Greetings from a New - Again Diver

[Johnny Mojo]

Greetings all from a New....Again diver. We scheduled a family cruise for this November some months ago and my brother and I decided that we would dive on our Grand Turk stop. My 15 year old daughter expressed an interest in wanting to learn and long story short, she is now a SSI open water diver.

I was certified back in 1985, but boy have things changed! I was allowed to sit with her during all of her class room and pool work as her legal guardian and also did an evening refresher to display my ability to perform skills etc. My brother and I both accompanied her on her open water check out and logged 2 days worth of dives. This was more fun than I've had in a Loooonnnnggg time! On her final dive where she was allowed to plan and execute her dive with her class buddy, my brother and I shadowed them from a short distance. I am very proud of her and can't wait to dive together.

We have hooked up with Blue Water Divers in Grand Turk and St. Thomas Dive Club in St. Thomas for our trip and my daughter is beside herself with anticipation. Both organizations were extremely accomodating in relation to our level of experience and goals for the trip. Since her open water check out was in average visability water I am excited to see her reaction to the outstanding vis in the Carribean.......I may have created a monster!

In all seriousness though I hope that she does decide she loves diving, because it would be something that we can do together. I loved it a long time ago, but life got in the way. With the time and resources (and a new dive buddy!) I'm hoping to dive back in. The forums here are a great resource, so I thought we would join and say hello!

See you on the bottom!

J.

 

[scubamarketing]

Sounds like a great opportunity! I know my introduction to the sport helped get my dad back into it after many years and was a great bonding opportunity for us.

Also, as an instructor, THANK YOU for getting refreshed after all these years before going on your trip, you'd be amazed at how many people skip that step.

Have a great vacation!

 

[Johnny Mojo]

I just thought it would be the prudent thing to do In fact while my brother and I have been certified for roughly the same amount of time, he has logged many more dives than I have and he even did the refresher with me since he hasn't been in about 3 years. Neither of us had a problem, but when we got to the dive site, we were both a LOT more comfortable. Case in point:

Just had some dental work done and the oral surgeon (who dives) suggested that I use my hand to help "float" the regulator in my mouth to relieve any stress to my teeth which are a little loose from the proceedure. On out 3rd descent, everything was fine when I turned my head, but not my hand. A loose zip-tie on the mouth piece gave way and I ended up with a mouth piece in my mouth and a regulator in my hand :shocked2:. Because of the refresher, I had done air share and breathing off my safe second. I knew where my equipment was and simply switched to my second and let him know what was going on. We probably had not even reached 15' yet so we aborted the dive, fixed the mouth piece and were ready to go again. I like to think I would have handled it the same way had I not refreshed, but the skills were fresh in my mind which is the whole point of Re-"freshing" right. It was time well spent.

J.