New Arizona Diver

[JohnnyOTS]

Howdy All,

New Scuba Diver; just got certified during a recent trip to St Croix. Now I'm back in Phoenix Arizona and just like pretty much every other Scuba novice I find myself wishing I lived closer to salt water and had a bigger bank balance to buy gear. I stumbled across this board while researching backplates and wings because one of my big takeaways from my certification dives was I really, really didn't like the jacket style BCDs. Really enjoying the vast amount of information here on the boards and happily soaking up knowledge (and the various opinions as well.)

And now I'll probably go back to lurking.

- John

 

[broncobowsher]

And the boil has started. Nice roasty 110+.
For your local diving, it is pretty much Lake Pleasant. We are in the last days off good lake water. The algae bloom will take hold in the coming days. That is what happens when the water gets warm. But if you hop in the lake between new years and memorial day you can typically have some fair to good vis.
The crowded spot is Vista point, more shoulder room on the west side of the lake. And a few spots only accessable by boat.

California isn't that far of a drive. Gets you in salt water and colors besides shades of green in the lake.

Cold water diving sounds like an oddity considering the heat we are having, but it is a reality. As of last weekend anything below about 40' is cold in the lake. And even southern California waters are pretty cold year round.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Welcome to Scubaboard and the wonderful world if our addiction. We're very pleased to have you join us.

Personally, I'd love if you were tto post in the dive travel llocales section for St. Cross and tell us a bit aabout the island, your trip and experiences whilst there.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

You can lurk, you can ask questions...Anyway---> Welcome to Scubaboard. A wealth of good information!!

 

[Tripp]

Howdy! and Welcome from Texas! Glad to have you join us. Lurk away. I would also love to hear about Saint Croix.

 

[JohnnyOTS]

Thanks for the welcome and the dive advice! Seems like I’ll be making a few weekend trips to California over the next few months. Years ago I’d take my daughter to Encinitas for summer trips - the water was cold!

Regarding St Croix, there have been plenty of recent trip reports about St Croix so there wouldn’t be much for a novice diver like me to add. I did my dives and training with a friend from Arizona who was originally a dive instructor there and then got into fishing, so we didn’t interact much with the dive shops, and anything I could say about the dive sites has already been discussed. We didn’t do any tourist-y things; just lots of diving

 

[maadJurguer]

Howdy.