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MrNemo posted:A+ as a training officer at a bsac club I'll say that fresh, keen members are amazingly appreciated. Also Scottish diving is bloody awesome, the West coast has some of the best cold water diving in the world. Might be a way away but Scapa flow is on my bucket list. I'll also be diving in Mull in a few months that is super fun. Do you have any recommendations for places to go for someone traveling by themselves? I'd love to do some really different cold water diving, and I just found out my company does a long shutdown between Christmas and New Year's so I'm looking for somewhere to go for a week or two.
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Jun 17, 2018 19:43
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If you like do wrecks Scapa flow is probably the destination dive of the UK, it's where the German high seas fleet was scuttled after WWI. Valkyrie is the boat I've been recommended to do it from if you can get a space (I believe the skipper is also a historian and has pretty extensive knowledge of the history of the ships). Only issue is next year is the hundredth anniversary so booking might be tricky. The isle of Skye has some really cracking Atlantic diving, I know there are a couple of hard boat operators there and I've not heard bad reviews for any of them. Not sure if there are still any operators in Cornwall (I know there are pretty much no filling stations West of Falmouth since the one guy doing offering it died a couple of years ago) but Cornwall has some world class diving. Finally if you're thinking of traveling all that way, Ireland has some great diving. I've gone with Baltimore diving centre and the guy running it was fantastic. Apart from that I'm a little hesitant just because I'm not that familiar with hard boat operators and our diving can be very conditions dependent. Especially winter time there's a very good chance of getting blown out and if you're looking at Scotland, there's not a lot of daylight hours either. If you look into those locations, definitely contact local operators and check if they're running trips at that time. Most of them will be pretty honest if they don't think it's worth traveling all that way
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Jun 18, 2018 07:34
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Squashy Nipples posted:Agreed, Westpunt 100%. It's even more unspoiled then the rest of the island; very similar to the whole of Bonaire. Go West Diving is your only option in Westpunt, but they work with the local hotel and divers condo to deliver tanks and such. Well it also helps that Sol Food is the 2nd best restaurant on the island. (After Equus)
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Jun 18, 2018 13:23
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 Safety recall on Oceanic and Hollis regs Per the fb page of NOAA’s Diving Program: quote:Hollis and Oceanic SCUBA Diving Regulators Recalled Source: https://www.facebook.com/796780610345192/posts/1835362646486978/
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Jun 27, 2018 23:16
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MrYenko posted:So, I just booked a seven day live-aboard on Roatan Aggressor for the more attractive half and myself. gently caress yeah, we saw the roatan aggressor a bunch a few weeks ago, please provide an aggressor trip report
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Jul 7, 2018 04:48
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MrYenko posted:Florida’s east coast from Jupiter south to Key West has solid spots the whole way down. not that goon but please be more specific about Jupiter, we live there now 
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Jul 7, 2018 04:53
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let it mellow posted:not that goon but please be more specific about Jupiter, we live there now Central Fl goon here, are you planning on shore-diving or getting on a boat? There's a bunch of artificial reef spots off Jupiter, but for shore-diving you're gonna want to go down to at least Palm Beach, probably. Beet Wagon fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Jul 12, 2018 |
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Jul 12, 2018 17:07
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let it mellow posted:gently caress yeah, we saw the roatan aggressor a bunch a few weeks ago, please provide an aggressor trip report Not till March, unfortunately, but I certainly will. let it mellow posted:not that goon but please be more specific about Jupiter, we live there now I've not been out with them myself, but these guys are very highly regarded by my friends who have dove with them. I really want to come up and do Blue Heron Bridge, and some of the other shallow-water dives up there as well. Most of my diving has been boat dives, which are a blast, but I really enjoy beach diving, and I need to do more of it.
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Jul 12, 2018 18:35
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Is this the right thread to ask about underwater metal detectors and their use? If not, please point me the right way. I made the classic move of losing my wedding band in a lake; depth is about 15 ft, visibility 2-3 ft, the ground is mostly muddy with some water plants in spots. I've got a pretty good idea of the area. Yesterday I found out that I have a metal detector shop in my city that also has rentals, and I've picked up an UWEX 720c for the weekend. The alternative would have been a Fisher 1280-X Aquanaut, but since I'm diving without scuba gear, I figured I'd take the less cumbersome model. I've been diving about three hours today, picking up about 20 metal cans and assorted trash, using a small flower pot attached to an empty soda bottle as a marker buoy for when I found a signal spot, so I could find it again after coming up for air. I've never been scuba diving, and unfortunately, it doesn't look like any of my friends have much experience there either, so I haven't looked into renting gear. Mainly, I was hoping to get some advice how to rig up a practical search grid underwater, or any other tips someone here might have, or any risks I should know about, since I'm not a practiced diver. The ring itself wasn't that valuable, a modest 14k white-gold band, so I want to keep my expenses proportionate. In the worst case, I can always have it remade by our jeweler, but at the moment, I'm still enjoying the challenge.
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Jul 13, 2018 18:51
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Search diving is usually a more advanced skill, largely because doing that kind of task at depth requires being experienced enough as a diver to be able to manage all the other aspects of diving unconsciously enough to not get task focused on searching. At that depth you really don't have many concerns provided you're not going to panic and do something dumb. If you have any scuba experience, then go for it (I'm guessing at the moment you're just free diving?) Simplest search pattern would be to use a reel and line with a market buoy. Clip the end of the line to market and reel out half a metre, drop some kind of making device like a weight, then do a circle. When you get back, pick up your market and reel out another half metre. Rinse and repeat until you find it or run out of air. Ther are grid pattern searches and other fancy things but for your purposes that's probably the best bet. Consideration here is that you'll need a marker buoy that's weighed down well enough not to get dragged when you're swimming out from it.
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Jul 14, 2018 01:08
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Passed my last pool dive! I’m gonna be swimming in a chilly quarry next weekend for the final cert test and I’ll need a watch. Should I just shell out for an actual dive computer or just use a waterproof watch (I have an Apple Watch) and the tables? My actual trip is at the end of August and we’ll be doing 2-3 dives a day.
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Jul 14, 2018 19:00
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Creeping on this thread because this is something I have always been interested in. The pictures in this thread are gorgeous. I found the discussions on PADI interesting; mostly the fact that it seems they are complete chucklefucks when it comes to charging for you everything humanly possible ($$$ for a digital certificate?  ). I’m in the US (Seattle); is it realistic to try and find a school that runs something besides PADI or do I just bend over and take the bad along with the good?
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Jul 14, 2018 20:38
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Most ppl are certified either PADI or SSI (Scuba Schools International). There may be other third party agencies, but if so I haven't heard of them.
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Jul 14, 2018 21:14
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MrYenko posted:Not till March, unfortunately, but I certainly will. Blue Heron is really nice, but it's kind of slim pickings for shore diving stuff right there in my opinion (if anybody has good shore dive spots North of Jupiter - spill lol). There's some artificial rockpiles right there at Phoenix towers, but last I was there you had to get in to the North or South and swim along the private beach area. A little further south there's the ruins of an old pier at the clocktower by Worth Ave that sometimes has some neat stuff but is sort of a little island of structure in a sea of bare sand and probably not worth a whole trip on its own:   Other than that there's some artificial reef you can reach from the beach just south of the Boynton inlet, but the natural reef doesn't really pick up (at least close to shore) until you get down to the Anglin fishing pier, where you can pretty easily swim or kayak out to at least the first two reef lines:    Of course this is just my limited experience, someone here might know the secret good spots haha. In other news, gettin' ready to make the semi-annual trip to Blue springs, which is worth a dive if you haven't before (or didn't literally get certified there).
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Jul 14, 2018 22:52
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Trivia posted:Most ppl are certified either PADI or SSI (Scuba Schools International). There may be other third party agencies, but if so I haven't heard of them. SSI is the other one that came up a lot, yep! Any of the scuba goons here wear glasses and don’t have contacts? What will that be like for me?
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Jul 14, 2018 23:30
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movax posted:SSI is the other one that came up a lot, yep! for glasses users there are inserts or custom made masks. As for other agencies, there are quite a few: PADI SSI NAUI GUE (And others) All of these have a "Open Water" like program. GUE is the most expensive, but also the most extensive, as it includes nitrox, Peak Performance Bouyancy, 6 days of training, and GUE Fundamentals. Full disclosure: I am Open Water certified from NAUI, but the rest of my certs have been from GUE
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Jul 15, 2018 03:08
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Custom mask or inserts, yeah. Worth the investment so you can actually see stuff down there.taco show posted:Passed my last pool dive! I’m gonna be swimming in a chilly quarry next weekend for the final cert test and I’ll need a watch. Depends on what kind of diving you want to be doing. If you see yourself sticking mostly to 60 feet / 60 minute dives then a watch and the table will be fine. If you want to do more complicated things then you might appreciate the convenience of a computer but you can totally still use the watch and the table. I don't have a computer but I understand they've gotten a lot cheaper and thus more common in the last 5-10 years. Finally got around to posting pics--went to Penghu (small island in the strait between Taiwan and China) a few weeks ago and did a morning dive with a local shop. All pics are the guide's.    This tiny little guy was hanging out on the underside of a big starfish (which is the terrain you see here)  Lotta awesome nudibranchs around there.  I think this one is magic somehow.  
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Jul 15, 2018 04:17
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taco show posted:Passed my last pool dive! I’m gonna be swimming in a chilly quarry next weekend for the final cert test and I’ll need a watch. DO NOT DIVE WITH YOUR APPLE WATCH. https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht205000
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Jul 15, 2018 06:53
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Kesper North posted:DO NOT DIVE WITH YOUR APPLE WATCH. What this guy said. It will manage 2-3m ok in waterproof mode but really it's just designed for swimming. 2 options if you want to be cheap: Casio waterproof watch and tables or look for a second hand Suunto Zoop type dive computer on eBay. Normal caveat emptor but my first dive computer was an eBay special and I was very happy with it. Most manufacturer will honour warranty faults as long as no one has tried to do something stupid with it.
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Jul 15, 2018 16:38
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I have a simple uwatec bottom timer that I think I paid <$100 for that shows depth, dive time, surface time and temperature. It also keeps a dive log. It plus knowing my ndl time enough for most non tech dives, and I still wear it as a backup on tech dives.
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Jul 15, 2018 16:59
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MrNemo posted:What this guy said. It will manage 2-3m ok in waterproof mode but really it's just designed for swimming. 2 options if you want to be cheap: Casio waterproof watch and tables or look for a second hand Suunto Zoop type dive computer on eBay. Normal caveat emptor but my first dive computer was an eBay special and I was very happy with it. Suunto does periodic upgrade deals too; When I was getting certified, my girlfriend had a spare older Vyper, which had a faulty pressure transducer. I took it in for service and the tech couldn’t repair it because Suunto stopped making parts for that model. $350 later, and I have a brand new Suunto Vyper Novo, which is ~$600 at retail.
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Jul 15, 2018 17:21
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A friend has been diving with his drysuit on and an IWatch underneath for a bit. It tracks his heart rate while he is diving.
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Jul 15, 2018 17:58
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lord1234 posted:A friend has been diving with his drysuit on and an IWatch underneath for a bit. It tracks his heart rate while he is diving. I've had too many leaky gaskets and bad seals to take a chance on that, but maybe if I could afford my own drysuit I'd be blase about expensive electronics too. Cool idea though.
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Jul 15, 2018 20:54
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Kesper North posted:I've had too many leaky gaskets and bad seals to take a chance on that, but maybe if I could afford my own drysuit I'd be blase about expensive electronics too. Cool idea though. Not to mention that there are cheaper ways to track heart rate than an Apple Watch. ...And now I want to track my heart rate while diving. Thanks, thread. 
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Jul 15, 2018 21:13
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MrYenko posted:Not to mention that there are cheaper ways to track heart rate than an Apple Watch. give me your ideas on how you would do this without a watch, because I have wanted to do this for a while
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Jul 15, 2018 21:59
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lord1234 posted:give me your ideas on how you would do this without a watch, because I have wanted to do this for a while I think just a Fitbit or similar. Also I have my own dry suit (2 actually, thanks again eBay!) and if still be pretty nervous about wearing an Apple watch. Suit squeeze alone would worry me. On that note: second hand sites can be worth checking out if you do a decent amount of cold water diving and have somewhere to test it out. If it doesn't fit well it can go back on eBay, etc and probaby will sell for about what you bought it for. If it fits, the only expensive part to replace is the zip, wrist seals and even neck seals aren't that difficult to replace yourself. Hell wrist seals are pretty easy to do. That advice is based around UK stuff though and in the last 15 years we've switched to pretty much everyone who dives regularly diving dry. I'm currently in China and was kind of annoyed I got 2 days in Hong Kong but couldn't get a dive cause places only seemed to go out on the weekend 
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Jul 16, 2018 03:24
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lord1234 posted:give me your ideas on how you would do this without a watch, because I have wanted to do this for a while Apparently if you don't mind spending even more than there are actual chest band products that just straight up talk to a compatible dive computer:https://www.leisurepro.com/p-utcglhrmu/scubapro-heart-rate-monitor-kit-for-galileo-luna-computers
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Jul 16, 2018 03:50
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I have a slightly older Garmin vivoactive watch thing that I’ve had down to 80 feet and it came out fine. Mine doesn’t have a heart sensor on it but I know some do (and I think I can get a chest band that’ll do it) and despite garmin recommending it for “splashes or swimming” their 5 atm rating is pretty legit. Although for the sake of fairness I was freediving, so I can’t really speak to how it’ll do over a longer duration.
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Jul 16, 2018 05:38
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New thread title: Ask us about scuba (and other forms of) diving: Don't take your Apple watch diving
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Jul 16, 2018 14:41
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Hello thread! Wish I had found this place earlier. I only read the first and last half dozen or so pages, so I am sorry if this was already answered somewhere: I'm moving to O'ahu, Hawaii in a few weeks (wee!). Does anyone from the area have any good recommendations for dive schools on the island? I hit up google, but the ratings seem to be heavily skewed by whether or not the tourists were pampered by the instructor, and not as much the quality of instruction or costs. For reference, I have about 50 dives logged, and got my PADI adv. open water and nitrox certs from Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt (shout out to Camel Dive, if anyone here knows 'em!). I'm looking to get up to the Master Diver cert, and possibly Divemaster if I have the time/money while I'm there.
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Jul 16, 2018 22:47
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I would imagine that Dive Master level training is a bit like being a PHD student... you are going to want to interview with your potential instructors first.
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Jul 16, 2018 22:53
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I didn't do any training through them, but I dove with Kaimana Divers while I was visiting, and have nothing but great things to say about them.
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Jul 16, 2018 23:09
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SoUncool posted:Hello thread! Wish I had found this place earlier. I only read the first and last half dozen or so pages, so I am sorry if this was already answered somewhere: Best question is why be a dive master? Pay is marginal at best, and the market is flooded due to low barriers to entry. If you want to dive, and learn to dive well, I would suggest doing GUE Fundamentals even if you have no aspirations to do anything else. Definitely the best skills based course out there, but it's not cheap and you have to be willing to use the GUE system for the course (what you do after is your business). I did PADI OWD and everything since has been GUE. Rec 3 and DPV likely my next steps before Tech 1 and Cave 1.
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Jul 17, 2018 06:08
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Squashy Nipples posted:I would imagine that Dive Master level training is a bit like being a PHD student... you are going to want to interview with your potential instructors first. If being a dive master trainee nvolves multiple years of your life, working for marginal pay in a precarious environment with more work to do than you have hours in the day, then yes, they are very similar.
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Jul 17, 2018 06:11
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Mandibular Fiasco posted:Best question is why be a dive master? Pay is marginal at best, and the market is flooded due to low barriers to entry. If you want to dive, and learn to dive well, I would suggest doing GUE Fundamentals even if you have no aspirations to do anything else. Definitely the best skills based course out there, but it's not cheap and you have to be willing to use the GUE system for the course (what you do after is your business). I did PADI OWD and everything since has been GUE. Rec 3 and DPV likely my next steps before Tech 1 and Cave 1. Thanks for the suggestion. Dive Master was just for the sake of knowledge, not for employment. I'll look into GUE. Is it that much of a leap from PADI? Also, how do different dive companies deal with different certificates? Like, if I choose to do a boat dive with a company that is affiliated with SSI, will they recognize PADI or GUE certs? Is it just a case of doing a check dive before going? The reason I got the PADI cert was because it seemed to be recognized everywhere, taking a lot of the thought out of the equation...
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Jul 17, 2018 15:52
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Isn’t there a Master Diver thing from PADI that’s separate from Divemaster?
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Jul 17, 2018 16:12
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Yes there is, though I'm not sure what it entails. My Dive Master's was essentially a full month; was really fun.
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Jul 17, 2018 16:46
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Hey dive friends I'm considering buying my own dry suit, but it's still early days Any goon recommendations in the UK? So far I've really liked the looks of this trilaminate or maybe the Seaskin membrane suit Any other suggestions or thoughts on these ones I've linked would be really appreicated before I consider making an actual purchase 
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Jul 17, 2018 17:08
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Hammond are a good company, I haven't bought a suit from them but have had a few repairs. Got a buddy who has a Hammond suit and is very happy with it. Seaskin are amazing pricewise but hit and miss quality wise. Unfortunately there's no obvious sign that you have a dud until you get repeated problems. If purchasing price is a major concern they're worth trying though. Otter also do really good suits, I've got one and like it even more than my second hand DUI. If you fancy neoprene then O Three are a good name although I've never tried their stuff. Those two are probably the biggest UK manufacturers Finally it's worth looking if you can get a deal on the Aqualung suit somewhere as well, it's the only dry suit design that doesn't really need to be super well sized. Everything else I'd say you need to try on and quite possibly get made to measure. That one has a weird design but they can actually sell it by S, M and L. Basically it's a big waterproof bin bag with an outer layer of stretchy material that keeps it controlled. Very awkward to get on and off at first but everyone I know that has one is quite evangelistic about it.
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Jul 18, 2018 11:45
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I don't know about Old England, but here in New England, pretty much everyone uses DUI drysuits.
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Jul 18, 2018 13:17
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