Hello from PA

[DizzyWizard]

Hey from PA. I'm Dante,
I'm new to scuba diving and I plan on getting into it with the hopes of going towards cave diving. My main plan is to obviously go through training, OW, AOW, Deep Diving, PBC, enriched air, and technical diving classes and getting dives under my belt. This is more of a 4ish year plan of mine (Mainly getting more dives under my belt and trying to improve skills), but any tips on what gear to get, things to practice early on, or general tips you might have that might help early on would be appreciated.

 

[-JD-]

Welcome Dante!

Best bet for acquiring info is to read a lot here so you have a better chance of knowing what you don't know so you can form your questions to get relevant answer. But, they have probably already been asked here already, with a reasonable probability of being currently in discussion.

Where in PA?

 

[Jersey]

Get out, dive and practice! Gear is personal, so try a few things out before you buy. BCD or BPW style, large frame or small volume mask. Black, clear or any color in between. I recently tried a pink mask and hated it. Do some research on regs - tropical or cold water (I like my very dry Mares Abyss).

And where in A @DizzyWizard? Delco and AV, NJ here.

 

[Andy in Gap]

Finding a buddy with a few hundred dives will speed up your timeline immensely. You’re on the right track, dive a lot and listen to people who are doing the dives you want to do.

 

[DizzyWizard]

Welcome Dante!

Best bet for acquiring info is to read a lot here so you have a better chance of knowing what you don't know so you can form your questions to get relevant answer. But, they have probably already been asked here already, with a reasonable probability of being currently in discussion.

Where in PA?

New Castle PA. I'm waiting on a diveshop near me to give me dates for their classes

 

[DizzyWizard]

Get out, dive and practice! Gear is personal, so try a few things out before you buy. BCD or BPW style, large frame or small volume mask. Black, clear or any color in between. I recently tried a pink mask and hated it. Do some research on regs - tropical or cold water (I like my very dry Mares Abyss).

And where in A @DizzyWizard? Delco and AV, NJ here.

I live in New Castle PA

 

[-JD-]

New Castle PA. I'm waiting on a diveshop near me to give me dates for their classes

Well, likely NOT going to be doing a lot of diving together given our locations ...

Probably the best suggestion I can make at this point would be to tune up your swimming and get comfortable in mask, fins, and snorkel if you have access to a pool which allows it.
Even breathing by snorkel at the surface (standing/crouching depth) with a flooded mask to get comfortable and ready for the mask skills and mask-off swim. If you are not used to it it can be unnerving for some folks (like me) until you get acclimated.

 

[justadyver]

are you talking to B&B scuba in hillsville pa?

 

[DizzyWizard]

are you talking to B&B scuba in hillsville pa?

No I texted Ted's Scuba. My next thought was Mars Scuba.

 

[DizzyWizard]

Well, likely NOT going to be doing a lot of diving together given our locations ...

Probably the best suggestion I can make at this point would be to tune up your swimming and get comfortable in mask, fins, and snorkel if you have access to a pool which allows it.
Even breathing by snorkel at the surface (standing/crouching depth) with a flooded mask to get comfortable and ready for the mask skills and mask-off swim. If you are not used to it it can be unnerving for some folks (like me) until you get acclimated.

I use to be stationed in Hawaii for the Marine Corps, and I've done a lot of ocean swimming and snorkeling. I just didn't think about trying to get scuba classes