I've done this year has been working with a class in some form or another as a DM. Especially when we get to Devil's Den...I love that place 
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2016 17:25
|
|
|
ah, the SA scuba thread! Well, well. Ok my girlfriend was a professional diver, instructor and all that but she was the Melbourne Shark Lady for about 5 years. That meant she was the person that got into the Melbourne Aquarium tank and fed the sharks, all in full scuba. We met when she offered to teach me to dive. I learnt to dive on the Melbourne coast in amazing weather, over about a week, living with and screwing this bronzed, fit diving instructor. It was like a romance novel, amazing. So, she is the diving heavyweight. Last Christmas she went on an exploratory dive on the Spirit of Freedom. What that means is the Spirit of Freedom is an amazing liveaboard which operates at the Great Barrier Reef. As the trip organizer she went for free. An exploratory dive is going to dive sites that aren't open to the public and deciding which would make good public dive sites, there are people from the authorities aboard too I guess. So the boat is full of all her diving buddies, with tech divers among them (crazy people, basically cave divers that are really, really into their tech and breathing mixes and stuff) and she is like.. come along! It'll be fun! I didn't go, not on that dive trip. I just don't want to hold her back. On my first real dive trip with her I went down to like 35m on nitrous, but I sucked through my air so fast compared to the pros that half way through their dives they've gotta stop and take me back up to 5-10m for my safety stop, so I can get out. It's also pretty loving scary, like diving is amazing and cool but when you think you're getting toward your limits and you're with people well within theirs.. it can make you nervous. It's a bit like downhill mountain biking (which I did a lot of), you really need to just go at your own pace and not keep up with experienced people or you'll get really, really hurt. But a trip I didn't wuss out on was to South West Rocks, to swim with the grey nurse sharks. I have some incredible video I can post if anyone cares. It was early in our relationship and one the way to the dive site on the first day of a 5 day dive trip (diving twice a day, everyday, each dive 2 or 3 actual dives) I got so loving seasick. Jesus gently caress, I hurled so hard and for so long. All the pro divers laughed a bit and then left me alone once I'd established myself as being truly miserable. So I'm throwing the gently caress up, sweating in my wetsuit and generally having a horrid time. We get to the first site and she is like 'are you ok?' and I'm like 'er, I'm very sick but I'm not like in trouble or anything, it's a bit like getting way too drunk and the world starts spinning'. She said that the rocking of the boat was the bastard and if I just got in the water that would stop. She didn't have to tell me twice and while all the pros were checking their gear, I was the first over the side. My BC is full inflated so I pop up, but then let some air out and sit a couple of meters under the surface. Its cool. It's not rocking. It's silent. I feel immediately a million times better. It was great. Then waves of nausea would hit me and I would loving puke through my reg. I'm an engineer so while I was puking through my reg I was thinking , what an amazing bit of kit, I can puke underwater through this thing and when I gasp after the puke I only get clean air, underwater! Amazing! Anyway I got back on the boat after and I was much better and had a good few dives and we went. I thought I'd screwed the pooch and she was embarrassed by me but apparently it was the complete opposite, many newbies who get sick just stay on the boat hating life and wanting to go in and everyone else feels a bit of pressure to go back because look at that poor person. Apparently my 'gently caress it, im sick but let me in the water' attitude won her over. Also after I returned the reg I was using to my friend, who had lent it to me. It was his wife's, who had said at the time 'please don't do anything gross with my reg'. Yeah. Thanks though!
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2016 02:26
|
|
|
Tony Montana posted:On my first real dive trip with her I went down to like 35m on nitrous, m dude I'm assuming your girlfriend knows what's going on but nitrox isn't for deep dives, I have no idea what your mix was on this dive but you were probably hitting or exceeding your max depth if you really went that deep
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2016 04:03
|
|
|
let it mellow posted:dude I'm assuming your girlfriend knows what's going on but nitrox isn't for deep dives, I have no idea what your mix was on this dive but you were probably hitting or exceeding your max depth if you really went that deep That's exactly what I was thinking when I read that, oxygen toxicity is no joke. Also nice story I guess?
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2016 04:10
|
|
|
DeadlyMuffin posted:Does anyone have recommendations for a dive outfit in Oahu? I'll be in town for a friend's wedding but was hoping to sneak in a day of diving beforehand... I did a two tank with Reef Pirates out of Hawaii Kai few months ago. Small boats, small groups. They leave really early, which means you get back before lunch and before the waves pick up.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2016 05:00
|
|
|
Red_Fred posted:That's exactly what I was thinking when I read that, oxygen toxicity is no joke. Also nice story I guess? It's rare you get a "I had sex" post in the scuba thread. For content, everything is booked for me and the kid down in Florida in march, 2 days in the springs near gainesville, our first drift dive at KP Hole, and 2 days of charter boat out in the gulf near Tampa. :-D Nice little jaunt for his spring break. Wanted to go farther south, but.... spring break... all hotels were either booked or super expensive. GORDON fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Dec 11, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2016 21:43
|
|
|
SithKitty posted:I did a two tank with Reef Pirates out of Hawaii Kai few months ago. Small boats, small groups. They leave really early, which means you get back before lunch and before the waves pick up. I'm actually already booked with them based on another recommendation. That's awesome to hear
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2016 22:39
|
|
|
let it mellow posted:dude I'm assuming your girlfriend knows what's going on but nitrox isn't for deep dives, I have no idea what your mix was on this dive but you were probably hitting or exceeding your max depth if you really went that deep I was hoping he was mixing up meters and feet.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2016 23:49
|
|
|
Ok, we talked about this yesterday. The sea floor was 30m, not 35. I was running 30% nitrox mix, that isn't for deep diving, it's because there is less nitrogen in your system and it enables you dive more frequently without getting into the deco parts of your dive table. So yes, I was at about 30m on that mix, which is a o2 partial pressure of 1.2, which is a long way from 1.6 which is the o2 partial pressure limit for rec divers. But hey, lets debate the technical details instead of enjoying the story. Because we're all such loving nerds. p.s. I wasn't an 'I had sex' story, it's a cool story about a almost unbelievably awesome experience. I know women might be a bit scary for you, but for the rest of us it's really quite fun. Eat a dick.
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2016 01:45
|
|
|
Tony Montana posted:Ok, we talked about this yesterday. dude I don't want people killing themselves because they dive dumb, it will just gently caress up my diving . Like I said I didn't know your mix but loving up ur max depth is like rule 1 about nitrox and the depth u posted plus most common nitrox mix is not at all good. Dive air if you're going deep on your first dive, then switch. Just be safe and enjoy diving and also sex since you are still alive to have sex
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2016 02:10
|
|
|
I am with my girlfriend. She is with me the whole time. I am not some loving goon who needs to memorize everything backwards because you're alone in this world. It was over 2 years ago. But you know what, enjoy your thread. The Australian from the best dive sites in the world with the pro diving girlfriend has decided this is not the kind place I want to talk about diving.
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2016 02:16
|
|
|
Tony Montana posted:I am with my girlfriend. She is with me the whole time. I am not some loving goon who needs to memorize everything backwards because you're alone in this world. It was over 2 years ago. But you know what, enjoy your thread. The Australian from the best dive sites in the world with the pro diving girlfriend has decided this is not the kind place I want to talk about diving. but we never even talked about underwater photography? 
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2016 02:38
|
|
|
Closing in on our last day in cave country for this trip. Tomorrow we're going back to the ballroom at Ginnie, and checking out the entrances to the other caves. The entrance to Devil's Ear is actually easy to find right now, the river is pretty clear which makes that whole side a bit more enjoyable. I figured out tonight that I can shine my flashlight just the right way at the ceiling in the balllroom and it makes a reflection that looks like moonlight sparkling off of a rippling lake with a focused beam, I can even make a little spotlight out of the reflection. Also found a tight secondary entrance to the main area of the ballroom, a little constriction that was a little bit tight (but still manageable). Wouldn't really recommend it, unless you like having to corkscrew your way into something when there's a perfectly good large entrance only a few feet away  Blue Grotto was fun, diving with an AL100 took some of the mental pressure off of me diving down to the bottom. When we come back next month, that extra volume will help keep me at ease when I'm taking people down there. Devil's Den was my favorite (as always), the facilities improvements they've done since I was there this time last year make the place a ton better. A foodtruck being there on the weekends also helps things a fair bit 😋 All in all, a solid trip to cave country. With tomorrow's dives, I'll be at 13 dives since Friday and a few more hours underwater in the logbook
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2016 05:32
|
|
|
Delayed trip report on St. Thomas, US VI, South-East side of the island. I went with Aqua Action dive shop, which is in the Secret Harbor resort. The folks on the boat were very experienced and very knowledgeable, I learned some stuff about symbiotic reef plants that I didn't know. The diving was mostly very easy, nice long shallow dives (35-50 feet), with great corals, ledges, walls, and canyons. Almost all of the waters off of the south-east part of island are federally protected marine conservation areas, and it shows: pretty every dive was a non-stop critter show, including sharks, large sea turtles, a cavalcade of rays, and two close encounters with octopi, one of which was the biggest I've ever seen in the wild. Watching color-changing animals do their thing is one of my all time favorites! The dive shop out of Red Hook covers more of the northern east-end of the island, and has some more adventurous dives. But there is something to be said for all of that marine conservation area; the diving was so easy and rewarding, I'm thinking of taking my 71 year old mother diving there. I ran into a DM when I was mooching hot tub from the Ritz Carlton, and she told me that the best diving in the Virgin Islands was actually in St. Croix, a place I've never been. Has anyone ever dived St. Croix? Tony Montana posted:I am with my girlfriend. She is with me the whole time. I am not some loving goon who needs to memorize everything backwards because you're alone in this world. It was over 2 years ago. But you know what, enjoy your thread. The Australian from the best dive sites in the world with the pro diving girlfriend has decided this is not the kind place I want to talk about diving. As someone who used to do quite a bit of mountain biking, I had some advice for you, but since you decided to flip out, don't let the doorknob hit you in the rear end on the way out.
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2016 15:10
|
|
|
I know a guy who's an instructor in St Croix, I'll see if I can get in touch with him and find out something. He works for SCUBA, St Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2016 19:14
|
|
|
Tony Montana posted:I am with my girlfriend. She is with me the whole time. I am not some loving goon who needs to memorize everything backwards because you're alone in this world. It was over 2 years ago. But you know what, enjoy your thread. The Australian from the best dive sites in the world with the pro diving girlfriend has decided this is not the kind place I want to talk about diving. let me pick this apart: "You are with your girlfriend": -- that does not magically make you safe "It was over 2 years ago" --I'm glad you survived your stupid idea "pro diving girlfriend" Let me point you to UMPTEEN links where "professional" divers have caused the deaths of themselves and/or those with them. Don't break rules. If you had had a CNS toxicity event under water, you're dead. Noone survives those. I don't want to be reading about your death on one of the scuba forums.
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2016 01:51
|
|
|
Maybe he was posting from too deep and he narced out.
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2016 01:56
|
|
|
Icon Of Sin posted:I know a guy who's an instructor in St Croix, I'll see if I can get in touch with him and find out something. He works for SCUBA, St Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures Nice! Thank you for that, I'll make a note of it. One more thing that I saw that I almost don't believe. Remember how in Finding Nemo, the ray used to carry the baby animals around the reef like a school bus? Um... do they really do that? I saw a large (5 feet across) ray that had two small (4-5 inches across) rays hanging out on top of it, almost like they were cuddling. If I had thought that they were mammals, I might have guessed that they were nursing. Was this a random occurrence, or a real behavior? I always thought that fish hatched from eggs, so they never know their parents.
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2016 15:55
|
|
|
Warning: photo dump incoming from 4 days worth of diving between Devil's Den, Blue Grotto, and Ginnie Springs. Hide your modems, hide your routers
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2016 21:15
|
|
|
We went to Devil's Den, and it seems the homeowner was there waiting for us. An albino catfish, spotted at Devil's Den:  Plenty of these floating around Devil's Den. I appreciate the honesty, and of the other signs that simply say 'DIVERS KEEP OUT" with skulls/crossbones on them.  There's one dolphin in Blue Grotto, about 50ft down.  The mermaid at the bottom of Blue Grotto:  My flashlight reflected/refracted off of the trapped air bubbles on the ceiling of the ballroom, and made a pattern that reminded me of moonlight reflecting off of a rippling lake up on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  One of those trapped air pockets:  This little guy started swimming hard about 10 yards away, turned to my camera, then pulled up at the last second and buzzed the camera instead of headbutting it. On the Devil's side of Ginnie Springs:  Foraging for food:  This little guy was about to try and nip my camera, before I turned to film him:  Coming up out of the entrance to the Little Devil cave: 
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2016 21:31
|
|
|
lord1234 posted:let me pick this apart: My read on that post was more a group of experienced divers took someone very newly qualified (?) way out of their comfort zone. Based on his own uncertainty of the numbers and terms I'm hoping he was just misremembering stuff and what we got was the equivalent of an 'it was so awesome you guys!' story that's been repeated so many times he's increased everything without realising it. That's my best case because otherwise it was a bunch of experienced divers taking someone massively out of their experience (and definitely safety) zone without adequate preparation as well as being extremely cavalier with safety poo poo themselves. I hope that wasn't the case. Forums Poster Tony Montana this isn't any comment on your girlfriend or her buds being bad people but it's entirely possible for experienced people to be cavalier and even incredibly, incredibly stupid about things like this. The worst DCI cases I've heard about have been people with a lot of qualifications and experience who have gotten away with stupid poo poo a lot before. It's also easy to mistake someone's comfort and experience in one area as them being able to deal with stuff in another, you clearly do some 'extreme' sports and if those others are aware of it's quite possible they mentally slotted you into the more experienced end of diving and took you into a situation which, while you're cool with now, if they had been responsible they never would have put you in. Assuming the numbers are anything near accurate. In other news, I'm doing my Diver Cox'n training and possibly exam in the very near future. Which means I get permission to pilot and organise club RIBs on my own (in the sense of doing the work and being responsible) on trips. This is simultaneously super exciting and terrifying as I can do all the basic manoeuvres and tide planning but actually taking a vessel with people on it where I'm in charge is currently a bit freaky. I'm sure more practice will help but I love that diving has opened up more water based stuff for me. I grew up being a strictly indoors, city kid and if I didn't have diving I think the occasional afternoon hike in slightly muddy fields is the most outdoors stuff I'd do with my life. I'm half considering learning to sail. Also thread advice, I'm looking to buy a dry suit primarily for travel. I've got a DUI CF200 and it is way too loving heavy to consider. I'm looking at the Waterproof D9 or an Otter MTM Travelite (I get an instructor discount so cost is pretty close on both). Does anyone have experience with lighter membrane suits? I don't think I'll get a chance to try the suits out in a quarry so would really appreciate any first hand experience with them!
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 00:06
|
|
|
Icon Of Sin posted:I know a guy who's an instructor in St Croix, I'll see if I can get in touch with him and find out something. He works for SCUBA, St Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures OMG, if you can get any information from this dude I would LOVE to hear it! Not just diving, but the cost of living, crime/safety, areas to target/avoid, etc. St. Croix is on our short list of places to move to after we quit our jobs and become dive instructors next summer.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 00:20
|
|
|
SuitcasePimp posted:OMG, if you can get any information from this dude I would LOVE to hear it! Not just diving, but the cost of living, crime/safety, areas to target/avoid, etc. St. Croix is on our short list of places to move to after we quit our jobs and become dive instructors next summer. Working on it. He's bad about reading messages on fb, so I'm asking my shop owner about St Croix tomorrow when I go in tomorrow.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 04:10
|
|
|
MrNemo posted:
Santi has a discount program runnning through the end of the month, and they are SUPER light. Check out their suits as they are great.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 04:22
|
|
|
lord1234 posted:Santi has a discount program runnning through the end of the month, and they are SUPER light. Check out their suits as they are great. I've heard good things about Santi but they're certainly a fair whack more than the ones I'd been looking at. Can't see discounts mentioned anywhere for them though.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2016 13:09
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 18:00 |
|
|
Hi diving thread! I just got back from sharm El sheik where I got my Padi open water. I always loved snorkeling and tried to get the padi when I was 15 but had to abort due to horrible pain in my eyes. My gf is a cmas diver and when we where there it was so cheap that I decided to give it another try. No pain and an amazing experience 20 years later.. Anyways I found this thread and will probably ask more detailed questions later. Right now looking at padi adventure courses in Brussels where I live. I want to try drysuit but the fact that you don't seem to be able to pee might scare me off.
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2016 17:54
|
|
