SCUBA thread
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![Plan-a-scuba-diving-trip[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/bodaB7j.jpg "Plan-a-scuba-diving-trip[1].jpg")
This is a general Scuba thread. Post dive stories, experiences, tips, advice. How many dives do you have? What certifications do you have and what ones do you want most?
>>643099
Is scuba /out/ or /asp/?
I have never seen a scuba thread
>>643099
Would love too but can't afford the travel.
I'll leave this here
http://www.divessi.com/dreamjobs
(although if anyone did that kind of job, I'd like to hear your experience)
PADI msdt, ~2000 dives. 6 years as DM and instructor, got out because money is shit once out of your 20's and your trying to settle down. there's always 10 brand new instructors waiting in line to take your place so not to many raises.
>>643280
That bad? I was considering an escape from my office job. Did you work abroad?
>>643722
Worked in Honduras, Philippines and Hawaii. It is just kind of a love/hate relationship with the industry. I absolutely loved teaching, it was a great seperation between work and play. Customers were almost always overwhelmingly stoked about the new experience and that was really rewarding.
Being a Divemaster is different and kind of hard to explain. You have dives where you didnt see much but people are stoked and thankful, but then you have dives you see some of the coolest shit on the planet but customers are unsatisfied because they're just those kind of people. DMing just turns into underwater hustling and every dive site ends up having a check list in your head for all the things you can point out, just in case something big or "cool" doesnt show up.
That really wore me down by the end along with having a couple close calls with people making bad descisions underwater and knowing that it is your responsiblity, even though it is out of your hands. When you do it long enough you are gonna have some shitty situations come your way.
All that being said, I still have good friends that are in the business and still absolutely love it. If you have drive to go and become a dive professional, I'd say do it. I have no regrets, but know that being in the industry is very different from being a certified diver who just wants to dive.
>want to scuba
>all water in my area is muddy 99% of the time
>just completed junior open water (think I was ~11) in the red sea
>dad (big on diving) decides to take me out on a 'proper' dive (previously had been entering through the shore and swimming in local reefs)
>go out on boat, proper nervous, ironically have a fear of open water, couldn't see land anywhere
>stop at huge column of stone, on the top there were people just sitting down on a sand deposit at the top (pic related, artists impression)
>mum is with me as well so she just sits on the sand
>dad is more experienced diver, he's doing a shark dive way below me (hammerheads I believe)
>shitting myself
>get in water with instructor
>it's mental
>huge column of stone is lit up like some cyberpunk tokyo skyscraper, pinks, blues, oranges
>to date probably one of the most beautiful dives I've been on
>other side is black, which slightly unnerves me but don't let it get the better of me
>swimming around, having a great time, see eagle rays, clownfish, moray eels etc
cont
>air running low so we make our ascent
>waiting during safety stop, everything's fine
>suddenly feel sharp pain in my calf
>it's a shark this is how it ends rip me - I thought
>it's a huge grouper, biting me
>grab instructor
>grouper is swimming around me
>he pushes his fins out towards it
>i'm shitting myself, can't remember if I was bleeding or not but I remember thinking the sharks were going to make a B line for me
>fuck the safety let's bounce
>out the water
>ask instructor what the fuck
>he said it was probably just protecting it's nest
>fully shaken up but everything went better than expected
------
>as I said earlier, mum was chilling on the sand on top of the pillar
>suddenly my dad appears from his dive and grabs her hand
>they start snorkelling around, looking at the pillar etc
>time to go
>they swim over to the boat
>mum gets out of the water, something's off
>boat doesn't look right
>looks over to other boats
>sees me
>what the fug
(forgot to include pic in last post)
>dad gets out of water, takes mask off
>it's not my dad
>some cheeky twat decided to try and pick her up in the middle of the ocean (mad game)
>mum has to jump back in and swim over to our boat
everything was fine in the end
>>644543
>biting me
that,, wasnt Biteing!
,, love the PIC,, feels like im right there., sexymom!,
,the fishys loveyou!
SSI Open Water, Wreck Diver, Nitrox, Deep Diver. FII level 1 Freediver.
About 50 logged dives on scuba and nearly 500 dives or more Freediving.
I'm a competitive spearfisherman and travel all around the country to spearfish. AMA I guess.
Also a ill tell a story or two I guess in next reply.
>>646209
>be on scuba on a deep wreck with college roommate who I did a trip to Florida and did about 20 dives with.
>be at 110ft chumming to attract grouper and snapper
>buddy is above me hovering at 95ft
>sand tigers lazily swimming around
>see a bull in the sand cruise by
>fish are coming in so I get distracted
>see a big gag swim by
>aim, pull trigger
>nothing.jpg
>the mate put the safety on the gun without telling me
>fish swims off
>getting frustrated as hell so heart rate increases
>not watching my air or dive computer
>snapper comes in
>point it out to buddy and make shooting motion
>he misses
>reload his gun for him
>suddenly gets hard to breathe
>check air
>literally out, maybe 100-200 PSI left
>ohfucktimetogo.mov
>swim to anchor line trying not to panic
>turn to look for buddy and signal no air
>sand tiger comes in super fast, jaws open, and takes a swipe at my fin
>chum aggravated the normally docile sharks
>jab my speargun into it's gill as it passes
>try to take a breathe as my heart rate skyrockets and panic sets in
>get half a breathe and then nothing
>totally empty at 100ft
>buddy is turned around about 10ft away unaware anythings wrong
>contemplate swimming for the surface without him
>swim to him instead and get there right as he turns around
>rip out his spare reg in a panic and shove it into my mouth and take a breathe
>holding onto his BC with a death grip
>he panics and kicks upward while holding his breathe
>buoyancy of both our vests kicks in and we fly to the surface
> he held his breathe and almost burst a lung
>once on the surface I gasp for air
>completely immobilized due to lack of oxygen and panic
>dive computers screaming cause I'm in deco and just shot to the surface
>manage to get out a scream "GET THE FUCKING OXYGEN!" to the boat
>can't swim myself to boat while still gasping for air
>another diver jumps I'm from the boat and grabs me by the BC to swim me ti the boat
>get on somehow and end up sucking pure O2 for an hour
>>646209
>>646210
Another cause im bored:
>be Freediving on drift dive
>have one dive buddy with me
>boat is super far away picking up other divers for next drift
>buddy and I are on the wreck
>see a wahoo and miss
>reload as a school of rainbow runners swims in
>pop a rainbow runner
>quickly pull in the fish
>suddenly hear "hey, Sharks!" from buddy
>look down and see s super large shape swimming straight up from below at us
>a second shape is just behind it
>shark comes in about 10ft away and does a half circle at our level
>see black spots/faded stripes on the 12ft Sharks back
>"oh fuck their tigers"
>watch in awe as the larger continues it's circle
>get back ti back with buddy so second shark can't get behind us
>both sharks swim off casually to the depths
>realize they were curious not hunting
>get picked up for 2nd drift and tell everybody we saw tigers
>continue to dive that spot
>see them two more times
Pretty awesome experience. Tigers are incredible to see in the water.
>>646209
How good does freediving feel?
Does it fuck your ears?
I'm considering it since it's, well, free.
>>646479
>does freediving feel?
gud.
,, but realy, Anon,, thats a lot ridng on the line,, Free and all., i mean, what if you dont like it?, your out lots of nothing.,, you may be running low on nothing., saveup til you have more.
,, look at LosAngeles /out/ thread,,, ALL that BLUE!, full of whales (ocean and land varitys),, fish craping all aver the place, Ecch!
,,, its just,, ANOTHER planet, complete with smatypants and pranksters who has Eyes on Stalks!, you get to FLY! for Doge sake!
>>645819
Are you okay friend? Seems like you're having a hard time posting
>>646479
Your ears are fine as long as you equalize them with your free hand every ~10 or so.
>>646214
>Tigers are incredible to see in the water.
can confirm
>>646547
Nice
>with your free hand
I don't want to hunt underwater, just observe.
>>646209
How deep did you dive?
I've discovered a buddy in my club dived 100 meters deep on a rebreather, blew my mind.
Does the pressure of the water feels different at deep? I feel that beyond 10 meters, I can't feel the difference (then again, I'm going through my AOW cert, so I haven't gone beyond 20m yet).
Hey out I'm getting my Basic dive cert nearly free soon (Cadets has it's bonuses) in Canada, are there any places worth diving near Ottawa? Or am I SOL with all the murky mud filled water in my area.
I've been a NAUI instructor for about 2 years now. I moved to the Caribbean at 16 when I graduated high school to work on boats so I could accumulate days at sea for my USCG 50-ton masters license. Originally I wasn't going to go to college but after 3 years of working as a deckhand/divemaster/instructor, I realized that I wanted a different set of skills so that I could have options in my future. As >>643280 said the pay isn't really that great, although as a captain there is much more room for raises. ~850 dives, all in the Caribbean, yet to do any kind of tech diving so that's my next step, and now that I go to uni in Scotland I'm looking to do some drysuit diving too.
A career in diving is good if you want to see exotic parts of the world and have relatively stable job prospects wherever you go, but it's hard work, often stressful, and not great pay.
Pic related is a boat I worked on for about 3 months in 2013
>>643099
Going for my PADI.
Want to go spear fishing and maybe underwater metal detecting.
>>643099
I'm getting scuba certified. I'm in florida and lionfish are an invasive species here, and apparently they're very centralized, very easy to hunt, and they pay off well. $5/lb. Has anybody had experience with this? I need some side money and this seems like a great way to do it once I get certified.
>>649373
Don't know specifically about Florida, but here in the Cayman Islands hunting lionfish can definitely be worthwhile. They're slow, territorial, and plentiful (they can dart quickly if seriously threatened, so get a feel for their movement and behavior before hunting). Get some good gloves and learn how to properly de-spine them. If you've never speared before, learn from someone in your area how common sharks are, because that can seriously affect the feasibility of whether or not your area is good for serious cash hunting.
my firstank,,was justa tank., i loved thatank!,, painted it yellow.
,, then i gota singlestage regulator,,lethe Gud times Roll!
,,, thats when i first started lothing how Clunky and HEAVY it was., And i had to find, and pay,, for air?
,with, no backpack, i just tucked it under my arm,, mental armer from toothys.
