New Diver in Family

[LI Diver]

I'm proud to announce that we have a newly certified diver in our family. My 15 yr old daughter Nicole recieved her C-card last week after successfully (and skillfully I might add) completing her ck out dives with Capt. Gary down at Conch Republic Divers in Tavernier (Florida Key's). She had the honor of diving with the the Captain himself while I tagged along and played with my camera. He was great with her and really went out of his way to accomadate everyone on the boat. The sites we dove were loaded with beautiful fish and coral as well as perfect for ck out dives.To name a few,we saw Nurse Sharks,Moray Eels,Stingrays,Butterfly fish, Trumpet fish etc.I will post my pics on my gallery later today. Admiral Brenda even got us accomadations when I procrastinated too long and couldn't find anything within 35 miles on my own! My hat is off to them both. Here is a couple of photo's of Nicole doing her drills.Ok and one of the fishies.
Ed

 

[jsmharley]

congrat nicole on your new cert and welcome to the (what I think anyway) coolest sport one can get into! Hope all your dives are safe and remarkable....

 

[Firecracker]

Tell Nicole "Congrats" from us here on the board. Glad to hear you all had a good time!

 

[Dean810]

I think that's teriffic! My daughter got certified when she was 10 in the local quarry, but haven't seen her dive since! Since your daughter got certified down there with all those beautiful fish and coral, she might stick with it!

 

[jmps]

Congrats to your daughter! My 15YO daughter Amanda just did her first ocean dive in Cozumel a few weeks ago. I am thinnking of Fl. Key trip for us this summer. Would you recommend Conch Republic? I guess she wouldn't be able to do the big wrecks since she isn't Advanced. Do you think it is still good to go there. And where did you stay? Thanks.

 

[IwakuniDiver]

Congratulations!!!!

I can't wait until my son is old enough to dive with my wife and I.

Oh sure, he's only 13 months old, but I still take him to the pool twice a week. Can't hurt to start early!

 

[seadive]

CONGRATULATIONS !!!
Glad to ear this news...

Best regards from Tenrife!

 

[LI Diver]

Congrats to your daughter! My 15YO daughter Amanda just did her first ocean dive in Cozumel a few weeks ago. I am thinnking of Fl. Key trip for us this summer. Would you recommend Conch Republic? I guess she wouldn't be able to do the big wrecks since she isn't Advanced. Do you think it is still good to go there. And where did you stay? Thanks.[/QUOTE

I'd recommend them highly. Definitely plenty of shallow reef dives you can see their schedule online and most days have one or two, two tank reef trips in addition to the deeper stuff. PM sent

 

[LI Diver]

Thanks everyone for the Kudos !

 

[Bob N Tim]

To JMPS, we got my 16-YO son (Tim) his advanced last week in Pensacola where we dove the Meeks (remains of a liberty ship) and at flood tide got to dive the battleship Massachussetts. He and a few buddies got their open waters last year in a muddy Boy Scout camp lake and then dove a quarry, which meant that diving with decent visibility and a couple of sharks was a new experience for them!

Just use some common sense and good supervision with your daughter and she can visit the wrecks. The PADI guidance on common sense would mean nothing deeper than 60 feet and absolutely no penetration. The reason I added "supervision" is because some teens have been known to stray from the dive plan.

Our kids' first OW dive after Boy Scout camp was in a quarry (Dutch Springs in PA) where they got to sit in an open-topped fire truck, but I wouldn't let them pass through a school bus or big helicopter. Technically, the bus and helicopter weren't problems - they could see their exit from the entry - I just wanted to make sure they stayed with the idea of not penetrating. I think it also taught them some respect and caution.

Bob