Scuba diving is awesome! Divers, drop down in here! - Page 2

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Scuba diving is awesome! Divers, drop down in here! (Page 2 of 2)

Posted: 2/1/2011 4:23:46 PM EDT

[#1]

Quoted:

http://images2.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp53649%3Enu%3D328%3B%3E49%3B%3E835%3EWSNRCG%3D323%3A394%3B%3B6775nu0mrj

All you need is a shit ton of garlic butter

Posted: 2/1/2011 4:24:43 PM EDT

[#2]

Makes me wish I had finished my training. I did all the PADI stuff except the final night dive to get certified. I lived on St. Croix and once I knew the dive tables my friends with boats were fine taking me diving. I personally didn't care about the actual certification. Some of my closest friends had hundreds of dives/were instructors/ so on and so forth. The solitude of diving is really hard to reproduce.

Posted: 2/1/2011 4:24:52 PM EDT

[#3]

I just finished intro to cave a couple of months ago. It was a huge initial expense on equipment and training, but the diving is much cheaper now.

Posted: 2/1/2011 4:32:45 PM EDT

[#4]

I'd love to do diving. I looked into the class at my school, but I don't know if I'll be able to take it until next year

Posted: 2/1/2011 4:34:35 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:

I'd love to do diving. I looked into the class at my school, but I don't know if I'll be able to take it until next year

If you can, do it!

Posted: 2/1/2011 4:38:52 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Just wait till you find out about rebreathers

Shut up

One thing at a time. Only have 21 dives under my weight belt

No wonder your so amped up, go to a rebreather as soon as possible,

been diving for twenty five years and sometimes I'm happy just chilling on the beach instead of waiting for everyone on the boat to figure how much weight they need or dealing with the dive master on a power trip. Still love the sport but every year you become more selective of were and when you will dive and your tolerance for stupid becomes less and less. My favorite is grand cayman I can be on a good drop off from the beach and skip the shitty boat rides, and newb herds with enough gear for an extended range cave dive.
If you go to Cozumel and you don't see the dive master doing a head count ok checking people off as they get in stay on the dam boat, no liability in Mexico, and the current is wicked awesome

Maracaibo and Barracuda for the drift, and Devil's Throat on Nitrox 32 for the win!

Posted: 2/1/2011 6:02:15 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
http://images2.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp53649%3Enu%3D328%3B%3E49%3B%3E835%3EWSNRCG%3D323%3A394%3B%3B6775nu0mrj

Nice bunch of bugs, Earl. Reminds me of raiding the reef off the coast of Belize 30 years ago.

Posted: 2/1/2011 6:14:22 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:

Quoted:
System runnin slow.

Those are awesome pictures you posted,

what were you shooting with and what depth. Last time I took a picture underwater the technology and strobes were primitive to say the least.

Thanks. I have gone thru different systems over the years. I currently shoot a Nikon D200 with dual Ikelite strobes but one of those may have been with an Olympus 8080 with a single strobe.

Get close
Get Closer
Have good strobes

Posted: 2/1/2011 6:15:23 PM EDT

[#9]

I've been certified since 1988 and dive almost every warm weekend down here. I mainly hunt for fossils and artifacts. I've dove the Cooper River in Charleston SC, Venice FL, Panama City FL, Key Largo, the Chipola River in Marianna FL, the Flint River in Newton GA and a lot other places.

Posted: 2/2/2011 4:32:31 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:

Quoted:
So I guess I'll ask about this here instead of starting my own thread about it. I've been diving once, on our honeymoon in Jamaica. They offered a free dive if you're not certified, you do this 3 hour course and dive in a pool first. Yeah, I'm sure it's poo-pooed by the certified divers on here, but I really wanted to try it, and figured I'd be fine if I could handle it. Handled the pool fine, and headed out on the boat to a shipwreck. The dive was in 40 ft of crystal clear water.

Here's where it gets funky. Jumped in the water, put my face in and grabbed the anchor rope, and FREAKED OUT. I mean almost full blown panic attack. Dive instructor told me quite forcefully, "Put your respirator in and get your ass down there." Well, that worked. Got to the bottom, and had a blast. I loved it. Got back on the boat and mentioned my freak out to another experienced diver, and he asked if I was afraid of heights. Well yes, yes I am, horribly. Makes sense now, in the clear water off Jamaica, it was like looking down a straight drop of 40 ft with nothing to stop me.

Anyone else ever experience that?

That my friend is called perceptional narrowing and it will kill you if you are by yourself your instructor was an asshole who did not have the background or sense to care for your safety. As a Padi master instructor I'm furious when I hear about these incidents,we used to call these dives intro to death. With scuba you are not made aware of most of the dangers you are taught basic skills for basic dives as an open water diver stay within your limits and you will have a blast, get cocky and think you know it all your headed for trouble. No disrespect intended towards you but outside the us they don't care they have no liability if something happens to you your just a number that's it. Their are good shops but the bad outweighs the good, Ivie heard of intro classes to 100 ft thru a wreck in silt out conditions. Depth should be limited on these experiences and the ratios of instructor to student should be small and they should be in the water. People die all the time in less than twenty feet of water get training and be safe and enjoy a great sport.

No offense taken, trust me. Can you expand on the "perceptional narrowing"? What particularly makes it dangerous? I really figured, at least afterwards, that it was my fear of heights. Yeah, I'd heard not too many good things about intro dives like this, but I was dead set on diving, and figured I might as well go for it. Luckily once I forced myself to go down, all went well.

Posted: 2/2/2011 4:36:31 AM EDT

[#11]

Planning a trip to Florida in December now that my son can get certified as a junior diver. Wife is certified as well.

Posted: 2/2/2011 4:49:03 AM EDT

[#12]

i havent gone in like 15 years

Posted: 2/2/2011 5:05:12 AM EDT

[#13]

I got certified back in 2006. My open water practice dives were in a 40-50 degree rock quarry, so freezing my ass off for two days straight left a bad taste in my mouth. The only way I'm going diving is if it's hot tub temperature water.

Posted: 2/2/2011 5:13:55 AM EDT

[#14]

<––––––-

Unfortunately it has been awhile due to lack of finances.

Posted: 2/2/2011 5:16:20 AM EDT

[#15]

My son and I spent a week in Roatan and it was very nice. We were at a small resort, there were about 10 divers per boat, wreck dives, reef dives, a small cave dive, night dive. Very cool and very nice, great diving off of the beach.

Posted: 2/2/2011 7:19:23 AM EDT

[#16]

I got certified in high school, joined the Army and did a many a dive all over. When I got out and went to college, I needed a 1 credit PE class, they offered diving, so I got my NAUI Master cert.

Posted: 2/2/2011 9:53:30 AM EDT

[#17]

I got certified through PADI during college - because one of my girlfriend's father was PADI instructor!

I got certified in some of the darkest, coldest, and most frigid creepy lakes in Minnesota - but it was still FUN!

Logged A LOT of dives under my belt - almost ALL in local lakes - etc... Got the Advanced Openwater too.

I just kept my log-book at her father's house - because I usually just went on diving trips with him anyway... Then when I caught my girlfriend CHEATING on me - I broke up with her. When I later asked her father if he could send me my Dive Log book - he claimed he couldn't find it!

Maybe he could, maybe he couldn't... I don't know - but I was pissed that I suddenly had ZERO LOGGED DIVES, and only my PADI Certification Card to show for it.

Quoted:

I gotta get back and soon. We are trying to setup for Spring Break. Gotta find a new place other than Mexico.

http://www.pbase.com/jeff_edwards_tx/image/80893477/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/jeff_edwards_tx/image/80893483/original.jpg

What kind of Crab is that in the First Picture???

I saw those when I went diving in Costa Rica! One of the coolest creatures ever!!!

Went down to C.R. with my buddy for Spring Break, and he'd never gone Scuba diving before... The local dive shop was a D.A.N. certification place, and they said my buddy and I could go out on a 3-dive Day-Trip if he spent the entire day before doing the "1-Day Crash Course" - which certified him to go diving down to the ~32 foot depth.

When we actually went OUT into the open water the next day - our first dive was going down a STEEEEEEEP vertical rocky cliff / wall face!!! During the descent along the jagged rocky wall, the instructor hand-signalled to STAY BACK - don't get too close because the waves far above us were drifting us 5' forward, 5' back, etc... We spent time around 55' down - I forget how long - looking into cracks/crevices in the rocky cliff face... Then the dive master pointed into a hole, or opening about 18" wide... I looked - it was pitch black - couldn't see shit. So he motions with his hand like - look closer! I swam a little closer, lean my head forward to look in there, and he shines his spotlight in the opening....

WHOOOOOOOOSH!!! This HUGE FUCKING GREEN HEADED EEL flies RIGHT AT MY FUCKING HEAD, mouth comes open,

life flashes before my eyes

, and ****CHOMP**** He snapped his mouth shut about 1 foot in front of my fucking head and retreated back into the hole!!!

out of

on the fucking PUCKER FACTOR!!!

HOLY F(_)CKING SHIT THAT SCARED ME!!! I burned through +15% of my air supply screaming & freaking out - fucking adrenaline dump 55 feet down! LoL!

One guy, who claimed to have "tons" of dive experience didn't understand the hand signal saying don't get too close to the rocks while we're drifing...and got too close. He was wearing a 'shorts' style wet suit - and his exposed knees SLAMMED into the sharp rocks - cut him up fucking BAD!!!

He was bleeding like crazy, and swam back to the dive master... It wasn't more than 45 seconds from the time he started bleeding until the SHARKS came!!! There were two sharks - one brown, one grey - don't know what kinds - because i'm an idiot, but when the wounded guy saw the sharks - he fucking BOLTED!!! He started taking off toward the surface full-tilt! The dive master latched onto his fucking ankle, and had to wrestle the idiot to a halt for decompression at ~20 depth!!! The guy had to wait for like 10-15 minutes at 20' deep to decompress - all while freaking out, and I'm CERTAIN that must have seemed like FOREVER! The sharks came closer & swam right beneath him a couple times too! LoL! Mostly they just circled. After we all decompressed, surfaced, and boarded the boat, we ate lunch, and went down for dive #2 while Bloody Mc-Knees waited topside on the boat.

My friend, the rookie, mentioned to me while we were eating - "I thought I wasn't supposed to go below 32 feet? We were down to 65 feet for quite a while!" The dive master said, "But it was fun, right? If you're uncomfortable - let me know - we won't go down that deep again, but if you stick close by us, we can promise you'll be perfectly fine... You'll like the next dive!"

One dive #2, we quickly descended ALL the way down that rocky cliff face - down to 125 FEET!!! We didn't stay down there long, but while we were down there, we encountered one of those crab-like creatures in the first picture! It was the coolest little fucking thing EVER!!! The dive master grabbed my hand, so I held out my palm, and he picked up the crab, and let it go, its legs folded up like a tear-drop shape, and it landed in the palm of my hand, and started crawling around, up my arm, etc. it was so coooool!

We then placed it gently back on the rocks where we found him, and swam on... Saw some awesome rays, crabs, exotic poisonous fish, some sharks, etc...

One of my best dive trips ever!!!

At that depth - we didn't stay down there long AT ALL! We started feeling woozy & drunk, were burning through air FAST, so swam to the surface, and waited for decompression... While waiting to decompress, my rookie buddy ran out of air, and used my spare... Then we surfaced, and then headed to a shallow-water reef area for the final dive - lots of bright colored fish, coral, etc., and then we headed home.

Quoted:

Quoted:

I am PADI certified. I have my Open Water, Advanced Openwater, and Nitrox. I have logged about 175 dives but when I got married I had my wife certified and she enjoyed it at first and then after her check out dive we went back and she got scared for some reason. She said she just didn't feel right after that and now she won't go back. So it has all been a waste of money.

Were the conditions of the checkout dive in murky conditions? A lot of folks freak when the viz is down.

That's my likely guess too. I'm PADI Openwater & Adv. Openwater... Both my certifications were done in some EXTREMELY MURKY WATER lakes...

For my open-water dives, it was Cooooooold! Like 65 degrees OUTSIDE, and the water was also reeeeeeaaaaaally cold here in Minnesota! The Thermoclines were a real bitch for cramping up feet in the frigid temps! Add ~10' visibility to that fact, and you've got a recipe for serious claustrophobia!!!

That day we had 6 students going for their certification (myself included), and two of them got TOTALLY freaked out due to the low visibility & claustrophobia!

For the "Orienteering" part of the test - swim out X Distance on a compass bearing, and then turn around & swim BACK on the opposit lubber bearing... To see where you'd end up - with low visibility - A LOT OF PEOPLE GOT LOST. As in they swam right past the instructors, and kept going another 40 yards before surfacing to see where TF they were!

I swam right to the instructors, but would've likely missed them had I not heard somebody's spare octopus valve come loose & 'clink' something metallic! LoL! I turned to see and saw just barely the outline of the instructors - I almost swam right past them in the blackwater.

If the water is even A LITTLE BIT MURKY - it causes some people to seriously freak out. I have asthma, so I have to get a physical before EVERY dive trip I go on - so I'm always a bit leery - but never take unnecessary risks with my health. I need a good clean bill of health before I can go on a dive.

Posted: 2/2/2011 10:06:39 AM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:

What kind of Crab is that in the First Picture???

Yellowline Arrow Crab

You never know whats under the next reef.

Posted: 2/2/2011 12:53:01 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:

Quoted:

What kind of Crab is that in the First Picture???

Yellowline Arrow Crab

You never know whats under the next reef.

http://www.pbase.com/jeff_edwards_tx/image/101633154/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/jeff_edwards_tx/image/114500946/original.jpg

We saw some nice blue ones last week in Roatan.

And it's true you never know what you'll find underwater. While diving on the El Aguila wreck, me and my dive buddy were swimming around a part of the wreck, getting ready to head back up when I pointed out to him a nice big green morray eel about 4 feet infront of him in the direction he was swimming. I never saw someone hit the brakes underwater like that