oh happy day !

[mpittman]

Good to meet you all finally . I have been reading the posts here for quite some time , and learning what I can from you all . I begin my PADI o/w checkout dives tomorrow morning and am very very excited to pick up the sport of diving .
I've heard ALOT of pro and con about PADI training . I must say for the most part my personal experience with PADI has been pretty good , though only conditional. Had I gone into this course without any prior knowledge or personal motivation to read up on other diving courses , learn all I can about gear malfunction , the importance of redundancy , and practiced all of the skills i could without actually using scuba gear ( such as free swimming , mask removal , donning and doffing gear , etc) I would in light of what ive learned , feel VERY unprepared for even light recreational excursions.
On that note I would like to thank you all for your in depth opinions on , well , EVERYTHING . Your advice to others has been very helpful , and i look forward to more of it in the future.
If any of you in the arkansas/kansas/missouri/oklahoma 4 state area are ever interested in trying out a dive partner , I wont have my full time partner till my wife gets trained next spring . send me an email

 

[DandyDon]

Grab your money and run away quickly!! ut:

No, I spend a lot of money on gear and trips, but it's money well spent. If you can afford it, great. If on a budget, just work with it.

When you're gearing up with your assigned dive buddy, anc ehcking each others gear, be sure to tell him/her that he/she has his/her fins on the wrong feet. Act really concerned about safety.

You anywhere close to Lake Ten Killer?

Have fun!!

 

[mpittman]

looks like im about 2-3 hours from tenkiller. i know it takes me 1-1.5 hours to go south to ft smith . not sure of distance from there. labor day weekend is coming up next week and i plan on diving as much as i can . send me an email if your really interested in getting something together. How far from Beaver lake are you?

 

[ScubaKathleen]

Hello,

I did my O/W in Arkansas at Norfolk Lake. I belong to a scuba club and that is our Dive Masters favorite lake...Im in St Louis its about a 5 hr drive for me. I'll be up that way for a lake clean up dive first week of September.

There are a lot of dive sites around here that I havent been to yet. You should check out local dive clubs.

Cheers

 

[mpittman]

1st week of september eh? well , Im gonna do like everyone else certified late in the season and wear the new shiny off of my c-card as much as possible untill it gets too chilly . if you guys would like a hand with the clean up dive , by all means , give me a holler . I've spent a fair amount of time on the bottom around the dam area (with qualified supervision since im just now getting my c-card) cleaning up fishing line ,bottles , lures and what-not.
I see your looking for a dive buddy too . My wife should be getting her basic o/w around the time i do my aow and rescue diver next spring , and we do pass through missouri quite a bit to visit her family in KS , so if your ever needing a person or 2 to dive with , send us an e-mail

 

[inkabodpain]

hi & welcome to the boards