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ploots
Mar 19, 2010
got a hole in my drysuit patched and I have to say, I'm an idiot. Why was I diving a leaky suit for months?

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Red_Fred
Oct 21, 2010


Fallen Rib

ploots posted:

got a hole in my drysuit patched and I have to say, I'm an idiot. Why was I diving a leaky suit for months?

Because it’s drat hard to tell sometimes! I’ve done the same.

Is it a leak? Is it condensation? Is it just the normal amounts of water that come in? :iiam:

ploots
Mar 19, 2010
Oh I knew for sure it was a leak. It was on the back of a boot, I was worried the shop would tell me I had to send it back to the manufacturer. So instead I just got one really cold wet foot on every dive for months

ploots
Mar 19, 2010
I saw a very weird thing on a dive this afternoon: a snail with its foot way out, using it kind of like a sail as it floated along in the current, 3-4 ft off the bottom.

I also found a young giant pacific octopus in its den, looking forward to visiting it over the next few months. The spot it picked doesn't have many options for dens as it grows, so I have a good chance of being able to keep an eye on it if it stays in the neighborhood.

e: somebody tell me if this snail is dead or what

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBHtR06jgNc

ploots fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Mar 12, 2024

Jato
Dec 21, 2009


Anyone have suggestions for dive shops and/or worthwhile dive sites in the St. Petersburg/Tampa area?

I got PADI certified about 6 months ago in Mexico and have only done a handful of dives, and my buddy is a lot more experienced than I but hasn't done any diving for a couple years. We're flying down to St. Pete in two weeks to spend a few days with the intention of just doing some chill, easy dives to make sure we're both comfortable with everything and with diving together before we plan a more exciting dive trip. We were also trying to decide if it's worthwhile to rent or charter a boat or just get some recommendations from a shop for where to go dive off the beach.

Phil Moscowitz
Feb 19, 2007

If blood be the price of admiralty,
Lord God, we ha' paid in full!
At the end of last summer I went through all my SSI training (classroom, pool) but I couldn't fit a checkout dive into my schedule before the local shop stopped for the winter. They're starting back up and have two checkout weekends in April and May, but I'm traveling to Costa Rica in early June and wondering about getting certified there (and doing some diving).

I see a few SSI shops around where I'll be (Papagayo) but I'm wondering how much of a logistical problem this might be. Has anyone done this (training in the US, then cert dive overseas), particularly with SSI? Thanks for any advice.

Jato posted:

Anyone have suggestions for dive shops and/or worthwhile dive sites in the St. Petersburg/Tampa area?

I got PADI certified about 6 months ago in Mexico and have only done a handful of dives, and my buddy is a lot more experienced than I but hasn't done any diving for a couple years. We're flying down to St. Pete in two weeks to spend a few days with the intention of just doing some chill, easy dives to make sure we're both comfortable with everything and with diving together before we plan a more exciting dive trip. We were also trying to decide if it's worthwhile to rent or charter a boat or just get some recommendations from a shop for where to go dive off the beach.

Looks like you did something similar with PADI--how did it work for you?

Jato
Dec 21, 2009


I did the entire training in Mexico with the dive shop there, so it was a bit different. We didn't do any classroom or pool practice, just the online coursework before arriving, followed by two days of diving with an instructor in the cenotes and one day in the ocean.

I believe that if you reach out to an SSI shop down there and share what you've done so far they'd be happy to schedule an instructor-supervised dive with you that would fulfill the requirement.

Squashy Nipples
Aug 18, 2007

Jato posted:

or just get some recommendations from a shop for where to go dive off the beach.

I have tons of shore dives, but at your level of experience I can't recommend doing it without a local guide. You don't have to charter a boat, you can hire someone for guided shore dive, which tends to be cheaper.

Timmy Age 6
Jul 23, 2011

Lobster says "mrow?"

Ramrod XTreme

Jato posted:

Anyone have suggestions for dive shops and/or worthwhile dive sites in the St. Petersburg/Tampa area?

I got PADI certified about 6 months ago in Mexico and have only done a handful of dives, and my buddy is a lot more experienced than I but hasn't done any diving for a couple years. We're flying down to St. Pete in two weeks to spend a few days with the intention of just doing some chill, easy dives to make sure we're both comfortable with everything and with diving together before we plan a more exciting dive trip. We were also trying to decide if it's worthwhile to rent or charter a boat or just get some recommendations from a shop for where to go dive off the beach.

I worked for a bit with Florida Fish & Wildlife in St. Pete and we got our tanks and gear serviced at Bill Jackson's in Pinellas Park. You can rent gear there. There's not a ton of good shore diving in the immediate area, but if you don't mind doing a bit more driving, Venice Beach is about an hour down the road and is all right. There are some artificial reefs just offshore where you get snook and groupers hanging out, plus it's known for the fossil shark teeth you can find in the sand. I think when we did it back in 2016 we hit up Service Club Park but that was just something we picked without too much local knowledge.

MrNemo
Aug 26, 2010

"I just love beeting off"

Phil Moscowitz posted:

At the end of last summer I went through all my SSI training (classroom, pool) but I couldn't fit a checkout dive into my schedule before the local shop stopped for the winter. They're starting back up and have two checkout weekends in April and May, but I'm traveling to Costa Rica in early June and wondering about getting certified there (and doing some diving).

I see a few SSI shops around where I'll be (Papagayo) but I'm wondering how much of a logistical problem this might be. Has anyone done this (training in the US, then cert dive overseas), particularly with SSI? Thanks for any advice.

Looks like you did something similar with PADI--how did it work for you?

Haven't done this myself and no experience of SSI but as long as you have some proof that you've done the initial training, a lot of places will be perfectly happy to do the practical element/open water dives. They might require you do a bit of a check out in a pool or similar beforehand just to confirm you haven't forgotten anything or had an incompetent instructor.

In general, be safe and contact the place ahead of time to make sure they're happy to do that.

Trivia
Feb 8, 2006

I'm an obtuse man,
so I'll try to be oblique.
What you're asking about is called a referral. It's not uncommon for people to do this, though it's generally considered a crapshoot by the destination dive shop.

The reason is that there's no real way of knowing how the training went (or it's quality) since you did it with someone else. The first time your instructor sees you will be in the open ocean, and depending on shop and locale, can be difficult.

PADI and as far as I know SSI have procedures in place for referrals. Email and ask. If you did your study using e-learning, they can check your product code and confirm you've finished the theory. They may still give you a short quiz on arrival however.

Trivia
Feb 8, 2006

I'm an obtuse man,
so I'll try to be oblique.
I don't recommend diving as a buddy team until you have at least 50 dives experience under your belt. As a general metric.

Besides, a guide is great because they'll show you things and places you wouldn't know anything about. They're also an added layer of security. After being shown the site, then it's safe(r) to do it as a pair.

As for places that allow rentals and diving sans guide, go to Bonaire. It's almost all shore diving and guides are optional. Or so I'm told.

DeadlyMuffin
Jul 3, 2007


Squashy Nipples posted:

I have tons of shore dives, but at your level of experience I can't recommend doing it without a local guide. You don't have to charter a boat, you can hire someone for guided shore dive, which tends to be cheaper.

Seconding this. Don't even feel like you have to find someone who gets paid to guide. An experienced local diver might be down to just show a newbie around, I certainly would. If you offer to pay for gas or buy lunch that's awesome.

Trivia posted:

I don't recommend diving as a buddy team until you have at least 50 dives experience under your belt. As a general metric.

Besides, a guide is great because they'll show you things and places you wouldn't know anything about. They're also an added layer of security. After being shown the site, then it's safe(r) to do it as a pair.

If someone is looking to dive where they live, then I think they may be better off tracking down local divers than paid guides. At least around here guides are probably *less* experienced than the serious local divers, and it also introduces the diver to a community of people to dive with for fun, rather than a business transaction.

DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Mar 28, 2024

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Trivia
Feb 8, 2006

I'm an obtuse man,
so I'll try to be oblique.
Very good points all around.

If you're new, then that guide, either professional or local, is going to be doing work when they take you diving. Buy them lunch and a beer at the least ya.

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