Hello Everyone

[Malibulucy]

hello everyone, new to the board today. My name is Lucy, I am an avid open water swimmer, past snorkeller (even did some BSAC certificates!) and am now looking to try my hand at scuba diving. I am currently a nomad, travelling around the world, next stop is the Philippines hence the reason for the scuba interest.
I have tried it before but didn't get very far so hoping this time will be better.

Nice to virtually meet you all and looking forward to sharing in your wealth of knowledge

Lucy

 

[The Chairman]

Welcome to the largest community of divers. Choose your instructor well and you'll do just fine with Scuba.

 

[iamrushman]

howdy and welcome from south Florida USA......enjoy your travels.

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

Hi Lucy and welcome! The fact that you are a nomad will lead you to so many underwater adventures! Good luck and be safe.

 

[Phil_C]

Hi Lucy, welcome to Scubaboard, as Netdoc says choose the instructor well and you won't go wrong, a good instructor matters more than what agency he or she is with.

I did have to smile though - you have set your status as solo diver - I appreciate you are a Nomad but you will learn soon enough that solo diver means something different in the scuba community.

I would strongly suggest you are not a solo diver until you get a lot more experience :nono:.

(a solo diver is someone who goes diving alone, without a buddy, and therefore has to be very well trained, equipped to be entirely self sufficient, and able to resolve any problem they have underwater on their own).

You will soon realise the norm is to dive with a buddy, and you both keep an eye out for each other, and enjoy the experience together.

Most dive centres will sort you out with a dive buddy, and many won't let you dive without one, and from experience it is a great way to meet people, especially if you are doing the nomad thing.

I travel a lot with work, always alone, and in most places I go my circle of friends is built from those people I dive with, have dived with, and have buddied with.

Have fun, enjoy life, and dive safe - best - Phil.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

Welcome to SB! Like said above, take your time and find the right instructor for you.

 

[Malibulucy]

Hi guys
Thanks so much for the insight there Phil, it really should have made sense but when you are all by yourself in the world, you tend to not look for the logical meaning of solo and instead apply it to everything you do. As you rightly assumed I am not a solo diver in any shape or form, maybe will go change that.
You are all very encouraging and one of the reasons why I would love to get into the scuba world, everyone was always so friendly when I was a snorkeller crashing their trips I can only imagine you are the same when your are buddies several meters deep.

Hopefully will find a good instructor and be well on my way to scuba life

X

 

[Phil_C]

When you know where you are in your nomadic travels when you settle and are ready to train actually SB is a good place to find out who is near you and worth contacting - and of course if you read SB a lot you will actually pick up a fair idea of what you should be looking for in a "good instructor" - try the search facility - I think there was a thread called something like "how to choose a good scuba instructor" or "what to look for in a good scuba instructor"

Have fun - Phil

 

[Malibulucy]

Thanks Phil, I am in the Philippines for the next month or so so thought this would be a good spot to do it however I'm a little concerned I'm a)making a knee jerk decision (one of these 10 things you must do when in the Philippines jobs) and b) worried/ concerned that it will be no different to last time and I just won't like it. I do not want to buy into one of these tourist packages that basically churns out certificates but at the same time I don't want to miss out on something that has the potential to be great (I love snorkelling but I wonder if this is because it feels more natural, just some fins and a mask and you are off, I wonder if scuba will feel the same for me or not)
I think I basically have the fear a little and I need someone to take that away and show me what it can be like so I can deicide if I still don't like it or if I actually do.

I am moving on to Australia next where I will be for about a year, so I suppose the other option is to wait until I get there and can take the time to gradually build up, though again I realise this will be no different than here in trying to find somewhere to learn.

I saw the thread about how to pick an instructor and it had some great points in it. I will search more thoroughly for local centres over the next couple of days to get a feel for what is out there.

Thank you so much for your Input

 

[Phil_C]

When you know where you will be have a look in the regional forums if you haven't found them yet. Also a good way to hook up with buddies, as well as centres.

Obviously without knowing what happened last time it is hard to say whether scuba is for you or not, but it is a great sport, and if you like snorkelling my best guess is you will love scuba done right, just don't get bamboozled with all the macho s**t that sometimes goes along with it.

Personally I love long shallow dives looking at sea life, especially night dives when the critters often come out to play, yet at one club I belong to all they want to do is deep wrecks and think me odd!

I belong because they are near me, offer free gas fills with membership, and have other benefits.

Don't rush into it and I'm sure you will enjoy it, on Sunday I took a guy in for a scuba experience - mid thirties, very fit, very macho (he is a serving army commando) yet has a phobia about water!

It took an hour but by the end he was laying on the bottom, alright only in about 3 foot of water but he was looking around grinning. He then crawled (he cannot swim) around for about ten minutes and came up so pumped up it was unbelievable.

Only thing is my credibility is now shot to hell - he never let go of my hand once, and the two of us walking out of the shallow water area of the beach holding hands did raise quite a few eyebrows

So my point is if you want to dive, I'm sure there is no problem or fear you could not get over with patience, a little time and the right encouragement. If you have any fears or worries sit down with a beer or wine, relax, think about what it worrying you, then write it down. Read it back to yourself, if it still seems like a problem then keep the bit of paper and take it with you an tell the instructor. If they are any good they will have seen it before and help you over it.

And of course you can post here and someone will com along and help I'm sure.

P.