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lord1234 posted:Please god tell me its not the Easy Diver/Fred Calhoun fan club Nope, The South Shore Neptunes. Do they meet your approval? They also sponsor an Underwater Rugby club. I might have to give that a try.
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Jul 17, 2017 17:17
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Squashy Nipples posted:Nope, The South Shore Neptunes. Do they meet your approval? Oh good...these guys are cool. And underwater rugby is neato! Fred is a stroke of epic proportions...thankfully i think he might be out of the water for good/aged out of the diving world
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Jul 17, 2017 17:20
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Squashy Nipples posted:They also sponsor an Underwater Rugby club. I might have to give that a try. Is underwater rugby the same as octopush? With a small stick and a puck?
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Jul 17, 2017 21:26
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lord1234 posted:Oh good...these guys are cool. And underwater rugby is neato! What's the backstory to this guy? Sounds entertaining.
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Jul 17, 2017 21:46
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Has anyone ever played with the Halcyon flare or focus canister lights? I'm thinking of buying a can light, but given the investment I want to make sure I get it right... And a couple of pictures from Monterey and Carmel yesterday:  Black and yellow rockfish  A juvenile kelp rockfish with a mouth full of young of the year gopher rockfish. It was a bit more than he could swallow, and eventually he had to let the other fish go. The little gopher swam off and seemed fine, if a bit dazed.  I managed to get a picture of feather dusters without making them close!  The Sea Nettles are back. I think I could've stayed in the middle of the jellies and taken pictures all day :-)  And since I was talking about it, this is my camera rig. It's an Olympus housing for the EPL-6, with 2 YS-01 strobes. A friend with more tools than I have cut and drilled an Aluminum bar for me that serves as a nice minimalist tray. The port I have on it is the Zen port for the 7-14mm which blurs with the 7-14mm, so I don't recommend it with that lens, but works great for my 17mm lens. The macro port, which I use with the 30mm macro lens is in front of the rig. The only real regret I have with this setup is that I don't have a good super wide angle. The obvious answer is the 8mm fisheye, but I'm not entirely sold on fisheyes and haven't been able to justify the expense of yet another lens and port. I might try and find something that works with the 12mm f/2 but that's also a new port and lens. Mandibular Fiasco posted:What's the backstory to this guy? Sounds entertaining. Second
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Jul 18, 2017 07:30
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Mandibular Fiasco posted:What's the backstory to this guy? Sounds entertaining. He is a character in new england who runs his own "agency". He tells people he's never had a diver he dove with get bent....except the diver he convinced to do a bounce dive to 200 and stroke out on the way up, and the student diver who died on a 90ft shipwreck because he had never been properly trained in what an Octo was. There are more stories...but in any case, stay the gently caress away from him
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Jul 18, 2017 18:34
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lord1234 posted:He is a character in new england who runs his own "agency". He tells people he's never had a diver he dove with get bent....except the diver he convinced to do a bounce dive to 200 and stroke out on the way up, and the student diver who died on a 90ft shipwreck because he had never been properly trained in what an Octo was. There are more stories...but in any case, stay the gently caress away from him Holy poo poo! Also, DeadlyMuffin thanks for the setup pic! The housing looks familiar but I'm just running one top mounted strobe and original port.
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Jul 19, 2017 03:39
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let it mellow posted:Holy poo poo! I used one strobe for a long time, I'd definitely recommend putting it on an arm. Moving the strobe further out dramatically reduces backscatter
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Jul 19, 2017 07:07
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Any done the Georgia Aquarium diving experience? I'm thinking of splurging when I go up to Atlanta around Labor Day weekend.
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Jul 19, 2017 14:46
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I floated the name Fred Calhoun at the bar after last night's meeting, and everyone recognized the name. No bad associations with him, though, they just thought of him as an old diver that nobody had seen in years.MrNemo posted:Is underwater rugby the same as octopush? With a small stick and a puck? Nope, it's actually more like underwater water polo. The ball is filled with saltwater, so it's slightly negatively buoyant, and you aren't allowed to bring it above the surface. There is a basket on each end, and as long as you are touching the ball, the other guy is allowed to try and drown you. http://www.underwaterrugby.org/ I'm going to go try it tonight, I'll let you guys know what I think.
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Jul 19, 2017 17:11
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I went diving yesterday on the wreck of the Hyde! She's an artificial reef deployed in 1988, after serving as a dredge for the US Army Corps of Engineers in both WWII (in the Philippines) and Vietnam (in the Gulf of Tonkin). More info: http://www.wilmingtondiving.com/hyde.shtml Found in the crew quarters:  Down in the old galley:    Hiding in a crevice:  Random school of cobia:  Walkway, swimway, it's all the same to me!  Heading back out there Friday morning (weather permitting)! 
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Jul 19, 2017 19:03
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Oh man cool shark shots. Too bad they're a little blurry.
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Jul 19, 2017 19:39
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Awesome pictures :-) I've never seen a sand tiger in person before. Are they skittish?
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Jul 19, 2017 19:53
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Trivia posted:Oh man cool shark shots. Too bad they're a little blurry. GoPros are still not so great in low light, sadly true  DeadlyMuffin posted:Awesome pictures :-) Sometimes. There were 2 initially but the other one ran off almost immediately. The other one hung around for a few minutes, then headed out (I assume to go kill some spadefish). They're mostly curious, but they tend to just keep swimming once they figure out we aren't going to do anything to them. This poor guy had a hook on the other side of its mouth, so it had every reason to bail out (but didn't initially).
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Jul 19, 2017 20:20
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I'm gonna move to south Florida. 🌴looking forward to diving the Atlantic off of the west palm area!
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Jul 20, 2017 00:18
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Played Underwater Rugby for the first time last night, and I ache all over. Even my lungs hurt. All those years of experience with free diving? That just gets me in the door. The regulars have so much more lung capacity then me that it boggles the mind. I've got nothing on these guys. I guess it's one thing to dive down and grab something, but it's something else to dive down, have a wrestling match, pop up for air, and then do it all over again. For an hour.
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Jul 20, 2017 15:17
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This was written by Fred Calhoun recently: deleted due to private info...sorry guys! however here's a better version: 
lord1234 fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Jul 20, 2017 |
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Jul 20, 2017 19:17
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lord1234 posted:This was written by Fred Calhoun recently:  It's like a scuba fossil! drat kids with their dive computers and BCDs! I mean, if he wants to dive without that stuff more power to him, but holy poo poo. I wonder if he'd be cool with you showing up with a J valve DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Jul 20, 2017 |
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Jul 20, 2017 19:42
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DeadlyMuffin posted:
i'd bet dollars to donuts.
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Jul 20, 2017 20:12
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let it mellow posted:I'm gonna move to south Florida. 🌴looking forward to diving the Atlantic off of the west palm area! Awesome! I'm really hoping to get up to the BHB sometime this summer as well as the goliath aggregation.
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Jul 21, 2017 02:43
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Squashy Nipples posted:Played Underwater Rugby for the first time last night, and I ache all over. Even my lungs hurt. LOL... I had the same experience with both rugby and hockey. I was in the best swimming shape of my life and got absolutely outclassed by people who smoke and have 50bs of beer gut over me. Like, not even playing the same game. It was humbling to say the least but very eye opening as well. It wrecked so many assumptions I had about water fitness.
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Jul 21, 2017 02:50
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The Electronaut posted:Any done the Georgia Aquarium diving experience? I'm thinking of splurging when I go up to Atlanta around Labor Day weekend. We did the Denver aquarium which isn't what you're asking, but it really wasn't all that great. Yes, lots of great stuff including Goliath groupers but... it wasn't the same as seeing them in a real dive scenario.
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Jul 21, 2017 03:27
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Point Lobos State Park in Carmel is one of my favorite dive sites, and today was a beautiful day to dive it. Pretty reef The anemones are white-spotted rose anemones. Brittle stars are kinda creepy. These guys were swaying back and forth in the swell, it reminded me of a concert.  Lingcod! (with a vermillion rockfish in the back)  Grass rockfish. I don't see these guys very often.  Masking crab  Vermillion rockfish. I really like these guys, but I very rarely see them outside the reserve.
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Jul 24, 2017 03:54
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Has anyone else noticed lack of sleep makes them more easily narced? I was feeling a bit narced at ~90' or so, which is unusual, but the boat was a much earlier departure than typical and I didn't get a good night's sleep.
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Jul 25, 2017 17:14
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DeadlyMuffin posted:Point Lobos State Park in Carmel is one of my favorite dive sites, and today was a beautiful day to dive it. Hi fellow Bay Area goon. Are there a lot of you? I need more dive buddies for my weekend trips to Monterey from SF.
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Jul 26, 2017 00:32
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DeadlyMuffin posted:Has anyone else noticed lack of sleep makes them more easily narced? I was feeling a bit narced at ~90' or so, which is unusual, but the boat was a much earlier departure than typical and I didn't get a good night's sleep. Honestly I'm not sure I've ever felt narced, which I realize is a stupid statement. Sure the AOW test took me longer while we were deep, but gently caress, there was a gigantic barracuda hanging out that I liked. Seriously though, even at the Blue Hole at 154', I never felt like I was getting hosed up. I'm sure I was... I just don't know how to quantify it.
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Jul 26, 2017 04:17
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Shogunner posted:Hi fellow Bay Area goon. Are there a lot of you? I need more dive buddies for my weekend trips to Monterey from SF. Howdy. I've made offers to dive with anyone in the area but it hasn't worked out yet. I don't think there are many of us. PM me if you're looking for a buddy some time. DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Jul 26, 2017 |
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Jul 26, 2017 06:00
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let it mellow posted:Honestly I'm not sure I've ever felt narced, which I realize is a stupid statement. Sure the AOW test took me longer while we were deep, but gently caress, there was a gigantic barracuda hanging out that I liked. Seriously though, even at the Blue Hole at 154', I never felt like I was getting hosed up. I'm sure I was... I just don't know how to quantify it. Math problems are a good way. I feel the same way and then someone handed me a slate with some simple arithmetic at 120'.
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Jul 26, 2017 06:01
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DeadlyMuffin posted:Math problems are a good way. I feel the same way and then someone handed me a slate with some simple arithmetic at 120'. This. I was on a wreck at ~110ft recently that had been reefed in 1989, and while at depth tried to figure out how long it had been there... I was nearly unable to do so, and managed it only after what felt like a couple of full minutes of pondering how math worked.
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Jul 26, 2017 12:29
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I'm not sure that I've felt "narced", but on my deeper dives I've definitely noticed increased perceptual narrowing. Like, it's not just that there is less light, it really feels like my whole field of view is smaller, because it takes more effort to pay attention to stuff.
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Jul 26, 2017 15:43
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Squashy Nipples posted:I'm not sure that I've felt "narced", but on my deeper dives I've definitely noticed increased perceptual narrowing. Like, it's not just that there is less light, it really feels like my whole field of view is smaller, because it takes more effort to pay attention to stuff. I'd describe that feeling as feeling narced. For me at least it's like having just a little bit to drink, where you don't really feel it until you try and do something complicated.
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Jul 26, 2017 16:05
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I've never been below OW check out dive limits, 30ft?, but have been hypoxic skydiving. One time, I instantly knew what it was when I started feeling drunk looking out the door waiting for air traffic to clear.
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Jul 26, 2017 16:28
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Hey thread. My wife and I are looking to get our OW certification in a couple months here in San Diego. The dive shop we're looking at going through says we need to get our own boots, gloves, mask, fins, and snorkel ahead of time. I'd like to go ahead and pick up those things anyway for snorkeling anyway. Is there a good guide or something to what kind of equipment we should get specifically? There's a ton of options out there and it's hard to sort through what's best without having done more than a couple discover scuba sessions. I've heard the M1 mask is a good choice, but are there any must-haves or must avoids? I'd rather spend a lot of money once getting the right gear than messing around with a lot of rentals or trying to cheap out and having something I don't want to dive or snorkel with.
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Jul 27, 2017 02:16
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Any mask that fits and has a good field of view will be perfect. I tried on 10+ models at the dive shop and the $40 mask fit much more comfortably than all the $80+ masks. If actually plan to scuba dive often, either renting gear or getting your own, then definitely get scuba specialized stuff, others here can chime in and advise. If you just want to get certified but plan to snorkel much more than scuba dive, I would highly recommend looking at free dive gear instead.
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Jul 27, 2017 04:14
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Anybody else wake up in the morning with stiffness in the achilles tendons? It's always worse on days after I dive or play underwater rugby. Stretching helps, but it hasn't totally gone away. drat, getting old sucks. Rob Rockley posted:Hey thread. My wife and I are looking to get our OW certification in a couple months here in San Diego. DO NOT get a dry snorkel, they have way too much drag underwater. Just get a basic snorkel with a valve on the bottom and silicon section so it drops away from your mouth. As for masks, I agree that fit is most important. I also like clear skirts to let more light in, and I prefer the teardrop shape (better vis).
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Jul 29, 2017 15:45
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Also, if you're planning on snorkeling in the tropics, full-foot fins are a little bit easier to deal with. I recently tried snorkeling with my open-foot fins and 3mm booties (was on a dive vacation, and didn't want to bring four sets of fins,) and had a hell of a time getting the damned things entirely underwater; The booties were buoyant enough to make my feet float at the surface. Conversely, I love my open-foot fins for diving. Maybe broken-in booties would be a little bit less bouyant?
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Jul 29, 2017 15:55
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That's a good point; as I've gotten more into New England cold water diving, I've seen that most of the equipment I bought was focused on Caribbean warm water diving. For example, in the Caribbean, everyone uses wrist-computers, and in the cold water, they use console-computers. This is mostly because lobstering is destructive to anything attached to your wrist. As for fins, I can't use full-foot because of how wide my feet are. Open-heel are much better for the fat footed. Also, booties are a good thing for shore entries, specially if it's not a easy, sandy entry. I can wear my open-heel dive fins with thick, heavy, zip-on boots for cold water, or use lighter, shorter, pull-on boots for warm water. I bring two sets of fins on vacation, for diving and snorkeling. My main dive fins are Scubapro Nova Seawings (these also come in a full-foot version).  For snorkeling, I go barefoot with these open-heel fins (they look a little silly, but they are very efficient)  I don't have fins specific for Underwater Rugby, but I might buy a pair of these (they only come in full-foot, so fit will be important) 
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Jul 29, 2017 16:22
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MrYenko posted:Maybe broken-in booties would be a little bit less bouyant? Yes they will, but if you are using zip-on boots, the shorter, pull-on boots have a lot less bouyancy. Hell, for warm water you could just try some socks like this: https://www.amazon.com/Akona-Low-Socks-Mens-Womens/dp/B004JQKXCQ/
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Jul 29, 2017 16:25
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a) get the cheapest snorkel you can....throw it away after Open Water b) Consoles suck, and provide you with significant "christmas tree" affect. Wrist mounted gauges are awesome c) i love your snorkeling fins, but the Seawings tend to have a weakness at the bend point that causes them to break...its yet another reason I prefer Jet fins.
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Jul 30, 2017 02:16
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lord1234 posted:a) get the cheapest snorkel you can....throw it away after Open Water I disagree, but then again, I love to snorkel on vacation. Also, I still wear my snorkel on boat dives with divers whom I don't know. If someone has an equipment problem or a freakout, you could by left sitting on the surface for some time before the dive commences. Whether or not your BC is back inflation/wing design effects this decision, too. lord1234 posted:b) Consoles suck, and provide you with significant "christmas tree" affect. Wrist mounted gauges are awesome I agree wrist is better, but I can make the argument for console if you end up sticking your hand under a lot of rocks. lord1234 posted:c) i love your snorkeling fins, but the Seawings tend to have a weakness at the bend point that causes them to break...its yet another reason I prefer Jet fins. Interesting, first I've heard of this. I'm a big fatso, so if it's going to happen to anyone it will happen to me. I'm super happy with them so far; I've got about 27 dives on them so far. Again, they are better for warm water. The plastic is super light, and they are just a tiny bit positively buoyant. I may yet buy some Jetfins just have heavier fins for cold water.
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Jul 30, 2017 17:50
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