Hello Scuba World!

[George Monnat Jr]

Hi ScubaBoard,

I first got certified PADI OW in Pearl Harbor 1992. Our submarine was scheduled to spend time in Guam, and one of my fellow submariner's previous life was as a cruise-ship PADI instructor. We questioned his sanity for the job change, but we had him certify us. I then dove in Guam until my rental car was violated and wallet stolen. After returning to Oahu, I dove around that island.

I met my wife in Honolulu in '93, got married in '94, and moved to Austin in '95. She wasn't certified and didn't want to deal with it until finishing her PhD (which took forever). We'd visit her family in Honolulu about once a year, but all I could get her to do was snorkel. I kept telling her how much better SCUBA was, but she ignored me. I didn't dive much until she got certified.

She finally did her PADI OW at our LDS in Austin in 2011. She loved it so much that she insisted we do 'all' the classes (AOW, Deep, Night, Nitrox, SAR, Wreck, Rescue, Dry Suit, Divemaster). We've both been active DMs for our LDS here in Austin for about 4 years now.

Because her mom is getting on in years, we've spent most of our vacation time and money visiting her in Honolulu. There's good diving there and the Big Island, which we've done a ton of, but we still haven't been to Cozumel or other Caribbean sites. We'll get there some day.

On Oahu, Shark's Cove to Three Tables is our summer favorite (can dive for about 1-2 hours on 1 cylinder) and Electric Beach to Makaha Caverns in the winter; Hanauma Bay is good all year. We absolutely love the Big Island Kona manta ray and black water dives.

We took a trip to Okinawa to meet her distant relatives and had great dives there. We've taken a quick trip to Ft. Lauderdale where a storm canceled all our boat and shore dives, but we dove in Epcot (surprisingly fun) and four really good dives at Blue Heron Bridge (BHB).

[me in Epcot]

[BHB]

My previous job was in Sacramento, and my wife flew out for a weekend to go diving in Monterey Bay. We had dry suits (absolute necessity for us) and saw otter, sea lions, guitarfish, and a nudibranch stalk and eat a tube anemone.

The Texas Game Wardens Recovery Dive Team needed help, so I stood up a recovery dive team for the Texas State Guard (TXSG) Texas Maritime Regiment (TMAR) Second Battalion and trained with the Texas Game Wardens for black water diving. That was really cool, even more so than driving their boats, giving me some great stories.

Of course we have hundreds of dives in Texas and off the Texas coast, mostly in Lake Travis.

If anyone's ever in Central Texas and wants to dive, I'm always happy to give advice or be a dive buddy. A 2-hour drift dive down the spring-fed Comal River is like inner tubing plus treasure hunting plus some tube chutes all times a 1000.

 

[Addicted2H2O]

Well I guess an official Welcome to SB is in order! I've actually looked into the game warden dive team, but the time I'd have to be away from home (30 weeks) for training kinda curbed that for me. I have done the Comal, though. Twice in a day actually. Was a bit different going through the tube chute in full dive gear without a tube. One of my fellow tubers thought she'd lost her bag so I dropped down where it spits everyone out and wow! It really pushed you around right there. The rest of the trip was mostly spent floating on my back on the surface and dropping down every now and then just to see what I could see. On the second dive, I did rescue an iPhone from the bottom at the last exit. I got Scuba Steve comments all day and this guy approached me as I was helping the rest of my crew out of the water with tubes, etc. and asked if I could try to find it. I'm honestly not sure how I did because the bottom was black and so was his phone case. But I managed. Fun times! Sounds like you've had quite the experiences in your time diving. I've only been in it for about 4 years so far, but it's quickly become a passion. I'm currently taking the Master Scuba Diver course under NASE as a requirement for DM later on. I'll likely be doing all the dives for it at Windy Point. I've never been there so I'm looking forward to diving a different locale. Would like to do the ECO class to dive Spring Lake, too. That'll come soon enough, though.

Again, officially....welcome! If I'm ever in the CenTex area and planing to dive, maybe I'll look you up!

 

[flyboy08]

Welcome. Impressive resume!

 

[George Monnat Jr]

Well I guess an official Welcome to SB is in order! I've actually looked into the game warden dive team, but the time I'd have to be away from home (30 weeks) for training kinda curbed that for me.

Are you TPWD? You could always join TMAR and support their dive team without actually being on it.

I have done the Comal, though. Twice in a day actually. Was a bit different going through the tube chute in full dive gear without a tube. One of my fellow tubers thought she'd lost her bag so I dropped down where it spits everyone out and wow! It really pushed you around right there. The rest of the trip was mostly spent floating on my back on the surface and dropping down every now and then just to see what I could see. On the second dive, I did rescue an iPhone from the bottom at the last exit. I got Scuba Steve comments all day and this guy approached me as I was helping the rest of my crew out of the water with tubes, etc. and asked if I could try to find it. I'm honestly not sure how I did because the bottom was black and so was his phone case. But I managed. Fun times!

Yea, it's so fun and excellent buoyancy practice in a dry suit. I've had an unopened beer dropped in front of me and lifted it back up to the tubers' shock and awe. We usually stay under for about 1.5 hours, then my wife gets cold (still an hour's worth of air) so we inflate and talk to the tubers.

! Sounds like you've had quite the experiences in your time diving. I've only been in it for about 4 years so far, but it's quickly become a passion. I'm currently taking the Master Scuba Diver course under NASE as a requirement for DM later on. I'll likely be doing all the dives for it at Windy Point. I've never been there so I'm looking forward to diving a different locale. Would like to do the ECO class to dive Spring Lake, too. That'll come soon enough, though.

Again, officially....welcome! If I'm ever in the CenTex area and planing to dive, maybe I'll look you up!

Thank you and glad to see your passion. Please do look me up. I think Stillhouse Hollow is still 3 hours from you, but it's got a shop on the water and some good sites and is where I did my mapping project for DMC. I'm happy to meet you there or Windy Point Private (WPP). If you want an intro tour of the WPP site, just let me know. I live 15 minutes from there.

Welcome. Impressive resume!

Thank you very much. My resume is varied yet still kinda specialized in Texas and Hawaii. Students are always asking me about Cozumel and other places I've never been diving, so I need to get to those places

 

[Addicted2H2O]

You definitely need to get to Cozumel! It's great diving! Crystal clear vis, lots to see, lots of drift diving, just a really great time! Obviously not right this minute with the current activity in the Atlantic but when you can, definitely make it a point to go. You'll really enjoy the diving and overall it's pretty inexpensive.

And no, I'm not TPWD, but from what I read that would include the training for that. Maybe I'm wrong, but I wouldn't mind being part of their S&R dive team. I'd love to use diving to serve and give back to the community. I'm considering joining Diveheart, too.

 

[George Monnat Jr]

I forgot to mention my picture, mainly because the important bit is cut off. I'm not doing a Captain Morgan but showing my footwear to the boat captain. We were going deep in Lake Travis to one of the wrecks, and I forgot my dive boots. I said screw it, shoved my fins over my black combat boots, and did the dive, so, yes, I've done a dive in combat boots. They still like to rib me about it, but hey it wasn't like I forgot life support equipment