Howdy, looking to to get into diving.

[Ktigre]

Hey. I'm new to the boards and have a couple questions, but lemme introduce myself first.

I'm 6'9" tall and weight about 275. I've wanted to learn to dive ever since I was a kid, well and own a motorcycle and this year I finally have the money to do one or the other, and I decided the diving, well that and Texas drivers suck... My one goal in life is to dive the great barrier reef, I know it's not the most beautiful place to dive from what Ive read there's better, but it is a dream I want to fulfil this year ideally. Though I may change my dream if I can find something I might enjoy more... I really want to do one of the liveaboards or a good multiday(5-7) dive trip on whatever first major trip I take to fulfil my main dream. I'm sure If I get into diving alot I'll end up taking many more down the road, but for now my goal is to get the one big trip. I'm very comfortable in the water; grew up next to the ocean and had a pool the whole time I've lived in Texas.

I plan on getting my OW cert, and I've read through all the posts about geting the OW and then the AOW immediately after, and think I'll prolly want to get a few dives in between them which will take me to question 1... But from everything I've read, I do want to get the AOW and nitrox certs as well.

Now for a couple questions:

1. I'm single and don't have a girlfriend/wife at the moment or in the near future... Any suggestions as to finding places/people to dive with that wouldn't perhaps mind a new diver?

2. I know I'm alittle out of the norm size wise for gear so I'm going into this fuly expecting to buy a pretty good chunk of it right from the getgo just so I don't have any issues with rentals, and there's certain things I just don't feel like borrowing... Any suggestions for hunting down gear? I have about $1800 to blow on gear initially. Also any suggestions on items to pickup? and before anyone says anything, I know I'll prolly just sell it down the road once I know more and am more comfortable, but I really wanna avoid the whole renting thing for the time being.

3. I live about 2 blocks from scubatoys.com and am probably going to get my certification there. Any suggestions as to getting the certification now, or should I wait due to how cold the water will be on the lake dives for the cert?

4. Are there any manufacturers that make fins in larger sizes than the usual 13? I actually wear a 15wide and have such high arches that the tops of most shoes tend to hurt after a while, so I'm concerned about sizing on fins/booties.

5. It looks from everything I'm reading that a wetsuit is probably a good investment. As warm as it is here in Texas, I'd think prolly a shorty?

6. Tanks... Due to my size, should I think about getting a larger tank for local diving, or should a standard 80 be sufficient? And if I should think about a larger tank, are there larger tanks available for rent at the varous dive shops around the country and world?

I've read through a ton of the posts here so alot of the questions I had are already answered. the ones above were all that's left currently... Though I'm sure there will be more down the road. I just kinda wanted to get them all out instead of spamming the board with a tons of posts immediately.

Thanks.

 

[Jason Ooi]

welcome to scuba board

 

[Sasquatch]

Take full advantage of ScubaToys and let them know you are a member here at SB. If it can be done they can do it and at the most reasonable prices around.

Welcome to SB!

Sea ya!

 

[Scuba Brad]

Larry is a good guy at ScubaToys............however there are others of us out there who sell product and would be happy to assist with answering questions.

Happy Diving

 

[treidm]

Most wetsuit & BCD manufacturers, mostly don't make things to fit guys your size, comfortably.
Akona http://www.akona.com/ Does make 5X suits & 13 Booties, 5X still may not work, you can look at their sizing chart. Henderson & some others, will on special order add up to 3" to arms or legs, I think, if waist & chest etc. will work.

Custom Wetsuit manufacturers can fix you up:
http://www.liquidfit.com/
http://www.atlaninc.com/
http://aquaflite.com/welcome.html

On BCD's, I think your best bet, will be to go with a BP/W(Back Plate/Wing) setup. There are many out there, but I will mention one because they offer larger than normal Backplates for taller and/or wider fellas.
http://www.deepseasupply.com/page7.html

At your height, you will probably want to get a Tank of your own. AL80's that most rent, and even steel 100's might ride and hurt tailbone. I will mention a good tank for taller guys, PST E7-120, they are 28 1/4" long, I think, and plenty of bottom time.
http://www.pstscuba.com/products.htm#e7120
http://www.pstscuba.com/specsheet.pdf

Find Booties after Wetsuit & fit to Suit, then fit Fins to booties. Your legs are used to supporting alot of weight, so under water, I think you may like a Stiffer fin. Any Jet Fin style, if you can fit them. If your foot is really thick with tall arch, you might try Turtle Fins, they have an extra big foot pocket for rock boot use. http://www.xsscuba.com/fin_turtle.html
IMO stay away from split or highly flexible fins for your body style.

IMHO these aren't the normal things to immediately think about, but in your case, I think you may want to consider them. Most everything else could be rented with no problems. I hope some of this may be of help to you, or at least something to mull over.

 

[TSandM]

Lots of people addressing the gear issues, so I'll address the issue of finding buddies.

First off, there will be other people in your OW class (unless you do it privately) and all of them will want buddies, too.

Most dive shops have some kind of e-group or buddy list that you can become a member of and post, asking about buddies. That's how I found my first "babysitters" when I was newly certified.

And then there's Scubaboard, which has local forums for various parts of the country. I found my mentor here. I know our region has periodic Scubaboard group dives, and it seems as though a number of other regions have pretty active SB groups, too.

Have fun with your certification and all the excitement of buying gear . . . an excitement that apparently (at least in my experience) never actually ENDS

 

[El Orans]

For local info and/or (future) buddies, just follow the path or have fun along the way by clicking on any of the given links: ScubaBoard.Com > Regional Travel & Dive Clubs > North America > United States > Texas Swamp Divers.

Don’t forget to fill out your Public Profile (and Dive Info) on one of your next surface intervals so we can get to know you a little bit better. Please, do add a Profile Pic. If you’re not in a particular creative mood, you can have a look at my Public Profile for inspiration.

As a newly addicted diver, you may want to have a look here as well: New Divers & Those Considering Diving.

 

[Scuba Jerm]

About the Live-a-Board trip, we've got one that needs to be used by the 1st week of march on BlackBeard Cruises. PM me if you're intersted

 

[Kaiser442]

Hey man! I'm a relatively new diver in Allen - I'll dive with you.

Are you going to the special event at ScubaToys tonight? I'll be buying some regulators (which completes my set of dive gear.... I'll be DONE!!!!)

My first dive trip (last March - about 2 weeks after OW cert) was a weekend trip to Cozumel. It was AWESOME. I went through Lake Air Scuba in Waco (The LDS of friend from Waco who invited me along) - it was like $699 for the whole 3-day weekend including airfare, all the diving, all-inclusive resort etc.

'course I don't know how it is since the hurricanes last year - but Coz is generally some of the world's best diving and it is pretty darn convenient for those of us here in the south.

I plan to go to the Flower Gardens soon (out in the Gulf)... that's one you can do over a normal weekend for 3 or 400 bucks.

 

[Vayu]

First off, there will be other people in your OW class (unless you do it privately) and all of them will want buddies, too.

Or all of them will immediately stop diving because they are poor college kids that live on ramen noodles and stale bread crumbs.

-V