huskychemist
Contributor
Well, I guess I'll chime in. I'm still a newbie. (Certified in September, 56 dives to date.) Luckily, I had a good dive buddy and a good dive shop to learn about things before I purchased them. So that brings me to something I'm not sure I read. (Sorry, if somebody already got this in...)
1. Find yourself a good dive shop. There are many different opinions about whether to buy online, or local, or both, etc. But a local dive shop can help you with service, air fills, etc. If you find one you like and are loyal, you can work with them on prices. I bought two steel HP 119s at my local shop for about the same price as they were online. And I didn't have to pay for shipping. A good LDS can offer you advice on dive spots, conditions, hidden gems, finding dive buddies, etc.
2. Find a good set of dive buddies. I have one very reliable dive buddy that covers about 90% of my dives. We share similar dive objectives, and have good communication and expecatations. But when he's not available and I want to get wet, (yes, I'm a wetsuit diver and I love it) it's nice to have other people to dive with. You can find them on here. They're all friendly and willing to help us newbies out.
3. I love ScubaBoard. But I've also found some resources that are more local that are great. One is Northwest Diver. Another is PNWScuba. These and other resources are linked from my scuba page that's in my signature. I list resources that might come in handy for a newbie. (They're all resources I've used myself...)
4. Somebody else recommended taking a Marine Critter ID class. I can't second that strongly enough. My dives get more enjoyable as I spot new critters. A few weeks ago on a night dive at Redondo (a place I'd been to about 30 times) my buddy and I spotted four new critters we'd never seen before. It's one of the things that makes diving so cool.
5. It's been said already...but dive, dive, dive. Your skills will improve, you'll enjoy yourself more, and it's the only way I've found to keep the addiction from driving me to insanity.
6. Lastly, dive within your limits. As a newbie, I had one dive that took me way outside of my comfort level. It wasn't a fun dive, and could have been very bad. It ended up being a real learning experience. And it reiterated my belief in continuing my diving education. Since then, I took Stress and Rescue (a must, IMO!), and am in the middle of AOW. Somebody suggested Dive Training as a good dive mag. Their "motto" is, "A good diver is always learning."
You're well on your way to lots of fun diving. Enjoy!
Lowell
1. Find yourself a good dive shop. There are many different opinions about whether to buy online, or local, or both, etc. But a local dive shop can help you with service, air fills, etc. If you find one you like and are loyal, you can work with them on prices. I bought two steel HP 119s at my local shop for about the same price as they were online. And I didn't have to pay for shipping. A good LDS can offer you advice on dive spots, conditions, hidden gems, finding dive buddies, etc.
2. Find a good set of dive buddies. I have one very reliable dive buddy that covers about 90% of my dives. We share similar dive objectives, and have good communication and expecatations. But when he's not available and I want to get wet, (yes, I'm a wetsuit diver and I love it) it's nice to have other people to dive with. You can find them on here. They're all friendly and willing to help us newbies out.
3. I love ScubaBoard. But I've also found some resources that are more local that are great. One is Northwest Diver. Another is PNWScuba. These and other resources are linked from my scuba page that's in my signature. I list resources that might come in handy for a newbie. (They're all resources I've used myself...)
4. Somebody else recommended taking a Marine Critter ID class. I can't second that strongly enough. My dives get more enjoyable as I spot new critters. A few weeks ago on a night dive at Redondo (a place I'd been to about 30 times) my buddy and I spotted four new critters we'd never seen before. It's one of the things that makes diving so cool.
5. It's been said already...but dive, dive, dive. Your skills will improve, you'll enjoy yourself more, and it's the only way I've found to keep the addiction from driving me to insanity.
6. Lastly, dive within your limits. As a newbie, I had one dive that took me way outside of my comfort level. It wasn't a fun dive, and could have been very bad. It ended up being a real learning experience. And it reiterated my belief in continuing my diving education. Since then, I took Stress and Rescue (a must, IMO!), and am in the middle of AOW. Somebody suggested Dive Training as a good dive mag. Their "motto" is, "A good diver is always learning."
You're well on your way to lots of fun diving. Enjoy!
Lowell
