Got certified, now what?

[Scuba Fluff's Girl]

Is Jason Voorhees still lurking around the bottom of Lake Pleasant with his machete? Seems like a dangerous place to dive.

Yeah I’ve been wondering myself about the dangers with a few incidents that have taken place...

 

[pauldw]

Yeah I’ve been wondering myself about the dangers with a few incidents that have taken place...

Jason already got someone?!

 

[Scuba Fluff's Girl]

Is Jason Voorhees still lurking around the bottom of Lake Pleasant with his machete? Seems like a dangerous place to dive.

And yes as I understand he is still down there. lol

 

[JohnnyC]

The first rule of **** that people have thrown in Lake Pleasant, is don't talk about the **** people have thrown in Lake Pleasant. There was a huge blow up a couple months ago over that stuff, rangers gonna take it all, people sneak diving to move it, someone trying to put a plane in there....

 

[TMHeimer]

And yes as I understand he is still down there. lol

You sure he's not in the Hudson? He did take Manhattan.

 

[Hoag]

Congratulations, Fluff on yours and your other half’s AOW certification.

I think you’re on track with the idea of getting more dives in at the local lake. If it’s too cold to dive in a wetsuit and a drysuit is out of reach (for whatever reason), look for a competitive pool with a deep end for competition diving. It’s not glamorous but it will fulfill its purpose of refining your procedures to confidently walk through the fundamental aspects of a dive from start to finish. That way, you fly to the Caymans confident and focused on enjoying your experience while learning new things in stride rather than getting stressed trying to stay caught up.

Regarding gear, I think @Divectionist gave some really, really good advice but @EberWolf followed up with great advice about restraint, also. You might consider prioritizing your gear purchases per the following - (1) Mask, booties and fins, (2) wetsuit, (3) computer, (4) BCD, (5) regulator set, (6) camera.

Each one of those equipment categories represents a doorway into a myriad of manufacturers and types of configurations (i.e, jacket style versus backplate and wing). One can easily suffer from analysis paralysis and get blown about by empassioned opinions here in the SB forums. You might consider looking at ScubaLab ( ScubaLab ) to help narrow down the choices. Well, at least it’s a start point to help you get educated on what the mainstream choices are thus allowing you to do further research at a shop and/or here on SB if you want something more specialized.

Regarding your computer, there is a new computer out that has an excellent price point and user-friendly size. You can find it here.....Deep 6 Excursion Dive Computer. I bought one for my wife based on its simplicity, the algorithm it uses (Bühlmann - proven since 1965), the modest size and the sustained presence of the owners of the company here on SB. They are bombproof guys and committed in heart and mind to diving.

SCUBA is not a cheap activity; I have purchased several varieties of the same bit of kit to dial in what I like. Accept that you may buy something thinking you’ve hit a bullseye only to dive with it about 10 times and realize you should have bought something else.

Be very selective about your future instructors. Spend a lot of time on this...it will be worth it. Don’t chase cards or pledge your allegiance to an agency. Find a skilled instructor who will take the time to TRAIN you rather than just give you an orientation to the skill.

Good luck with the journey. Have fun and let us know how you and your other half get along.

@Scuba Fluff's Girl although his name may be "Nothing Clever", he has given you some sage advice. There is an almost instinctual desire when new to "Get my own stuff." Restraint will be your friend in the long run. There is a lot to be said for getting a computer early, and while the consensus here on SB may be that Shearwater is the best computer, what is often overlooked is that it may not be the best for everybody. Other factors (such as cost) will come into play. @NothingClever has recommended the Deep6 Excursion. This may be an outstanding first computer. Deep 6 Gear is highly regarded and this new Dive Computer is targeting the recreational diver. The advantage of getting your own computer early is that you will be familiar with it and will not be looking for a specific piece of information or trying to figure out how to access a certain menu with a new rental computer on every trip. On the other hand, if you rent a new BCD when you travel, it will give you the opportunity to try different styles and to see which type you like the best. The learning curve on a rental BCD will be very shallow (virtually non-existent). They all work pretty much the same way, but you might find advantages with some that others may not offer. Remember, while we can offer advice based on our experience, that advice is based on what works for us, and it is not necessarily what will work for you. Take all of our advice with a grain of salt.

Some have recommended various courses. I would say that perhaps the first course you should take would be NITROX/Enriched Air. This will be a huge benefit if (when) you do a trip such as a Live Aboard because you will be able to do 4 or 5 dives a day with a reduced Nitrogen loading especially over several days. My next recommendation, as you might have guessed would be to go on a Live Aboard. Doing 20+ dives over a single week will build your confidence and your skills immeasurably without you even realizing it.

The last piece of advice that I will give now is to reiterate what others have said. Don't lose sight of the reason that you chose to learn to dive. Have fun and see cool things.

 

[pauldw]

The first rule of **** that people have thrown in Lake Pleasant, is don't talk about the **** people have thrown in Lake Pleasant. There was a huge blow up a couple months ago over that stuff, rangers gonna take it all, people sneak diving to move it, someone trying to put a plane in there....

I thought they didn’t hold with regulations down there in the land of Goldwater? You can come north just across the border to Sand Hollow, and there’ll be a plane down there to dive, among other things. And swimmer’s itch, unfortunately.

 

[Scuba Fluff's Girl]

It has already been mentioned but the next thing you should should both do before your trip is get Nitrox certified.
There are other posts with good advice but the Nitrox cert actually opens additional diving opportunities.
On your trip you may want to consider a deep certification if you can fit it in your schedule.

Thank you! We are looking into both of those for our trip. We may do Nitrox locally and deep diving there!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Thank you! We are looking into both of those for our trip. We may do Nitrox locally and deep diving there!

I may catch a lot of flack for this, but do consider Dr. Simon Mitchell's recommendation for gas density: Alert Diver | Performance Under Pressure

Basically if you follow Dr. Mitchell's recommendation, you limit diving air to just over 100 feet.

 

[Scuba Fluff's Girl]

@Scuba Fluff's Girl although his name may be "Nothing Clever", he has given you some sage advice. There is an almost instinctual desire when new to "Get my own stuff." Restraint will be your friend in the long run. There is a lot to be said for getting a computer early, and while the consensus here on SB may be that Shearwater is the best computer, what is often overlooked is that it may not be the best for everybody. Other factors (such as cost) will come into play. @NothingClever has recommended the Deep6 Excursion. This may be an outstanding first computer. Deep 6 Gear is highly regarded and this new Dive Computer is targeting the recreational diver. The advantage of getting your own computer early is that you will be familiar with it and will not be looking for a specific piece of information or trying to figure out how to access a certain menu with a new rental computer on every trip. On the other hand, if you rent a new BCD when you travel, it will give you the opportunity to try different styles and to see which type you like the best. The learning curve on a rental BCD will be very shallow (virtually non-existent). They all work pretty much the same way, but you might find advantages with some that others may not offer. Remember, while we can offer advice based on our experience, that advice is based on what works for us, and it is not necessarily what will work for you. Take all of our advice with a grain of salt.

Some have recommended various courses. I would say that perhaps the first course you should take would be NITROX/Enriched Air. This will be a huge benefit if (when) you do a trip such as a Live Aboard because you will be able to do 4 or 5 dives a day with a reduced Nitrogen loading especially over several days. My next recommendation, as you might have guessed would be to go on a Live Aboard. Doing 20+ dives over a single week will build your confidence and your skills immeasurably without you even realizing it.

The last piece of advice that I will give now is to reiterate what others have said. Don't lose sight of the reason that you chose to learn to dive. Have fun and see cool things.

Perfect! We are looking into a liveaboard so that will happen in the future. This thread confirmed for me that Nitrox is the next best step.

I’ve been reading and reading and reading about diving and gear etc... taking into account what I want to do with diving. Of course adventure is #1.

I personally think I have narrowed down my BCD to the XDeep Ghost (for travel) or the XDeep Zen because of its configuration to a double tank wing by changing the bladder.
Although the Zen is a bit heavier and the backplate is a bit thicker as well. I wonder will that be practical? Do I go for the single tank configuration or do I go for the BCD that has the option for a dual-tank configuration?

There is also maybe one/two retailers locally who sells xDeep. I’d really like to try on both options.

I could just as easily go with Scuba Pro know I’m getting a good product and call it a day, but I keep coming back to the XDeep BCD. Plus I like to customize-able color options.

I still can’t decide on a dive computer. I am starting to lean towards Shearwater Teric, but the cost is top-of-the-line. It’s a beautiful computer and there are so many great reviews about it. But I am curious — and I did not see many reviews hear — how the Scuba Pro Galileo HUD is performing? There aren’t a lot of reviews online in general but I have watched some YouTube videos with mostly very positive things but I would like to see more reviews on it.

So many things to consider.