Hi from South Africa !

[Codie]

Hi all,
I have been lurking here for a while, and been using SB for hard-gear reviews and recommendations. I qualified for OW almost 2 years ago, and haven't been diving much. I live in Johannesburg, and the nearest coastline is a 6 hour drive :-(
There are a couple inland dive sites, but nothing really spectacular.

OK, so I have been putting off doing my AOW until I managed to get my own gear, up until now I only had all my soft gear. So I eventually managed to sell all my DJ gear (giving up one hobby for another), and now had the money to purchase all the expensive gear.

Here is the list I will be collecting on Saturday, all Oceanic gear, because it made sense from all perspectives in my case (annual services will be a breeze).

> Excursion BCD
> Delta4 + FDX10 (DIN)
> Alpha8 Octo
> SWIV pressure gauge
> Atom 2.0 complete with transmitter
> Spinner knife
> Instrument retractor
> Deluxe reg bag

Now I can't wait to get my gear. Planning AOW for end of September when it warms up a bit, but I want to do a couple of dives before then to get used to the gear, sort out my buoyancy, etc.

Well, that's it for now... hopefully I can contribute to SB somehow

 

[water_monkey]

Welcome, and as for expensive gear, we feel your pain. ;-)

 

[Bob Vincent]

WELCOME TO
:sblogo::colouredsmilies::colouredsmilies:

I dive Oceanic alot too all good picks ... but you have to watch the spinner knife are it's history! Think about using a heavy rubber band around the knife and it's holder to secure it better but you can still pull it out if the need arises. I've come to carry a foldable TI knife in a BC pocket and leave the spinner knife safe in the dive bag.

You can go to Oceanic's site here on the Board and you'll see there have been alot of losses with the Spinner.

 

[Codie]

Thanks for the welcome.

Bob, I did read about the problems with the spinner knife, but apparently it fits the BC the best. I will have a look at ways to secure it better, but still be able to remove it fairly quickly.