Any Bander Scuba Divers???

[Marimaru 7]

BPM,

You do need to be certified to dive. Search around for a local dive place, or Sport Chalet or something. Don't pay more than $200 for the classes, lol.

Learning to dive is not nearly as fun as actually going to dive, so don't let the classes, and the pool work, or even your first four dives (certification dives) throw you off.

My best story is going to Hawaii and doing the Manta Ray dives they have there. At night, everyone gets together in one place and they lay out this big light crates, and then everyone also points their dive lights upward. The mantas can then see all of the plankton floating around and come swooping in to take advantage of the feast you've gathered for them. You aren't supposed to reach out and touch them, but that's okay, because they'll swipe their wings over you a bunch of times. The biggest one that is a 'regular' there is either 14 or 16 feet across the wing span, and he was there on one of the nights we went. They have pictures and names for all of them in a book so you can see who you 'met' that night.

My first 'real' dive after being certified was off of the Florida Keys. We saw a nurse shark during that dive, which was cool, but what really freaked me out was all of the baracuda! They were EVERYWHERE!! On that same trip, I also got to go snorkeling with manatees. I didn't get knocked around like wheetsin, so I think it was more fun for me, lol.

I have an advanced open Water certification, and I've been thinking about becoming a master diver. It only takes a few more specialty courses to get, 5 or something.

[Wheetsin 714]

Do you have to be certified, take classes, can you rent equipment etc?

There is class work, pool work, and if you want open Water certification you'll have to complete a variety of activities in open Water. That's pADI anyway, I'd imagine NAUI, WASI, etc. have the same basic criteria, but can only speak to PADI for sure.

In the pool you'll have to do skill tests like a swim test... don't remeber the distance but several in our class struggled.. and you have to float for x number of minutes... no problem for the fatties. Then you have to do dive skills... breathing underwater from a free-flowing regulator without having it in your mouth, mask removal/clear, hovering, etc. You do the same things in open water, and then some, like your CESA (controlled emergency swimming ascent), emergency breathing, etc. There's nothing like being on 50 degree water and having to flood your mask with water *brrr*.

I don't remember exactly what I had to do to pass my advanced cert, but it was things specific to the categories of advanced diving. I remember I had to dive Nitrox, night dives, nacigation dives, recovery dives, deep dives... basically, all the fun stuff.

[KimInMD 1]

Hello All!

Great thread- thanks for all the posts! My doctor told me that there was no problem diving with the band. If I thought for a minute there would be a problem, I would have choosen bypass instead. Diving is just that important to me! We leave for a trip next Thursday, so I'll find out soon if there's a problem. I am sure that I'll have to make an adjustment to the amount of weight I use. Before the first dive I'll guess at the amount of weight I need, then have to do a buoyancy check. My BCD has an adjustable strap, so it should still work for awhile. My wetsuit should still fit until this winter. Thank goodness for stretch! If you keep a dive log, record your current weight and the amount of weights you were using at that time. It will give you a starting point for the next dive trip. My DH is my buddy, so we'll make a new signal in case of some band related problem. I'll post when I get home and let everyone know how things went. :ip: