The scuba diving thread

[austic]

Leaving tonight to dive Costa Rica....cant wait

[Freeskier]

Originally posted by msommers
Has anyone dove out of Comox, Van Island? When I was doing my class/pool sessions at The Dive Shop, my instructor was really raving about this as a must-see cold water diving destination. If anyone has been there, what dive shop(s) would you recommend?

Comox has some wicked diving around there. Some really excellent walls and a couple cool wrecks. Highly recommended. I've done maybe 6 dives out there? Took a couple trips up from Vic, but don't know the area suuper well. Definitely going to go back and do some more.

[statick]

To any who are interested in trying out scuba in a controlled environment (i.e, a swimming pool), call The Dive Shop and let them know you'll be taking advantage of their free Discover Scuba offer for Saturday afternoon, 1pm-5pm.

If I was in Calgary, I'd consider going just for kicks.

[D'z Nutz]

Statick and I have been talking about doing that dive up at Lake Minnewanka this summer that was discussed last year but never happened. Anyone interested? He mentioned he's available July 17-21.

With that said, I'm probably going to go do my dry suit certification if anyone wants to join.

[Go4Long]

I'm doing dry suit with The Dive Shop June 27th at Chaparral along with the wife, still 4 slots left if someone wants to join. Gertie is the instructor and she's excellent.

[D'z Nutz]

What's the day's schedule like?

[Go4Long]

it's an evening thing. 4pm - whenever you finish up. I was the only student on the dives on Wednesday Thursday this week and I was out of the water by 6:00 both nights. With more students it would be longer, but as long as you're decent at the skills it can go quickly.

Dove Forget Me Not Pond today, 41 degrees in a wet suit, it wasn't bad. Lots of visibility, couple fun things to see down there, all around good 2 tank dive.

[statick]

Originally posted by Go4Long

Dove Forget Me Not Pond today, 41 degrees in a wet suit...

Nicely done!

[Go4Long]

Yeah, I'd do it in a wetsuit again for sure. It's not that bad. The toes got a little cold, and it's a bit of a shock to the face at first, but other than that, cruised around, checked out the sights.

[statick]

Damn, I miss being close to the mountains and their lakes!

Derrick, a dive to Forget Me Not Pond, Two Jack Lake and/or Lake Minnewanka sound great to me, either during that week or on Saturday, July 21.

Again, you don't need to get drysuit certified

[msommers]

I'm looking at getting my drysuit done as well. Not sure if I'll be able to join you guys as work season is starting up and schedule is kind of unpredictable. Early July is the best I can think of right now.

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by statick
Damn, I miss being close to the mountains and their lakes!

Derrick, a dive to Forget Me Not Pond, Two Jack Lake and/or Lake Minnewanka sound great to me, either during that week or on Saturday, July 21.

I'm up for anything! I've been on dry land for too long! I actually have almost 4 weeks of vacation. I'm not against the idea of taking a few days off if you want to do a mid week trip

Originally posted by statick
Again, you don't need to get drysuit certified

Originally posted by msommers
I'm looking at getting my drysuit done as well. Not sure if I'll be able to join you guys as work season is starting up and schedule is kind of unpredictable. Early July is the best I can think of right now.

Yeah, I'm actually thinking of doing it early July too. One of my wedding clients from earlier in the year is a diving instructor. I'm gonna hit him up and see what his schedule's like. Let me know if you want in.

[Go4Long]

Originally posted by statick
Again, you don't need to get drysuit certified

I've had this discussion with a couple of the instructors/people that work in the shops/one of my dive buddies. Yes, you CAN dive in a wetsuit in sub 40 degree water. You probably won't die, and if you pay attention to what your body tells you, you can avoid hypothermia.

The real question is why would you? It's not that all these people that dive with drysuits are pussies. They just understand that it's more enjoyable to dive warm. It's not just about being warmer, it's about the fact that you're not focusing on being colder, which gives you more time to focus on what you're diving for in the first place. To see the marine life, or whatever you might be looking for.

It means longer dives before temperature becomes a factor.

Originally posted by D'z Nutz
One of my wedding clients from earlier in the year is a diving instructor. I'm gonna hit him up and see what his schedule's like. Let me know if you want in.

Who's that? from where?

[interlude]

I would be interested in getting my dry suit specialty training. I'm currently an advanced open water diver, im slowly (when I have vacation time) to log more dives to progress into a DM

[Go4Long]

My goal is to get 40 dives this year...I think once I get the dry suit getting to that will be much easier. I'm also planning on doing my advanced, it's just a matter of finding a weekend that works for me to do that.

[austic]

I think I am going to finally get my advanced this summer. I just dont see the point of it. I still dont but its an easy way to combo my dry suit cert and do a few local dives.

[Go4Long]

your advanced is really just a way to start on a bunch of specialties and see what you like.

[statick]

Originally posted by Go4Long

I've had this discussion with a couple of the instructors/people that work in the shops/one of my dive buddies. Yes, you CAN dive in a wetsuit in sub 40 degree water. You probably won't die, and if you pay attention to what your body tells you, you can avoid hypothermia.

The real question is why would you? It's not that all these people that dive with drysuits are pussies. They just understand that it's more enjoyable to dive warm. It's not just about being warmer, it's about the fact that you're not focusing on being colder, which gives you more time to focus on what you're diving for in the first place. To see the marine life, or whatever you might be looking for.

It means longer dives before temperature becomes a factor.

Who's that? from where?

I hear you that diving dry may be preferable to most, but i genuinely enjoy the wetsuit and don't feel the cold too much at all. My comments are mostly just to take the piss out of Derrick

That said, I definitely want to take the ice diving speciality, so I'll probably do the drysuit one too.

From what I recall, the instructor being referenced is Dan Payne from Char's place.

[Freeskier]

Drysuits are pretty much required for multiple dives on the west coast, especially at anything below 60ft. I was doing a directed studies project in Bamfield on Vancouver Island to finish up my degree and we were doing 3 dives a day for 4 weeks. Would have been really difficult to prevent hypothermia for that long in the water in a wetsuit. If diving in Canada is something that you want to do fairly regularly I would HIGHLY recommend a drysuit.

[statick]

Originally posted by Freeskier
Drysuits are pretty much required for multiple dives on the west coast, especially at anything below 60ft. I was doing a directed studies project in Bamfield on Vancouver Island to finish up my degree and we were doing 3 dives a day for 4 weeks. Would have been really difficult to prevent hypothermia for that long in the water in a wetsuit. If diving in Canada is something that you want to do fairly regularly I would HIGHLY recommend a drysuit.

Apparently the west coast of the island is gorgeous, I'll definitely have to come out some time.