Any scuba divers?

[Exterous]

I just started the process to get certified. Any tips or insights into the training or equipment? Favorite dive locations?

 

[purbeast0]

i've done it once and really want to get certified. i plan on taking a trip to the keys to get certified. i am going to do the online course then do the pool + dives down there. just not sure when it's going to happen. was supposed to do it last year with my brother but he bailed because of a job.

been snorkeling tons and tons, but scuba was incredible. i want to get certified so i feel more comfortable under there because i definitely felt a little nervous/anxious my first time going down there, and i went through my air quickly.

 

[yinan]

I just got certified 18 months ago and it is awesome. I have been to Cozumel, Bonair, Belize, Jamaica, and Hawaii. All of them were awesome. Tip #1 pay attention to your instructor. Tip #2 gear is expensive but I haul all of my own around so I know that it has been maintained properly.

 

[Exterous]

I just got certified 18 months ago and it is awesome. I have been to Cozumel, Bonair, Belize, Jamaica, and Hawaii. All of them were awesome. Tip #1 pay attention to your instructor. Tip #2 gear is expensive but I haul all of my own around so I know that it has been maintained properly.

Damn - sounds like a fun 18 months...
Did you get all of your own gear? That would be pricey plus the certification. I am planning on sticking to fins, goggles, boots and snorkel for now

 

[Griffinhart]

I'm a Scuba-Pro fan for gear myself. But they are spendy.

I recommend owning your own regulator. I purchased a Scuba-pro G250 regulator after I got my Cert back in the early 90's. 20+ years later it's still kicking. My local dive shop can still service it and parts are readily available. This past September I went diving on the great barrier reef, and the dive leader was jealous.

I look at it this way. You can rent, you can buy inexpensive... But this is your LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM when diving. Buy quality and maintain it and you'll get decades of use out of it.

When I travel to dive I don't like packing everything up. I usually stick to my Mask, Snorkel, Regulator. The rest I can easily rent when I am away and I don't have to put rental items in my mouth.

I typically dive up in New England, where I live. I own all my gear. I prefer steel tanks (72's) over aluminum. Enjoy your diving experience. It's a lot of fun.

 

[Pantoot]

Damn - sounds like a fun 18 months...
Did you get all of your own gear? That would be pricey plus the certification. I am planning on sticking to fins, goggles, boots and snorkel for now

I like your plan. I bought everything, lugged it all the way to Australia a couple of times and then got nitrox certified and decided to just rent when I travel.

I do like to bring my own mask/snorkle, and usually bring boots, but the rest I rent. Haven't found a place yet that I felt renting from was risky, but I am sure they are out there.

Especially rent while you are getting started. I bought my first BC when I was diving in California, and then when I got to somewhere tropical and dove with just a skin it didn't feel right, and that made me want to buy another one.

 

[boomerang]

Do your open water training in an inland lake, quarry or whatever. If you do it in the ocean, it will spoil you and you will probably not care for lake diving.

Rec Diving?

 

[Exterous]

I like your plan. I bought everything, lugged it all the way to Australia a couple of times and then got nitrox certified and decided to just rent when I travel.

Yeah I can't see lugging all the equipment around when we travel.

Do your open water training in an inland lake, quarry or whatever. If you do it in the ocean, it will spoil you and you will probably not care for lake diving.

Rec Diving?

All the places around here do quarry dives as part of it. Rec to start - not sure if it will expand to more.

 

[boomerang]

Rec to start - not sure if it will expand to more.

No, I thought maybe you were from SE Michigan. Rec Diving on Woodward in Royal Oak is where I did my certification through and where I bought all my equipment. I sold my equipment about 10 or 12 years ago. Had nobody to dive with as everybody had moved away. My wife is afraid to get in water over waist deep.

 

[K1052]

Is your wife at all interested in doing it with you? Having a SO that is will greatly increase the odds that you'll stick with it.

Haven't been in years as the husband is not a fan of the water except for limited snorkeling. Would love to take it up again and go on dive vacations but it's just not realistic.

 

[Exterous]

No, I thought maybe you were from SE Michigan. Rec Diving on Woodward in Royal Oak is where I did my certification through and where I bought all my equipment. I sold my equipment about 10 or 12 years ago. Had nobody to dive with as everybody had moved away. My wife is afraid to get in water over waist deep.

Ah - no not Rec Diving then

Is your wife at all interested in doing it with you? Having a SO that is will greatly increase the odds that you'll stick with it.

Haven't been in years as the husband is not a fan of the water except for limited snorkeling. Would love to take it up again and go on dive vacations but it's just not realistic.

Not even the slightest so dive only vacations with her are out. She said shes ok with day trips with a mix of snorkelers and scuba divers which is what we plan on doing in Australia next year. She is also ok with beaches and shopping so I may do another day diving while she does that.

 

[Imp]

Nope, but I know one who is a certified underwater archaeologist. Jealous.

She's talked about scubaing in the Great Lakes, somewhere in Delaware, and in the Caribbean. Most effed up thing is she's done body recovery more than once just because she was in the water while another diver died, not for a job.

 

[TheSlamma]

Rent your gear until you know how serious you are really going to get.

Like Griffin said honestly when you travel all you really want to bring of your own is your mask, regulator and maybe BC depending on the kind of diving. I use a travel backplate/wing so the thing rolls up into almost nothing.

 

[Bacstar]

Not to scare you or anything: I tried to get scuba certified up here in Alaska back in 2009 or so. Lost a bunch of weight and getting fit in preparation. Even went and got a full physical to make sure I was healthy enough since I'm a bit older, and I think it was a requirement with the dive shop i went to. I had a heart murmur, but the doctor thought it wasn't going to affect my diving.

Anyways first round: I got through the pool dives and was doing my final check out dives in Whittier Alaska. Also up here in Alaska, you need to get dry-suit certified as well, so I was in a full dry suit. Well, swim out to about 15 ft depth, and I start experiencing breathing issues. I'd take in a full breath of air, but I still felt like i was suffocating. So, I had to surface and was still struggling to breath. Dive instructor helped me swim back to shore and was kinda starting to freak out. Once I got back and unzipped the drysuit, I was starting to breath and feel fine, but something wasn't quite right.

Went to my doctor the following day, and my heart murmur became a heart whooshing noise. I got referred to a cardiologist and after a couple of sonograms, discovered I blew out my mitral valve. Ended up needing open heart surgery to repair the valve.

Fast forward another 6-8 months. I tried again. Doctors both my cardiologist and primary, even said I should be good to go. Did my diving in Resurrection Bay and even went to 3 different dive sites. Was feeling great too...Well, on my final dive, swam down about 30-40 feet. It happened again... I needed open heart surgery again, and this time, the surgeon replaced my valve with a mechanical one.

Sad to say, there was no third try. Doctors didn't want to explicitly say I couldn't, but I wasn't about to go through another heart surgery. The 2nd round was definitely more painful and tougher to recover from, and my heart just wasn't into it any more.

 

[purbeast0]

i have my own snorkel/mask/fins/boots that i take snorkeling with me whenever i go on vacation. i've had it since like 2010 and it still works great.

i also have absolutely no interest in diving in a quarry/lake stateside at all. i've snorkeled in many different countries in the carribean and no way i'd ever go into a quarry/lake and go look at some school bus underwater with crap visibility heh.

when i get certified, it'll be in the carribean or down in the keys.

 

[VashHT]

I got certified around here in IL then went to the keys to go diving there. It was an awesome experience but I haven't been able to go again in a while. For gear I just had the basic snorkeling stuff (boots/flippers, goggles and snorkel) but we rented the rest. I did my cert through the YMCA so it was a pretty long process compared to other certification places but gave you a lot more time to practice, for the cert dive we went to a quarry around here which was fine, the cert dive is pretty short and boring anyways.

 

[Apathetic]

See if you can find a good local dive shop. Try on a bunch of masks until you find one that fits REALLY well and buy it. For everything else, start by renting different types of equipment from different manufacturers before you buy anything (think of it as try before you buy).

Dave

 

[Gooberlx2]

Unless you're truly going to be diving regularly, just rent your tanks, BC and regulator. Rent the wetsuit as well, unless you have other use for one, like water skiing. I saw the argument for owning your own gear because of knowing how it was maintained. Unless you really get into it, proper professional dive outfits are going to take better and more regular care of the gear than you are.

Can't say I have a favorite location, I mostly dove for work once upon a time (aquarium). I always hear Cozumel is nice for an accessible place not outrageously expensive to travel to. I've been to the Bahamas and Florida. Bahamas are better. Everywhere else I've just snorkeled since it was 30ft or less.

 

[purbeast0]

heard roatan is incredible to dive at and it's pretty cheap since it's in honduras.

 

[bbhaag]

Make sure you find a good shop that will certify you the proper way. I thought I wanted to get into scuba after years of snorkling but I got trained by a bad shop.
I hadn't completed the written exams and they put me in the pool. I only had about 4 hours total in the pool and they deemed I was ready to go and get my cert. I got panicky when the silt kicked up and my nose started to bleed and then I never finished.

Find a good shop with a good program that won't try and push you through.

 

[GasX]

http://www.ramons.com/

You are welcome...

 

[Exterous]

See if you can find a good local dive shop. Try on a bunch of masks until you find one that fits REALLY well and buy it. For everything else, start by renting different types of equipment from different manufacturers before you buy anything (think of it as try before you buy).

Dave

The local dive shop where I am going to get certified will let you try anything they has before you buy it. We did a rough fit at the shop but he is going to bring several options so we can 'fine tune' in the water. Only restriction is if you want to order something special. Pricing seems to be within 10-15% of what I would pay online for new

Find a good shop with a good program that won't try and push you through.

I hope I have. Class size of 1 and he said we both needed to be comfortable with my skills before I get my 'C-card'. If either one of us thinks I need more pool sessions to go over something again we will for no extra charge. Pricing in line with the two big shops in the area despite their much larger class size. A friend referred me so I don't know if that has anything to do with the price

 

[Exterous]

http://www.ramons.com/

You are welcome...

Belize has been on our radar for a couple of years now - thanks for the resort recommendation!

 

[Stopsignhank]

If you wear glasses, get a prescription mask.

I went through the class. Sunday I do the pool and then next weekend I go to Catalina island to do the certification dives

Not me, but yes the fish at Catalina island really are that orange.

 

[Matthiasa]

Prescription mask or just contacts for use while diving.
Can't say where the best place to learn is but I learned in nice tropical waters where a wetsuit was mostly optional which meant reefs, tropical fish, sea turtles, squid, octopus, rays, sharks, etc.

You do need to be in okay shape, but there is no real need to go above and beyond with it. Some fat can actually with help with warmth and buoyancy. You only need to be able to swim like 100-200 meters which if your any kind of shape should be fine as well as stay afloat for 10 minutes using whatever method you want. You will also need to have a doctor sign off on any and every medical condition and medication listed. It's very unlikely for you to not have something checked but I know people who also just lie on the forms.

Also, remember to stay hydrated which includes proper electrolyte levels if doing it someplace warm. The symptoms of massive dehydration and the bends can be the same...

When renting gear also make sure you can breath easily above the water with it even if they are doing all the gear setup for you. I have been given a bad regulator before and had it swapped out before heading out. Note that bad doesn't always mean not working but that it is simply more difficult to breath through.