Thanks for all the direct & indirect help with equipment and safety!
Before joining scuba board was diving at cheap backpacker shops. The worst last year was: New rental masks at every shop that fogged & leaked to various degrees, overactive, non balanced, sometimes leaking & free-flowing regs, (even refused one 20 yr old entry level reg without a purge cover & dove with another reg later to find out it was covered with algae and mud inside), delaminating booties, oversized wetsuits with holes, rust in the 1st stage valves, two different sized limp and pathetic fins with cotton socks on one foot to compensate, no divers insurance & no id tags in very remote areas, leaking oversized, tattered BCDs that barely functioned at surface and functioned poorly in swells and no computer or compass--all this with occasionally incompetent DM's.
Now! Thanks to you all and a bit of change from my pocket, I have a beautiful: MK17 G250V ScubaPro reg, new BCD that fits and works!, Fins that match and have power!, beautiful low-volume mask that promises not to fog or leak, (blunt-tip dive knife (and have lost the naive fantasy of both "vicious" sharks and the idea of fighting them off with dive knives ;-), compass, safety tube, built-in whistle & DAN insurance/dog tags with emergency numbers & mirror - just in case), a conservative dive computer, no holes in my new great-fitting & great looking wet suit, booties with nice soles, a snorkel if conditions suggest useful, and a couple extras for comfort like dive hood/gloves.
Still a dork diver at heart but hopefully you all have helped create one less casualty waiting to happen
. Cant wait for the next month long trip, counting down: only 3 weeks to go!
Going for Rescue diver and about 30 dives this trip (totaling about 90 dives-or maybe even 100 (can't wait to celebrate!). Anything else (besides an underwater light) to add to my already overweight airline bag? Starting to feel a bit like a dork with all this stuff - in a different way ;-).
Thanks again to all of you who have helped out! See ya in the blue!
Before joining scuba board was diving at cheap backpacker shops. The worst last year was: New rental masks at every shop that fogged & leaked to various degrees, overactive, non balanced, sometimes leaking & free-flowing regs, (even refused one 20 yr old entry level reg without a purge cover & dove with another reg later to find out it was covered with algae and mud inside), delaminating booties, oversized wetsuits with holes, rust in the 1st stage valves, two different sized limp and pathetic fins with cotton socks on one foot to compensate, no divers insurance & no id tags in very remote areas, leaking oversized, tattered BCDs that barely functioned at surface and functioned poorly in swells and no computer or compass--all this with occasionally incompetent DM's.
Now! Thanks to you all and a bit of change from my pocket, I have a beautiful: MK17 G250V ScubaPro reg, new BCD that fits and works!, Fins that match and have power!, beautiful low-volume mask that promises not to fog or leak, (blunt-tip dive knife (and have lost the naive fantasy of both "vicious" sharks and the idea of fighting them off with dive knives ;-), compass, safety tube, built-in whistle & DAN insurance/dog tags with emergency numbers & mirror - just in case), a conservative dive computer, no holes in my new great-fitting & great looking wet suit, booties with nice soles, a snorkel if conditions suggest useful, and a couple extras for comfort like dive hood/gloves.
Still a dork diver at heart but hopefully you all have helped create one less casualty waiting to happen
. Cant wait for the next month long trip, counting down: only 3 weeks to go!Going for Rescue diver and about 30 dives this trip (totaling about 90 dives-or maybe even 100 (can't wait to celebrate!). Anything else (besides an underwater light) to add to my already overweight airline bag? Starting to feel a bit like a dork with all this stuff - in a different way ;-).
Thanks again to all of you who have helped out! See ya in the blue!
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- JK 
