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HookShot posted:Hey guys, I've got a question about decompression sickness. You'll be fine. The PADI guidelines are 18 hours for repetitive dives.
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Jul 30, 2013 20:18
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Congratulations on your certification! I'm fairly newly certified myself (got that in Kona, luckily) and going diving tomorrow with my Dad, for the first time together in our lives.  I have to say though, I did crack up at this line: Cippalippus posted:
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Aug 9, 2013 16:22
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My fiance and I are looking to honeymoon in the Caribbean and are wondering where we would find the best combination of diving and amenities. We're just normal open water divers, nothing fancy, but would like to get a lot of diving in while still in a place that's also fun on land.
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Dec 3, 2013 04:27
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Crunkjuice posted:Cozumel is definitely all of those things Never would have thought of Cozumel, thanks!
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Dec 3, 2013 07:00
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grover posted:What do you want to do on land? Lots of Mayan ruins in that area. Belize has pretty killer diving, too, and far less resorty if you're not into that. Wife and I had a beachfront hotel room facing the barrier reef, which took less than 10 minutes to kayak to, which, on top of diving, you can snorkel to your heart's content. Oh, generally faff about in a place where we won't get stabbed and can have a nice dinner somewhere. History is always a plus. It's actually kinda neat how getting scuba certifications have changed how we approach vacations.
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Dec 3, 2013 22:50
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helpy posted:Ho there Northern Virginia goon. I am assuming you are talking about The Dive Shop's Chilly Willy events. The quarry is kinda crappy as you say, but you will enjoy diving it dry moreso if you are a returning diver to the site. If you are looking for a dive buddy for the NoVa area I am always down to go exploring. Other quarry options that are ~2-3 hours from the Washington Metro area: Dutch Springs, PA; Guppy Gulch near Delta, PA; and Lake Rawlings, VA. I have some friends who will likely be putting together a Lake Rawlings trip in either January or February, if you want me to send you details let me know. Another NoVA diver goon here too. edit: Thanks for the additional Cozumel info, SuitcasePimp!
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Dec 4, 2013 03:05
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I'm looking at purchasing my first regulator as I slowly assemble dive gear. Leisurepro has the Aqualung Titan, which I think I've settled on, for $225. Does anyone here dive this reg and have thoughts on it? http://www.leisurepro.com/p-udrtrn/aqua-lung-titan-regulator
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Feb 5, 2014 20:45
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Crunkjuice posted:Titans are solid. Ive spent a lot of time on them and Ive got no complaints. Much appreciated, thank you!
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Feb 5, 2014 22:19
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I did my OW and AOW in Kona, Hawaii and got some great training, so that's definitely variable. Just need to check reviews and things. Also, it was far more enjoyable to do the dives in Hawaii than the local quarry.
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Jul 1, 2014 05:50
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So do you guys check your gear bags on flights? My first trip after all getting my gear, I figured it was too valuable to check and carried it on.
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Jul 15, 2014 16:46
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Does anyone know a good charter dive boat operation on the Virginia coast? (any of it) I just want to ocean dive this weekend and got frustrated with the poor service when I called LDC in Virginia Beach. 
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Jul 23, 2014 19:55
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Trivia posted:I haven't decided which island, which means I'm open to any of them really. I DO love night dives though. I went to Indonesia this last August and my last dive was a night dive in the lovely harbor. Saw a ton of great things, including an octopus which we saw feeding. The little dude was gorging on the red worm-things that our torches brought out of hiding. Tossing in a recommendation for Jack's Diving Locker out of Kona, then. They do the manta ray dives and pelagic black water dives as well, and I've had nothing but wonderful experiences with them.
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Sep 24, 2014 19:16
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Trivia posted:I just looked and Jack's website and I gotta say, prices are pretty nuts. They're as much as Palau's two tank dives (~$120-150). Are the dive sites far away from the dive center? In Palau the prices were so high because of the fuel costs of getting to sites (took about 45 mins to an hour one way by boat). The dive sites are generally 20-30 minutes or less by boat. As for the prices, I dunno. Hawaii tourist markup, perhaps? A two tank dive out of VA beach near me seems to be about $110 as well.
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Sep 26, 2014 01:42
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Occams taser posted:another question I had: Well, if it helps, you can get an LCD for the GoPro that snaps on the back.
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Oct 20, 2014 19:32
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Heading to Cozumel for a last-minute sanity escape, next Saturday! Already in touch with Jeremy from Living Underwater and I hope he has availability, but if he doesn't, are there any other well-recommended shops? Any other must-see attractions?
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Feb 24, 2015 18:48
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Thanks for all the recommendations!
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Feb 25, 2015 17:30
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poo poo, for $700, I got my Aqualung Axiom BC with Titan reg/octo/gauges. Granted, the Axiom was on clearance because it was the non-i3 version, but $700 of gear would basically get you the core, if you shop smart.
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May 31, 2015 20:14
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Any recommendations for good dive operators in St. Thomas? Heading down in October, and after this thread knocked it out of the park with the Cozumel recommendation, I figured I'd ask.
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Jun 30, 2015 00:06
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eviljelly posted:I don't understand why all those people are ignoring basic Open Water manual stuff, like pupdive said, but take a look here too: Goddamn, I've done exactly this, dive in Kona then to Waimea for dinner.  I actually brought the elevation question up to the instructor who recommended the restaurant, and he said I'd be fine. I was, but still.
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Oct 5, 2015 19:56
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We did a trip to Cozumel in April and on the advice of this thread, dove with Jeremy Anschel of Living Underwater. He's a small operation, but a very caring guide, and we had a wonderful time diving with them. I quite liked the stay at the Hotel B, but it's on the north side of the island and Jeremy won't go that far to pick you up at the hotel dock, so we had to drive to the marina. If the guy is there selling empanadas for 10 pesos off his motorcycle, buy them, for they are delicious.
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Oct 14, 2015 02:54
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I'm in St. Thomas right now and had a nice dive full of turtles, rays, and black-tip reef sharks yesterday.
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Oct 14, 2015 22:32
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I dove St. Thomas in October and the water was 84-86F. Didn't even wear a wetsuit. edit: Outlets in the USVI are the same, but they drive on the left with left-hand drive cars, for some stupid reason.
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Dec 29, 2015 03:11
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Given what PADI costs, I find the quality of their materials, at least as of a couple years ago, to be outright robbery. lovely low res video, poor layout, dated information, and antiquated web technology were all over the place when I last trained. Maybe it is better now, I dunno.
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Apr 7, 2016 17:04
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Yep, I'm talking about eLearning.
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Apr 9, 2016 06:33
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I had been meaning to tell this story to the thread, but figured it would just be depressing. This seems like the time to do it, and maybe it'll help me a bit. My Dad died while diving in September, at age 60. He was with two buddies, both rescue divers, and they were only at about 17 feet or so in a river when it happened. Dad was fine for the first ten minutes of the dive, and had found a golfball on the bottom of the river and picked it up. A minute later, they looked back and he was gone. After searching for 30-60 seconds, they surfaced, found faint bubbles to dive on, and were able to find him, unconscious with his regulator out. They got him out of the water with a heroic effort to lift him the few feet up onto the bank, and kept CPR going all the way through a transfer onto a helpful fishing boat that got them to the other side of the river where the ambulance could pick him up. He had a weak pulse and was breathing when the paramedics took him, but died at the hospital. It took weeks to get the cause of death, which the coroner listed as drowning. I don't buy it though. This happened in a rural county, and I doubt the coroner had much experience with diving accidents. My Dad had undergone bypass surgery probably a decade before this, and I'm certain that he must have had a heart attack. Something had to knock him out instantly, since he would have been able to surface easily from such a shallow depth, if he were conscious. The police had his equipment checked as part of their investigation, and the air in his tank was uncontaminated, with everything in working order. Dad got me interested in diving. He'd always wanted to try it, since he was a kid watching Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges. Once he started talking about finally getting certified, in 2013 I think, I did it too. I'm the one that went traveling and diving in the ocean with my wife, and sending him pictures and telling stories about it, but he never got to go ocean diving, only rivers, lakes, and a cold-rear end quarry with me once. I kept trying to get him to come out to visit and we'd charter a trip out of VA Beach, but he never got around to it, figuring we'd do it next time. He went out doing something he loved, though. Yes, risk goes up with age, but hell, the old infantryman that runs our local dive shop is in his late 70s and still diving, and Dad could have had that heart attack sitting on the couch and it wouldn't have made things any easier. I haven't stopped diving, either, though the first time back in was a bit melancholy. At least it's out of the way, and he gave me the gift of this wonderful hobby.
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Jun 28, 2017 03:28
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Trivia posted:Man what a bummer. Must be rough on his friends too. My old man got me into diving too. I was 12 when he grabbed me by the waist and took me down 15 feet on his octopus. All he said was "Don't hold your breath." I was hooked since and got my junior license when I turned 13. Yeah, I talked to one of his buddies and the guy was pretty shaken up about it. Lots of people take rescue training and never have to use it. Some have to use it and actually save a life, but he did his best and sometimes it's just not possible. I had actually talked about going home to visit and going along on that dive, but I'm actually glad I wasn't there. I'm not a rescue diver, what the gently caress would I have done differently other than be traumatized? As for Sea Hunt, I got him the box set a few Christmases ago and watched some of it with him. It's actually not bad, if not pretty basic. Since scuba was pretty new, a lot of the problems faced are directly related to the dangers of diving as understood at the time. Some things go a bit over the top, but it's a 1950s TV drama. whaddya expect?
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Jun 28, 2017 05:04
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redreader posted:I went on a 3-tank boat dive in Kauai through fathom five, they were good. It was off the south coast. I saw more turtles than I've ever seen, one shark, lots of eels, nudibranch, and tons of sea life in general. I also went on a twilight / night shore dive, both on the same reef, with some other company and it was fairly lame. I'm in Kona now and I've got more diving planned including the manta ray stuff, so that should be good. I'm also in Kona and just got back from my second time doing the Pelagic Magic dive at Jack's Diving Locker. You're tethered to the boat over 3-5000 feet of water at night watching the pelagic life come up to feed. Fantastic time full of alien critters, highly recommended.
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Oct 4, 2017 11:42
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sharkytm posted:I wish we could have fit that dive into our schedule, but it wasn't in the cards. We dove with Kona Diving Company, who are a small, but very very good operation. We saw the boats from both BID and JDL on our manta dives, and they were way overloaded with both divers and snorkelers. If I ever did more diving in Kona, it'd be with KDC again. Plus, they had some steel tanks available, which is a big plus for my air-hogging rear end. The prices are all comparable, but I prefer a smaller outfit. On our non-Manta dives, we were in a group of 1-2 other divers with a DM. I generally prefer a smaller operation myself, but we keep going back to Jack's since we got certified there and their service is fantastic. It had been 3 years since we'd been to Kona, and since then I'd only been on small boats, so I was kinda dreading the large boat atmosphere again, but they handle it well. Not that I'm trying to get you to switch or anything, just disputing the overloaded comment; they have as many divers as they can handle, and the boats don't feel crowded.
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Oct 22, 2017 20:50
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Squashy Nipples posted:Nobody else in this thread likes the Cressi stuff, but for $300 I've been very happy with my Cressi Giotto wrist computer. My wife and I both dive Cressi Leonardos, and aside from being a single-button design, we've had no problems with them. They were our first computers because they had the best price at the time we were shopping, and they've been perfectly fine computers. As for the PADI discussion, I got into an outright argument with a PADI rep when I fired up their app for the first time, expecting to find all my information loaded in when I associated it with my profile. I was just incredulous that not only would have to pay for a digital C-card, but pay more than a physical card. All the rep could do was regurgitate at how convenient digital C-cards were and could not fathom why they should be cheaper than a physical card, or even free. Also, it's dumb that my wife and I can't share course materials when we want to take a class. I wish we'd used another certifying agency. 
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Dec 4, 2017 19:28
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I wish I hadn't bought anything beyond boots/fins/snorkel/mask and computer because I'm already tired of schlepping it around the world.
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Feb 15, 2018 03:47
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A mask is about the most personal piece of gear there is, and the idea of someone buying me one that I never tried on doesn't make much sense. Getting a good fit like that is highly unlikely.
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Feb 15, 2022 01:15
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Saw an oceanic whitetip while snorkeling with pilot whales on the way to a dive site off the big island of Hawaii, and got the gently caress back on the boat.
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Jul 20, 2023 02:28
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Any recommendations for a dive operator in Mazatlan? Heading down there for the solar eclipse. Thanks! 
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Feb 13, 2024 16:48
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