Posted: 3/10/2011 9:07:23 AM EDT
| Don't know if this is the right forum or not.. but does anyone here scuba dive? I'm interested in it and think I might take the a course to become certified. Any suggestions or tips? I know nothing about it as of right now and haven't really done very much research, its just something I would like to learn how to do. What will I need to know before I can get started? Is there anything I should know prior to taking the course? |
| Don't hold your breath. This is what you will learn first. Seriously, it is one of the most relaxing and enjoyable things to do. It is a very expensive hobby to start off with, but it is well worth it. You don't need anything to start up. Just enroll in a class and they will teach you all you need to get started. |
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Don't hold your breath. This is what you will learn first. Seriously, it is one of the most relaxing and enjoyable things to do. It is a very expensive hobby to start off with, but it is well worth it. You don't need anything to start up. Just enroll in a class and they will teach you all you need to get started. +1 |
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Some of the local community colleges offer Scuba, I even took an advanced Scuba thru a CC. My University offers the course, thats where I will be taking it. University's and Community Colleges are a great way to go. Where are you hoping to dive at? |
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I taught Scuba back in the day. I still have a current instructor certification, but I haven't blew bubbles in a few years.
Scuba diving is equipment intensive and can be expensive to gear up for. I've seen many students go on their openwater certification dives and go spend 1-2K to gear up, then only use their gear only a couple of more times before it goes virtually unused for years. Tanks must be visually and hrdrostatically inspected, and regulators are supposed to be serviced on a regular basis( but often aren't) so their is a carrying cost to owning gear. So my standard advice is to not buy any more gear than you have to. Rent what you can when you go diving. If you make it through ten dives and are still gung-ho, feel free to gear up. If you enjoy openwater, take advanced class. By the time most make it through advanced they're pretty competent divers. |
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I taught Scuba back in the day. I still have a current instructor certification, but I haven't blew bubbles in a few years. Scuba diving is equipment intensive and can be expensive to gear up for. I've seen many students go on their openwater certification dives and go spend 1-2K to gear up, then only use their gear only a couple of more times before it goes virtually unused for years. Tanks must be visually and hrdrostatically inspected, and regulators are supposed to be serviced on a regular basis( but often aren't) so their is a carrying cost to owning gear. So my standard advice is to not buy any more gear than you have to. Rent what you can when you go diving. If you make it through ten dives and are still gung-ho, feel free to gear up. If you enjoy openwater, take advanced class. By the time most make it through advanced they're pretty competent divers. Great advise. |
Only thing I would buy at the beginning is fins, mask, booties and snokel. Everything else can be rented (especially when traveling). After you determine if you'll continue than buy as you need. I once dove several times a month for 15 years straight. The Army can make an enjoyable sport suck. (I'd do it all over again)
during a dive at Half Moon Bay, Saudi Arabia 1 Mar 91 during the first gulf war 
1500m compass swim in 3000' Gulf of Aquba 
30' high water entry in Gulf of Aquba 
at 1500' AGL under conopy, rubber raiding craft is the lower chute (SCUBA tanks and rucksacks in boat). 
diving with Dragger LAR V rebreather and the AR15 
 Dive tower at Naval Experimental Dive Unit, Panama City FL (where we push dive tables)
On a wreck in Gulf of Aquba, Jordan 
CD |
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I taught Scuba back in the day. I still have a current instructor certification, but I haven't blew bubbles in a few years. Scuba diving is equipment intensive and can be expensive to gear up for. I've seen many students go on their openwater certification dives and go spend 1-2K to gear up, then only use their gear only a couple of more times before it goes virtually unused for years. Tanks must be visually and hrdrostatically inspected, and regulators are supposed to be serviced on a regular basis( but often aren't) so their is a carrying cost to owning gear. So my standard advice is to not buy any more gear than you have to. Rent what you can when you go diving. If you make it through ten dives and are still gung-ho, feel free to gear up. If you enjoy openwater, take advanced class. By the time most make it through advanced they're pretty competent divers. Great advise. Yes it is. I've been PADI certified since 1976. You'll probably need to buy your mask, fins and snorkel, Rent everything else for awhile. IF you decide to buy any used gear make sure the tank has a current hydro date. Have anything else like regulator checked. |
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I taught Scuba back in the day. I still have a current instructor certification, but I haven't blew bubbles in a few years. Scuba diving is equipment intensive and can be expensive to gear up for. I've seen many students go on their openwater certification dives and go spend 1-2K to gear up, then only use their gear only a couple of more times before it goes virtually unused for years. Tanks must be visually and hrdrostatically inspected, and regulators are supposed to be serviced on a regular basis( but often aren't) so their is a carrying cost to owning gear. So my standard advice is to not buy any more gear than you have to. Rent what you can when you go diving. If you make it through ten dives and are still gung-ho, feel free to gear up. If you enjoy openwater, take advanced class. By the time most make it through advanced they're pretty competent divers. +1 If you have any questions or what more info let me know. |
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http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/5th_Divers.jpgDive tower at Naval Experimental Dive Unit, Panama City FL (where we push dive tables) That is the Buddy Breathing Ascent Tower, part of NDSTC, not NEDU. NEDU is across Aligator Bayou (the water behind the BBAT). However, if you want to learn to dive, I suggest you come to NDSTC in Panama City, and learn.
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best thing to do is find someone else that you are friends with to do it. I went through with my dad while i was still in high school, didn't know anyone my age who did it. I got out when my dad and his friends quit going, because I had no one else to go with. I think it is a lot more enjoyable when you know someone who can go on trips with you. Luckily our fire department is trying to start a dive team this year and have several members interested. This has pushed me to get back into it, and one member already got certified, so I now have someone who I get to dive with locally. it's more enjoyable to have someone to dive locally with, helps keep you current on skills, don't always end up going on trips to dive with people you don't know. Plus, i never did like diving alone, even in areas i grew up around.
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When I was stationed in Honduras a few years ago I took advantage of the Army's MWR program to get PADI Open Water and Advanced certified. It was awesome.
A lot of great tips have already been mentioned. I'll repeat to pay LOTS of attention in class. Also, be aware of your surroundings at all times in the water. If you decide to get the Advanced Open Water certification, I highly recommend the night dive, wreck dive and drift dive as the 3 electives. |
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I would also advice against going through the weekend or 3 day class. While this looks ideal at first, you need to realize you get a lot less instruction. You will not always have a dive instructor with you so I found the more training the better. It makes you more confident and comfortable int he water, making all dives more enjoyable.
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I too took my first SCUBA class at a CC.
One thing, if you aren't a competent swimmer, or haven't swum for a long time... GET STARTED NOW! Get your endurance up and you'll thank me later. You don't have to be an Olympic swimmer but the better you are, the easier the course and the subsequent dives will be. Also... I don't know how conditions are in NJ, but I did a lot of my diving off the California coast. This frequently means lugging your equipment up & down some pretty gnarly cliffs. Be prepared for that, too. |
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I got my DM rating through my school. time very well spent! I love diving and have been diving my whole life, definitely go for it.
Diving shares a ton of similarities with shooting, as it does with aviation, and skydiving, and climbing and anything else that is fun but requies you to leave the house. Hence as a diver moves up the chain from the recreation level, to mixed gases, to master, to tech diver or Divemaster or whatever of course the skills increase, but the biggest lesson that you learn is that you need to be safe. Those lessons then trickle down to the majority of recreational dives that many of us do the majority of the time and make us much better divers overall. Heres your first lesson. There are old divers and there are bold divers, but no old bold divers. If you find yourself on a dive like a vacation dive or similar where you don't know anyone, just because others choose to cut corners does not mean you should. You should always plan your dive and dive your plan. That means sitting down for 2 minutes while on the boat and scribbling out a few simple calculations from a table or two to plan how your dive should go, even though you will almost definaetly have a computer on your hip doing all that work for you. |
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Only thing I would buy at the beginning is fins, mask, booties and snokel.= http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/5th_Divers.jpgDive tower at Naval Experimental Dive Unit, Panama City FL (where we push dive tables) CD O so your the one
The same old man who gave me that also gave me most of his old dive gear. The fins mask snorkel compass board bang stick spear gun is all the exact same stuff I use to this day. For some reason he refuses to give up the damn submariner though 
You happen to be grad of Robin Sage by any chance? |
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Only thing I would buy at the beginning is fins, mask, booties and snokel.= http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/5th_Divers.jpgDive tower at Naval Experimental Dive Unit, Panama City FL (where we push dive tables) CD O so your the one
http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae71/blackjakjunk/vdd/DSC_00702b.jpg The same old man who gave me that also gave me most of his old dive gear. The fins mask snorkel compass board bang stick spear gun is all the exact same stuff I use to this day. For some reason he refuses to give up the damn submariner though
You happen to be grad of Robin Sage by any chance? Yep, gradulated in 84' and wore that flash on my beret for about 6 mos before we switch back to the solid back. Went to CDQC in 85' and spent 15 yrs as a combat diver. Was a Robin Sage instructor my last tour 06-08'. Decide to retire when my oldest son graduated Robin Sage and then he went to CDQC in 08'. Two generations of SF Combat Divers in the household now.
CD |
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Only thing I would buy at the beginning is fins, mask, booties and snokel.= http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/5th_Divers.jpgDive tower at Naval Experimental Dive Unit, Panama City FL (where we push dive tables) CD O so your the one
http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae71/blackjakjunk/vdd/DSC_00702b.jpg The same old man who gave me that also gave me most of his old dive gear. The fins mask snorkel compass board bang stick spear gun is all the exact same stuff I use to this day. For some reason he refuses to give up the damn submariner though
You happen to be grad of Robin Sage by any chance? Yep, gradulated in 84' and wore that flash on my beret for about 6 mos before we switch back to the solid back. Went to CDQC in 85' and spent 15 yrs as a combat diver. Was a Robin Sage instructor my last tour 06-08'. Decide to retire when my oldest son graduated Robin Sage and then he went to CDQC in 08'. Two generations of SF Combat Divers in the household now.
CD Wow, that's a hell of a thing. Many thanks to you and your boy. Remind him to keep his head down and powder dry wherever he winds up next. No Bubbles, no Troubles! 
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| My only complaint about diving is I never have enough time to dive. Got certified in Fla. made about 20 dives then had to move back to Texas. Not a lot of good dive spots here and got spoiled diving the Keys. As mentioned just buy the basics and rent the rest. Get a good water proof watch and a decent compass and the rest too. |
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Well once again arfcom has defeated my ability to make only rational/healthy decisons. I was planning on going spearfishing sometime tommorow like I do a lot of weekends this time of year, but this thread was on my mind yesterday afternoon for a while and while looking for a report of how the fishing has been the last few days I said fuck it and googled the chunk of ocean right outside my window, curious if anyone was ever brave enough to dive through that sludge and current to get to anything worthwhile or potentially fishable.
So what is the first result the pops up? A photo of a diver standing out on the jetti not 300 yards from where I amsitting, and in his arms hes holding a gd damn WWII Garand that he recovered while underwater. Even though the photo was at least 20 years old now I was amazed . That was more than enough of a reason to pull out my gear and literally walk from my front door to the dive spot. I live what used to be and still technically is a fairly active Miliitary post. which is situated on a outcropping at what was obviously a very defensible position to what i'm sure at one time was an incredibly crucial bay area and NY Harborway. For some reason it never even crossed my mind about the 100 plus years of .mil history that is probably sitting down in the mud waiting to be pulled. Since I was stil very much unfamilar with the area, other than that it is often very busy with both a good deal of boat traffic and always at least a dozen or so anglers, not to mention the current whic I was only able to make guesses at, I kept this dive very conservative, I didnt venture far out into open water and spent most of my time getting my bearing within teh confines of the Jedi and the western section of the Fort. I'm not stranger to zero viz and I definately believed the report when it warned that viz was a major factor and often a huge unknown. What I did know was that I was definlatey going to miss high tide, and be lucky to catch the ebb out into the slack, where things I was assuming went fro dark to black, whichof course it did. Between my HP Steelie 100 and a slung 30 cf which I dont normally touch, combined with my depth and SAC frombasically just hanging out crawling around playingwith the horseshoecrabs, I literally couldve taken a nicenap at 28 feet and woken up at finished my dive. I was also sucking down 40% which was acompletewaste ofmoney from a nitrox fill, but hey whatare you gonna do. all in all, good times were had, I got a dive in during the week. and most importantly after making a formal request about any possible UXO in the area (of which I'm sure thereis none, but wow talk about the dumbest assumption in the history of stupidity) I will find myself something ofincredible awsomeness and historical value. and gd willing, I will leave NYC with one more evil rifle in my collectionthat I started with, which I'm sure will give bloomberg an ulcer if he found out. ,
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do it, have fun.
you can spend a little or a lot.... get decent gear, enlist the help of someone knowledgeable to help you select proper fitting stuff, you'll benefit in the end. seen lots of people not get the help and have one problem after another in the pool, well before any open water dives. if you can work it so you do your open water dives somewhere nice/warm, it'll be that much more rewarding than doing them in the low vis local reservoir. I know for a fact that SCUBA gear is cheaper than Skydiving  and I would rather skydive anytime vs scuba. ymmv
FWIW, I'm a PADI Divemaster and USPA D-Licensed "Master" Skydiver |
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That reminds me of diving in the lakes in southern Bavaria of Germany. Always finding WWII aritfacts and ordanance. CD oh you just shaddup already with the fun diving stories
there is an old cessna in the one of the local reservoirs and a toilet and shopping cart in another... oh, I did find a 4lb lead weight a couple months ago 
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My favorite is surge diving...just drifting in and out among the rocks with the surf. You can adjust your buoyancy to just be over the rocks and be floating back and forth. It's beautiful.
Saw my first sharks, white tips diving the Barrier Reef among the Antler Coral. Yes. Do it! Always wait a day before flying after diving. Always. |
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That reminds me of diving in the lakes in southern Bavaria of Germany. Always finding WWII aritfacts and ordanance. CD oh you just shaddup already with the fun diving stories
there is an old cessna in the one of the local reservoirs and a toilet and shopping cart in another... oh, I did find a 4lb lead weight a couple months ago Hey! that's mine, and I want it back! (the lead..., my cessna thankfully has thus far stayed out of the drink)
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Diving is a blast. Once you get comfortable with buoyancy, gear and get your breathing down you almost forget it is a technical sport. New Jersey is a great place to dive. There are a ton of wrecks of the coast. You can get all the training dives in you want over at Dutch Springs in PA. I would spend a season there getting comfortable and then to a shallow intro dive in the Atlantic late season ( September early October) the water will be warm calm and clear.
As far as getting your cert there are places all over NJ. Go to a few shops, talk to the instructors/owners find one you are comfortable with. Don't hesitate to ask them questions either. All shops I have been to have always been safety first type establishments as well as the dive boats in NJ. Then be prepared to spend a lot of $$$$ because it is and addictive sport. You will need a good mask, snorkle, and fins to get started. Also, before you can even get into it make sure you can swim 300 yards. Its not timed or anything but you have to be able to do it. No specific stroke either but it is something you have to do ( at least through SSI ) to even begin an open water class. |
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Guys just thought I'd remind everyone who getting wet anytimt soon to please remember to be careful. I've spent the last week out east on Montaulk, on a mini dive trip with some buddies.
In just the last few days we've had two separate diver fatalities, both unfortunately perished while diving from the same boat, something that was the result of just terrible blind luck and nothing else. I've dove off the vessel in question a handful of times and was friendly with both the Captain and crew. they are all tremendously professional and obviously incredibly broken up over this , as many people have been. The Doria Diver was diving CCR. There is a lot of after action coming in from divers who were invovled or at depth during the incident, however the deceased buddy was also a very experienced diver and also has a good reputation of giving a fair, honest criticism of what exactly happened in the events leading up to the incident. so instead of posting many of the theories of what was going on, Andrew has already announced that he is willing to give a detailed account of the incident in a few more days after he has some time to deal with the loss. I will post his account in a new thread. If I can take a second interject my own personal diving philosophy, especially as it concerns any divers who dive in the Northeast specifically, a few days ago in ranother threat someone posted a photo of a White shark scoping out a diver spearing fish down at 130' or so with a whole lot of f that noise etc. comign from teh responses. If all we had to worry about while diving was the danger of being bitten by a shark, diving would be the safest most incredibly hobby on earth. Anyone who has done any shark dives, even big shark dives down around the GBR and others probably sagrees with me that sharks for the most part are jsut big dumb fish. As long as you don't look like something resembling a seal then its not bubbles no troubles. However, what does really scare the shit out of me not counting the problems that can occur at depth with mixed gases, but instead an issue that is a real danger to divers at every depth and experence level is the major entangelment risk that can occur in and around many of the dive sights in the tri-state waters. Always Always have at least a couple ways to calmly and easily begin to work your way out of any possible entangelment you many encounter. Make sure you have a cutting tool that can be reached by either hand preferably at three different areas of teh body. something like a knife on your inner ankle, a set of trauma shears in a drysuit wait pouch, and then another small knife or shears sheathed onto your BC harness. And remember that your only as good as your last dive and that Monotony is the cruel reward of the cautious. |
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It's worth knowing how to do and it is really fun. You'll learn alot, and then realize that most of scuba you see represented in movies and such is BS. You can't just go up and down and all that stuff, safety stops, safety stops...
And, as part of your check out, emergency ascent (if they still do that) is awesome. I guess it might make me a freak show, but I really dig the emergency ascent. Total trip when you feel that second rush of air. Never buddy breath in an emergency, primal things happen with the unexperianced. Anyway, go learn it, that's what life is about. Then, when you get certified, you don't need all that equipment, just your own mask, snorkel and fins. Then go to Hawaii (Maui) or other places and rent from hotels and just shore dive. Or, take some boat tours. Sure, they might be a little more expensive to rent, but you don't have to haul anything. It's not like packing your own chute. It's an awesome primer for your water skills anyway. Do it. |
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Yep, don't go spending a bunch of money out of the gate on gear. Most people only dive once or twice a year on vacation, and a lot of people only do it for a while and get out of it. Like Combat Diver said, just get the basics (mask, fins, snorkel, booties) to start and rent the rest for a while. Once you're sure that it's for you then you can start to invest in your own gear.
What type of diving you're drawn to will also make a big impact on what gear you want to purchase. Diving wrecks off the coast up there around New Jersey is going to be a lot different than diving shallow reefs in some warm water vacation destination. If you get into some form of technical diving you can really start to drop some serious bucks. Regs, stage bottles, drysuits, computers, mixed gas fills, gas analyzers, compressors, scooters, rebreathers, lights, training, travel, cameras and housings with their own strobes/video lights, vehicle to carry it all in, etc... Not to mention maintenance on all of the above. If you do, take your time though, build experience and don't short yourself on training. The ass you save may be your own. |
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Just went for my Advanced Diving class last weekend. Did 6 dives in 2 lakes. Lake Travis in Austin is down more than 30' from usual. Used to Dive Lake Travis every weekend a few years ago. Dove off of a guy that charted a boat that went to a few pretty cool places and sometimes just at the scuba park. I also got certified in Florida, dove the keys a few times. Diving in Travis is a complete 180 from the Keys. I have been on Travis at a depth of 110 ft and could barely see my head 10 inches in front of my face. it was 11am and it was dark as hell down there. I have also seen it where you can see a good 30 ft. |