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Icon Of Sin posted:Anyone in Bonaire/anyone who's been there before: I've heard about a dive site at a place called the Salt Pier. I've heard its a good spot, but can only be done when there's no large ships nearby? Is there a tracker or something to know when the site would be divable? You can see it, it’s just south of the airport. We never looked at whether there is a salt freighter schedule or not since you can tell easily in the morning and there are a lot of sites nearby I may take some poo poo for this but it isn’t that great of a dive. Maybe as a night dive since we never did it then, but it’s filled with poo poo, it’s packed with divers that heard salt pier is where to go, and you’re better off just taking your truck somewhere with a yellow rock where nobody is and enjoying the whole point of Bonaire, which is private diving. And go south of salt pier, even south of the slave shacks - there are some great dives there right before you make the turn around the coast. Something special is also a great site, although it tends to be packed in the mornings. Go later in the day. We stayed at sand dollar a couple months ago and the house reef there was decent but the night diving there, just south of the dock, was amazing.
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Aug 2, 2019 03:01
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I would second the drive around and dive where there are not other people. We dive early every day and usually time our dives so that there are not other people around. We have dived off the boats twice and will never do so again unless its on the windward side of the island. The boats aren’t bad but its a cash cow and we prefer the slower pave of diving on our own, but I understand why some people use the boats.
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Aug 2, 2019 03:20
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We’ve never boat dived in Bonaire but are thinking about taking our 11 year old nephew there after we just got him certified and would probably boat dive with him since he still rents gear and the entries there require being comfortable with your gear and sometimes gearing up wet (thousand steps).
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Aug 2, 2019 04:38
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This has nothing to do with diving but go to the donkey sanctuary. 😀
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Aug 2, 2019 04:41
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let it mellow posted:We’ve never boat dived in Bonaire but are thinking about taking our 11 year old nephew there after we just got him certified and would probably boat dive with him since he still rents gear and the entries there require being comfortable with your gear and sometimes gearing up wet (thousand steps). I too would dive off the boat with a small human. Second the donkey park, I am still salty the donkeys were rounded up, and would add Washington park to the list of places to visit.
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Aug 2, 2019 12:15
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let it mellow posted:This has nothing to do with diving but go to the donkey sanctuary. 😀 100% do not miss the donkey sanctuary! With a young person I would still recommend doing some shore diving for a day or 2, if for nothing else just for the schedule flexibility and ability to dive your own plan. It's a great way to build confidence diving without a DM and lets you take time to try out/work on skills or poke around for the things that you would miss on a 60 minute guided boat dive in a group setting.
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Aug 3, 2019 02:55
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Yeah we would do something special with him for sure, and probably the sand dollar house reef, it’s easy.
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Aug 3, 2019 02:57
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let it mellow posted:
I agree about salt pier, it is far from my favorite site here. It does offer some unique things though if you're not used to seeing them, as well as things that you don't see anywhere else ob Bonaire really. BUT if you have dove in places like the Keys or Bahamas then seeing a big school of blue striped grunts isn't really going to blow your mind. I treat it as kind of a topography dive because the light coming through the pilings can be super cool especially for wide angle photography or video (like GoPro). There has been a lot of algae there in the shallows recently and people are reliably seeing green turtles grazing there. I have never seen a ship schedule since it is privately owned by Cargill and they have no real reason to publish it, but in general you can just drive down and check with the plan to dive one of the many other awesome southern sites if its not available. Even if there is no ship in they sometimes close it to diving due to maintenance anyway! Protip if you dive it: When coming down the road don't stop when you see a bunch of trucks and parking... keep going under the pier and park on the south side. The entrance is WAY easier and its much less crowded! The swim out is pretty much the same and it will save a little hassle.
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Aug 3, 2019 03:11
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let it mellow posted:Yeah we would do something special with him for sure, and probably the sand dollar house reef, it’s easy. If you stay at Sand Dollar you can jump on the boat right there too :-). My wife and I dove there today to practice skills for the IDC next week... it really doesn't get any easier than that location. Tanks on the dock, stairs into the water, rinse tanks right there, what more could you ask for?
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Aug 3, 2019 03:14
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All the Bonaire talk has me thinking I should plan a trip, I haven't been in the Caribbean in ages. The one time I went before I stayed at Buddy Dive. I didn't pick it, and I don't really care for the all-inclusive thing, but I did really like the house reef. Does anyone have a recommendation for an inexpensive place that has a nice house reef? The only real amenities I'm looking for are reef + truck. I figure we can manage the rest just fine. In the meantime, there's the beautiful Eastern Pacific right next door! I did a deep extended range dive with a one of my favorite buddies. Total runtime was about 90 minutes, and we got about 120'' at our deepest. That's a bit deeper than I normally dive, and we were rewarded with a bunch of rosy rockfish, which are a rare treat for me.  Look at that beautiful fish :-) We also found a blue rockfish with a box crab stuck in its mouth. Kind of funny, but also sad, since I suspect one or both of them will starve.  
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Aug 5, 2019 06:59
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We have been staying at beach comber villas for a number of years. We rent our truck through them, or Hertz if I have enough points saved. Walther and Nicole are excellent hosts and we look forward to seeing them every year. https://bonairebeachcombervillas.com
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Aug 5, 2019 14:23
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DeadlyMuffin posted:All the Bonaire talk has me thinking I should plan a trip, I haven't been in the Caribbean in ages. The one time I went before I stayed at Buddy Dive. I didn't pick it, and I don't really care for the all-inclusive thing, but I did really like the house reef. Does anyone have a recommendation for an inexpensive place that has a nice house reef? The only real amenities I'm looking for are reef + truck. I figure we can manage the rest just fine. Can you tell me more about Buddy Dive? I’m in the same boat as you, friends planned the trip and I’m more or less along for the ride.
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Aug 5, 2019 17:18
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Icon Of Sin posted:Can you tell me more about Buddy Dive? I’m in the same boat as you, friends planned the trip and I’m more or less along for the ride. It's an all inclusive, they've got a restaurant and bar so depending on the package you can get everything through them. They handled tanks, fills, and truck, which was nice. It's low effort, but we ended up cooking a lot anyway, so it wasn't necessary for us. They also did boat dives, which were fine, but now having been to Bonaire I don't think there's any point in diving off a boat. They do, however, have a nice house reef. Walking down to the dock, grabbing a tank, and then falling in the water was pretty awesome. That's really the only part of the package I really want to repeat. A condo next to a shop with a house reef would be ideal. If I could actually live somewhere like that I'd probably be the happiest person in the world. Maybe some day I can retire somewhere on the west coast walking distance to a dive spot. Somewhere in central CA or the Oregon coast maybe :-) DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 18:14 on Aug 5, 2019 |
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Aug 5, 2019 18:11
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Sand dollar, and VRBO it. And just rent the truck at one of the airport places. We’ve always done that and it’s been fine.
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Aug 7, 2019 04:20
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So I went to a dive shop today (just moved) looking at taking their Advanced course. I'm not exactly sure what to make of it. It's NAUI, and the guy seems legit, but from the flyer he gave me and what he said, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of an organized class. It was pitched to me as "usually it takes two dive seasons around here and there's no rush" which, while true, is way different than the last dive shop I was at. That place had discreet classroom time and scheduled dives. This place is kind of an ala carte deal. Priced incredibly nicely ala carte though. Don't get me wrong, if we were just going diving that would be totally cool with me. But I'm looking for training and structure and the structure seems lacking. Am I being too rigid?
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Aug 10, 2019 04:52
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It all depends. In a higher volume environment, you'd expect structured schedule and official classroom classes. In a low volume situation, the instructor may just do a one on one class because they love doing it. Ask for more details, and if you're looking for a more structured class, then say so. No point conjecturing.
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Aug 10, 2019 14:23
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Assuming it’s like PADI AOW, there isn’t much classroom. Yes, you learn about getting narced, you get some instruction on navigation and then you have elective courses (depending on your skill level, I recommend the peak performance buoyancy equivalent because of the OW tests that involve you getting and handing back weight - that teaches you a lot). Anyway, unlike basic OW, this course in PADI is more about diving than classrooms, which means a la carte is totally fine.
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Aug 10, 2019 23:08
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In smaller settings, it's mostly "self study" from my experience. Did my PADI Rescue Diver last year and it was only the dive instructor and me at a small dive resort. He showed me the books and told me to come find him if I have any questions and when I feel ready to do the multiple choice tests. The only more or less structured lesson was the hands-on part of rescue techniques in the pool before we went out and did some "scenarios" in open water. Said "scenarios" mostly consisted of me hauling a literal Viking (the instructor is a 1.90m ex-military Swede) around. Fun times. AOW wasn't much different, but it's been a while. It's focused on the specialties you choose and actual skills in the water more than anything else. Feka fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Aug 14, 2019 |
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Aug 14, 2019 15:20
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If you can find one, I would recommend that you do Rescue Diver at a place that does a lot of Public Safety work. My local dive shop trains all the local police/firefighter/statie dive teams, so there are always robust classes for Rescue Diver. Plus, I want to train in cold murky water, doing it on vacation seems like it would be a lot less useful as training.
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Aug 14, 2019 16:57
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SuitcasePimp posted:
My dive club is planning a trip for late winter this year, but I haven't gotten any details yet. It's a package deal, so I'm not sure how much I can take advantage of your offer, but if nothing else at least we can do some diving together.
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Aug 14, 2019 17:05
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Ugh, three in a row, I suck, sorry.let it mellow posted:I’ve heard some of the eel and reef shark feeding is working but every time I’ve seen that in action, the eels and sharks learned that dead lion fish will be provided by divers, not that they should eat live ones. While diving in Aruba, I dove with Scuba Sue, who is a prodigious hunter of lionfish. I watched her bag six on one dive! http://jadsaruba.com/ Anyway, one day I noticed this pair of yellow tails following us... more specifically following HER. They knew whats up. I thought I was going nuts, so I studied them, and they had distinguishing marks, a mutilated fin, and a unique spot over one eye. Those two followed us closely for the ENTIRE HOUR, as we just drifted along the reef.
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Aug 14, 2019 17:10
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Squashy Nipples posted:Ugh, three in a row, I suck, sorry. JADS is one of the places I saw this (and had great dives with them - did you catch the sub?)
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Aug 15, 2019 02:59
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Had a nasty experience today with my computer, newly returned from servicing (or so I thought). My wife and I both have Oceanic Geo 2s, and I had sent them in for their first servicing in June via our dive shop to Oceanic. Got them back a few weeks ago but today was our first dive since. Both were working fine on the surface, but as I started to descend, mine wigged out and effectively stopped working. I figured it might be the battery, so after the dive I swapped it, and though it took a couple minutes it seemed to work again. It worked through dive #2, but after surfacing it crapped out again. I definitely don't have any confidence it isn't busted, so I started poking around the Oceanic website and saw this (https://www.oceanicworldwide.com/us/support/service/):** Note: As the Full Service and Calibration processes for digital and analog instruments may take a number of weeks to complete, depending on our manufacturing department's backlog, we typically replace returned units with similar instruments that have already undergone the Full Service and Calibration process. This allows us to turn a repair around in a matter of days, rather than weeks, while still insuring that the instrument is factory-new and completely within specification when it leaves our facility. Dive computer logs are erased. So after reading this, I checked the serial numbers and I definitely got some other Geos rather than our original computers. Is this typical for computer manufacturers? I'm not thrilled about getting someone else's computer, especially after sending in my working one. Definitely did not need mention the in the manual or anything that came with the computer. Not happy with the dive shop either for not knowing or not telling me that Oceanic did this. Thinking I want to try for some kind of refund, as I'm assuming my original computers are gone to someone else and go for a brand that doesn't swap them like this when servicing. Shame, as I liked the (original, working) Geo 2s. Any recommendations?
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Aug 19, 2019 06:41
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Man that's poo poo; my sympathies. I have a Geo 2 as well, and the light stopped working ages ago. gently caress sending it in though, it'd be more prudent to just buy a new aqualung i200c (same internals as Geo 2, though slightly updated). Try calling customer support, might be able to get yours back provided you wait a couple weeks (and mail it :\ )
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Aug 19, 2019 07:54
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I had a not quite similar experience with mine. I bought it second hand and after about 6 months the pressure sensor broke on a trip. I sent it in and they replaced it with a new unit, sounds like what you had except yours was working. I'd recommend contacting oceanic and shouting at them that it ruined your trip and endangered your life of you want to try for an upgraded replacement or a full refund. If you don't want to cause a fuss, they'll probably offer a working replacement. Mine has continued working fine and I have no intention of sending it in while it continues to. I will say I've upgraded to having an OSTC for mixed gas diving so it's just a back up for me now. I'd also note the DSAT algorithm in it is pretty non conservative for early dives. Mine knocked into dive mode from gauge due to a very long break. It gave 3 minutes more Deco on air than the other one with 50% mix for the Deco stop. The nickname for them in my club is the dangermax, although that's from people who collect them so they can do longer dives and shorter stops. Also, if replacing it, get a Bluetooth capable dive computer and an app based dive log. I am a full convert for that.
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Aug 19, 2019 13:10
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let it mellow posted:JADS is one of the places I saw this (and had great dives with them - did you catch the sub?) Yes, but only from a distance, they were running late the day that our paths crossed. On the way back in we saw them loading the people onto the submarine and pushing off.
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Aug 19, 2019 16:43
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The Vikings posted:Had a nasty experience today with my computer, newly returned from servicing (or so I thought). My wife and I both have Oceanic Geo 2s, and I had sent them in for their first servicing in June via our dive shop to Oceanic. Got them back a few weeks ago but today was our first dive since. Both were working fine on the surface, but as I started to descend, mine wigged out and effectively stopped working. I figured it might be the battery, so after the dive I swapped it, and though it took a couple minutes it seemed to work again. drat, that makes me not-hopeful for my OCi that I sent back a few weeks ago. drat thing didn’t turn on until ~8ft down (where it read that as the surface), would get locked in planning mode easily, and loved to throw me into deco at random (despite my other Oceanic computers saying I was fine). I was just trying to get a few shakeout dives with it at work, and it had to go get all weird for whatever reason. That was after only ~15 dives on it, too.
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Aug 19, 2019 16:47
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MrNemo posted:an app based dive log. I am a full convert for that. Oh me too, 100%. My dive log has been an Excel spreadsheet ever since I bought the current dive computer. Love it. I've been recommending the Cressi Giotto computer, as I think it's good bang for the buck, but one downside is that they get for an extra $50 for the PC Interface, and the PC software isn't quite as good as some others.
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Aug 19, 2019 17:35
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I’ll be the weird one and say I like keeping my paper logbook, at least for my recreational dives. Some of the pages are crusty from dried saltwater (and at least one of them has blood on it from a sliced fingat) but that’s part of it. I’m a fiend for the stamps I get from whatever shop I dive with, too. I’ve also got a bunch of signatures from the Weeki Wachee mermaids in one of them (I kept 2 books, one for open water dives and one for aquarium dives), and that’s not something I’d give up easily. They were the entire reason I started diving at the aquarium to start with, and my AAUS LoR was one of the things working hugely in my favor to get my current job. My work dives, I’m all about keeping electronic copies only. I’ll print those out whenever I’m done here and stamp their logo all over it, but that’s not for another year and a half (I’ve already got almost 60 dives since the beginning of May).
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Aug 19, 2019 17:50
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Bad news out of California  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7419423/Many-feared-dead-boat-bursts-flames-California-30-people-rescued.html Condolences if you knew anyone on that boat 
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Sep 2, 2019 15:42
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Icon Of Sin posted:Bad news out of California It sank. Crew bunks are up in the wheelhouse, passenger bunks are below deck with a single stairway exit. People could easily be trapped. The same group, Worldwide Diving Adventures, books it every labor day weekend. I did that trip a couple years ago, and met some of the regulars. I'm trying to run down people now, but since it's a holiday weekend a lot of folks aren't awake yet. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cn...2YYhTUlJPPHvkz0
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Sep 2, 2019 17:23
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Does anyone know a log app that's compatible with an aqualung i300c and lets you export the data to a csv or similar file?
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Sep 2, 2019 21:12
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More info on the Conception fire. Looks like all the passengers were killed. http://californiadiver.com/fire-on-...JHz0Tup1lAurCgQ I was on this exact trip last year. So far I've been able to get ahold of the people I thought might be on board.  That's me on a bow a couple years ago. It's completely surreal.
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Sep 2, 2019 21:50
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So, the crew jumped ship and left everyone to die?
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Sep 2, 2019 21:59
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The crew was on watch / sleeping upstairs. There may have been a propane explosion below deck, someone alleged on the news. I'd say only the crew were in a position to escape.
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Sep 2, 2019 22:12
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Squashy Nipples posted:So, the crew jumped ship and left everyone to die? No, I don't think so. The crew sleeps in the wheelhouse, on top of the boat. The passengers are in bunks below deck. It's a much easier escape for the crew.
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Sep 2, 2019 22:14
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Radio recording of the incident at https://chirb.it/4sHyGs. Not fun listening, to be sure.
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Sep 2, 2019 23:24
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Uncle Lloyd posted:Radio recording of the incident at https://chirb.it/4sHyGs. Not fun listening, to be sure. Anything beyond the mayday that's in the California Diver article?
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Sep 3, 2019 01:09
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DeadlyMuffin posted:Anything beyond the mayday that's in the California Diver article? It sounds like it's after the mayday, about five minutes of the Coast Guard commander trying to coordinate the scene.
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Sep 3, 2019 02:25
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I'm a pretty new diver, and now I'm deciding what gear to get, and I guess also whether to get gear at all - will I be diving enough? But I figure if I do get gear I'll be diving more so it'll be worth it. There's a ton of options and they're all really expensive so it's hard to know where to start. I need a BCD, regulator, and computer. I don't need the latest thing or technical diving equipment, just something built to last. A couple of notes: - I think I want a back inflating BCD, though I should try one first. It's hard to see how a jacket inflating BCD is better in any way. - I probably will want to fly with my setup every now and then. What are the disadvantages of a smaller, travel BCD? - What are the pros and cons of a wrist computer vs one built into the gauge? Well, other than the latter being cheaper. - Don't have any questions about regs, but that's just my ignorance about what to look for in them. Any advice would be great! I live in Tampa for those who might be familiar with shops in the area. Thanks!
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Sep 4, 2019 00:12
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