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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 46,745
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 46,745 |
just when I throw the goggles on and chase the old lady around.
Camp is where you make it.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,737
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,737 |
Hey folks, here is an update on the progress of the missus and her dive certification. Three tries in the open water test, first two cancelled middle of the dive testing due to insanely bad conditions. It was more like seal or coastguard training then a simple open water certification test. Nevertheless the third time was the charm for her. She has now made 27 dives with me. Deepest 76 feet so far. Here is a link to some of the photo's we have taken. It's such a pleasure to be back in the water with my best friend sharing it with me! She is also pretty hardy diving in Puget Sound. 47-52 degree water for multiple dives per day. Can't wait to get her into a tropical high vis location with light weight equipment and 40-60 foot visibility compared to 4-8 feet here at times! Click here for some of her photo's this year. These were taken with an Olympus TG-4 point and shoot camera. Although I have an external flash on it. It's pretty freaking dark in the sound at 50 feet deep or more. https://goo.gl/photos/i6hu7wcxEAc5rBQbA
www.huntingadventures.netAre you living your life, or just paying bills until you die? When you hit the pearly gates I want to be there just to see the massive pile of dead 5hit at your feet. ( John Peyton)
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 46,253 Likes: 2
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 46,253 Likes: 2 |
Not on paper but learned one summer at 14 from my old Naval Uncle.
Trump Won!
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818 |
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. Get out your billfold. My dive computer was $1000 but it's far better than having all the gear hanging off you.
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818 |
Hey folks, here is an update on the progress of the missus and her dive certification. Three tries in the open water test, first two cancelled middle of the dive testing due to insanely bad conditions. It was more like seal or coastguard training then a simple open water certification test. Nevertheless the third time was the charm for her. She has now made 27 dives with me. Deepest 76 feet so far. Here is a link to some of the photo's we have taken. It's such a pleasure to be back in the water with my best friend sharing it with me! She is also pretty hardy diving in Puget Sound. 47-52 degree water for multiple dives per day. Can't wait to get her into a tropical high vis location with light weight equipment and 40-60 foot visibility compared to 4-8 feet here at times! Click here for some of her photo's this year. These were taken with an Olympus TG-4 point and shoot camera. Although I have an external flash on it. It's pretty freaking dark in the sound at 50 feet deep or more. https://goo.gl/photos/i6hu7wcxEAc5rBQbAWhat wetsuit are you diving? 5mil or 7mil ? I love diving but am not ashamed that I am a warm water diver. If I need more than a 2-3 mil, it is to cold. If we were closer to the water, I might invest in a dry suit and a good set of undergarments.
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818 |
Going to Cozumel in August. Great reef there. Not reefer, although you can probably find it if you look. We are going in Dec. There may be better places to dive but you just can't beat the cost and quality of diving in coz. July is our trip to Curacao. Not been there before but have been to Bonaire. Should be very similar..
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 2,755
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 2,755 |
I dove years ago in Nevis in the Caribbean. Was fortunate that I was the only one on the small charter that day, it was awesome! The dive captain said something that to this day still makes me laugh. We got to one dive site and he said "you will be diving to 65 feet here, if you want to go deeper then bring a shovel!"
Welcome to TN - patron state of shootin’ stuff
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,172 Likes: 14
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,172 Likes: 14 |
Certified before PADI/NAUI were invented. One breath-2 laps under water at the base pool, no fins or mask. Ditch and don in 65' of brine. Classrooms and tests-1964 way of doing it.
I am..........disturbed.
Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass. -Twain
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,737
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,737 |
WeimsnKs
7mm wetsuit, with another 7mm step in hooded vest. 14mm over the core. typically 2- 50-60 min dives back to back changing tanks. I have a dive computer on my wrist, and a consol with full gages on the regulator. Redundant info as well as the octopus for backup to OOA for another diver.
None of which existed in the 80's when I started diving!
www.huntingadventures.netAre you living your life, or just paying bills until you die? When you hit the pearly gates I want to be there just to see the massive pile of dead 5hit at your feet. ( John Peyton)
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 18,080
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 18,080 |
God, Family, and Country.
NRA Endowment Member
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818 |
WeimsnKs
7mm wetsuit, with another 7mm step in hooded vest. 14mm over the core. typically 2- 50-60 min dives back to back changing tanks. I have a dive computer on my wrist, and a consol with full gages on the regulator. Redundant info as well as the octopus for backup to OOA for another diver.
None of which existed in the 80's when I started diving! That is a lot of mm. If you haven't, you need to tryout the air integrated computers. Screw in a transmitter at the first stage regulator and get rid of all the extra crap. Everything you need is on your wrist. I use a back up Scuba pro meridian computer as well just incase my main computer dies or locks up. That way I don't have to sit out any dives to lower my CNS02. Are you diving nitrox?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,737
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,737 |
I'm nitrox certified but my wife is not. So I have only used nitrox without her in a few dives. I don't go below 100 feet very often but I do spend time in the PP02 1.25 range so the nitrox is a benefit then.
Air integrated is nice but I'm good with my direct Hose connections. In the future it may happen? I'm very comfortable with the analog consol. Just a thought for me, I've never seen a single analog consol failure. I have however seen more than a couple air integrated computer malfunctions.
www.huntingadventures.netAre you living your life, or just paying bills until you die? When you hit the pearly gates I want to be there just to see the massive pile of dead 5hit at your feet. ( John Peyton)
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818 |
Air integrated is nice but I'm good with my direct Hose connections. In the future it may happen? I'm very comfortable with the analog consol. Just a thought for me, I've never seen a single analog consol failure. I have however seen more than a couple air integrated computer malfunctions.
Diving gear is the same as the ford /chevy debate. No wrong no right just what you are comfortable with. Yes electronics can fail, that is why we use redundancy. I am a technology geek. I like gadgets.
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Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 2,232
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 2,232 |
Started diving with gear i found staxked next to a dumpster,was padi certified in the mid 80's.
met a girl whose father had been a hyperbaric welder in the 70's.he gave me the name of the diving school he went to in Texas.
i graduated from commercial divers school in feb. Of '88,three days later me and my used kirby morgan band mask were on a oil rig.
i had a 24 year career as a comm. Diver untill my legs were crushed by a steele beam under water in '09.retired ever since.
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818 |
This time tomorrow, we will be landing in Curacao. Most likely will be wet by 4pm and have our second tank for a twilight dive. 15 boat dives and unlimited shore dives for the week. Life is good.
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 2,104
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 2,104 |
PADI Advanced Open Water certified in Okinawa back in 1978. Had over 150 dives while there. Left in 1981 and haven't been on a regulator since. I' m thinking of donating my gear to some museum.
Dave
Sticks and stones may break my bones ... but hollow-points expand on impact.
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 15,380
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 15,380 |
PADI, since 92.... Out of homer ak and Kodiak for cuke's and urchins.... All dry suit diving... Some close calls with monster sized sea lions, salmon sharks and a pizzed off ouctapussy ...and running OUT of air at 83' ....man air is great ! My good times were spent in just a dry suit /snorkel/mask, floating the clear water rivers around fbks when the salmon are nesting...u float from hole to hole just watching from above! Good times indeed!
I work harder than a ugly stripper....
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 15,380
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 15,380 |
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!
I dove a spot off the Shuster parkway down your way, they had dropped a lot of concrete pipe an stuff not far out in the sound, big azs shrimp glowing eyes and all !
I work harder than a ugly stripper....
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 23,371 Likes: 2
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 23,371 Likes: 2 |
JJHack texted me some great wreck dive photos. I hope he'll share them here.
"The Democrat Party looks like Titanic survivors. Partying and celebrating one moment, and huddled in lifeboats freezing the next". Hatari 2017
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." Han Solo
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,818 |
JJHack texted me some great wreck dive photos. I hope he'll share them here. I have dove some wrecks but an old ship is just an old ship to me and quality underwater photography equipment is pricey if not more so than above water equipment. I'm just as happy with my $40 spear and shooting lionfish for 3hrs a day. If you have never tried them, they are tasty.
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