Starting Over...

[Donnie]

To All,

I just wanted to say "Howdy" and introduce myself.

I have been away from diving for a few years and have recently been asked to get back up to speed with my diving skills, so that I can offer some assistance with my department's dive rescue team. (In truth, its more of a "Recovery" team...)

As I looked through this site I was amazed by the amount of combined knowledge and information that is available on this site. It has also become very apparent how much "things" have changed over the past few years!!!

I've recently completed my refresher course, with an emphasis on altitude diving. (I live at 4,250 ft above sea level, and it will be were a majority of my diving will take place. (This "Nitrox" is a cool stuff!!!)

Most likely... I will just be doing a lot of reading at first... but when I'm ready... I hope my comments and questions are welcome!

Have a great day!

Donnie

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Welcome Back! Glad you found us here on scubaboard. Hope you can do some recreational diving also and have a bit of fun.

 

[GotAir]

to the Scuba Board!
I called the local volenteer fire department also and said I would help in anyway i can also. i guess its a way of giving back to the community in someway. Glad you swam in. hope to hear from you more.

Mike

 

[DandyDon]

Welcome to SB. :happywave Put us in your Favorites and check in often...

So, where are you, anyway? You're higher than I am! (Never have to ask a Texas member; we always put that in our Profiles. )

don

 

[DiveSurgeon]

Welcome back to the worl of bubbles. Nitrox is pretty cool, as is the onset of digital u/w photography - Photoshop makes us all great photographers!

 

[Donnie]

Thank you for a very warm welcome!

The sport and career of diving has (for the most part) attracted some of the finest individuals in the world. (Divers are "Good People") I'm pretty excited to get back involved with the sport!

GotAir,

Like you... I am also doing this for my local Volunteer Fire & Ambulance Dept. I have recently completed and received my E.M.T. - "Basic" certification. When my Chief saw all of my equipment in my garage gathering dust... he told me that if I was interested, the department would pay for all of my air and any additional training I would want!!!! Now that I'm diving again... I feel pretty silly for getting out of it in the first place!!!!

DandyDon,

Southern Oregon. My house is about 20 minutes from Crater Lake. I am hoping to dive Crater Lake this summer. (No easy access!) All of your gear must be packed (1) one mile down the side of the crater! In the mean time... there are plenty of other high mountain lakes with easy access here in the Cascades! (Not to mention that Crater Lake is under about 12 feet of snow right now! How much snow does "Amarillo" have this time of year? (Hee!... Hee!...)

Have a great day!

Donnie

 

[6Gill]

Thank you for a very warm welcome!

The sport and career of diving has (for the most part) attracted some of the finest individuals in the world. (Divers are "Good People") I'm pretty excited to get back involved with the sport!

GotAir,

Like you... I am also doing this for my local Volunteer Fire & Ambulance Dept. I have recently completed and received my E.M.T. - "Basic" certification. When my Chief saw all of my equipment in my garage gathering dust... he told me that if I was interested, the department would pay for all of my air and any additional training I would want!!!! Now that I'm diving again... I feel pretty silly for getting out of it in the first place!!!!

DandyDon,

Southern Oregon. My house is about 20 minutes from Crater Lake. I am hoping to dive Crater Lake this summer. (No easy access!) All of your gear must be packed (1) one mile down the side of the crater! In the mean time... there are plenty of other high mountain lakes with easy access here in the Cascades! (Not to mention that Crater Lake is under about 12 feet of snow right now! How much snow does "Amarillo" have this time of year? (Hee!... Hee!...)

Have a great day!

Donnie

Hi Donnie

Welcome back to the fold! :wavey:

I know how you feel, as I was a Rescue/Recovery Diver for my Department for several years as well as a military diver. I quit diving both for the department and recreational as well, mostly because I sickened of body recovery (Some 200 + Bodies, mostly young children.) I was away quite awhile lots of changes in equipment, etc.

I got the urge to dive again in 2000 and started all over once again from PADI OW to now PADI Master diver with a Nitrox speciality. Since I'm now retired from the Sheriff's Department, that I dove for I didn't get back into that business.....It's all fun stuff now :yippie17:


I wish you a lot of luck and hope you enjoy getting back into diving as much as I have.

 

[DandyDon]

Not to mention that Crater Lake is under about 12 feet of snow right now! How much snow does "Amarillo" have this time of year? (Hee!... Hee!...)

Snow? :frosty: I've seen snow here :loki3:at times. Not much, usually. The cycles seem to have something to do with Il Nino cycles.

don

 

[TCooperWFI]

Just starting back myself, SB has been a great source of info.

 

[Donnie]

6gill,

I noticed that you were from Federal Way, Wa. Back in 1990, I worked on a fish farm in "Rich Passage" which is between Bainbridge Island, and Port Orchard. I was already certified at the time, so they asked me if I was interested in diving for them as part of my duties. My answer was a very enthusiastic, "YES!!!"

After [3] three years of mending the nets that made up the fish pens, collecting dead fish from the bottom of the pens, and removing the Dog Fish that chewed their way into the nets while trying to eat the dead fish... I was absolutely sick of diving. (I probably averaged [3] three hours a day in my suit.) I then became a Police Officer for one of the local City Police Departments. When the P.D. found out I could handle a boat, I became part of the marine Patrol, with the option of doing "Search and Rescue". (Better known as Search and "Recovery".)

Making a long story short... I'm now in Southern Oregon working for the railroad. (The railroad pays "A LOT" more money than Law Enforcement ever dreamed of paying!!!) As I mentioned earlier, I have become a volunteer for the local F.D. as an "E.M.T.-B". (I guess the emergency response community is still in my blood... it tough to get away!!!)

Thanks for your response! I believe that I'm probably going to enjoy diving much more this time around since it will be primarily for fun... not as a job or "daily" grizzly duty! (We only had two water accidents last year. So... I think I can handle the reduced Call Volume!)

TCooperWFI,

Its great to know that I'm not the only starting all over again!

DiveSurgeon,

Got a new camera myself, I'll have to check out "Photo Shop". (I'm assuming that "Photo Shop" is some kind of program or web site?)

Have a great day!

Donnie