New diver looking for dive buddies

[jswantek]

Hi everyone,

I've been certified O/W for two years now, but haven't had much of a chance to dive as, well, I really don't have anyone to dive with. I was hoping I could get on here and maybe get to know some people in the 'off-season' and maybe set some dives up for the spring. I'm in eastern PA, about an hour's drive from Dutch Srings and Willow Springs.

If anyone can recommend any other ways to hook up with fellow divers, please let me know.

Thanks!
Joe

 

[genxweb]

Welcome. I would suggest check local dive shops to either sign up for their buddy lists or see when they are going out. IE Lancaster scuba invites who ever wants to dive out every sat and sun almost year round. You can also check out a few of the PA forums as well as the wreck valley forums.

 

[jswantek]

Welcome. I would suggest check local dive shops to either sign up for their buddy lists or see when they are going out. IE Lancaster scuba invites who ever wants to dive out every sat and sun almost year round. You can also check out a few of the PA forums as well as the wreck valley forums.

I'll have to look into that, unfortunately the 'local' dive shop is over an hour away. Lancaster is even farther...

 

[carolrose]

Dutch Springs has a buddy finder on their site. I had some luck with that earlier this year. This weekend is the last weekend of the regular season at Dutch, so if you're wanting to dive there this year, you'll want to make plans as soon as possible. If you're looking to dive in the spring, posting here or some of the more local sites like Wreck Valley Divers Scuba Diving Club - home page is a good way to find buddys. If your dive shop has a dive club, that would be a really easy way to meet people, and taking classes is also good.

 

[Snappahead]

Joe, you may also want to check out Divebuddy.com.....there're several NY/NJ/PA divers on the site.

 

[Spratman]

It would be useful to know where in PA you are located. As Caroln said, pop over to our web site and check it out.

Plenty of dive buddies over there from the tri-state area. People diving all year around, as well. Probably the next big event is the New Year's Eve dive at Dutch.

We have a great club. Great people that actually dive together. The majority are tech divers but don't let that dissuade you. We have our own instructors and people that are more than willing to offer assistance in every aspect of diving.

Looking forward to diving with ya in the spring!

 

[jswantek]

Thanks, lots of great advice. I'll definitely check out the website you recommended.

For the record, I'm in Shenandoah, PA, and there really aren't any places here to dive...

 

[Spratman]

Only the strip mines....

However, I met a couple of guys from the Scuykill Haven rescue team at BTS last year. I'm not sure where they dive up there, but it would be worth checking out. Must be a couple of places.

I'll check around and let you know.

 

[jswantek]

Oh, I've done a couple of the strip mines, the watersheds and one of the state parks. Trust me, the visibility isn't all that great, and sometimes water access is a real pain.

I've met a couple of people from Haven, that's where my instructor was from. Actually I'm on the dive team in Mahanoy City, but the rest of the team, well, they just don't want to go anywhere to dive. If they do, it's usually to a local stripping hole and they swim a simple search pattern for one tank. After that, they're out of the water saying, 'well, that was good, let's pack it up...'

I'd prefer to have more water time than that...

Don't get me wrong, they're good people, I just don't think they love diving as much as I do, that's all...

 

[Spratman]

It's nice to have a hole to yourself though...Dutch used to have fantastic viz. When I started diving up there, you could see the bottom from the surface down to about 75ft. Now, it gets so stirred up during the weekend, that you're lucky to have 10 or 15.

For some folks, if diving is a job, then they tend to lose the love of it. Most of the guys and gals that I know, dive because they love it, as do I.

Most of the quarries that are available in PA, you can't get permission to dive in, because of some of the issues you talked about, water access, viz, etc. But the biggest issue is liability. They don't want you diving and dying, then have a civil suit that wipes them out.

I think you will find Wreck Valley to be your kind of diving.