SCUBA Divers? BotFodder's goin to the Keys!

I've gotten a trip set up for diving all day (morning and afternoon) from Tavernier with http://www.conchrepublicdivers.com/. The days I'm diving are:

Fri Jun 23
Sat Jun 24
Sun Jun 25

I'm driving down the day of the 22nd and driving home the morning of the 26th.

You can surprise me by contacting CRD direct ... or if you want to go (and get included on some group email that will be going around as I find out who's going and what their plans are) send me a PM here with your email address in it.

Either way, this is only an "I'm going and here are my plans - if you want to go, contact them yourself" deal - I'm not arranging anything for anyone other than me. CRD will also handle lodging for you if you so desire.

Think this would be a good time to learn? Call them and see what's involved and what it would take. I know they teach but I don't know what their course schedule would be like for these days. I *can* tell you that we are going to be doing some pretty hefty dives in the afternoons (Speigel Grove on Sat. afternoon). Not "super" advanced stuff, but you should probably be comfortable in the water before trying it.

I wish I could go! I don't have the time or money, though. The only place I've done diving is in Oahu. Too many people there. The reef was all screwed up because of that. It was still fun, though. I had some parrot fish following me around most of the time. They thought I was going to feed them. I won't feed wild animals, not good.

Man, I can't believe you are going to the Keys. I would love to go but I will be stuck in Jacksonville due to having no money. Have fun...or else.

P.S. Maybe you'll find some of that gold that was just in the news

How long does it take to learn how to SCUBA? I'm sure it depends on the course, but in general? A couple days? A couple weeks? Could I learn before I head to Hawaii (hopefully) this year? What's the price range?

B_B

Boingo_Babe wrote:

How long does it take to learn how to SCUBA? I'm sure it depends on the course, but in general? A couple days? A couple weeks? Could I learn before I head to Hawaii (hopefully) this year? What's the price range?

First, let me say you're correct - everything depends on the course; which can vary based on:

The dive shop you're getting your class from

The certifying authority they use

The actual instructor

Availability of suitable dive site for checkout dives

My experience was a $100 basic course that took two weekends - one for class and pool work, another for checkout dives. The checkout dives had their own fees as well (another $100 or so) with my starting gear (fins, snorkel, mask, weights, weight belt) running me around $200.

That was in 1998, IIRC, and I'm still using the fins. The mask is probably still good but I probably accidentally threw it out.

In the end I'd guess you'd spend around $400 or so, minimum. That would include checkout dives, classes, and starting gear, plus rentals of the additional gear.

Now, mind you I've spent the following in other gear:

$800 dive computer (it's at least three years old)
$300 wetsuit (third one - thicker than the other two, and my second one is still usable)
$450 BC (the vest, which is also about 2 or 3 years old)

I also have my own tanks. I've gotten regulators (the breathing gear) and they ain't cheap either.

When I travel, I take everything except tanks (well, for this Keys trip, since I'm driving, I'll be bringing my tanks).

My advice is this: Visit the dive shops (if there are any) in your area. Talk to the owners, remaining fully aware that they want to sell you stuff. Talk to the actual instructor you'd be learning from, if possible. Don't deal with the shop or instructor if you aren't comfortable with them. As for certifying authorities, you'll want a shop that preferrably is partnered with one of these:

SSI (Scuba Schools International)
NAUI (National Association of Underwater Instructors)
PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors)
SDI (Scuba Diving International)

The level of classes you'd find useful:

Basic Open Water
Nitrox Certification
Diver Stress and Rescue

BOW is self explanatory. Nitrox you're going to find useful as, while you can't go deeper, it can make diving safer, allow you to stay down longer (providing your air is holding out) , and allow for shorter intervals between dives (there's also anecdotal evidence that you'll feel generally better after diving than you do diving normal air). Stress and Rescue: My experience with this is that you'll be able to spot problems early - potentially before you get in the water. This course is good for recognizing stress in yourself and dealing with it. It will help you keep calm in emergency situations. Considering the enviornment you'll be operating in, keeping calm will keep you alive.

Bot--just enjoy the trip-I used to scuba/snorkel around the Keys and other areas in Florida for years. Then I moved to Colorado in the late 1960's and haven't done any since..............Yes, I'm jealous

You lucky bum! It has been many years since I dove. I cannot remember who my cert was through, but I know a friend of mine (the son of one of my Dad's WWII PBY crew) was a Navy diver, and what we ended up doing (diving off the same PBY our parents flew, using heliox or some other mix he used in the military), he gave me several hours worth of briefing before we dove. Made for a great Memorial Day "road trip" that year. Maybe, as Avis gets a bit older and our budget a bit more flexible, we might try to get cert'ed and go down to the Caribean.

BTW...I also did rescue dives for our local VFD for awhile. But after coming face to face with a Muskie which looked big enough to swallow a basket ball (or my head) in water with only about 6" of visibility...well, lets just say I stopped doing dives in the murky rivers around home.

BTW...one of my cousins, who is in the Army, also dives. He loved the tours into the golf (60 down, 60 back at base), where he got to put all his gear in the C130 and spend most days diving. He is a Sr, supervisory helo mechanic (the one who inspects all work done on the helo, and then puts the wire and lead seals on it), and they needed him down there in case they needed to work on a helo, but that only happened a few days each deployment. So the rest of the time, he got to have fun, so long as there was no drinking what so ever.

Well, it's that time ... I'll be back on Monday, but might not get any game time in until Tuesday. See you next week ...

BF

Pictures are up at http://scuba.lib.usf.edu/scuba/log/showtrip.php?TRIPID=16 ...

I'll get videos up probably Tuesday.

im SO jealous! but those were beautiful pics! I really really enjoyed them! I cant wait to go get all my stuff so i can learn. but i guess you need $$ to do that..but it WILL happen!!! Nice to know the price ranges tho that you posted! anyways thank you for sharing!!! in the mean time i'll just look at the pics you took and dream...

Videos are indeed up.

However, I've gotten to the point that they're about 8MB/min - anything less and they're not worth looking at, really ... thankfully, most are under a minute long.