What are your dive plans for 2010?

[InTheDrink]

I start the year with a trip to Tanzania whilst drying out. 2010 is intended to be the year that I divest myself of my remaining dependencies (booze, fags and maintenance opioids). This will clearly be the biggest challenge and what I do to fill the voids will likely be scuba related.

A dive trip to Sudan in May or June looks also likely on the cards where I hope to hook up again with Longimanus.

Will try to nail my rescue course this year and work on improving all the areas I know I'm not great at.

Finally, I will see what I can do about this strange bulge that has appeared around my waist in the last couple of years. After seeing some of the xmas party photos, it's clear this can't wait another year

Have fun everyone.

J

 

[Sas]

I probably won't do a big overseas trip next year as I plan to put some more money into gear accumulation (buying doubles stuff at the moment, then I need a proper light, then a decent camera and a few other bits and pieces)

In March I will go interstate to Northern NSW to catch up with a bunch of SB'ers for a diving holiday like this year. This year was heaps of fun hanging out with the people I've met through here and the diving was excellent so really looking forward to it.

Then sometime later in the year I hope to go back to NZ and dive the Lermontov. It's a pretty cheap and easy holiday to go to NZ so I'll do that as my overseas trip hopefully.

I also hope to go interstate to Tasmania as the diving is supposed to be amazing there. Gin clear water, sea caves, beautiful scenery and so on.

Depending on whether I like Cavern (will find out next week) I might take some weekend trips up to Mt Gambier in South Australia to dive some of the caverns and sinkholes there too.

In between trips I hope to continue being able to dive each weekend and through the week for night dives after work. I have a few shore sites that I have barely explored and a few ones still to explore so I really want to do more dives there. I'll also be checking out more of the wrecks locally now that I've gotten some training in that area and also I'll have my own doubles so won't be needing to borrow kit off friends

 

[Scott]

Besides the local stuff I normally dive, I have a few days in February at Lake Mead Nevada to finish up a tech class.
I have a few days in southern California on a live a board in May, and then it's off to Florida in June for for a celebration where I was promised I could dive a couple of days.
In July I'll be in Cozumel and to finish off the year of travel I'll be in North Carolina in September for some wrecks.

It's going to be a fun year.

 

[StreetDoctor]

Hello Street Doctor,

Thanks for posting. When you have some time, what is GUE Tech 1? Do you have lifetime scuba goals or do you just take it a year at a time?

Hey Lee,

The GUE curriculum can be found HERE I wouldn't say I really have any lifetime scuba goals. Diving to me is fun and relaxing, when you start planning too much out it usually adds unnecessary stress. I'll dive where ever sounds like it'll be a good time. I can say I really enjoy all types of diving but my training will most likely focus on cold water deep wreck diving because that's what's most accessible living in Chicago. Blackwood if you end up around the Great Lakes drop me a line!

 

[Lee Taylor]

Hello Rocketmahn,

Consider Jupiter FL in September and October. The 700lb Goliath Groupers congregate there to mate that time of year. I have seen groupers before, but when I saw my first Goliath I was struck by one thing. It's HUGE! Check with the Jupiter Dive Center for timing details.

 

[DiverLS]

In March, Monterey and Pt. Lobos. In early May Tolum, MX and dive the Cenotes for a week so I can practice my newly minted Intro to Cave cert. Memorial day weekend, San Nicholas off the Horizon. Labor Day, Northern Channel Islands off the Peace Boat. End of October, Channel Islands, Peace Boat. Thanksgiving, Cave Country in N. Florida where I hope to get my Apprentice Cave cert. I'm taking this slow.

Oh - we don't have the 4th of July planned yet.

At least 4 more trips to Monterey and multiple trips to Blue Lake, a geothermal hot springs on the Nevada/Utah border.

Wahoooooooo.

 

[Lee Taylor]

Hello Saspotato,

A long time ago they use to say that double 60's were perhaps the perfect scuba set-up. What is the current thought along those lines?

 

[dmoore19]

I will be starting the new year diving. A trip to Roatan starts Dec 26 and we will be back home on the 2nd! This is my 2nd dive vacation.

I plan on getting my AOW cert and maybe Nitrox in 2010. I will probably look at all kinds of new gear but I already have most everything I need for the diving I currently do. Besides if I keep going to my LDS my wife may start wanting to know what I am spending, currently she just shakes her head and proclaims "I don't want to know"

Of course getting my AOW will require another trip, I wouln't mind another trip to Cozumel or maybe another trip to Roatan. (The wife says this summer she's going to Alaska to visit, I may be left to my own devices)

Of course this all depends on if my retirement plan (winning the powerball lottery) is completed. If that happens all of this may change.

 

[Lee Taylor]

Thanks for the invite StreetDoctor. It has been forever since I have been to Chicago, regardless, I will bear it in mind. These days my inclination is southward. There are some coastal southern Florida lifestyles that are attractive to me. Thanks for the link. Trimix has always been interesting to me. The LONG deco's and obligation to stay underwater has always kept me at arms length. Regardless, it is still interesting.

 

[Sas]

Hello Saspotato,

A long time ago they use to say that double 60's were perhaps the perfect scuba set-up. What is the current thought along those lines?

Well most people seem to be recommending double steel 100s, and I find them more comfortable than the others I've tried (55s, and 85s). I will most likely get the 100s

They're longer than the 85s, which helps trim-wise as I am tall (5'10") and for a lot of the dives I do I can do two dives with them too. Will be lots of gas too, which will be suitable for other dives as well. They are quite heavy to carry around though, which is a downside.