Anyone here a current instructor in the south looking to do a class around christmas/new years? Only time I'll have off more than likely, I found a local place but it'll be super cold.

where are you located ?
 

Normally Southern KY, i'm willing to travel for a weekend though.

h




hmm....





its a longshot, but probably the best instructor I've ever met works out of Atlanta, but I know she takes trips out on almost all of the holiday vacations because its when the college kids are able to travel.





You ever make it down to Martha's quarry right outside Nashville? I've taken that trip with her during one of the Winter breaks in the past, I'll be happy to drop her a line and see if by chance she has the same thing planned for this year as well.





Shes is a real pro, which is not always common unfortunately. Taking a class with her is worth its weight in gold.  





Its been a while since I've been down there but I know the site we used was right outside nashville so I cant imagine there is more than one quarry over there, although I did think it was deeper than what google says but whatever.





the two memories I have from that trip was gettting absolutely trashed out on the town with my buddy from school who was Tn born and bred, and then the next day experiencing without question the absolute scariest moment of my U/w life while we were all down on a night dive with a bunch of students with zero Vis and that motherfucking piece of shit fucking fake dolphin that they have that bobs around down there smashed me right in my face absolutely out of nowhere.





You know what they never warn you about enough when you start to dive dry... Pissing you wetsuit when its 20 below freezing and nohing at all matters cause all you can think about is how much you cant wait until you can end the dive and get out of the water... one of lifes great little pleasures....





pissing your drysuit cause you just thought you bumped into the corpse of a dead diver while trying to keep track of a bunch of students.... Really really not cool in the least.




 
 

In other news, Tog season has officially been open for 8 hours and counting here in NY and I am all geared up and ready to get out there.





Got my super secret voodoo mix all set up and primed. spear gun was cleaned up lubed last night along with a bunch of new bands. Already got permission for to leave off my usual spot which is sheletered away on private property... Just counting down the hours till I can get out there.





Its all fun and games for those big toothy bastards as they sit there on their fat bellies laughing at me banging away until they find out today they are being added to the menu. ..... Those cocky bastards dont stand a chance...   You have my word friends. I will give them nothing,but take from them everything! (that is if I can actually hit one let alone take my limit of course)




 

Yes!!!

<<< PADI DM  

also in light of recent events as well as the word of a handful of reputable eyewitness's and the  caution from another diver, I have have decided to reinclude a piece of gear to my rig which I havent felt the need for in a while. Even with all the blood in the water and the location of where I hapeen to dive.






Like most people, I've given up even trying to explain to all the  know it all Jaws experts that most of us actually sign up to go on dives where we ge to be near sharks, and unlike a Grizz or a hippo or a lion once you actually see a shark underwater and realize it donest give the slighest shit about you or you silly camera flash because they are first and foremost FISH , big dumb uninterested fish who also just happent to have teeth which actually makes them pretty cool.





However, whenever the conversation goes from o my Gd do you know how many sharks there are out there blah blah blah. to either Tiger, White or my personal nighmare choice Bull, then they have my attention.





Bull Shark sightings, an attack or two and feeding in and around brackish water close to shore where Pwr does his spearing means its bangstick time for me again.



That way if I do happen to  get attacked and torn to shreds I can at
least pretend like I would actually have a chance to smash that fucker
in the face before he rips out a chunk of my torso, but such is life I
guess.





I also was given a bandoleer of those newer one shot modified powerheads that have come alon pretty recently. so far they look like they actually make a lot more sense and are much easier to use. Becuase they lack a firing pin you dont have any of the firearm issues to worry about, and they are always sitting at the tip of your fingers on the gun where you use the spear tip itself to ignite the primer. You can eithe run a second spear static along the side of your gun as I did which as simple as you can get or use it like a conventional powerhead and pop it onto your otherwise stnadard spear.





I just want to be sure that the spear tip will actually fire off the round. This will be the first time actually shooting a stick u/w of any kind so im curious and a little nervous about how its going to sound.






 
 

What caliber are you rolling with? The slip-on variety look interesting and make sense.

I understand magnum pistol calibers are preferred.

New to spearing, not diving here.  Not a whole lot of options here in Phoenix short of a trip to Kali or Mexico.  I roll to Mexico as much as I can as it is close (Sea of Cortez), but nothing that goes bang is allowed.
That's going to change shortly though.  Provided we make it past the Mayan calender thingy, my family and I moving to Florida.

Oh, and be sure to post AAR.

I have two. The one in the photo was actually a 'battlefield pickup' if you will and I never use it. Back in the day, my father became involved in .Mil diving (think OGA) and him and a bunch of the divers from up in Coronado would spent some of their down time doing chamber dives down somewhere near Mexico to harvest black coral which was only available down super deep which he always told me they used for beer money, but after quickly googling the name just now to double check, I think they were pocketing a little more than beer money on these dives, like probably closer to Submariner kinda coin, which suddenly makes a lot more sense about how he was able to afford the Rolex way back then but whatever.
anyway at the same time Mexico was having a slew of shark incidents and had actually started calling in the Mexican military to try to kill the shark. The bangstick in the picture he said he found 200+ feet down at the bottom of the ocean with a round in the chamber, the safety pulled and whoever had probably been trying to use it had smashed into something so hard that the rod its welded to was physically warped from the hit. So anyway that ones a .44, never fired, dropped once and definatly full of bad juju.
Mine is a .38/357mag which I load with a plain old .38.
I cant speak to the advantages or disadvantes of a mag loads at all since like I said ive never even used one, although I do read  many people who say that the .223 sticks are usually the most effective.
The PPD my buddy gave me is also a Ray Odor build, and it does seem like it might be a better alternative to a stick but who knows.
I doubt i'll have time to mess with it tonight. Id like to just worry about baggin a couple fish plus the beach I dive off of it next to a restaurant also on the water and im sure its gonna be hoppin tonight, along with heavier boat traffic, which on the North Shore  almost always  means they are operated by either idiots or drunken idiots which is makes for good times.

 


 

looking forward to the pics and AAR!

(preferably in a new forum!)

I dove with my wife and her instructor for her check-out dives at Dive Alabama (Bluewater Quarry) in Pelham yesterday and today.

It was actually very nice in the water above the first thermocline. Below it, things got a little chilly but still completely doable in a 7mm wetsuit.

The fish in that quarry are doing really well. We saw lots of big largemouth, smallmouth, and bluegills and a few healthy channel cats.  We also saw some small freshwater jellyfish, about the size of a nickel.

</aqua-bump>

Just bumping to keep this thread from exceeding MOD. I'm finally doing a GUE Primer & drysuit training in a few weeks.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Go Ugly Early?  or.... Gestapo Underwater Explorers?



Just playin' sleepdr......let us know how it goes.

I'm probably the most Do It Wrong guy around, so you won't get any "stroke" comments from me.  

The local shops basically cease any non-basic instruction when it gets cold, and one place I've approached at least 3 different times about AOW & drysuit.  In my local nitrox class, all the students didn't even want to think about calculating EAD,, MOD, ppO2, etc.  I showed up with a notepad filled with equations I'd been practicing, and we never even broke out the calculator in the classroom.  One student said the tables were too confusing, so he only wanted to follow his computer.  The same guy also gave some answers that actually would result in his or a buddy's death in the case of ox-tox.

The GUE instructor I contacted not only responded quickly to my inquiry, but spent a long time on the phone talking about training goals.  He was 180 degrees away from the pedantic "yer-gonna-die" Internet DIR loudmouths.  My bucket list for life isn't terribly long, but one of the items is to learn about and hopefully at least get to try technical wreck diving.  This is just the first step in what will likely be a very long road of training.  I'll start with the Primer and then can do my AOW dives as opportunities to also work on buoyancy & propulsion.

Besides, my primary second stage's faceplate is yellow.  I'm violating the "always look cool"/all-black rule.

I too am looking forward to hearing how it went.

Navy diver, 19 yrs in the dirty business with 1 to go till retirement. Feel free to hit me up or let me know what I can do to give a hand.

So.........what's it take to get a new sub-forum? I see the VZ boyz got there's not too long ago.  Not trying to be an arse, just not sure of proceedure.

We could be talking about mermaids and such as seen below..





Taken in Sea of Cortez

Technical and Full Cave diver here.  Its been about 10 years, but I still have all my cave maps and dive gear.  Count me in.

I still don't think we need another forum, but I just uploaded pics so I thought I'd share.






I'm really bad about harassing turtles.

Anybody snatching some bugs? Until Cobia season rolls around these little guys are #1 on my hit list (aside from nailing some Lionfish for easy little meals). Certified just over a year ago with SSI. Going to get my Master Diver whenever I decide the bragging rights are worth the price tag that comes along with it (I'm in no rush to do that!)

Pics!


Lionfish


Spear before big fish


Spear after big fish

Oh dang. And you're making me hungry!

Great pics!

My GUE primer & drysuit combo course starts in less than an hour.

Edit:
Day 1. 0700-1900. Unbelievable. The knowledge base and pinpoint precision taught and expected are on an amazing level. Trying to back/reverse kick a few pool lengths for the first time will help you remember a vocabulary rich in colorful phrases. I'm going to eat dinner, have a handful of Motrin for dessert, and crash.

Edit 2: Same times. Doing ow dry dives later. I am completely  worn out. Pro tip: don't frustratedly punch the concrete pool bottom when your screwed up foot position makes you go out of trim. It only hurts your hand and doesn't make your position any more stable. Even though just a primer, it was the best $ I've spent on diving in this short career.

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I snorkel and dive, and I would love to see a sub forum.  I'm not sure we should be so restrictive though, a "watersports" forum might be more inclusive and could include waterskiing, boating, etc.

ETA: I did a shore dive last Saturday at Sharks cove, and I'm diving the sea tiger again on Sunday.

Good point. I've often wished there was a more general boating forum here (other than/rather than the Outdoors>Fishing Boats forum.)

Here's my take on gear:


I have a full set up, multiple wetsuits for different temps, spare regs, all kinds of crap. I know a TON of divers from working at a water show in Vegas, so I was able to get stuff stupid cheap.

That said, unless I'm diving within driving distance of my house (so that's lakes or the West Coast), all I ever use is my regs and computer.

All of the really awesome dives are an airplane away. To me, it's not worth hauling BCs and all that other crap around for the marginal improvement over rental gear.
If you're going to Hawaii for example, diving will probably be a small part of your trip. Do you really want to deal with all that stuff?



If you do want to kit up, buy used. This economy should provide tons of amazing deals. Take your stuff to a dive shop and get it all serviced/checked out.  

yes yes yes....make the forum please....

The one benefit to bringing your own gear is you can guarantee that nobody has horked into your reg

I bought my own reg after the first pool dive in my OW class.  Inhaling a massive hunk of someone else's lung butter was enough to drive that decision.

+1 on the idea of opening it to a general watersports forum.  If needed down the road, maybe it could be subdivided into diving/boating/skiing/etc.

Ahhh.. I'm not getting in the water unless you pay me.

Kind of like the electrician's house with wires hanging out of boxes in the walls, ceilings 'n stuff?

Nah.  I just don't care for looking at fish and making bubbles for fun.  I've lived on the coast since getting my PADI license, but I've only been in the water 2x for free, and that was to go as a dive buddy.  Hard hat and umbilicals for me.

I guess I wasn't clear-
I do bring my own regs and dive computer. A) other people's lung butter is gross. B) I don't trust random dive leaders to watch my bottom time.

Regs are the one thing where the difference between cheap and quality is apparent.

and from my experience rental regs are poorly maintained.  I bring my own, but have seen divers on the boat putting their rental gear together and finding out their octo or primary hissing.  Last time, I tried to help a guy out, but didn't have tools open face of 2nd (pinned).

I'd love a scuba forum! PADI and NASE instructor here. NSS-CDS full cave certified as well.

This picking up any traction?

Gotta get some new threads to yak about.

How about upcoming trips folks are taking.
My wife and I are heading to Coz, again, for 8 days in April. It can't get here soon enough.

It snowed here today.

I cannot express how good Coz sounds right now!

the best way for this to pick up traction is for this  thread to have many replies

If you know of any other divers on the board, make sure they get in here and speak up!

I'm posting from a phone, so can't grab the links. Can someone hop in the new diving thread in GD to point them this way?

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Done. Don't know how much traction it will get. GD threads move pretty fast.

On another scuba subject. If anyone is looking for a new regulator, I highly recommend an Atomic B-2. It's the easiest breathing reg I have had. I have a paralyzed right diaphragm, and I never felt like I wasn't getting enough air, even below 100'. Disclaimer: I do not own, work for, or have any inside affiliation with Atomic Aquatics.

I got issued my new DUI PSD drysuit!!  This is my first new drysuit!!  All others have been hand me down through the dept!!  So excited to have seals cut for me!!

Congrats!!  

Nothing better!

sure...

I would like to see a diving forum.  I enjoy the diving threads in other places, but some of the more esoteric topics would benefit from a sub-forum.

Checking in in support of a SCUBA forum.

in!

I'm game, although its been a few years since I've been 'wet,' I plan of fixing that in Feb/March.

I'm in support of a diving forum.