Scuba Divers Thread

[Prawn_86]

Since myself and Kennas so far are both divers i thought i would start this thread.

Im a relative novice with just an open water ticket.

Have only dived on the Great Barrier Reef and in Vanuatu, as living in Adelaide the water temp is too cold for my liking.

Any other divers out there feel free to add your favourite destinations :D

[kennas]

I did my Open Water in 1992 in PNG paid for by the Army. Life's tough... :)

I then did the odd dive up until I was living in Cronulla in 2003-4 when I got a little more serious about diving and completed my Advanced and Rescue courses with Cronulla Pro Dive. Even decked myself out in all my own equipment ....

While travelling around the world I stopped in at Utila, in the Bay Islands Honduras to do some fun dives and was enjoying it so much decided to do a Divemaster Internship.

Since then just been diving casually around the place.

Places I've dived:

Brazil
Columbia
Honduras
Belize
Mexico
In and around Sydney
GBR, 4 x
Darwin
Dahab, Red Sea
Vietnam
Thailand, east coast
Malaysia
Indonesia
Fiji
Cook Islands
Melbourne (never again, eeeek!)

Last dives were off the Coast of Columbia last Christmas.

I'm now a bit of a diving snob and you'd be lucky to get me in the water if it was under 28 degrees and 30m plus vis. Too hard otherwise....

Almost bought a liveaboard dive business 2 years ago on the GBR out of Cairns. Actually travelled up there from Melbs and did full due dilligence on the business, but it just wasn't the right time for us. Looking back I'm wondering what the hell I was thinking. I mean, a liveabord dive boat on the GBR!!!! Why not??? :confused:

Anyways, next diving will probably be up in the Bay Islands again early next year. Got to meet a whale shark up close!!

My favourite fish, is a turtle, if that makes sence... :)

[darley]

I have never gone diving. Is it fun? I have heard several horror stories about that have kind of frightened me away from it. Do you need to be certified to go diving or is that something I could just pick up on vacation?

I have, however, gone snorkeling... which is obviously quite different.

[Prawn_86]

Darley,

Welcome to ATF :)

You can do an intro dive with virtually any dive/snorkelling company. They are normally expensive and you are paired with an instructor obviously, but it would allow you to get a sense of what it is like.

To dive at your own leisure you need to be qualified, with varying levels of qualifications. I have an open water licence, which if you do quickly you can usually get in 3 days. It means i am allowed to dive to 30m.

kennas has something more advanced then myslef so im sure he can tell you about that...

[docj84]

Darley,

Welcome to ATF :)

You can do an intro dive with virtually any dive/snorkelling company. They are normally expensive and you are paired with an instructor obviously, but it would allow you to get a sense of what it is like.

To dive at your own leisure you need to be qualified, with varying levels of qualifications. I have an open water licence, which if you do quickly you can usually get in 3 days. It means i am allowed to dive to 30m.

kennas has something more advanced then myslef so im sure he can tell you about that...

correct me if i'm completely wrong, but an underwater licence is only valid to 18m... an advanced open water licence is needed to go to 30m... a deep diver licence is required to legally go beyond that?

[Prawn_86]

correct me if i'm completely wrong, but an underwater licence is only valid to 18m... an advanced open water licence is needed to go to 30m... a deep diver licence is required to legally go beyond that?

Yeh thats actually correct, but it depends where you dive as to how deep the let you go ;)

In Asia and the like they are usually pretty lax, so providing you know what you are doing and have your underwater licence they usually let you go to 30m.

My mate did the advanced open water ticket and there is no actual difference on his card as far as i can tell, its just cost more :confused:

Perhaps Kennas can shed some light on this

[kennas]

This is all just relevant to PADI of course, who just make up these rules. I'm sure it's based on something like nitrogen build up, but IMO anyone with a few dives under their belt could easily go to 30m and a bit lower and have no dramas at all. I reakon PADI just make up these rules to so have to keep doing further courses with them. In the industry, PADI stands for Put Another Dollar In...lol

The lowest I've been is 45m at The Blue Hole in Belize, and just about everyone went down to between 35-40m. I'm not sure what quals the others on the trip had, but Advanced OWD at best.

Being a PADI DM though, if I was taking someone for a dive, I would definately comply with the PADI restrictions because if you kill someone, you might be in trouble.

[EcoTours]

I got a YMCA cert in 1988 and did a few open water dives in Maine (USA) during the winter---freezing cold! On a good day I could see maybe 6' on most days it was more like 2-3' looking back those were horrible dives.

For the next ten years or so I went diving in the Florida Keys and on the North west coast of Florida. I ended up falling in love with the Manatees but they tend to get closer when you just snorkel without a tank and all of the bubbles.

Deepest dive=55 feet, never been anywhere that had anything of interest in deeper waters.

I tried cave diving once and only once, got my mask kicked off and searched forever before I found it. Tried a shark dive once and it was a blast!

[Prawn_86]

I got a YMCA cert

Deepest dive=55 feet, never been anywhere that had anything of interest in deeper waters.


What accreditation is the YMCA one? I have never heard of it...

Deep diving can be good, but you dont just want to be going down to a sandy bottom. Wreck dives are usually a bit deeper than reefs, and in the outer parts of the Great Barrier Reefs there are some pretty deep 'hole' which house a lot of interesting marine life i hear. Have never dived out there myself but will do at some stage.

[EcoTours]

What accreditation is the YMCA one? I have never heard of it...

Deep diving can be good, but you dont just want to be going down to a sandy bottom. Wreck dives are usually a bit deeper than reefs, and in the outer parts of the Great Barrier Reefs there are some pretty deep 'hole' which house a lot of interesting marine life i hear. Have never dived out there myself but will do at some stage.

YMCA= Young Man's Club of America (I think). They are all over the country, mostly they have swimming pools, work out rooms, and they are for men and women. Some of the inner city ones will house people for small money.

I'm not sure if they are still offering the scuba cert programs or not. I took my lessons there from a really old guy by the name of Gallant who use to be a "rip tide racer" when it was actually a sport.

BTW, the YMCA was famous for teaching people to hyperventilate so you could swim longer under water holding your breath.......several people died it made they news and they stopped teaching it. They still taught humming when you exhale so your air lasts longer when I took my classes and that actually works really well!

[love2travel]

Hi Guys

Great to hear a lot of you are divers, been diving since I was a kid and love it! I just have one word....................Yongala! The Yongala wreck off Ayr about an hour south of Townsville is amazing and I would reccommend it to anyone looking for a great dive. Helps if you have your advanced since you can then take a camera and go a bit deeper but well worth the trip if you get the chance. Cod Hole is pretty cool too.

You've done some diving there Kenna. Just out of curiousity, what dive company were you going to buy in Cairns. I worked for a few of them and grew up around it so just thought I'd ask.

[Prawn_86]

Hi L2T,

Welcome to ATF :)

I have heard that Yongala is amazing, a few of my friends have done it but i have not had the chance yet. Do you know what depth it is?

[kennas]

l2t, I was going to buy Vagabond - Sail and Dive. Regularly look back and think, 'why the hell not!'. But I'm not sure how they would have gone during the GFC and now with the AUD going bananas.

Yalonga is quite deap Prawn. 30 - 40m I think. Haven't done it yet but is rated as one of the best dives in the world.

[love2travel]

The Yongala wreck out of Ayr about an hour south of Townsville is one of the best dives I've ever done. I grew up Diving the great barrier reef out of Cairns and I'd reccommend it to anyone!

[love2travel]

Hi Guys

Sorry about doubling up on that reply, still getting used to the site.

Yongala can get quite deep and ranges from about 15m to 40m. Open water divers can do a deep dive specialty course on the first dive I think to be able to go down to 30m. I just loved it because I saw so many different varieties of marine life in one dive. I went on one of the roughest trips they have gone out in but still loved it.

Vagabond is still running Kennas but I'm sure like the other operations up there they have found it a little rough over the past few years but all the companies seem to have had an ok season this year. Hard work those dive boats!!!

l2t

[kennas]

Vagabond is still running Kennas but I'm sure like the other operations up there they have found it a little rough over the past few years but all the companies seem to have had an ok season this year. Hard work those dive boats!!!

l2tYeah I noticed that, and it's back up for sale. $100k less then when I was looking at it. I was very close to buying it 4 years ago. Flew up, did the full diligence, went out on her for a couple of days. Would have been hard work and a bit tiresome after a while I imagine.

[CWBush]

I only recently got my Open Water accreditation, and was lucky enough to do it up on the Great Barrier Reef with a really good company.

Headed to New Zealand and Fiji at the end of the year, and looking forward to adding a few more dives to my resume.

Anybody have dive site recommendations in either country? Or in South Korea for that matter?

[kennas]

Apparently Kadavu in Fiji is the best diving there. I've been in the Mamanuca and Yasawa group and it was pretty good.

I'm thinking of going to Fiji myself in January and maybe Kadavu.

Or, Thailand around Phuket.

[jayl.boraisland]

Hi all, Hi Admin, Hi Moderators,

I like this thread. I want to know more about scuba diving. With regards to good places to dive, you can check out La Union and Boracay in the Philippines. Never been there but that's where my cousin and friends dive.

[Philip P]

I did an Open Water years ago, in Cairns, and haven't been since. It was so good. I really should do a refresher course...