New divers in the desert

[newdiverAZ]

Hi everyone
I am new to the board and would like to introduce myself. My name is Brian and my wife and I will be starting our O/W on sept. 13 with our 11 year old nephew/godson. We are all really psyched. My wife and I had a resort dive in Cancun last year and that is what got us hooked. We live in the east valley of Phoenix and will be doin are cert dives in lake Pleasant, if anyone has any comments on the lake please feel free to share. Our LDS told us that if you can dive there you can dive almost anywhere. We already have 2 trips in the works for this year california in October and Ft. Lauderdale in November any tips on dive locations in those areas would be appreciated. I would also like to say that from what I've read in the various forums here is that everyone seems to be great people and I would be honored to dive with you.

 

[Ranz]

Welcome aboard Brian!
G'Luck on you OW!

 

[Rooster1]

welcome to the board newdiverAZ

 

[Wildbill]

Welcome to the boards, I find myself here almost every day. Good luck in your OW course, Keep us informed about progress.

Wildbill

:copper:

 

[basiltan]

Welcome from the warm waters of Asia! Great to have you on "board". Good luck with OW. It's gonna be a blast!

Dive safe!

 

[dgangi]

Hi Brian -

Greetings from a fellow Zonie. I am from NE Phoenix (Paradise Valley) and my wife and I are both relatively new to diving. I hope you and your wife enjoy the sport as much as we do.

Have you been to San Carlos yet? It seems everybody in Arizona goes there for a quick dive trip. We went once last year. It's a pretty cool place to go on short notice and definitely worth a visit.

I haven't been diving in any of the lakes around here. My friends have and they all report that it sucks. I take my ski boat to Lake Pleasant on a regular basis and I can't imagine diving there. It's scary enough just to waterski in that cesspool. Blech.

Anyway, it seems like we have a decent collection of desert rats on this board. We should all meet up sometime and get to know each other. Diving is much more enjoyable when you plan trips with people you know...

Thx...Doug

 

[newdiverAZ]

Thanks Doug for the input. I am curious which dive shop you use, and if you have your own equipment, that is servicable locally what type you and your wife are using. We are in Apache Junction, but i do alot of work in Paradise Valley, I'm in construction. Haven't been to San Carlos, but after our certification we'll prolly hit there next year. I think it would be cool for some of us desert rats to get together sometime for a dive.


Thanx Brian

 

[MissAmberDiva]

Welcome newdiver....be safe and have fun!

 

[scuba_junkie]

Welcome to the boards newdiverAZ!

 

[dgangi]

Hi Brian -

My wife and I both were certified at Ultimate Dive and Travel (UDT) in north Scottsdale. Friends of ours worked at the shop at the time so we got certified there. But I don't really like the owners, and now that our friends no longer work there, I don't frequent the shop anymore for anything but Scubapro service (they are the closest Scubapro dealer) and refresher dives in their pool (we got certified there...we have history there...so I feel better working with their instructors).

Both my wife and I own our gear. I'm not big into renting equipment of any kind (scuba, ski, whatever) since it is much more economical in the long run to own. And rental gear is such crap anyway. If you are concerned about getting your gear serviced, then buy the equipment your local dive shop is licensed to fix. Otherwise, do as I did and just buy what you want.

Lots of dive shops in the area arrange trips to San Carlos, Mexico or San Diego. Both areas are a close drive and sure beat the mucky lakes around Phoenix. They are also very economical places to go as you can drive there.

In terms of trips, I pretty much arrange my own travel. I don't necessarily like doing travel in groups with people I don't know, so I do not use the local dive shops to arrange trips. My friends and I will be going to Cozumel, Mexico in a few weeks and we totally arranged that trip ourselves. I'd like to find more people in the Phoenix area that we can travel with.

It sounds like you are new to scuba. Well, don't worry -- we are too. But this is a sport that seems to be worth the investment.

Thx...Doug