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 Post subject: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:24 am 
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Anyone here scuba certified? I know C18 is.

Anyhow, after some prodding by the Nebrasquosie, I finally relented and we will both be going for our Open Water Diving certification in NM next weekend. I just finished the preliminary course today. Scuba is a lot less scary than I thought it was, even after a somewhat scary incident today. At the bottom of the pool we practiced what you should do in the event of running out of air with a buddy close by. I asked for my buddy's 2nd regulator (octopus) once my air ran out. Unbeknownst to us the cover to his octopus's purge valve had fallen off earlier. I took the octopus and purged it like I should even though I knew something was wrong and took a big breath...of water. I of course, being the calm, steady guy I am, panicked and shot straight to the surface, which in real-life diving would be a HUGE no-no. Kind of a good thing it happened here and not in Jamaica or New Mexico...now I know what it feels like.

Anyhow, looking forward to being able to dive in Jamaica for our honeymoon--anyone else going on or recently been on any dives?


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 3:20 am 
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yeah, apparently you'd pop a lung for sure if you did that "live".. or two...

ever since the first pneumothorax hit back in law school (I'm convinced I had a second one this year even though the x-rays really didnt show anything), I've been told that I cant become a pilot without having my defective lung stapled (no worries, doc), and I can't scuba dive regardless... So, I'll have to leave getting zapped by a stingray to braver folk like yourself, Av...

:)


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 10:31 am 
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Yep, though I haven't in a few years since my gear was stolen. Best experience was a seal doing inquisitive loops around me, then trying to pull my fin off with it's teeth.

Tentatively planning next vacation to Vietnam with a week of diving. $40 for two dives is pretty hard to beat.

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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 10:38 am 
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Always wanted to do this. I might wait until my sons are a bit older and take them. How old do you have to be before you can be certified?


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 10:46 am 
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I'm going to be doing this soon, actually. I'm supposed to get a doctor's form saying I don't have any medical issues and start taking the courses by the end of this month.

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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:30 am 
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the Cunning Linguist wrote:
Always wanted to do this. I might wait until my sons are a bit older and take them. How old do you have to be before you can be certified?


According to a guy who had his son in the class, you have to be at least 10 I believe. And they have to be 16 before they can go down without you (assuming you're certified) or an instructor.


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 10:50 pm 
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TCL- 12 to be certified last I heard. I know NAUI asked instructors what they thought about dropping to 10. Instructors flipped. I was certified at 13. It's too young. Kids that age have no idea how serious it is. I didn't anyway. I damn near killed myself a few times. I guess if you go with them it could be a lot better. I went with my older bro, who typically never cared what I did. :lol:

Av- have fun! It's a great hobby/sport. Just start saving money now. :s

I need to get underwater this summer.

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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:54 pm 
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Well, it took a L O N G time but I'm finally open water certified!!! :kraken:

My courses went fine last year until we hit the Blue Hole in NM to do the final certification dives. I panicked 40 ft. below doing the mask flood and just couldn't recover enough to complete the dive. Fast forward to this year and we gave the final two dives another try. After some initial trepidation I managed to do the partial/full floods with little problem as well as the full mask removal.

Awesome diving here in Hawaii, we've seen a ton of sea turtles, a manta ray, and a shark (about Boyle size, not Thornton) plus countless fish. Going to try Molokini Crater tomorrow morning.


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:57 pm 
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Nice! Congrats, Av!


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:58 pm 
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Any strange undersea encounters yet? Whales, sharks, kraken etc...

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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:06 pm 
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Captain Chaos wrote:
Any strange undersea encounters yet? Whales, sharks, kraken etc...


We actually saw a family of whales en route to our first dive. Awesome stuff...too bad we weren't yet geared up at that point otherwise we'd have all jumped in right then and there.

1 shark so far, hiding underneath a sunken pier. At least 5 sea turtles and 1 small manta.

No krakens so far, which is fine. :)

We will be doing the night dive for the BIG mantas on the next island.


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:21 am 
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Fuckin Eh, Av, good show. I've always wanted to scuba dive and will be going for lesson and my certificate in 2013 - in 25 months when I pull the pin at work. Since the mrs and I do an annual pilgrimage to Mexico every November, I thought getting a diving ticket would be the way to go. She has no interest. She told me I could get the ticket in Mexico but I said like hell. There's lots of places I want to explore out there.


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:35 am 
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Av-merican wrote:
Well, it took a L O N G time but I'm finally open water certified!!! :kraken:


Awesome diving here in Hawaii, we've seen a ton of sea turtles, a manta ray, and a shark (about Boyle size, not Thornton) plus countless fish. Going to try Molokini Crater tomorrow morning.


Keep the seat warm Av! I'll be there in 2 months. Congrats!

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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 11:56 pm 
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drl perfect III wrote:
Fuckin Eh, Av, good show. I've always wanted to scuba dive and will be going for lesson and my certificate in 2013 - in 25 months when I pull the pin at work. Since the mrs and I do an annual pilgrimage to Mexico every November, I thought getting a diving ticket would be the way to go. She has no interest. She told me I could get the ticket in Mexico but I said like hell. There's lots of places I want to explore out there.


Right on, I highly recommend it. And if someone like me, who usually NEVER feels comfortable in the water, then anyone can do it.

I recommend you try and convince her to try a discovery scuba session, they usually offer those in a pool or something, to see if she likes it. I was dead-set against doing this until I tried it and despite some setbacks I absolutely love it.


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 9:55 pm 
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Congrats Av!

Just always remember- surface slowly. And keep your ipod charged & a good book in your dive bag in case you don't. Friends tell me the chamber is boring as hell. :)

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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 5:22 am 
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*Whew*

Finished off the vacation right.

Started out snorkeling this morning looking for spinner dolphins, saw a pod pass right under us as we floated. The Mrs. saw them a lot better and more often than I did since she's a much better swimmer. Still it was worth it. Snorkeled around a giant reef to finish off the trip.

Later that night, we went out on a two-tank dive, one just a regular drop 60 ft. down to check out a reef. Seas were bumpy to say the least. I was not at all comfortable down there with currents knocking us around--I know you're supposed to just kinda go with the flow but I was struggling. Rough, rough dive.

Got back on the boat, watched the sun set and then jumped back in to see the manta rays feed, and I must say that was the most mind-blowing experience of my life. 6-foot-wide wingspans getting so close you had to literally duck or they'd take your mask right off. I got the e-mail addresses of a couple guys who were taking video and photos of it all, I'll try and post once I get back home and get the footage. Incredible stuff.


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 10:39 am 
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Isn't scuba diving dangerous for pregnant women?


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 3:52 pm 
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the Cunning Linguist wrote:
Isn't scuba diving dangerous for pregnant women?


:argh:


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:00 pm 
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If you go onto my FB page you can see video footage of the manta dive that was shot by someone who dove with us. Awesomeness on a level beyond words.


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 Post subject: Re: Scuba thread
PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 3:50 pm 
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First dive (two tanker) in three years and the first one was ROUGH. The guy gave us a refresher course in the pool, of course I've gained more than a fair bit of weight since my last dive and as a result my buoyancy was completely outta whack. Struggled to stay down and actually floated away (!!!) during the safety stop (thankfully we weren't deep enough to where a safety stop was really necessary else I'd have been in really deep shit). I've never, ever had that happen before. Divemaster was cool though and gave me a crapload more weight, so dive #2 was much, much smoother. I think this is my wake-up call...I really gotta lose weight in the next year or so.

Saw a decent amount down there: A ton of big puffers, an octopus, trumpetfish, some eels, and an eagle ray throwing rocks around. Viz was...okay. Our 2nd dive site was only a few hundred yards from where they filmed the Richard Burton picture "Night of the Iguana."


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