Anyone Scuba Dive?

[femurphy77]

I'm NAUI Advanced Open Water and the GF is PADI Rec diver aka Open Water diver. WHEN you get certified do go on a clearwater vacation, Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, hell even Cancun has a couple of decent sites although the Cenotes are the sh**!!

I have purchased quite a few pieces of gear used off of craigslist but you don't want to do that until you have some familiarity with the equipment and what to look for. For any certification class you'll have to buy or provide your own mask, fins and snorkels. If you plan on doing any diving at all after you are certified I would recommend buying your own life support equipment. I have seen some very shoddily maintained dive gear that can really make a pleasant dive rather difficult at best or get you killed at worse.

I recently scored a set of scubapro regulators and octopus for $40 at an automotive swapmeet of all places. Took it to the local shop to have it serviced and it's ready for many more years of safe use.

As to diving in Indiana, I moved up here from Oklahoma and did a lot of lake diving in Texas, I didn't think the conditions down there were very good until I came up here. I finally tried one of the quarries over by shelbyville and it's not bad but it ain't Cozumel!!!

Once you try it you'll either love it or it won't be for you and you'll come up with another expensive hobby but you ain't lived until you've done a tropical dive on a beautiful reef, night dives are cool, shark dives are cool, it's all cool and you won't believe the many different colors of blue you'll see out there.

Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[vitamink]

PADI: Instructor

DRI: PSD, DR1, DR2, Dry suit, Helmet, swiftwater,

NITROX/HELIOX diver/blender etc etc etc

You'll need mask fins and snorkel for any padi or naui class. Buy other gear as you see fit, though i'd start with a regulator with computer, then a BC later. Don't buy a tank unless you're going to be in the diving business as you can fill them for 3 dollars and rent them for 6. If you own one they'll have to be hydroed and annually inspected which will cost you more money than if you rented. Buy only gear that YOU want. I've worked for 2 dive operations/stores with the same mentality: I had to wear the most expensive and uncomfortable crap to entice new divers into looking all "navy seal" like. The BC i had to wear was covered in D rings and had an 800$ price tag where the average BC price was 350$. People would buy these dive rites and seaquest black diamonds and discover they overpaid for an uncomfortable diving experience. If you plan on looking like a speed loader for a 357 they thats fine otherwise they're over the top. If you end up enjoying diving and like the cold water i recommend a dry suit and an Auga mask. For the dry suit, get a rubber shell as you can decontaminate them, repairs are easy, and you can tailor the amount of gear you wear underneath to keep you warm. The auga mask just seals you off and makes diving more pleasurable. You can also talk to folks, but 99% of the time you'd wish they'd just shut up.

If you want to try out any gear i have some extra stuff you can borrow. Be sure to use different regulator brands, fin brands, etc and find what YOU want. Most dive organizations are 1 or 2 brand specific.

 

[Gabriel]

I dive for work.

 

[NorthsideIndy]

i went to orlando last year and while we wanted to scuba dive my father in law told us the dangers of scuba diving ( after a case of old style of course)

 

[femurphy77]

i went to orlando last year and while we wanted to scuba dive my father in law told us the dangers of scuba diving ( after a case of old style of course)

Did he tell you about the dangers of going to Orlando, or walking across the street etc? Not to be a smartass but diving has come a long way since the old days. Dive computers are our friend and make it so that any bonehead that can follow simple instructions can dive, almost.