Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I haven't seen much on C-D about this sport, I'm a scuba diver, been diving since 1990 and received my certification in Guam.
I'd love to hear some of your diving experiences: I'll start by sharing one of my favorites.
My daughter and I went early morning diving with a friend while living in Guam. We were diving in secluded area of Apra Harbor and the sun was just rising, I rolled over to look at the surface and saw two Manta rays gliding overhead, all you could see were the silhouettes it was an awesome sight, I tapped on my daughters tank and pointed up, we just floated on our backs admiring these creatures as they glided out of sight.
I had the fortunate luck of beinging employed by a company that allowed me to travel to various parts of the Pacific Rim area and along with that I have had a number of wonderful dive experiences from Guam, Palau and the FSM.
Had a bunch of really good dives a few weeks ago in hawaii. 80-100ft visibility on all the dives. Had one dive where I saw somewhere around 20 green sea turtles while diving some lava tubes/caves. Was amazing. Want to go back there in the winter sometime when the humpback whales come there to deliver their calves. You can hear their calls underwater which I'd really like to experience.
I've never dove in Hawaii, I've heard both pro's and con's about it. I've dove the Prince William Sound in the Gulf of Alaska, that was a dry suit dive and I still froze my butt off.
Palau was an awesome dive, I dove the area called the Blue Corner, it's a vertical reef dive, bottom is about 4000 ft below you. I dove this area about a half dozen times and each time was different, the marine life is amazing. Then there is the German Channel which is a drift dive, you enter the channel at one end and the current take you to the other end, it also a nice dive for various marine life.
Hey TerryJ, another person who has been diving on Guam. I lived there for a short time in 1988. If you didn't get to Truk, you missed out on the top wreck diving in the world. I'm planning to go back in 2013. I just recently took up diving again after about a 10-year hiatus. I'm going to Cozumel in July.
I learned to dive when we lived in California. Our instructor was a former Navy seal and a real prick about safety issues. He carried things to an absurd extreme (I anted to puch him when he shoved me into the sand after I fel while walking up the beach and then stood back up, His rule was if you fall, you have to crawl until you hit the dry sand. Of course had I tried to punch a Navy Seal, I probably would have regretted the result).
Anyway we had our final class out at Catalina island. They teach learn to dive in one day classes there. It was a blustery day and the surf was high. We were entering the water along a rocky shoreline. Our class knew exactly what to do and entered the water with no problems at all. The three "dive in a day" classes did not get one person into the water. Every one who tried got hurt, some badly, and the rest just gave up and left. One of the "dive in a day" instructors asked our guy why he was teaching such advanced divers. Our instructor proudly said "This is a beginner class" He bought us all a drink after the dive. I was less inclined to punch him after that and even took some more classes from him. We had to learn to use the dive tables and calculate dive times by hand even though we all had dive computers. We were not allowed to dive if we did not have a knife (which I once had to use when I got tangled in some kelp). Everything was about safety and everything was redundant. If you surfaced without your buddy, you were out. Land or water, if you ever did not know exactly where your buddy was, you would get lectured and possibly sit out a dive (or you would have to buy drinks for the whole class after the dive). Safety came before enjoyment. We may have taken much longer to reach each level of diving, but we sure learned safety. People from his class are much sought after as dive buddies.
Another thing that was neat from Catalina was that if you take a zip lock bag of toast with you and open the back and break up the toast underwater, you will absollutely be swarmed with large and very colorful fish (Mostly bright orange Gerabaldis, but all kinds of other colors and sizes too). They do nip your fingers, but it does not hurt much (unless a sea bass nips you - ouch!
In one of his classes, they go to Lake Elsinore and dive on wrecked cars. They put plastic bags in a car and inflate the bags to float the car. They gather the fish that come steaming out of the car and have a barbecue after deflating the bags and letting the car sink back down. There is also a wreck entry class. I wish that I had taken both of those classes, but I never had time.
I did take a deep diving class where we used mixed gasses, but I did not enjoy that much. You could not stay down deep very long. It was really cold and there was little to see.
Hey TerryJ, another person who has been diving on Guam. I lived there for a short time in 1988. If you didn't get to Truk, you missed out on the top wreck diving in the world. I'm planning to go back in 2013. I just recently took up diving again after about a 10-year hiatus. I'm going to Cozumel in July.
Yes, I did get the chance to dive Chuuk Lagoon, what a dive, very humbling dive for you know that thousands of people lost their lives in this lagoon. Did you get the chance to dive the Takai Maru and the Cormoran? Out toward Gun Beach off the reef there were a number of Zero's in about 100' of water, they were interesting.
I lived in Palau for about 2 years and spent most of my free time diving, the waters are pristine, and diving Jellyfish lake is an experience in itself.
Back in the Eighties when hubby and I were young and adventurous, I talked him into signing up for scuba diving lessons. We were living in Bellingham, Washington at the time and took our required training in an Olympic-sized swimming pool under the vigilant eye of a certified dive instructor with a great reputation but who came across as pretty arrogant and a know-it-all.
When we were instructed to "buddy-breathe" with a single respirator the length of the pool and back as a final prerequisite for graduating to actual open-water exercises, it brought to mind why we had a significant drop-out rate after the first scuba lesson. Our instructor said, "Mind over matter doesn't work for many people when you put your face in the water and instruct your brain to take a breath."
Nevertheless, hubby and I fumbled our way down the pool and back without surfacing for air, and he said later buddy-breathing gave him hope that we could actually compromise on other things in our marriage, ha, ha, funny guy.
The instructor fitted us in dry suits for our first open-water dive off the coast of British Columbia in the famous kelp forests there. (I forget the exact location.) We checked all our equipment over and waded out into the bone-chilling wavelets of the bay, submerging to swim out to a buoy about 100 yards distant and then to dive 40 feet or so down to the bottom and sit and wait for the instructor.
It was absolutely awesome! Watching the fish swim by and looking at the hypnotic rhythms of the kelp strands made you feel you were in a different world on a faraway planet. Hubby and I exchanged all the right hand signals for indicating everything was A-OK and tried to see through the murky water for our fellow classmates and the instructor.
That's the last thing I remember.
Turns out the instructor got stuck with helping another student adjust a faulty regulator -- and my drysuit had a tear under one arm that was leaking icy-cold seawater inside to soak my thin Lycra skin. I vaguely remember shivering but figuring that was normal, and then I woke up in an ambulance with an EMT asking me what my name was.
My body temp had dropped to 92 degrees by the time hubby was able to find the instructor and get help dragging me out of the water when I fell unconscious and let go of my mouthpiece. I was hospitalized for two days until things got back to normal.
The dive shop and instructor, both of whom went out of business shortly after this incident, took responsibility but I told them no harm, no foul because I truly did enjoy the brief dive excursion I had before I got hypothermia.
I never went back on another dive but I did avail myself of many opportunities to snorkel on vacation trips to Hawaii and the Caribbean -- where the water was considerably warmer.
The moral of my story is to go for it if you've never tried it, but be careful with the dive shop you choose for training and the equipment they provide.
My body temp had dropped to 92 degrees by the time hubby was able to find the instructor and get help dragging me out of the water when I fell unconscious and let go of my mouthpiece. I was hospitalized for two days until things got back to normal.
The dive shop and instructor, both of whom went out of business shortly after this incident, took responsibility but I told them no harm, no foul because I truly did enjoy the brief dive excursion I had before I got hypothermia.
But you did get hurt. They are reasonable for a set period of time after instruction, I think a year or three. Did they pay the hospital bill? The instructor probably lost his teaching card over the injury.
I got my C card in 1989. A lot of beach dives in Laguna. Took the cattle boat and did some beach dives off the casino in Catalina.
We have sailed to Santa Cruz island and dove for scallops.
I have cave dived in Tuolumne county.
I have dove in Monerey bay with the otters. Dove in Mendocino at Fort Bragg for abalone.
We have went shark diving off Catalina. Drag chum for a few miles then drop a line and play with the sharks. I will look for some pics I took.
As much as I like having a dive buddy I have dove without. Too often there is no one available to dive with.
[quote=ferretkona;21577807]Did they pay the hospital bill? The instructor probably lost his teaching card over the injury.[quote]
Yes, they paid all hospital expenses and refunded the full costs of the course for both of us. I might have reacted differently to their implied and actual negligence if it had happened later in my life, but I was still at the age where I considered myself bulletproof and immortal and that sh*t happened, no big deal.
Great shark picture. I tried to talk hubby into a shark-diving vacation a few years later ("We'll be in a cage and it will be PERFECTLY safe!"), but he just rolled his eyes and hummed the theme from Jaws.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
