Finally have my own gear!!!

[Scuba Scott]

Wow, new gear and replies from 2 SCUBA legends. Lucky lady.

Of course you know that having your own gear means that you are now required to dive locally and not just on vacation so you can justify the additional cost over renting. Of course diving locally means you will need more gear and you should probably pick up some backup gear too. If you get your own tanks you can be ready to go on a whim...

For travel, I check my BC (wing) with the inflator hose disconnected and the gasket loosely zip tied to it. Usually wrap the inflator in a towel so the plastic connector doesn't get crushed. I always take the plate off the wing and put soft stuff between them but this won't be something you have to worry about yet.

 

[KristenK]

@Sam Miller III

What an incredible story...thank you so much for sharing it. It's humbling to hear the start of this awesome sport. You pioneers were ingenious, courageous, and tenacious. I'm inspired to read more of the history of scuba. Thank you!

 

[Sam Miller III]

@KristenK

American recreational diving began in the SoCal area and slowly spread to the rest of the US via retailers such as Sears, Wards and Pennys who marketed diving equipment in their summer catalogs from 1956 to 1974 along with various magazine articles and especially the California based Skin Diver Magazine (SDM) which was established in December 1951

Dive shops began opening in the hinterlands and national and regional instruction programs emerged from the original LA Co UW instruction program of 1954. Now every berg in US seems to have sprouted a dive operation headed by some sort of a expert who reads upside down and backwards faster than the student can read right side up and forward

That is in a nut shell the history of US recreational diving

For even more in-depth knowledge of diving history may I suggest that you research

Google "Bottom Scratcher spear fishing club." Organized in 1930s in San Diego California, they were the first diving club in the US and the world .Lots of historic pictures.

On this board go to the thread Diving History "Tales from the Abyss" you can find a CV of some of my diving experiences and an article that appeared in this quarters NAUI Sources magazine about me and son Sam IV
A note of explanation; Sam IV and I are both very low number PADI instructors as well as SSI Pro 5000 an honorary award for divers who have made 5000 or more dives in a lifetime- Only the third father & son have been so honored through out the world. Only @Trace Malinowski on this board has been also honored.

There are also numerous threads /posts by me on the history of diving spread through out this board, Just type my name

FYI I will PM you Sam IV CV..You might also find it interesting- a son's journey from tadpole to Hyperbaric Doctor .

I wish you well and good luck and good diving now and the future

Now off to the beach for a walk with little black dog Lucky

Sam Miller, 111


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