Is there a way to send a message to someone without having to make five public posts first?

[Zef]

Thanks for your offer of help. I did manage to contact them, after getting my number of posts up with (in my opinion) pretty useless posts.

Its only useless if you did not achieve your aim...but you did, so I would say you did exceptionally well.

I read your introduction above and I think you are heading in the right direction. The only thing I would recommend, is get some booties and fins, that way you are not stuck with whatever the dive operation/rental shop has when you are vacation...find a set of fins that fit you well and perform for whatever style of kick you decide to develop. Other than that, your list and mentality is great.

BTW, I love Boston, and dream about the canolis from Mikes pastry shop up on Hanover street....especially the chocolate covered-chocolate mousse filled ones...I am jealous of your proximity to that store. I would gladly paypal/zelle you some funds if you can arrange for a few to be sent my way.

Cheers,
-Z

 

[RIHappyDiver]

Thanks for your offer of help. I did manage to contact them, after getting my number of posts up with (in my opinion) pretty useless posts.

Actually, I disagree with that sentiment. I feel that I now know things about you that I don’t know about folks on here that I have been exchanging with for the past 8 years. Now, that’s not to say that I know you, but I know more than just your Scuba philosophy.
Welcome to Scubaboard!

Erik

 

[tursiops]

(Is there a term for solo diver meaning someone who always needs to get a dive buddy assigned to them? Not solo diver as in self-reliant diver.)

Yes. You are a single diver. Not a solo diver.

 

[Ukmc]

haha - seems like it is abusing the system rather than going along with it, but I'll play!

I added some stuff back on the introduction board, but I'll expand on it here. I am a very new diver: a Discover Scuba dive a couple of years ago, then got open water certified this month at a resort in Jamaica. Still feeling very much like I am not safe to dive and need someone with experience to dive with.

Hopefully I'm going to Barbados in February, and I want to take the opportunity to dive there. I did my discover scuba dive there with West Side Scuba (hope it's OK to mention them) - they were great and I will go to them again. To be honest, if I had known earlier this month that I was going to Barbados in February, I probably would have skipped the resort certification and done the Open Water with them.

I really like Barbados. My wife and I have a nine step plan to buy a place near the beach in Barbados, and fly back and forth between chilly Boston and lovely Barbados. Step 1 is win the lottery. I'll let you know if I ever get to step 2.

Anyway, more about me, should anyone care to know. I'm 51, male, married, two kids (one in college, the other recently graduated). My wife has no interest at all in diving and won't even come on the boat as she gets vertigo. (Is there a term for solo diver meaning someone who always needs to get a dive buddy assigned to them? Not solo diver as in self-reliant diver.)

I love gadgets, and I'm trying really hard not to make scuba an excuse for gadgets, but instead to focus on my love of being in the water, nature, and seeing interesting things. (But that dive computer with inertial guidance that will give you a 3-d map of your dive is so cool . . .)

I don't use split fins. I use use rental fins. For the near future I will be diving while on vacation, rather than vacationing in order to dive. For that reason I want to minimize the amount of stuff I bring with me. Initially (as in, before the Barbados trip) I plan to get

• a cheap z-knife
• a cheap light
• a cheap wet book and pencil
• an integrated DSMB and reel
• a mask (will actually go to a store to find and fit one)
• a computer

Everything else, I will rent.

I was MOF before I got trained. Then I was told that it was a signal of "in trouble" so I stopped doing it. I didn't actually realize that is was a matter of opinion.

Yes, I have heard of DIR. I think I am so new to diving that I don't even want to think about it yet. I am just going to be doing very simple dives initially in very safe situations. Maybe some day I'll start thinking about deviating from the PADI training, but not yet. Honestly, I'm 51, and I'll only be diving when I happen to go on vacation to place that where it makes sense. If I do 100 dives before I die, that will be a lot! Doesn't seem worth getting into the complexities of it.

Nobody has ever told me to get any equipment yet, least of all a backplate and wing. I fully expect people to tell me that I absolutely need to get my own regulator and BCD. I will try to resist.

Welcome to scubaboard. This was a pretty darn good post.
Yes, there are a lot of opinions on what you should own vs rent or the order of acquiring gear.
I agree with you on the mask. I also agree with @Zef on getting fins (you can get travel size ones) - poor fitting rental fins can hurt your fins. One time when I blistered my foot, it took all the fun out of the dive because of the constant reminder when I kicked Over the years I ended up owning 5 or 6 pairs of fins until I found what I liked and that was an acceptable investment for me.
Anyhow, a lot of opinions here on the board. When I was new to diving, I took a somewhat gambling approach by purchasing all of my gear. I wanted to have a high quality equipment for which I knew service history and minimize variations from dive to dive. As in my day line of work - consistency and repetition decreases stress of work and increases enjoyment. Yes, I took a risk of investing all that moneys into a gear and I have added and subtracted to my setup over the years… However, when new - even a minor event under the water can derail the dive or sometimes scare newbs out of diving altogether. So yes, as your anticipated, I will tell you to get your own high quality reg and BCD that you like and of course your mask and fins
Enjoy your upcoming trip and many more!

 

[Willie Jones]

Hello,

If I would to make a purchase is it only for scuba drivers to purchase parts?

Thanks,

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

haha - seems like it is abusing the system rather than going along with it, but I'll play!

I added some stuff back on the introduction board, but I'll expand on it here. I am a very new diver: a Discover Scuba dive a couple of years ago, then got open water certified this month at a resort in Jamaica. Still feeling very much like I am not safe to dive and need someone with experience to dive with.

Hopefully I'm going to Barbados in February, and I want to take the opportunity to dive there. I did my discover scuba dive there with West Side Scuba (hope it's OK to mention them) - they were great and I will go to them again. To be honest, if I had known earlier this month that I was going to Barbados in February, I probably would have skipped the resort certification and done the Open Water with them.

I really like Barbados. My wife and I have a nine step plan to buy a place near the beach in Barbados, and fly back and forth between chilly Boston and lovely Barbados. Step 1 is win the lottery. I'll let you know if I ever get to step 2.

Anyway, more about me, should anyone care to know. I'm 51, male, married, two kids (one in college, the other recently graduated). My wife has no interest at all in diving and won't even come on the boat as she gets vertigo. (Is there a term for solo diver meaning someone who always needs to get a dive buddy assigned to them? Not solo diver as in self-reliant diver.)

I love gadgets, and I'm trying really hard not to make scuba an excuse for gadgets, but instead to focus on my love of being in the water, nature, and seeing interesting things. (But that dive computer with inertial guidance that will give you a 3-d map of your dive is so cool . . .)

I don't use split fins. I use use rental fins. For the near future I will be diving while on vacation, rather than vacationing in order to dive. For that reason I want to minimize the amount of stuff I bring with me. Initially (as in, before the Barbados trip) I plan to get

• a cheap z-knife
• a cheap light
• a cheap wet book and pencil
• an integrated DSMB and reel
• a mask (will actually go to a store to find and fit one)
• a computer

Everything else, I will rent.

I was MOF before I got trained. Then I was told that it was a signal of "in trouble" so I stopped doing it. I didn't actually realize that is was a matter of opinion.

Yes, I have heard of DIR. I think I am so new to diving that I don't even want to think about it yet. I am just going to be doing very simple dives initially in very safe situations. Maybe some day I'll start thinking about deviating from the PADI training, but not yet. Honestly, I'm 51, and I'll only be diving when I happen to go on vacation to place that where it makes sense. If I do 100 dives before I die, that will be a lot! Doesn't seem worth getting into the complexities of it.

Nobody has ever told me to get any equipment yet, least of all a backplate and wing. I fully expect people to tell me that I absolutely need to get my own regulator and BCD. I will try to resist.

Wow! excellent!
Very nice intro indeed.
I went to Mass once, my sister in law had a time share near Hyannis that she couldn't use during her time slot, so she gave it to us. loved the cape!
I remember driving out somewhere around Truro I think and going out a dirt road off the highway to a lobster shack where they had live lobsters crawling around in big vats. I bought a 7 lb. one.

 

[Allen-1]

haha - seems like it is abusing the system rather than going along with it, but I'll play!

I added some stuff back on the introduction board, but I'll expand on it here. I am a very new diver: a Discover Scuba dive a couple of years ago, then got open water certified this month at a resort in Jamaica. Still feeling very much like I am not safe to dive and need someone with experience to dive with.

Hopefully I'm going to Barbados in February, and I want to take the opportunity to dive there. I did my discover scuba dive there with West Side Scuba (hope it's OK to mention them) - they were great and I will go to them again. To be honest, if I had known earlier this month that I was going to Barbados in February, I probably would have skipped the resort certification and done the Open Water with them.

I really like Barbados. My wife and I have a nine step plan to buy a place near the beach in Barbados, and fly back and forth between chilly Boston and lovely Barbados. Step 1 is win the lottery. I'll let you know if I ever get to step 2.

Anyway, more about me, should anyone care to know. I'm 51, male, married, two kids (one in college, the other recently graduated). My wife has no interest at all in diving and won't even come on the boat as she gets vertigo. (Is there a term for solo diver meaning someone who always needs to get a dive buddy assigned to them? Not solo diver as in self-reliant diver.)

I love gadgets, and I'm trying really hard not to make scuba an excuse for gadgets, but instead to focus on my love of being in the water, nature, and seeing interesting things. (But that dive computer with inertial guidance that will give you a 3-d map of your dive is so cool . . .)

I don't use split fins. I use use rental fins. For the near future I will be diving while on vacation, rather than vacationing in order to dive. For that reason I want to minimize the amount of stuff I bring with me. Initially (as in, before the Barbados trip) I plan to get

• a cheap z-knife
• a cheap light
• a cheap wet book and pencil
• an integrated DSMB and reel
• a mask (will actually go to a store to find and fit one)
• a computer

Everything else, I will rent.

I was MOF before I got trained. Then I was told that it was a signal of "in trouble" so I stopped doing it. I didn't actually realize that is was a matter of opinion.

Yes, I have heard of DIR. I think I am so new to diving that I don't even want to think about it yet. I am just going to be doing very simple dives initially in very safe situations. Maybe some day I'll start thinking about deviating from the PADI training, but not yet. Honestly, I'm 51, and I'll only be diving when I happen to go on vacation to place that where it makes sense. If I do 100 dives before I die, that will be a lot! Doesn't seem worth getting into the complexities of it.

Nobody has ever told me to get any equipment yet, least of all a backplate and wing. I fully expect people to tell me that I absolutely need to get my own regulator and BCD. I will try to resist.

DM me w a shipping address if you’d like a couple of lights.

 

[happyharris]

Wow! excellent!
Very nice intro indeed.
I went to Mass once, my sister in law had a time share near Hyannis that she couldn't use during her time slot, so she gave it to us. loved the cape!
I remember driving out somewhere around Truro I think and going out a dirt road off the highway to a lobster shack where they had live lobsters crawling around in big vats. I bought a 7 lb. one.

Yeah, I don't get what the fuss is about with lobster (obligatory xkcd reference). It's fine, but a lot of work to eat, really expensive, and ... just meh. If you need that much butter to make something taste good, how good is it really?

I see you are from Santa Rosa. I've been there a number of times, as my wife's step-father lives there. Is there good (beginner) scuba there?

 

[Miyaru]

after getting my number of posts up with (in my opinion) pretty useless posts.

I just read this thread with a smile on my face. So most certainly not useless.

Welcome to the board!

 

[tursiops]

@happyharris Actually, there is another way to get a poster's attention without sending a DM. Just address a public request for the poster to connect you by DM, but start your request: with @user, as i did with this post to you. They will be notified.