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Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:56 am

I'm PADI Certified, been diving for about 15 yrs. Maybe 50+ dives in my book. While I live in New England, I have NO desire to dive around here (water is clearest in Feb, you need a full drysuit, and then you might get vis of 15' or so). They call it "Braille Diving". Never done it.

I dive in warm water, basically many spots in the Carribean and also Hawaii (by a slight margin, my fav spot to dive in the world). Done some wrecks in Bermuda, and swam with some REALLY neat sealife in all places.

Of note a (probably) 150-200 yr old turtle in HI (she followed me all over the place), through a cavern of 8-10 4 foot long "sleeping" tarpon in Cayman, saw a sea ray swim by the dive boat in shallow water that tip to tail was over 25 feet. Amazing sight, like watching a submarine go by. Even the divemaster was stunned, and jumped from the 3rd deck of the boat with his camera to get a pic. Octupi on the back wall of Molokini crater in HI, reef and nurse shark encounters at 50-140ft.

Some experiences I will never forget. I also dabble in and am fascinated with free diving....

Anyone else dive?

Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:16 am

johnshenry wrote:

back wall of Molokini

The back wall is by far one of my favorite dives. only done it twice. Look down... no bottom. Look to the open ocean... no end :shock:
I've done the crater countless times. I've only been diving around here so I don't have much to compare it to. Pretty damn amazing though.

Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:19 am

DraginInk wrote: johnshenry wrote:

back wall of Molokini

The back wall is by far one of my favorite dives. only done it twice. Look down... no bottom. Look to the open ocean... no end :shock:
I've done the crater countless times. I've only been diving around here so I don't have much to compare it to. Pretty damn amazing though.

I'll never forget that one. You are right, bottomless blue. It was a brilliantly sunny day, high noon, 150'+ visibility. "Outer Space" diving.....

I'm planning a return in 2010..... after some "down time down under" in Australia and New Zealand....

Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:29 am

I free dive as much as possible, but mostly just snorkle. I'm hoping to get dive certified this summer. We are lucky to have some very nice reefs wheer 15ft visibility is a very bad day. I have seen Catalina island at 70ft visibility...

Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:39 pm

DMNCLNR wrote: I free dive as much as possible, but mostly just snorkle. I'm hoping to get dive certified this summer. We are lucky to have some very nice reefs wheer 15ft visibility is a very bad day. I have seen Catalina island at 70ft visibility...

How warm does the water get there though. Isn't always pretty cold???

Didn't realize you could get that kind of vis. on the left coast. Might have to give that a try sometimes...

Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:45 pm

johnshenry wrote: DMNCLNR wrote: I free dive as much as possible, but mostly just snorkle. I'm hoping to get dive certified this summer. We are lucky to have some very nice reefs wheer 15ft visibility is a very bad day. I have seen Catalina island at 70ft visibility...

How warm does the water get there though. Isn't always pretty cold???

Didn't realize you could get that kind of vis. on the left coast. Might have to give that a try sometimes...
Last summer when I was in Catalina the water was warm enough to swim without a wetsuit., although I am not sure of an exact temp. Emerald bay which is a local protected area has great sea life, and visibility. I rarely wear a wetsuit there either, and will go out for hours at a time, and dive as deep as 25 feet. There are some really nice dive spots out here, you should check it out sometime!

Thu Feb 14, 2008 5:00 pm

PADI certified since 1987. I have 50+ dives from open ocean, cave diving, fresh water and hunting. I've dove the Turkish coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the Azorean islands in the Atlantic and Washington state. I still want to dive but it seems I live in the middle of the country this time. When I lived I Biloxi I wanted to dive the oil rigs off the Gulf Coast but never had a chance.

Thu Feb 14, 2008 5:10 pm

I was PADI certified in 1989. I only went diving a few times shortly after becoming certified. I always had a great time and I do look forward to diving again someday.

Thu Feb 14, 2008 5:27 pm

I've been M.U.F.F. certified for quite some time.

Thu Feb 14, 2008 5:36 pm

SSI certified since 2002. Live on the coast of N.C. Graveyard of the Atlantic, Just south of Cape Lookout. Can be great diving, numerous wrecks, gulf stream water gets shallow enough in summer 72 to 74 degrees 120' to 145' . Little warmer in shallower water, visibilty averages 30 to 50. Biggest limit to visibility is huge schools of bait arount the wrecks, incredible sealife! Although the barracudas can be a little disconserting at times! Follow You around like puppy dogs! Been on a few 100+ vis dives! Nothing like it! Have some sites famous for shark dives! Makes Me a little nervous Myself!

Thu Feb 14, 2008 6:18 pm

Not certified but I want to do so, Grew up connected to the water, My dad and uncles dove all the time. I did alot of free diving catching lunch when I lived in Belize.
My dad is almost done with his boat and I am looking forward to diving on wrecks on the Carolina coast.

Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:21 pm

chickengeorge wrote: I've been M.U.F.F. certified for quite some time.

Somehow I knew that was going to be brought up in this thread eventually....

Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:12 pm

PADI Advance Open Water certified since '85. Don't do it much anymore due to my location; don't like cold water. :x I have dove all over the Pacific. The best is obviously Hawai'i (Maui, Kona & O'ahu). But I enjoyed Guam, Palau & Ponape. Have to say the best I've experienced was a small atoll called Kwajalein. It is not open to the public and is home to the "Star Wars" missile range complex run by the US Army. You can dive in the lagoon on wrecks from WWII and I have numerous Sake & beer bottles from Japan from the wreck of the Okibisan Maru which was sunk in 1944. I also had the opportunity to go on an all day excursion dive with the local American contingent up the chain in a WWII era landing craft and we dove all day. Table coral 8' across and we dove on reefs that no human has probably EVER dove on...I have some pics somewhere. Did a lot of free dive spearing in Hawai'i while growing up too, but my lung capacity ain't what it used to be.

Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:43 pm

wish i could dive but the doc said NO, never. :cry: spontaneous lung collapse has occured once and will again on the other side if i go down with pressurized air. last collapse required surgery, and i would rather not do that again

but i can snorkel, and i hear that if you want the reef diving, but dont want to go all the way down under (the globe, not the muff), the planet's second largest reef is south of belize. not as likely to be feeding the great whites either :)

Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:43 pm

I was first certified for Padi Open water in summer 1978
advanced open water winter 1978
spent 4 years diving for the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans doing underwater herring surveys.
Many wreck dives and salvaged a Bell 212 . A couple of under ice body removals from skidoo going through the ice.

One dive story
One of my buddies operates a '80 seine boat and has a aft cabin that he would lift his skiffs up and rest on the roof for traveling.
He was lifting a skiff that they had just installed a brand new Yamaha 50hp motor on, something went wrong and the skiff hit the "aft dog house"hard and sheared the motor right off . The motor hit the the side rail and sunk in 45ft of water. Just missed the captains 15 year old daughter by inches.

The boat was tied up at the dock and they knew exactly where the motor
went from the big gouge in the wood work.
It had been raining and there was mud in the water-
zero for visibility.
I hooked a line with a cannon ball on it and lowered it over the spot where the motor hit the drink.
I went down and found the bottom still no vis- I looked right into the bright light I have and all I could see was the filament coil glowing.

I didn't have fins on so just felt around in the muck with my foot.
I felt a old broken bottle --then a old battery-- then felt the motor.

I bent down to tie a bowline on the motor when out of the corner of my eye I see two huge eyes coming my way fast.
I threw up my arm to protect myself and realized that the two eyes were my luminescent gauges--heart was pounding pretty good that time.
we pulled the motor up and sent it off to be repaired.

We have a under water video search camera that saved a lot of search time.

I still dive and get a few inspection dives in and a few nets in the wheel each year.

The best piece of equipment I use is a weight belt with shoulder straps so much more comfortable to wear.

The water here in the Pacific is about the same temperature all year 55F

Me and the IMAX camera from the IMAX Underwater 3D movie
Diving has been a very profitable for me and always plenty of adventures

hank.

[img][/img]

edit for spelling-duh

Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:49 pm

NAUI Certified in Puget Sound 10 years ago...42 dives in my log. Best dive: the cathedrals 1 before they collapsed in a south swell a couple summers ago Lanai... Best night dive Garden ell cove, big island... Manta rays like crazy, yeah I got pics... well video. I love shore diving at 2 step Big Island, I have kayaked out to Capt. Cook Monument in Kealakaua Bay with tanks many times and had some great dives there.
Every where I dive in Hawaii the Honu all ways find me, always.

One of the most incredable experiances was diving on Lanai last year, on our surface interval, there were over 200 spinners with us and we spent the entire time snorkling with them. They kept swimming through us and then coming back again. They stayed for more than an hour. It was unbelievable. Just magic

edit for spelling mistake...

Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:14 pm

SSI for 15 years. Cabo, Hawaii, Jamacia, So Cal, all have their pluses and minuses. Will be going to Providenciales (sp?) Turks and Caicos in June, should be a good time.

Tiger shark in Cabo Pulmo freaked me out, oh and the 500 lb grouper.

I suggest everyone who is fit should be certified.

Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:07 am

Wow, great stories. Funny one about retrieving the motor TOW'D.

We were diving snorkeling off a boat years ago somewhere in the Caribbean, and I had been free diving pushing my limits progressively with depth/time and getting some good dives over a minute. Some girl dropped her weight belt getting back in the boat and it hit bottom. Me and another guy had our masks and were in the water, we both looked down and then at each other, and at exactly the same time said "Think you can get that?".

He tried and made it to about 7 feet of the bottom. I hyperventilated while he tried again, and took a shot at it. I know my neutral buoyancy point is around 20-25, and when I felt my self free falling to the bottom, I knew I was below that. But I stuck it out, grabbed the belt, kicked my way up past NB, and free floated the rest of the way up, breaking the surface good an blue and dizzy. It was one of those scary things that you do, then say "Ok, done that, no need to do it again". I checked the depth gauge on the boat and it was reading 34 feet. I'm sure seasoned free divers can go well beyond that , but I was pretty proud of that one.

I agree, if you are healthy and even THINK you might like SCUBA diving, DO IT. It is the most incredible experience.

I scare my wife because I am attracted to sea life that is not showing a threatening posture. Sea life of any size. When I had a chance to swim into the cave with the sleeping tarpon, she wouldn't go. I swam within 2 feet of a 400+ black grouper that was just hovering like a blimp, I could hear my wife banging on her tank for me to get away.

I did a lava tube on the big island of HI, a little scary once I got in to the narrow part and the shore surge became suddenly evident.

The plan in 2010 is to do a 3-4 week trip and hit Australia/NZ and HI on the way back. Only problem is that we'll have to go in the (northern hemisphere) summer months, so I am wondering what Australia and NZ will be like then.....

Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:26 am

I was PADI certified in Long Beach back in the early 80's while I was in the Marines. I haven't made a dive since I was in the Philipines in 1988. Too many critters in the water around here that would love to have you for dinner.

Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:17 am

johnshenry wrote:
The plan in 2010 is to do a 3-4 week trip and hit Australia/NZ and HI on the way back. Only problem is that we'll have to go in the (northern hemisphere) summer months, so I am wondering what Australia and NZ will be like then.....

You'll be alright, I get by surfing in a 4/3 wetty on the west coast of the mid point of the north island. They recently sunk the SS Canterbury in the BOA (Bay of Islands) in Northland's east coast. It was a NZ Navy Frigate, so that's pretty popular if that's your gig.

I know the southern lakes are pretty popular for divers, around Fiordland/Southland area. Clear waters and all with some radical local only underwater scenery. Be prepared for bitter cold if you want to go there in deepest darkest winter though, you'll be diving with snow capped mountains with sheer cliffs falling straight into the sea/lakes. Doesn't seem to stop people though - crazy.

Best to come in summertime, We get a fair bit of rain in winter, the runoff from the land will murk up the sea water closer to shore somewhat, but the Bay of Islands has a fair few offshore islands that'll give you what you want, as will the islands off the Coromandle peninsular east of auckland.

A group of islands called the "Poor Knights Islands" accessed from Paihia/Russell in the Bay of Islands is what you want to write down in your notebook. I've never dived there (actually I've never dived at all) but I've sailed through/past there many times, you're out on the edge there, and you'll see everything you want, and probably things you don't want to see. It's a Marine Reserve, and has been for a long time.

Another Marine Reserve is Goat Island, about an hour north of Auckland, I take my kids snorkeling there in summer, I go once or twice a year for cheap/free entertainment, you step off the beach straight into an aquarium. I can't even imagine what the Poor Knights would be like given the same "protected" status of the reserve.