|
Awesome, thank you for your perspective. By the way, out of curiosity, where do you work? Here, have some pics from my vacation that I didn't take.  Isn't he cute! I want to pet him and love him and call him George.  This is Russell, one of the DMs from the shop. He is pretty bad rear end with a speargun! On one dive, he got three of those spiky bastards.
|
#
¿
May 18, 2016 12:26
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 12, 2024 04:17 |
|
|
Raere posted:I'm doing my open water dives this weekend, and I'm really not happy with my dive shop. I'm wondering if what I've experienced is typical because a lot of dive shops seem to be not make a lot of money, or if I really should avoid this place. My experience has been the opposite of that. I recently started taking some classes at a local dive shop, and they've been great, too. How much are you paying? Crappy old equipment is fine for the pool, as chlorine can be brutal. Definitely not OK for real dives. I've been watching Sea Hunt on YouTube, the entire series is up. Kind of fascinating what they knew about diving then. No BCs! Tiny little fins! Hoods shaped like Smurf hats! It's fun to spot the technical errors, most of which I'm sure were made for dramatic license. Like when he repurposed the O2 tank from an oxi-acetylene welding set-up in the mine disaster to use as a scuba tank: I hope that flooded mineshaft wasn't more then 20 feet deep.
|
|
#
¿
May 24, 2016 12:25
|
|
|
pupdive posted:Navy rebreather divers (100% O2) used to operate shallow but were cleared to excursion depths to 60 ft. (roughly 3.0 PPo2) Wow! My Nitrox teacher implied that going beyond 1.6 PPO2 was an immediate death sentence, so I'm shocked to know that there is that much wiggle room.
|
|
#
¿
May 24, 2016 15:57
|
|
|
I'm thinking about getting a drysuit. The water is loving cold around here, and I'd like to do some winter diving, too. A custom made suit is my only real option, as I'm built weird: short arms and legs, very broad shoulders. I'm considering the DUI FLX. Questions for DUI owners: -Did you get the Rockboots or the Turboboots, and why? -Did you get the redundant donut seals on the wrists?
|
|
#
¿
May 26, 2016 16:13
|
|
|
Mandibular Fiasco posted:I got a custom Santi eMotion. I love it, got it with flex soles, which have been great. I know you asked about DUI, but Santi have a great product at a similar price point you may want to take a look at. I'll see if I can find a dealer around here. My local dive shop is a DUI dealer, and that makes a big difference.
|
|
#
¿
May 27, 2016 04:18
|
|
|
The turret on a turret first-stage regulator is supposed to point upwards, right? Which means that if you use the port on the end (the supposed "high-flow" LP port), your hose sticks straight up from the tank? I bought a used set of regulators, and he installed the hose for the main secondary regulator into the port on the end. Is this a good idea? Every example I can find online of turret primary regulators shows all of the hoses connected to the side ports.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2016 19:37
|
|
|
No, I was just being a dumbass. I just didn't think that "down" was an OK direction for a regulator hose, because I thought it would interfere with the tank. But I stuck it on a valve, and it's clearly setup to be used this way. Main straight down, octo on right shoulder, inflator and drysuit hoses on the left. It's an Atomic Aquatics Z series set. Bangkero posted:High flow ports are just LP ports for all real world applications and are labeled such for marketing purposes. Yeah, I figured as much. I can't imagine that making a 90 degree bend really matters much with a compressible fluid. Squashy Nipples fucked around with this message at 12:56 on Jun 8, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Jun 8, 2016 12:53
|
|
|
MrNemo posted:If it doesn't interfere with the routing, that is the hose isn't being pinched or you're not getting the regulator pulled around awkwardly, then it's fine. Like people said those kind of first stages are usually used with twin sets where they get angled for hoses going across the back. "those kind of first stages", or just "that kind of setup"? As far I as know he didn't do any two-tank diving... but he did a lot of diving. Was an instructor at a local Dive Shop. When I asked him about his hose setup he sent me a link to that GUE page on equipment. I had a tab open to the ScubaPro website (I'm shopping for a BCD), and I noticed an image that shows what I'm talking about : this woman is wearing the ScubaPro Tek setup, and her first stage is clearly pointing UP, with the Low Pressure hoses on top.  Anyway, I'm probably going to reroute the main hose so it sticks out one of the side ports.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 8, 2016 15:24
|
|
|
It wasn't secret, but way back when I did my OW, my trainers were ex-navy guys, and they did a few sneaky things. The best one was, after the first day in the pool, at any time you had to ready for one of the instructors to sneak up behind you, rip your mask off and drop it on the bottom. You had to find it, don it, and clear it by yourself. I loved this! It was super fun, and you never knew when it was coming. Since then, no one I know has done that in their OW. Sometimes I tell people about that, and they are SHOCKED.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 21, 2016 12:15
|
|
|
So... what is a "naked swim"?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 22, 2016 00:10
|
|
|
jackyl posted:Assuming he means how we had to swim some distance without any gear. 200 meters or something easy like that. I think it was supposed to check basic fitness, but it really didn't. Ok. I was confused by the "dogpaddle" comment; if I were doing a fitness swim, I'd use breast stroke or side stroke.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 22, 2016 12:31
|
|
|
Retarded question coming in: how much air is in a pony bottle? Real question: about how long do you think 19 cubic feet of 3,000 PSI air will last a 70 year old woman who only dives to 6 feet tops? My mom hasn't done any real dives in like 15 years or so, but she still uses her scuba gear to clean the bottom of her boat. My parents have a 35 foot cruiser sailboat that they live on for about 6 weeks every summer. They are insanely anal about the boat, every little thing on it is perfect, including the bottom (poo poo growing on your hull is major speed drag on a sailboat, and cruisers are wide in the beam and don't go very fast). So, 3-4 times a summer she dives in and scrubs the bottom with a brush. One tank of air lasts all summer. But she has been complaining that the gear is too heavy for her, and she is going to have to give it up soon (I think getting out of the water is hard for her). She got excited when I showed her my pony bottle, "Hey, I could carry that!" Is it realistic for her to use a pony bottle instead of a full size tank? As long as it gives her enough time to do one cleaning, she could get it filled on Block, or the Vineyard, or any of the other islands they visit.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 22, 2016 13:00
|
|
|
Solid advice, thank you. However, there is just about a zero chance that she is buying new equipment. Don't let the boat fool you, my parents are some of the cheapest people I've ever met, so the appeal of this would be "hey, I already have this tank, but you could get more use out of it then I will." I'll see if I can rig it up to her ancient BC. It's got stage bottle ropes and clips on it, so I'm sure I can come up with something. Edit: oh, and thankfully, she has no arthritis in the hands or legs. I think it's her back that's getting bad; it's not the activity, it's carrying the weight on her back.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 22, 2016 16:42
|
|
|
I was thinking of Curacao in April 2017, but the Mrs. is concerned about the strife in near-by Venezuelan, since that's where most of the food on Curacao comes from. Is she being paranoid? What do you guys think?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 25, 2016 17:01
|
|
|
jackyl posted:Curaçao was good when we went there years ago, but there was no Venezuela strife. You probably won't be able to find Polar beer easily but that was the only effect it had on Bonaire a few weeks ago that we noticed. Ok, cool. I thought so, I just wanted some corroboration from someone who has been there recently. jackyl posted:Check out Westpunt, we really enjoyed staying there. And definitely take a day off to drive around the island and explore, it's pretty cool. Yes, we'll be visiting Westpunt, but I've still got a ton of Hilton points to spend. In fact, I'll be cashing in JetBlue points for a free flight, too. Only going to have to pay for car rental, food, and diving. Last time we didn't rent a car, and that was a huge mistake. There are so many awesome things you can drive to!
|
|
#
¿
Jul 26, 2016 16:56
|
|
|
Holy poo poo, I guess I never thought about what you'd inflate your dry suit with when using a rebreather... It must be the breathing mix, because filling your suit with O2 would be an enormous fire hazard once you were out of the water. Anyway, anyone in here ever buy a custom made Carapace wetsuit? http://www.carapacewetsuits.com/ I just ordered one, I'll let you guys know how it goes.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 3, 2016 15:28
|
|
|
Boot and Rally posted:Apparently all the places where you can learn to dive in my area require you buy mask, fins, gloves, snorkel and boots. How do I, as someone who has never dived (diven?) before, purchase this gear and not get ripped off or end up with something I hate? Fins is a bit unusual, but not unheard of. The rest of those are highly personal items that you want to own, anyway... it would be like renting used underwear. Rentals of small items would be a money-losing proposition for most shops, so instead they make a little money by making you buy them. Trust me here, they aren't trying to rip you off; it's for the best. Shops that are looking out for their newbies generally sell them reasonably priced stuff, ie good bang for the buck. Good enough not to be lovely quality, but not so good that you are wasting money on something that you may only use like 6 times. If you wear out your newbie equipment, congrats, it's time to buy expensive gear. Some folks in here might disagree with this, but as long as your shop is looking to turn you into a long term customer, I would go with the flow and buy what they sell you. As for prices, maybe: $50-$125 for mask and snorkel $25-$40 for gloves $25-$40 for boots $30-$50 for a hood
|
|
#
¿
Aug 7, 2016 20:15
|
|
|
Speaking of dry suits, I'm still saving my pennies for a custom one. A friend of mine suggested a p-valve or a crotch zipper... what did you guys get on your drysuits? If you have neither, has it ever been a problem?
|
|
#
¿
Aug 10, 2016 16:46
|
|
|
I had a random conversation with a friend about taking pictures under ice, and I was wondering: are closed-circuit rebreathers safe to use in cold water, under-ice conditions?
|
|
#
¿
Aug 22, 2016 23:42
|
|
|
Squashy Nipples posted:Anyway, anyone in here ever buy a custom made Carapace wetsuit? Love it, quality is great, fit is great. It took four weeks, but that's my only complaint. Amazing bang for the buck. One tiny cosmetic blemish on a seam, otherwise build quality is perfect. It's a little bit tight in the shoulders, but I have unusually square shoulders, so the fact that it fits over them at all is a miracle. I don't think I'll ever buy a wetsuit off the rack again.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2016 15:03
|
|
|
BULLETKISS posted:Anyone use this? I bought the more expensive version of that, the Giotto. Very happy with it. Two minor complaints: -no documentation for the dive log software (several features that I don't understand) -in gauge mode, you can't just leave it on all the time, so it's not useful for swimming/snorkeling Make sure you buy it as a package with the USB dock, or else you'll pay twice as much for it. Before I bought this, I used the typical console computers that come with rental gear, and having it on your wrist is much better.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 11, 2016 13:48
|
|
|
You guys like freediving, right? Get ready to see a 63 year-old guy freedive to great depth with nothing but a pair of goggles and two pieces of lead. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/great-human-odyssey.html The whole show is really good, but the part I'm talking about starts at about 27 minutes in. When he is walking on the bottom, skipping from coral to coral, it looks absolutely super-human. DeadlyMuffin posted:
Love this one.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 2, 2016 21:35
|
|
|
What does this thread think of emergency GPS/radio devices? http://www.nautiluslifeline.com/nautilus-lifeline-gps Is there one anyone would recommend?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 14, 2016 19:30
|
|
|
We had an experienced diver drown this summer in New England, and "currents" were one of the things blamed for the accident. Also, I watched one of those survival shows about a fisherman from New Zealand who was diving for lobster when he got washed out to sea, and no one saw him go. Poor guy floated in his disgusting wetsuit for three days before he was rescued, and nearly died from dehydration. gently caress that. So yeah, that's why I started looking at emergency GPS/radio devices.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 15, 2016 22:48
|
|
|
Speaking of Orcas, seen this clip yet? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT5f1YXWeVU
|
|
#
¿
Nov 21, 2016 18:14
|
|
|
GORDON posted:My son and I were the stupid newbies last Summer... there's really nothing for it, except listen to the dive briefing, have a good attitude, and remember your safe diving practices. Even on our very first charter boat about 2 months and 6 dives after certifying, we still weren't the worst newbs on the boat because we were following directions. Wisdom. People who don't listen are are an obnoxious hazard, no matter how much experience they have. bonds0097 posted:Biggest thing is to relax. Move slowly, breathe slowly and just chill. You don't want to be the first one to use up all their air and make everyone surface. :p This is great advice, too... except that you most likely WILL be the first one to run out of air, specially on the first dive. My add-on advice is not to lie to the DM when he signals for how much air you have left. Why? Because they can see your gauge from like 10-15 feet away. They watch people do this poo poo every day, there's no fooling them.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 25, 2016 23:25
|
|
|
First day diving on vacation (Virgin Islands). On second dive, suddenly had some nausea. Retched a few times, thought I was going to puke, but then it passed. Never had anything like that happen before. Has anyone puked while diving? How dangerous is it?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 27, 2016 19:49
|
|
|
Sigh. I'm pretty sure I blew out my left ear. My hearing is fine, no ringing outside of my normal mild case of tinnitus. But if I have to blow my nose, ouch!!! I've never had ear problems in 20+ years, so I wasn't sure what was happening... all of a sudden the left ear just wasn't clearing when the right one did. Two newbie problems in one week; drat it sucks getting old. 
|
|
#
¿
Dec 3, 2016 00:32
|
|
|
Yay, it's just an infection from being in the water all week! The St.Thomas hospital is decent, and I liked the doctor. Too bad it's US territory, or else something like this would have been free. Trivia posted:If you can, do as much bookwork as you can at home. Nothing sucks more than homework when you're on vacation, especially when the beaches and oceans are right there to beckon you. Truth. Learn as much as you can ahead of time. Actually, ideally you could do everything but the last check out dives at home: take the Open Water course with your local dive shop, including the pool work, and then get a referral for the check out dives. Squashy Nipples fucked around with this message at 11:46 on Dec 3, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Dec 3, 2016 07:55
|
|
|
Delayed trip report on St. Thomas, US VI, South-East side of the island. I went with Aqua Action dive shop, which is in the Secret Harbor resort. The folks on the boat were very experienced and very knowledgeable, I learned some stuff about symbiotic reef plants that I didn't know. The diving was mostly very easy, nice long shallow dives (35-50 feet), with great corals, ledges, walls, and canyons. Almost all of the waters off of the south-east part of island are federally protected marine conservation areas, and it shows: pretty every dive was a non-stop critter show, including sharks, large sea turtles, a cavalcade of rays, and two close encounters with octopi, one of which was the biggest I've ever seen in the wild. Watching color-changing animals do their thing is one of my all time favorites! The dive shop out of Red Hook covers more of the northern east-end of the island, and has some more adventurous dives. But there is something to be said for all of that marine conservation area; the diving was so easy and rewarding, I'm thinking of taking my 71 year old mother diving there. I ran into a DM when I was mooching hot tub from the Ritz Carlton, and she told me that the best diving in the Virgin Islands was actually in St. Croix, a place I've never been. Has anyone ever dived St. Croix? Tony Montana posted:I am with my girlfriend. She is with me the whole time. I am not some loving goon who needs to memorize everything backwards because you're alone in this world. It was over 2 years ago. But you know what, enjoy your thread. The Australian from the best dive sites in the world with the pro diving girlfriend has decided this is not the kind place I want to talk about diving. As someone who used to do quite a bit of mountain biking, I had some advice for you, but since you decided to flip out, don't let the doorknob hit you in the rear end on the way out.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2016 15:10
|
|
|
Icon Of Sin posted:I know a guy who's an instructor in St Croix, I'll see if I can get in touch with him and find out something. He works for SCUBA, St Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures Nice! Thank you for that, I'll make a note of it. One more thing that I saw that I almost don't believe. Remember how in Finding Nemo, the ray used to carry the baby animals around the reef like a school bus? Um... do they really do that? I saw a large (5 feet across) ray that had two small (4-5 inches across) rays hanging out on top of it, almost like they were cuddling. If I had thought that they were mammals, I might have guessed that they were nursing. Was this a random occurrence, or a real behavior? I always thought that fish hatched from eggs, so they never know their parents.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 13, 2016 15:55
|
|
|
This is why I like just wearing bathing shorts on the bottom, I can pee and fart with impunity. Do they make fart valves for dry suits?
|
|
#
¿
Dec 23, 2016 20:59
|
|
|
lord1234 posted:Not fart valves, but they do make a takeadump valve. Check out info on it here: http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php/31937-800-minute-dives?highlight=takeadump Oh thank god, it's a joke. I was obviously joking about the fart valve, but I was afraid to click on that link.  Someone asked a while back about good boat manners, a guy I dove with in St.Thomas did a pretty good blog post about it: http://aadivers.blogspot.com/ quote:Emily Post’s Boat Diving Etiquette
|
|
#
¿
Dec 25, 2016 03:26
|
|
|
How do you evaluate liveaboards? I've been fantasizing about the Red Sea, but the more I learn about it, the more a liveaboard makes sense, because of where the best dive sites are. I figure I'll take a two week vacation, and stay at a nice resort for a few days before and after a liveaboard trip. It's hard to evaluate the different itineraries when they all describe things differently. http://www.liveaboard.com/pages/Search.aspx?page=1&country=8&m=0&cid=7000
|
|
#
¿
Dec 30, 2016 13:15
|
|
|
How the gently caress is this possible? I was under the impression that remote submersibles and other robots are steadily taking over this work.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 5, 2017 16:12
|
|
|
I have no idea if this is a good deal or not, but someone at one of my local dive shops is selling a scuba camera rig. https://www.facebook.com/CapeAnnCharters/photos/pcb.569753259897632/569752959897662/?type=3&theater quote:I'm selling a Nikon D7000 with a Sea&Sea Housing, plus 2 Sea&Sea YS 100a
|
|
#
¿
Jan 5, 2017 16:16
|
|
|
Icon Of Sin posted:Oh it was cool. I had one that I kept trying to swim away from/get out of its way, but then I realized it was following me and wanted a belly rub ☺ It swam right up next to me and rolled right over after I brushed my hand across it's back. It was ~5ft long too, so only ~2 years old. Apparently they live up to 60 years Yeah, this is definitely on my list, I just don't take vacations to Florida. My parents are planning on moving there, so I'm sure I'll get my Florida stuff in then. Trivia posted:Usually when scouting for a dive locale, I find the best place and then wait for an airfare deal. Ok, now that we have more details, we can give you advice. Otherwise, "The Caribbean" is just too big.  Just last week I commented that I was considering bringing my elderly parents back to St. Thomas (my mom still dives), because the diving was so easy and so rewarding. No currents, fairly shallow dives in protected marine sanctuaries brimming with fish and reef life. Some great beaches, too, and I love love love the National Park on nearby St. John. The Virgin Islands have tons of small, uninhabited islands nearby that you can visit by boat tour. However, it's pricey because everything is in hard currency, and parts of the island are not safe. Based on what you are looking for, I'd have to 100% recommend Barbados. Great diving, snorkeling (several different turtle snorkel spots) and surfing, with some of best sandy beaches in the Caribbean (many of which have that lovely pink sand). The people are super nice, and the food and booze are fantastic. Also, the economy is strong, so there is little poverty and crime. Some of the roads are a little scary, but it's safe to drive, and the drivers are very polite and tolerant of tourist stupidity. Not the cheapest of islands, but the currency is pegged at 2-1, so your dollar goes pretty far.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 16, 2017 14:30
|
|
|
let it mellow posted:Still sticking with Turks and Caicos. Other spots that stick out are Aruba and Ambergris Caye in Belize. All offer what you are asking for, but it is a haul to West Caicos so you will be on a relatively long dive day, but not 4 dives a day. Aruba and Ambergris will be shorter ( except the blue hole, that's an all day trip) JetBlue is having a sale, so I'm considering an impromptu dive trip to Aruba. Can anyone recommend a dive shop on Aruba? I was thinking of going with this place in Baby Beach: http://jadsaruba.com/
|
|
#
¿
Jan 24, 2017 03:34
|
|
|
let it mellow posted:We dove with JADS and they were great. There's one two tank dive where they will line up he second dive so you end up seeing the submarine. You're taking pics of the sub, people in the sub are taking pics of you. I probably posted a pic of it earlier,but phone posting so I can't find it. Awesome! Yeah, I liked the look of their schedule. Where did you stay? The hotels are on the other side of the island... did they come pick you up? I was planning on renting a car.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2017 03:12
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 12, 2024 04:17 |
|
|
let it mellow posted:We stayed at the tamrijn (sp?) which was an all inclusive, and it was pretty good because it wasn't in the high rise district. They picked us up and took us to the high rise district where their dock was (but not their shop, we found that one non diving day when we rented a car and explored the island, also got lost and ended up by the prison where that dude that killed the girl from Atlanta was still in), and then a short walk to their boat. Nice! I was leaning towards the Tamrijn, because they are offering deals at the moment. But I was also considering an AirBnB listing that was all the way down by Baby Beach, near the JADS shop. On one hand, free food and hot tubs (I like hot tub after a day of diving), and on the other hand, being away from the crowds, and half the price. Thanks for the info.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2017 15:37
|
|