Hello everyone, my son (12) and I just got cert'd (Open Water) in October here in Maryland for our trip to Cayman this past week.
While we were going through our training, we didnt think diving would last for us. Mainly due to being cert'd in a quarry. The time it took to get all our gear on at the quarry and pool (45 minutes or so) made it seem like too much effort. At the time, I supposed the gear shop equipment is not the easiest to put on and off. My son had a tough time of it. We got a couple private lessons as we didnt want to hold up the rest of the class. We both worked through it and got cert'd. We did this as we had planned a vacation to the Cayman (which we just got back).
Anayway, we are glad we went through it all. Diving in the Caymans was great. The first day we chartered a boat for 4-5 hours to dive. I wanted to be sure my son would get any direct support he may have needed. My wife and other son (9) snorkeled while we dove. All I can say is that is that everything was a snap. Once we got to the site, we were in the water in 5 minutes. My son did great. Nothing like the quarry...This day, we dove the wreck site Kittyhawke as well as a deep dive.
Over the next 8 days, we dove 12 other times on the regular dive trips. My son was the youngest, by far, but did a great job. We even got cert'd for our Advanced Open Water. We already have over 20 dives together.
We went on 3 wreck dives, many deep dives (over 100') and took some great pictures and videos.
We already planned our next trip there in April.
Ran a google check for scuba forum as now we have to get some of our own equipment (BCD, Reg, etc) and figured no better place than a scuba forum.
Needless to say, we will be scuba diving for a long time to come..
Thanks for letting me join,
Jim/Michael (Maryland)
While we were going through our training, we didnt think diving would last for us. Mainly due to being cert'd in a quarry. The time it took to get all our gear on at the quarry and pool (45 minutes or so) made it seem like too much effort. At the time, I supposed the gear shop equipment is not the easiest to put on and off. My son had a tough time of it. We got a couple private lessons as we didnt want to hold up the rest of the class. We both worked through it and got cert'd. We did this as we had planned a vacation to the Cayman (which we just got back).
Anayway, we are glad we went through it all. Diving in the Caymans was great. The first day we chartered a boat for 4-5 hours to dive. I wanted to be sure my son would get any direct support he may have needed. My wife and other son (9) snorkeled while we dove. All I can say is that is that everything was a snap. Once we got to the site, we were in the water in 5 minutes. My son did great. Nothing like the quarry...This day, we dove the wreck site Kittyhawke as well as a deep dive.
Over the next 8 days, we dove 12 other times on the regular dive trips. My son was the youngest, by far, but did a great job. We even got cert'd for our Advanced Open Water. We already have over 20 dives together.
We went on 3 wreck dives, many deep dives (over 100') and took some great pictures and videos.
We already planned our next trip there in April.
Ran a google check for scuba forum as now we have to get some of our own equipment (BCD, Reg, etc) and figured no better place than a scuba forum.
Needless to say, we will be scuba diving for a long time to come..
Thanks for letting me join,
Jim/Michael (Maryland)
