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Location
Titusville FL
# of dives
0 - 24
Greetings from Titusville, Fl. I was certified many years ago at 14 years old, the same age as my son is now. I haven’t logged a dive in 10 years, but just dropped my serviceable vintage gear at the LDS. My son seems interesting in getting certified when school schedule allows. My wife is certified, but has few dives logged. Any advice for jumping back in and getting some dives logged? Refreshers are covered, just looking for advice to make it “stick”. It’s getting harder and harder to get out the door for any purpose.

I’ve updated the regulators with computers, and enjoying being a gear nerd from the couch. What gear helps to get diving vs renting? I only have enough regulators to go around. My wife would need a BC, and we both need tanks.

Looking for adventure.
 
Welcome back! You're in a great location, not that far from some great diving off Palm Beach and Jupiter.

You can rent tanks where you're going, I've dived 20 years without owning one. Yes get and bring your own BC, and neoprene suits. Get your own weight belts, though it's easy to rent them too. And your own regs.
 
Welcome! Finding something you're passionate about takes kissing some frogs. Maybe you want to see all the blennies. Maybe you want to get good enough to photograph all the nudibranchs. Maybe you want to do more scientific diving with Reef Check. Try various dives with various purposes and see if any are up your alley!
 
Your son's age 14, which a little quick Googling indicates some might set a depth limit of 60 feet for. From ScubaDiverLife.com's article:

"However, once certified, the rules of diving are different depending on the student’s age. Until age 15, all divers are referred to as “junior,” no matter how many certifications or dives they achieve prior to their 15th birthday. Junior Open Water divers age 10-11 can only dive with a parent, guardian, or PADI professional and to a maximum depth of 40 feet (12 m). Junior Open Water Divers age 12-14 years old can dive with a certified adult other than a parent, guardian, or PADI professional, and they may dive to 60 feet (18 m)."

I'm not weighing in on whether you 'should' obey that recommendation/guideline or not. I'm saying before booking dives with a dive op., ask and see whether it's going to be an issue.

The Florida Keys have good diving that's fairly shallow and could work well for you. Keeping in that depth range wouldn't be a problem shore diving in Bonaire, either.

It should be a moot point soon - from a PADI article Scuba Diving Lessons For Kids: "
Junior Diver Certification “Upgrades”
After the age of 15, depth and buddy restrictions default to those of a regular PADI Open Water Diver. Divers who were initially certified as a junior diver and wish to receive a new card that simply says “Open Water Diver” can order a replacement from their PADI Dive Center or PADI’s website. The new card will automatically be printed without the word “Junior” based on the diver’s age when the card is ordered. There is no special action that needs to be taken during the order process to receive a card to get a card without the word Junior on it."

On another page, they note the Junior AOW depth limit for the deep dive: "Advanced Open Water Depth The Advanced Open Water Diver course includes one deep dive. How deep? The answer depends on your age, local regulations and dive site depths.

  • The maximum depth for divers 15 or older is 30 metres/100 feet
  • For divers 12-15 years old, the maximum depth is 21 metres/70 feet
"

In fact, to make sure you 'qualify' for (i.e.: are allowed to go on) deeper dives at some operators, you'll probably want the whole family AOW certified at some point.

What gear helps to get diving vs renting?

Dive computers, so you're familiar with the interface - I think you said you've already got those. Masks, because everyone's face is unique, and a leaky mask is aggravation. Boots and fins, especially if you have atypical size feet (I wear a size 15 and use Deep6 Eddy 2XL fins). Anyone who needs a wetsuit may like having their own that fits (plus, no matter how well they're cleaned, be mindful that peeing in wet suits is a fact of life - you may not care but your wife might). The buoyant effect of water (and I would imagine horizontal trim) moves more blood into your torso and chest, triggering a diuretic effect (i.e.: makes you pee). You don't need a weight belt if you rely on a weight-integrated BCD.

Don't buy tanks till you know how much local diving you will do, whether you need a larger capacity tank, etc...

Before you buy BCDs for everyone, do some reading on back plate/wing setups. I'm not saying they're better and you should get one, just that I'd like you to know about the option. Lots of people like the common jacket BCDs.

Oh, get everyone an SMB and a finger spool to tie it to. For ocean diving, it's a good habit to always have an inflatable marker on you. Little diver heads poking out of the water are hard to see.
 
Welcome back. I've been diving since '05 and other than computers becoming almost 100% standard vs. tables, and e-learning on courses, I haven't found much change in diving, or at least in my diving.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm going through the manual on our Suunto Cobras. I was already familiar with them from some rentals 10 years ago, and happy to hear they were still current-ish. I use the ScubaPro Knighthawk, which has a bit of a backplate and wing structure. I can't stand normal vests.

The use of SMBs is the only real new kit I'm seeing. I'll pick some up.
 
Welcome to ScubaBoard and back into the diving world! Good luck!
 
I was certified many years ago at 14 years old, the same age as my son is now. I haven’t logged a dive in 10 years, but just dropped my serviceable vintage gear at the LDS. My son seems interesting in getting certified when school schedule allows. My wife is certified, but has few dives logged. Any advice for jumping back in and getting some dives logged? Refreshers are covered, just looking for advice to make it “stick”. . .

What gear helps to get diving vs renting?

Looking for adventure.

My wife and I were certified eons ago too. OP's story is familiar. First ever family dive trip to Key Largo last month. Teenage son got OW certified; wife and I got back in the water after 9 year hiatus. Here are some tips we learned:

- 1 hour refresher in a pool is nice, but it isn't like diving in the ocean - not even close. My wife has about 50 dives. But hot weather + choppy seas + seasickness + diesel fumes + equalization difficulty = full blown panic attack. She literally spit her reg and had to abort the dive. It's the Swiss cheese model of accidents. Luckily the dive op's refresher course included a 2 tank boat dive with an instructor who rescued her, so an accident was avoided. But it did lead to a number of cancelled dives. Highly recommend hiring a DM for at least the first dive.

- The same boat ride was son's first OW ocean dives. 2nd dive was aborted due to seasickness. I'm pretty sure son's first dive experience is going to color his enthusiasm for future dive trips. At least 3 other divers chummed the ocean that trip. Luckily I don't get seasick, but guess who had to disassemble and pack away the green faced family's dive gear on a rolling deck? Bonine is your friend; use early, use often.

- Buy safety gear that is difficult to rent but will stack the odds on returning home safe and sound:

DSMB + spool
Emergency whistle
Line cutter
Small backup dive light
Jellyfish/fire coral skin protection e.g. rash guard + leggings, gloves
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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