Dear Board Members,
First let me send a hearty "THANK YOU!" your way for all of the insight, wisdom and experience that I have gained from this board a a "lurker". Upon making the decision to get certified (myself and my wife) I found this board and have used it extensively to help educate myself on everything from equipment to certification agencies, and I can say without hesitation that I am already a VASTLY better diver for it! It is with all honesty and gratitude that I say you all should be very proud of yourselves and the community that you have created here. Rarely, if ever, have I come across a site on the internet that was so consistently filled with posts that are well though out, to the point, insightful, and sensitive to the needs and sometimes differing opinions that abound. It is so refreshing to see rational discussion of dissenting views rather that the inevitable degeneration into a flame war. Again, thank you all.
As for me, in any new endeavor I strive to learn all that I possibly can as I get involved. I fortunately happened upon this site as my wife and I began our OW class and used it extensively to guide our equipment purchases, evaluate our quality of instruction, and eventually to choose a site for our well earned reward upon completion of our certification (more later).
For equipment we purchased the following:
Scubapro MK20/S600 for both
Scubapro Superhawk/Ladyhawk BC's with AIR2
Scubapro Twinjet (Black) for both
Suunto Cobra Computer for me/favor (budget constraints)for her (we'll be purchasing an additional Cobra for her when finances allow)
Various diveskins, masks, snorkels (which have been abandoned already), knives, shears, booties, sausages, kitchen sinks, etc.
I know it leans heavily toward Scubapro, but our local dealer supports Scubapro equipment well and I've yet to hear anything bad about it. We got a good deal by purchasing it all together (after some serious arm twisting) and even got two free boat dives thrown in. I also got the satisfaction of supporting our local dive shop (with the exception of the computers which we purchased through LiesurePro). Everything has worked beautifully so far and we have absolutely no complaints.
Our OW class went well but in retrospect I agree whole heartedly with the comments of many on this board that the current state of Dive Certification Agencies (or at least PADI, who we went through) is sad, to say the least. In my day job I am a Navy Fighter Pilot and as a result, I believe adamantly in being prepared for emergencies in any inherently risky activity. There are many parallels between diving and flying and all I can say is that if my flight instruction was as "touchy-feely" as my dive training I would have been killed many years ago. This is not to say that dive training should be militant or that the fun should be removed in favor of a doom-and-gloom mentality, but that it is inherently risky and should be approached with respect, caution and constant preparation for the extraordinarily rare occasion when something goes wrong.
In any case, the course was easy. My wife was initially a bit uncomfortable as she has little experience in the water. My water survival training included dunkers of all types, drown-proofing in full flight gear, and much more, so the class was actually very easy. Our instructor (who is a PADI "master" instructor) was very knowledgable and very supportive which was a great help for my wife. My complaint lies more with PADI's rediculously low standards. For example, my wife bouncing repeatedly off of the bottom of the pool due to too much weight and poor bouyancy control only to be told time and again by the instructor that she was "doing great". By the end of the course she had still never properly done a fin pivot and yet she walked away with a valid C-card. Several days in the pool with myself and an experienced frien ironed out the difficulties, however, and we were ready for our reward dive trip to.....................
SABA!!!!
What an absolutely unbelievable place! Six days, 14 dives and a world of experience later, we returned to Puerto Rico (where I am stationed) vastly improved and with a new outlook on life. We dove with Saba Deep and could not have been happier with big Mike, little Mike, and Andrew. I'm sure that my skills improved and I can say honestly that my wife looked like an entirely different diver by the time we left. Her bouyancy, comfort - every facet of her diving - improved DRASTICALLY! She is now positively hooked and we finally have a hobby and passion that we learned and can share TOGETHER! I'm sure that many will blast us for getting in over our heads (pun intended) but diving routinely (under the DM's supervision) to over 100' was unbeatable experience. Furthermore, on almost every day no more than four divers went out which allowed the DM's to spend a lot of time critiqueing us and passing along invaluable bits of wisdom. By the end of the week, it was almost sad to watch divers with vastly more experience (one claimed to have nearly 2000 dives) struggle in comparison to us with only 15 dives under our belts. Don't get me wrong, we both have VOLUMES to learn and we have no intention of becoming complacent.
In any case, again let me thank you all. Now that I feel that I have aty least a little bit to contribute, I vow to lurk no more. Please continue to educate and entertain! You're all SO GOOD at it!
Regards,
Grendel
First let me send a hearty "THANK YOU!" your way for all of the insight, wisdom and experience that I have gained from this board a a "lurker". Upon making the decision to get certified (myself and my wife) I found this board and have used it extensively to help educate myself on everything from equipment to certification agencies, and I can say without hesitation that I am already a VASTLY better diver for it! It is with all honesty and gratitude that I say you all should be very proud of yourselves and the community that you have created here. Rarely, if ever, have I come across a site on the internet that was so consistently filled with posts that are well though out, to the point, insightful, and sensitive to the needs and sometimes differing opinions that abound. It is so refreshing to see rational discussion of dissenting views rather that the inevitable degeneration into a flame war. Again, thank you all.
As for me, in any new endeavor I strive to learn all that I possibly can as I get involved. I fortunately happened upon this site as my wife and I began our OW class and used it extensively to guide our equipment purchases, evaluate our quality of instruction, and eventually to choose a site for our well earned reward upon completion of our certification (more later).
For equipment we purchased the following:
Scubapro MK20/S600 for both
Scubapro Superhawk/Ladyhawk BC's with AIR2
Scubapro Twinjet (Black) for both
Suunto Cobra Computer for me/favor (budget constraints)for her (we'll be purchasing an additional Cobra for her when finances allow)
Various diveskins, masks, snorkels (which have been abandoned already), knives, shears, booties, sausages, kitchen sinks, etc.
I know it leans heavily toward Scubapro, but our local dealer supports Scubapro equipment well and I've yet to hear anything bad about it. We got a good deal by purchasing it all together (after some serious arm twisting) and even got two free boat dives thrown in. I also got the satisfaction of supporting our local dive shop (with the exception of the computers which we purchased through LiesurePro). Everything has worked beautifully so far and we have absolutely no complaints.
Our OW class went well but in retrospect I agree whole heartedly with the comments of many on this board that the current state of Dive Certification Agencies (or at least PADI, who we went through) is sad, to say the least. In my day job I am a Navy Fighter Pilot and as a result, I believe adamantly in being prepared for emergencies in any inherently risky activity. There are many parallels between diving and flying and all I can say is that if my flight instruction was as "touchy-feely" as my dive training I would have been killed many years ago. This is not to say that dive training should be militant or that the fun should be removed in favor of a doom-and-gloom mentality, but that it is inherently risky and should be approached with respect, caution and constant preparation for the extraordinarily rare occasion when something goes wrong.
In any case, the course was easy. My wife was initially a bit uncomfortable as she has little experience in the water. My water survival training included dunkers of all types, drown-proofing in full flight gear, and much more, so the class was actually very easy. Our instructor (who is a PADI "master" instructor) was very knowledgable and very supportive which was a great help for my wife. My complaint lies more with PADI's rediculously low standards. For example, my wife bouncing repeatedly off of the bottom of the pool due to too much weight and poor bouyancy control only to be told time and again by the instructor that she was "doing great". By the end of the course she had still never properly done a fin pivot and yet she walked away with a valid C-card. Several days in the pool with myself and an experienced frien ironed out the difficulties, however, and we were ready for our reward dive trip to.....................
SABA!!!!
What an absolutely unbelievable place! Six days, 14 dives and a world of experience later, we returned to Puerto Rico (where I am stationed) vastly improved and with a new outlook on life. We dove with Saba Deep and could not have been happier with big Mike, little Mike, and Andrew. I'm sure that my skills improved and I can say honestly that my wife looked like an entirely different diver by the time we left. Her bouyancy, comfort - every facet of her diving - improved DRASTICALLY! She is now positively hooked and we finally have a hobby and passion that we learned and can share TOGETHER! I'm sure that many will blast us for getting in over our heads (pun intended) but diving routinely (under the DM's supervision) to over 100' was unbeatable experience. Furthermore, on almost every day no more than four divers went out which allowed the DM's to spend a lot of time critiqueing us and passing along invaluable bits of wisdom. By the end of the week, it was almost sad to watch divers with vastly more experience (one claimed to have nearly 2000 dives) struggle in comparison to us with only 15 dives under our belts. Don't get me wrong, we both have VOLUMES to learn and we have no intention of becoming complacent.
In any case, again let me thank you all. Now that I feel that I have aty least a little bit to contribute, I vow to lurk no more. Please continue to educate and entertain! You're all SO GOOD at it!
Regards,
Grendel
) and you both look set to enjoy and become more and more hooked to this wonderful sport, as we all are.
