Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Scuba certification pros and cons

I'm thinking about getting scuba certified because we can spearfish almost year round here and there are lots of places to go. What are the pros and cons of getting certified. Is it worth it? I would plan on getting my own gear and possibly compressor. Up until now I've just been free diving but now seriously considering taking the leap. Should I get the rest of the family certified while I'm at it? It's about 600 a piece for the certification and classes

Dunno your circumstances or needs in regards to prowling the depths. Back when I was a punk free diving to 60-70’ was the norm and a lot of fish got the shaft. Never speared anything with scuba, but found some gold and silver.

You need it to fill tanks.

What do you plan on doing with your "certification"??? You don't need it to dive snorkel, or scuba. Teach???

It will be fun go ahead and do it. If you travel you will be able to dive without any hassle.

If you plan on diving 33 ft and beyond with any discernable bottom time on SCUBA, get certified and buy the best dive computer you can afford. I've had several friends experience mild decompression issues by failing to calculate their total saturation. This is especially easy if you are making multiple dives in a day and chasing fish up and down the depths.

You don't need a drivers license to drive a car, but you need one to be legal and better informed. It's only your life and safety.

If you wanna scuba dive; get certified to do so. You''ll be a better, and safer diver. I dove a lot for about 10 years after getting certified in 1975 and it was a real neat experience getting into it with the experienced diving instructors who taught me a lot more than what was in the instruction book.

You need to tell more of that story.

Your response is technically correct. However it offers zero benefit to the conversation or much relevance. Based on your overuse of question marks I assume it was intentional and you're salivating at the chance to flex your knowledge on the topic. However anything you might provide along the train of thought you started isn't information I'm seeking and am already well aware of.

I can't think of any cons, you'll learn more than you know now.

I first got certified in 1971 …. Recertification in 2001…I’d recommend doing the whole family…. I can’t think of any cons but the pros are many….

Get proper training and keep up with your training,fooling around untrained with SCUBA gear ,even at shallow depths ,is a recipe for disaster.
It is a fun hobby and will give you many years of enjoyment,WITH THE PROPER TRAINING !

Short version: https://store.melfisher.com/collections/1715-fleet-gold

Found other stuff too. Flintlock pistols, table ware, sabers, teeth and bones. And a bunch of cannons.

Depth isn't much of a goal, staying down longer in 10-20' and hunting fish is. Thank you for the input, it's very helpful



How much does one need to dive to justify buying a compressor vs paying to have tanks filled? I'm hoping to dive every weekend in the summer but half that or less is probably more likely. Curious on the expectation vs reality lol.

You really can't get into trouble staying within that depth range. But you will find better results without the tank and bubbles when spear fishing or at least that was my experience when I was diving. Spear fishing around wrecks is probably better with SCUBA but otherwise your Mark I lungs is the way to go.

Dive shops here in FL push the hell out of it. That's how they make their money. Sell the certification. Sell the gear.

Since I got certified with NAUI ~ 1985, I've never used it for much of anything, other than bragging and filling tanks.

Interesting, I've heard from several people that the bubbles attract fish often times, at least around here in the river reservoirs I'd be going. Primarily targeting walleye and northern Pike but taking the occasional smallmouth and catfish as opportunity allows. I do prefer to go with just my own lung capacity but it just isn't what it used to be and I often finding I wish I had an extra 15-20 seconds most dives. Now I just need to decide on gear....

That may be true. I have no fresh water experience beyond a few Florida spring dives.

After awhile all the gear and crap becomes a major PIA, so many folks resort back to free diving.

For frequent shallow diving, you might be better off with a floating compressor like this:

https://www.airbuddy.net/#/

I have not used one, but I could see where it would be easier to use than scuba tanks and there would be no trips to the dive shop for refills. You really don't want to mess with a high pressure compressor to fill your own tanks. The cost and maintenance is prohibitive.

From your location, I am guessing you would be diving in Lake Oahe. Is the water clear enough to make it feasible? My experiences in freshwater were pretty disappointing. Even lakes that looked clear had very poor visibility compared to diving in the ocean.

Jerry

After a quick look, the cheapest compressor I could find online that wasn’t going to take all day to fill an 80cf cyl was $3500-4000. 120-220v

https://www.alkinus.com/w31-mariner

Below are recent cost, not back in 1975 when I last dove.

We own two tanks.
In our area, A used tank 100-150 Depending on if it is in hydro. Hydro is $50 every five years,visual inspection yearly is $15. A tank fill is $7

In 10-20ft, a tank is going to last 90-120 min depending on how good of a diver you are and how much you move around. The viz in lake water is going to be terrible compared to the carribean. 10-15ft is on a good day unless you go below the thermocline. Even then it’s not going to be good.

There is no law that says you can’t buy gear and go diving. Knowledge is a good thing and there are things you need to know before you dive.

P.S. I am sitting at Houston Hobby waiting for my flight to Cozumel. Gonna do 10days of diving.