FallenMatt
Guest
Hi there fellow florida divers 
I am a fresh diver (6 months of diving.. 23 dives right now, also have advanced ow cert) but i was trying to figure out "what's next"... what courses to take, what certs to get...
Unfortunatelly i am one of those types who love the dark places, wierd junk on the bottom of the ocean and the tempation for going where few went before.. and it ain't good thing for OW diver (unless it is an OW diver with a death wish). I would love to get cave certified and start taking advantage of having the cave country just 2 hour drive away.
My question is... for central florida area... what's the best path to take ? how much i would need to plunk down on the gear and certs ? where to go to get certified?
I am going to get Nitrox cert in the next 2 weeks btw.
I am swithing my mares BC for backplate and wings this weekend but obviously i can't humanly afford buying the whole two tank rig+lights just right now, especially that i am just starting my adventrue with diving and who knows how long this thing will last ?
I went today to LDS with my buddy to ask some questions. I read up on the agencies/certs before hand and kinda decided that the ultimate goal would be cave diver cert from NSS.
And this is where it gets a "tad" complicated. As i said i can't afford buying the full rig just right now and i was hoping to gradually acquire the eqipment in the mean time going by on rental stuff. I assume that the NSS cavern cert is the one that would let me figure out if i like the cave stuff enough to get the full gear and get cave certified (since sticking to almost standard rec setup is enough for this cert)
The shop i talked to does this the DIR way.. or semi dir way - all gear has to be owned by the students, should take DIR-F class before hand but the certs itself can be whatever i choose (ie GUE or NSS or whatever) the required gear is also strictly defined (ie the DIR way).
I appreciate this way of teaching because it just means that when i am done with the classes I will really know my stuff about cave diving.. but on the flip side it costs serious $$$.... i can afford it (full time job, no gf/wife at this time, nobody to make me feel responsible about finances :mean: but is this the only way ? )
ok, just cut to the chase, this is what i would have to take: (the dirf-f and rescue are not required for NSS cert as far as my reading of the web stuff goes but the LDS wont' teach it without first takign them and i see the point of taking them before getting into overhead environment diving)
Scuba Rescue
DIR-F
Cavern
Intro to cave
Cave
cost - over $3000
equipment (my guesstimate assuming some ebay hunting, using some non-essential rental gear and sticking to wetsuit for a while) - over $3000
the LDS basically said "expect to spend $10k on the whole thing" - certs+gear
If i spread it all over a year or (better) two i guess i could go for it... (am i crazy or something???)
This is in Orlando, are there better deals up north from here ? somewhere where going cave diving doesn't mean 3 hours in a car ?
am i completly insane wanting to get into cave diving having only 23 dives (springs, ocean, gulf, 61-83 degrees water, 5ft-100ft visibility, up to 110 depth) done ?
I am doing on average about 2 dives every two weeks... so i should hit 50 in about 2 and a half months...
ehh... this is a long post and i guess it is like asking for meaning of life.. (which is 42 btw).
And i have this wierd feeling that somehow the LDS guy i was asking today all those questions will be reading this post (and i realize i was looking like a complete moron just walking in and asking about $3k certifications like they would be standard $150 advanced certs
).. but i guess that's life .. live and learn...
I am a fresh diver (6 months of diving.. 23 dives right now, also have advanced ow cert) but i was trying to figure out "what's next"... what courses to take, what certs to get...
Unfortunatelly i am one of those types who love the dark places, wierd junk on the bottom of the ocean and the tempation for going where few went before.. and it ain't good thing for OW diver (unless it is an OW diver with a death wish). I would love to get cave certified and start taking advantage of having the cave country just 2 hour drive away.
My question is... for central florida area... what's the best path to take ? how much i would need to plunk down on the gear and certs ? where to go to get certified?
I am going to get Nitrox cert in the next 2 weeks btw.
I am swithing my mares BC for backplate and wings this weekend but obviously i can't humanly afford buying the whole two tank rig+lights just right now, especially that i am just starting my adventrue with diving and who knows how long this thing will last ?
I went today to LDS with my buddy to ask some questions. I read up on the agencies/certs before hand and kinda decided that the ultimate goal would be cave diver cert from NSS.
And this is where it gets a "tad" complicated. As i said i can't afford buying the full rig just right now and i was hoping to gradually acquire the eqipment in the mean time going by on rental stuff. I assume that the NSS cavern cert is the one that would let me figure out if i like the cave stuff enough to get the full gear and get cave certified (since sticking to almost standard rec setup is enough for this cert)
The shop i talked to does this the DIR way.. or semi dir way - all gear has to be owned by the students, should take DIR-F class before hand but the certs itself can be whatever i choose (ie GUE or NSS or whatever) the required gear is also strictly defined (ie the DIR way).
I appreciate this way of teaching because it just means that when i am done with the classes I will really know my stuff about cave diving.. but on the flip side it costs serious $$$.... i can afford it (full time job, no gf/wife at this time, nobody to make me feel responsible about finances :mean: but is this the only way ? )
ok, just cut to the chase, this is what i would have to take: (the dirf-f and rescue are not required for NSS cert as far as my reading of the web stuff goes but the LDS wont' teach it without first takign them and i see the point of taking them before getting into overhead environment diving)
Scuba Rescue
DIR-F
Cavern
Intro to cave
Cave
cost - over $3000
equipment (my guesstimate assuming some ebay hunting, using some non-essential rental gear and sticking to wetsuit for a while) - over $3000
the LDS basically said "expect to spend $10k on the whole thing" - certs+gear
If i spread it all over a year or (better) two i guess i could go for it... (am i crazy or something???)
This is in Orlando, are there better deals up north from here ? somewhere where going cave diving doesn't mean 3 hours in a car ?
am i completly insane wanting to get into cave diving having only 23 dives (springs, ocean, gulf, 61-83 degrees water, 5ft-100ft visibility, up to 110 depth) done ?
I am doing on average about 2 dives every two weeks... so i should hit 50 in about 2 and a half months...
ehh... this is a long post and i guess it is like asking for meaning of life.. (which is 42 btw).
And i have this wierd feeling that somehow the LDS guy i was asking today all those questions will be reading this post (and i realize i was looking like a complete moron just walking in and asking about $3k certifications like they would be standard $150 advanced certs
).. but i guess that's life .. live and learn...
