Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How many of you are scuba certified?

PADI certified open water, and advanced open water, rescue diver.I was working on dive master rating when I figured out the Instructor was using me to watch the students while he spear fished, letting me do all the work and pay full price for air fills and boat trips.

NAUI Advanced Open Water in '87. College sweetheart was a divemaster, then instructor. We dove a LOT back then. Haven't been in a few years.

Almost bent myself good one time accidentally bouncing while cave diving in north central FL. Sick as a dog only. Didn't have to do the tank.

It's really not that hard....a lot has to do with keeping your lungs full of air...I could float all day long if need be...but you need to relax...the more you can relax, the easier it is. If you can get back in the pool, go there and concentrate on relaxing and floating. For schitts and giggles, take some snorkeling gear...when you first get there, jump in the pool and see how long you can stay under water...then get on top of the water and try your best to lower your heartrate and breathing, all the while trying to RELAX....once you're relaxed, head back to the bottom of the pool....keep in mind you can go back up and get a breath of air at your leisure...loiter around on the bottom and RELAX...you'll likely double the time from your initial first dive...another couple of benefits in learning to actually relax in the water, is that your bottom time will be greatly extended, you won't tire nearly as quickly and you'll enjoy it a lot more....JMHO

Many years ago, but got tired of fetching unexploded dynamite and live shunted caps, sometimes under the ice.

PADI certified in 91 at Pennycamp in the keys.

Got PADI certified in 94 along with the ex...Got to dive Grand Cayman... took dive trips to Malaysia, Indonesia and spent a week on a live aboard in the Maldives off the coast of Sri Lanka. I was lucky to dive with some very experienced fantastic dive masters who taught a ton.....Have not been diving in over ten years but now my Son uses most of my equipment after I had it all serviced.
A great trip to do together but there is a need to pay attention and learn all you can cause things can turn bad quickly, especially in big open water with a lot of current.

Naui certified in 91 or 92 at Penecamp reef off of Islamorada in the keys. Seems like a long time ago.....

NAUI in 85.

Okinawa.

Well, she has passed all tests and cleared all the hurdles now but this last one which is not going to be a problem. The final open water dive is this weekend in Puget Sound. She has already performed all the other dives, tests, and checks. This last open water dive now is about 70% recreational with the instructors watching her underwater skills. I am going along to be her "dive buddy" on the trip.

There are 7 people in the class to do this final dive. The water is kinda chilly at 50 deg, but they have good equipment through the dive school. I'm hoping to see one of those giant octopus, I have only ever seen the smaller ones. In the area she will do this final open water test, it is famous for the giants. Some being 20 feet across.

An interesting side note on this. One of my friends has said he always wanted to learn scuba and get certified but it's just way to expensive a recreation. I asked him how much his KTM motocross bike was ........ Ha ha... Scuba is cheap compared to that bike, and many recreational pursuits. It's all about what you're interests are! I had a motocross bike at one time. That was not only expensive but far more dangerous in my opinion too! It's easy to get carried away with bad decisions that happen VERY fast on a great dirt bike!

Good for your wife! PNW saltwater diving is beautiful but cold.

Like you, burned a good number of tanks but never certified. Bought a complete scuba outfit from a fellow who got drafted in 1965 and dived till 1975. Dived with certified experts a lot in CA and learned most if not all of the stuff they teach in classes and more. I did more free diving without compressed air for lobster, halibut, white sea bass and loved it to addiction level. I haven't dived in years except to recover a friend's lost fishing rod from a lake in northern Saskatchewan.

Master Class swims available at many pools and fitness clubs will redefine what seems normal. Life Time is $35/month for two classes per week. A routine warmup during a master class is 400-600 yards. An hour long class will often end up over 2,000 yards, and an hour open swim around 3,000.

NAUI-certified in '75, but I haven't used it in years. I do a lot of open water swimming including a 5-miler this summer - Lake Minnetonka, Excelsior Beach to Wayzata Beach.

Glad things are going well for your wife. I wish her the best and most pleasurable dive ever. If she has a good first one she may keep diving to recapture the excitement of her first.

I just found my card, NAUI Master Diver, '95. Certified at school in NW Cali. Who said get a first open water dive in warm water. Try off the Mendocino coast with +/- 50F water and 3' (yes 3 feet) visibility. 1992, no dry suit, 6 mil wetsuit only. We had a triangle of rope on the bottom we students were arrayed on. We had instructors stationed on the apexes. Supposed to swim down the line (so as not to get lost) to the next instructor for our mask, don-doff exercises. Vis was so bad our lead instructor said stay in place and the assistants would come around to us. Dive buddy and I got two out of three and watched the third instructor pass us by in the gloom. When we came back up at our apex and told the instructor he said he never saw us. That was just the start of my wonderful learning curve. Doin g the compass work for a higher cert off Trinidad head in water filled with wrack was another great experience. Probably a few more exercises in conditions not normal for "regular" certification classes. After a few more semesters/courses I got the Master cert.

Interesting anecdote, after the first semester, as a newbie, I went down to San Diego for a visit at Christmas break. Decided to try a dive boat adventure, went to a local shop, lady there said conditions were poor, water about 59F and "only" 15' vis. I said that's wonderful, she asked where I learned to dive if I thought those conditions were great.

Unfortunately, we moved to NW PA (see the above comments on Lake Erie) and I haven't been under with tanks since about '99.

As mentioned by another member, for me to go back under with bottles, I'd have to take a refresher course. For now, mask and snorkel only. Which was plenty on a vacation to the Big Island a few years back.

JJ, enjoy it out there with your wife and stay safe. You more than likely already know it, but reinforce it with your wife if she doesn't...... if something starts to "go south" DON"T PANIC!!

Geno

Going to Cozumel in August. Great reef there. Not reefer, although you can probably find it if you look.

Cozumel is beautiful. Stopped there for fuel and provisions while helping to deliver a couple yachts from Ft Lauderdale to the Panama Canal. I understand the diving is remarkable, though you can't collect anything.

All national preserve

This. Learn to relax. PADI open water certified around 1992. Haven't dived in years and would not go until I had some refresher desk work and a good bit of pool time. I'm sure there's new tech that I most certainly want to take advantage of. Our regular offshore fishing captain (28 years old) died last year on a spearfishing trip. Don't take diving lightly.

Make sure you ask em if they can get enough people together for a night dive.

Just like bein on land, you'll see stuff you never see during the day.

The only Great Whites around here are the Big Helga's frolicking in their beach skirts. They actually glow in the dark until that first summer sun turns them a little pink.

Just don't get caught between a Helga and a snow cone and you'll be safe.

OW in 2000, AOW 2001

I haven't dove in 3-4 years, but I'm looking to update some gear and go out soon.

Yep, night dives are great!!