Any Divers On The Board?

[1369]

(Go ahead with the obligatory Muff/Dumpster cracks and get them out of your system)

I was needing another bag to pack my cold weather gear for hunting, and in one of my sea bags I dumped out all my collected SCUBA gear.

I started diving in '95 while in Minnesota so I could have an excuse to travel to someplace warmer to escape the winter, but I haven't been diving since '97-'98.

I'm kicking around the idea of getting back into the sport and was wondering if anyone else on the board dives...

[Slomo]

I do

Actually if I could figure out a way of making a living by diving I would drop my current job in a heartbeat. I've been diving for over 10 years now.

One of the nicest and easiest diving location in the world I know of is Key Largo Florida. I think it's ideal for getting (back) into SCUBA, and it's one of the few diving destinations you can take non-diving family members with you.

[Slomo]

I read somewhere that there's an old flooded ICBM silo in Texas that you can SCUBA dive in. That must be one of the weirdest diving sites in the world.

[CosmicCowboy]

you guys should check out the research diver program at the old Aquarena Springs...this lake is absolutely gorgeous...

http://users2.ev1.net/~bob1957/AQUARENA%20DIG/Aquarena%20Springs.htm

We used to sneak in there from the ice plant when I was in college and it was still Aquarena Springs...we were the reason for the city ordinance they passed about not being able to swim within 100' of the glass bottom boats...we woulld snorkel in there...then swim up under the glass bottom boats and moon them...:lol

[SpursWoman]

AggieHoopsFan is....I don't know that he visits the Club much, though...

[Useruser666]

SW knows I'm a diver. She's sticks to snorkeling. :angel

[rl64tx]

SW knows I'm a diver. She's sticks to snorkeling

Yum-Yum HAIR PIE!!!!!!!


Any Divers On The Board? Isn't it to cold to be divin' in??? :smokin

[CosmicCowboy]

wet suits

unless water temps are in the 80s/90s ya need to wear one anyway to keep from getting hypothermia...its amazing how cold you can get in 70 degree water on a 45 minute dive without one...

oh yeah...I still have my card but haven't dived in a long time...

[NameDropper]

http://www.muffdiver.net/fx/tshirt.jpg

Oh yes.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Props to Spurswoman for remembering that. Yep, I'm a PADI Assistant Instructor (too broke to do the instructor cert.), got about 550 logged dives, have assisted in the certification of 502 divers to date, also do underwater photography.

The missile silo is one of those dives you do to say you've done it. It can also be very tricky and very dangerous. You're diving in a perfect cylinder and it's very easy to get disoriented in either direction (horizontal or vertical). Plus, the water's about 55 degrees so it's damn cold to begin with. It's alright, I've done it once but I doubt I'd make the drive to do it again (long drive to BFE). Save your money and go someplace warm :)

Aquarina's sweet, and if you are going to be in the central Texas region it's probably one of the best diving values you can find. The only trick is the certification course, which requires you to pass some pretty stout buoyancy tests including:

- swimming under a PVC pipe grid about two feet off the bottom, without touching the bottom
- swimming through an obstacle course of rings at different depths (can't touch the rings)
- picking up an object that weights probably 20 lbs. and moving it from one place to another while maintaining proper buoyancy

It's also a little tricky because the water is "fresh", but contains a lot of dissolved minerals, so the buoyancy factor is somewhere between freshwater and saltwater (tricky to get your weighting right which is absolutely essential for the buoyancy tests).

If you want to get back into diving after being out for a while, I'd recommend taking a refresher course to brush up on your skills (plus some things have changed since '98) before venturing back out anywhere.

Good cheap "close" trips would be Cozumel or Cancun (with the added benefit of lots to do on land as well :drunk ).

The last three straight years me and some friends from A&M have gone to the Bahamas in May on a liveboard (www.blackbeard-cruises.com), get a lot of diving in during a week, looks like it's going to be Mexico in May this year though.

[Slomo]

Props to Spurswoman for remembering that. Yep, I'm a PADI Assistant Instructor (too broke to do the instructor cert.), got about 550 logged dives, have assisted in the certification of 502 divers to date, also do underwater photography. I've made it to Dive Master under PADI + a few speciality course from IANTD for advanced Enriched Air... and then found I have no special interest in becoming an instructor so now I just do the refresher courses every two years to maintain my rescue diver status.

My financial black hole is underwater video, spend much more on it than I dare to admit to my wife. :oops

Do you have pictures somewhere on the net that we can see them? I've often said I'm going to post a few of my movies on-line but never did it - maybe this thread will provide for the motivation.



The missile silo is one of those dives you do to say you've done it. It can also be very tricky and very dangerous. You're diving in a perfect cylinder and it's very easy to get disoriented in either direction (horizontal or vertical). Plus, the water's about 55 degrees so it's damn cold to begin with. It's alright, I've done it once but I doubt I'd make the drive to do it again (long drive to BFE). Save your money and go someplace warm :)
I figured as much, still pretty unique dive site!

[1369]

AHF

You might also want to consider Bonaire instead of Mexico. I made that trip back in '95 and it has to be one of the best dive sites on the planet.

I'm still kicking around the idea of getting back into it, but since I'm a gadget nut, I'd be afraid of all the new "gee whiz" stuff I'd just have to get. When I was into it, Suunto was just coming out with the wireless rig that fits into your spare HP port and transmits to a wrist computer. I can only imagine what they've come up with now.

Hell, I have enough bow hunting crap right now to fill a tackle box that I don't need 3/4 of.

I did read an article a few years back about diving the Andrea Doria and how that is the equivalent of climbing Everest. That would be an interesting dive to make (after a few years of practice).

[Useruser666]

http://www.muffdiver.net/fx/tshirt.jpg

Oh yes.

What muff?

[Slomo]

Why do women like divers?

They go down often and stay down longer :eyebrows

[SpursWoman]

Why do women like divers?

They go down often and stay down longer :eyebrows


Who could possibly find fault with someone like that? :)

[Useruser666]

Who could possibly find fault with someone like that? :)

:p

[GoldToe]

Why do women like divers?

They go down often and stay down longer :eyebrows

Why do men like women divers?

Because they go down often and stay down longer and are used to swallowing a little salt during a dive.

[timvp]

I'll give it to you 1369, you saw it coming. :lol


(Go ahead with the obligatory Muff/Dumpster cracks and get them out of your system)

[Useruser666]

Isn't that what this thread was about? Oh! :oops

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

See if you can get to this

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/6746

That's my photo gallery on Scubaboard.com. UW Photography is my black hole financially... no wife though to get pissed about it ;)

The Andrea's an awesome dive but you really need to be up on your diving skills for that one, they've had a few folks get killed down there and the currents are a nightmare.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

This is probably my favorite photo right now...

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/500/6746nightxmastree.JPG

But I've started doing a lot of black and white...

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/513/6746corsair.jpg
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/500/6746predator.JPG
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/500/6746siesta.JPG
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/500/6746lookdownbnw.jpg
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/500/6746chainbnw-med.JPG

[1369]

Great pics.

Where'd you dive the Corsair?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Thanks!

Corsair's off the southeast shore of Oahu, about a mile from Diamondhead.

[Slomo]

AHF

Excellent pictures! I like both the colour and BW ones! But you can find tons of pretty colour pics, B&W somehow focuses more on the subject and have more character. The sunken Corsair with the two divers disappearing in a cloud of fish is just awesome!

Has any of your pics been published? Do you participate in competitions/festivals?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Thanks Slomo! I don't know what it is about the black and white ones, they seem to capture the mood and spirit of the object better than color pics.

Haven't really done any contests or anything, submitted a couple to the UN photo contest just for the hell of it (a girl I was dating at the time twisted my arm, and the winner does get 30 grand), doubt I'll win though, there's pros out there who shoot photos for a living that trump anything I could do.

[Slomo]

I finnaly got around to put a couple of my underwater videos on-line:

Video_1 (http://www.cikava.com/windward/KL_2k3.htm)

Video_2 (http://www.cikava.com/windward/Piran_uw.htm)

You'll need Windows Media Player 9 or newer.

[Guru of Nothing]

I started diving in '95 while in Minnesota so I could have an excuse to travel to someplace warmer to escape the winter, but I haven't been diving since '97-'98.


I knew this one guy in Saskatoon who was a certified diver, and he had to dive into a lake in February because a cow had fallen through some ice into the drinking water supply.

[Bandit2981]

after watching the movie Open Water, i have no interest in scuba diving...ever :spin

[2pac]

Wow AHF - as long as I have known you, I didnt know you were a diver too.

I am PADI Rescue.

[Slomo]

I knew this one guy in Saskatoon who was a certified diver, and he had to dive into a lake in February because a cow had fallen through some ice into the drinking water supply. I have a friend who is a diver in the police special anti-terrorist unit. He had to "dive" the sewers of Ljubljana to check for bombs before Clinton's visit a few years back. We of course made fun of him for a while until he brought photos of this "dive" - nobody made fun of him anymore (come to think of it, nobody has ever invited him into his home after it :) )