It's Official!

[Perky182]

I am glad to report that my wife and I completed our o/w certs this weekend and it was a blast. Saturday we went to Marineland, Fl and dived in their big salt water aquarium. What an experience that was! All of the fish swimming around us was absolutely amazing. I didn't think my wifes grin could get any bigger as a 400pd sea turtle swam within a few feet of her. We can't wait to get in the ocean now. Sunday we finished up our o/w at a spring called the Blue Grotto. We were initially supposed to go offshore Jacksonville, Fl but there was a mix up with the dive boat. Bummer. Anyway, Blue Grotto was neat. It basically was a huge cavern that was filled in by a spring. It dropped to about 50ft before going into a tunnel/cave that dropped down to 100ft as it looped around and back up into the cavern. We as students just went down to 50ft and didn't go into the tunnel/cave. It was a neat experience but there wasn't much to see. I think I'll get more entertainment diving in the ocean. Cindy (my wife) and I are thinking about diving this coming weekend. Our instructor is going to be working the dive boat and it will probably make us feel more comfortable to make our first ocean dive with him. I'll let you all know how it goes.
Thanks for all of the votes of confidence this past week and maybe we'll see some of you diving one day.

Dwaine and Cindy

 

[KimmieR]

Originally posted by Perky182
I am glad to report that my wife and I completed our o/w certs this weekend and it was a blast.

Hey, congradulations. It is great fun isn't it. I am newly certified myself. I'm due for a dive in the gulf of Mexico this weekend.

A giant saltwater aquarium sounds like lots of fun. I must have to go to our local aquarium and ask if they need tank volunteers for anything. hmmm...

Kimmie

 

[Natasha]

Congrats. Can you explain the salt water tank a bit more? You were signed up to dive there? How much did it cost and where is it?
Sounds like fun!
Thanks.
:sunny:

 

[luvdiving]

Perky182

Welcome to the underwater world! You've got lots to explore. Remember to ask lots of questions.

Ken

 

[Perky182]

Natasha,
Marineland used to be a great attraction with dolphin shows and marine life exhibits. It is located south of St.Augustine, Fl right on the beach. It is basically used for marine research now, University of Florida has a building there, and they have a couple of shows a day for the public. I think they have been in bankruptcy for a few years now. As far as the diving is concerned, it was part of our o/w cert through our dive shop. I do not know if joe public can go diving there or not.

Well I decided to go see if I could find a link and low and behold.....
http://marineland.hypermart.net/index.htm

The link pops open a couple of ad windows but there is a legit site in there. I couldn't figure out how to get to just the one window without the ads. Sorry.

Dwaine and Cindy

 

[greg somers]

A lifelong passion has been born....
The Gasman

 

[keralucu]

Wayhay... and congratulations, Dwaine & Cindy.

I am jealous of you doing part of your OW certification in an aquarium... how cool is that? Although I might find it a bit distracting trying to take in all the marine life while supposedly doing my skills.

Tell us how your first ocean dive goes...
Have fun

 

[Fishkiller]

Congratulations again on joining the wonderful world of water

which type of fish were your tank with you all??

 

[100days-a-year]

Perky,Tell Steve he needs to tighten up his shop.And stop leaving the boat log laying around for people to mess with.If you think Marineland had a lot of fish wait til you get offshore jax.C-ya around

 

[Perky182]

Originally posted by 100days-a-year
Perky,Tell Steve he needs to tighten up his shop.And stop leaving the boat log laying around for people to mess with.If you think Marineland had a lot of fish wait til you get offshore jax.C-ya around

Tony
Ok this is kind of eerie. How did you know I was refering to Steve and Atlantic ProDive?
Are you one of those Psychos,
I mean Psychics I see on TV?