Hooked after a try dive...about to start my PADI Open Water Course

[lozadora]

Hi everyone,

I saw some really helpful forum posts on here so I've just joined and will hopefully be able to get lots of advice now that I'm about to start my PADI Open Water course.

I've started a blog to track my progress and future dives if anyone wants to check it out or share their exeriences: Learning to dive and the fish thereafter...

After going to a Try Dive on Monday night and falling in love with it, I am so excited about gaining my PADI certificate and going on my first dive in Greece in September. Wish me luck!!

 

[Adam Grose]

Hi everyone,

I saw some really helpful forum posts on here so I've just joined and will hopefully be able to get lots of advice now that I'm about to start my PADI Open Water course.

I've started a blog to track my progress and future dives if anyone wants to check it out or share their exeriences: Learning to dive and the fish thereafter...

After going to a Try Dive on Monday night and falling in love with it, I am so excited about gaining my PADI certificate and going on my first dive in Greece in September. Wish me luck!!

Welcome to ScubaBoard and to diving!!! I just completed my PADI Open Water cert, and am in the process of getting my own equipment. Best of luck in your journey to the deep.

Adam

 

[lozadora]

Thanks Adam and congrats!

I'm one of those people that when I start a hobby I want to start buying books, equipment, everything! I fear that with diving this could all soon add up. So I'm biding my time until I've completed more dives, but I think it would be worth shopping for a mask based on other people's advice.

 

[decompression]

A mask is one of the most important items you can buy, the reason we dive is to see things underwater. Find one that works and do not worry about cost, luckily there are so many masks that are inexpensive and are designed to fit a large variety of people.

 

[lozadora]

I do have a funny shaped head...I'll set some time aside! The beauty of living in London is that there must be some large diving shops with a good range that I can try.

 

[Mantra]

Welcome, Lozadora. If you wanted, you could repost some of that info here. I'd love to follow along, but prefer to stick to one web site at a time when surfing.

My wife and I did our OW in Bali at the start of the year, with our final dives being at Tulumben on the Liberty. We're now planning a month in the Solomon Islands in January next year and hope to get a custom AOW cert before then. No rush on certification for certification's sake, but we may need it in the Solomons.

My only regret is that I didn't start doing it years ago! Which is a long winded way of saying : I hope you have a great experience with your OW, and remember the #1 rule after OW is dive dive dive.

I'm a gear junkie too. You should see my power tools. And owning your own gear, choosing stuff that really suits your style and aspirations in diving, getting to know your gear deeply, is a real joy. Just, if money is at all a issue, don't buy gear straight away. Much better to decide after, say, 20 dives and the chance to try different setups. Otherwise you may end up paying twice for things if your preferences change.

 

[lozadora]

I definitely think that's great advice - I'm going to wait until I've got a few dives under my belt and understand more about how I want the equipment to feel so that I can then splash out with no regrets.

My first blog entry is pretty long, per the link posted above, but I'll definitely copy and paste the posts I make over the next week on the Open Water Course to share my experience and especially as I have more questions about my first dive in the Open Water! I'm going to Santorini in September (was booked before I decided to learn to dive) so although there won't be anything to exotic to see I'll definitely be taking some photos to share!