Howdy from Texas

[littlce]

Greetin's everyone...

I'm new to the board and new to scuba (not certified). I have been interested in scuba for a long time now (years), but I have never actually dove in (pun intended).

Now that my 2 kids are of the age now where they will be able to dive with me on vacations and classes, so I am going to start pursuing it with them.

My first major dive trip of many will be in May this year in Indonesia, so you can imagine how excited I am! I look forward to sharing my experiences with and learning as much as I can with all of you.

See you in the water,
Christopher

 

[mudhole]

Welcome to ScubaBoard. . . You'll have lots of warm reading this weekend and others while the snow flies. You can start your diving most anyplace in Texas. There was a dive shop in Wichita Falls, I hope it's still there, some good people. Many of the other larger towns nearby will have diving instruction. Dive lessons will be split into classroom, Pool check out dives, and check out dives in open water. The classroom and pool portion can be done even in the winter. The lake or ocean checkout dives can be done by your instructor later when the lakes warm up, or give you the paperwork and you take referral dives at a tropical dive shop.

If you look under "Forums" at the top of the page, scroll down to "Regional travel". Continue scrolling down to "Mexico", keep going down to "Cozumel". . . There are west Texas divers there right now talking about referral check out diving in 80 degree water, in the last few days.

With the snow forcast, there will be more divers in our part of the country dreaming about Cozumel, than out diving locally.

 

[littlce]

thanks, Mudhole!

I have two LDS's here... one that teaches NAUI/SSI curriculum; This married couple team both run a shop inside an indoor pool complex. It's very comfortable for winter instruction. The other teaches PADI and is run by a seasoned dive veteran. His facilities are outdoor/heated. He is resourceful, ambitious, and very knowledgeable; however I am not sure our personalities will not clash.

Both shops run their own compression units and gear shops... their incentives are similar for buying gear and apart from the difference in individual experience, I can't really tell them apart.

My kids will probably learn from the PADI shop, but i'm still on the fence about where I will cert.

One thing I am certain of is that my OW cert dives will be at Balmorhea regardless of where I go for classes. Once I do that, I will no doubt take at least a photography class before I take my trip to Indonesia.

 

[Hemlon]

Welcome to the board!

 

[littlce]

thanks Hemlon

 

[WesTexDiver]

Welcome to the boards fellow Midlander! If you have any questions about anything pls feel free to ask. Also may want to check out the Swamp Divers Section under United States. Again welcome and I hope your training goes well.

 

[N692BC]

Wow you don't mess around and do your first dive a quarry dive, that's fantastic to get out to a real dive site!!

Welcome and many happy dives

 

[Wolfie2012]

Welcome to the forums! My daughter is so anxious to get of age to get certified so she can come diving with her mother and I! It must be a great feeling to be able to share those experiences with your family

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Welcome to the boards and diving.

TwoBit

 

[dmdoss]

welcome to sb