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Checking in from SE Florida.
I am not, but please educate me, what does PADI stand for?
PADI (Professional Associations of Diving Instructors) https://www.padi.com
I've been a PADI Instructor since 1979, hold Numerous Specialty Instructor Ratings.
Held PADI and NAUI over 45 years ago. Certified at age 14. Went to 100ft on my check dive. Haven't strapped on a tank since 1971 or '72, can't remember.
Thanks. My hat's off to you gentlemen.
I am about as brave as the next guy, but have to admit to not liking getting in the water much and truly dislike anything on my face controlling my breathing it seems to make me claustrophobic, was all I could do in all those years in the Army when we'd go into MOPP 4. I need to be using a CPAP at night and just can't do it. The idea of being underwater a significant amount of times is just inconceiveable to me.
I met a guy who runs a dive shop in a nearby town, oddly, his was the closest place to fill the air tanks for my PPC rifles my cadets shoot. Got to talking to him and he's mostly in the teaching basic classes now and setting up trips for people, but he'd been a Navy salvage diver and had done all kinds of cool stuff including being called out for numerous water rescues and recoveries by state police. Good guy, I was glad I got a chance to meet him, but I'm also glad there are guys out there capable and willing to do stuff like that.
Thanks for the links. PADI sure has changed. My last dive was in the early 90s. I think they had only 5 ratings at that time.Quote:
Originally Posted by MUSTANG
I do not like swimming. Love diving. Love to hunt underwater with a speargun. Have done a bunch of liveaboard 7 day trips.
More of a recovery Diver through out the 90's. Now only recreational.
Born and raised in some beautiful waters here in Florida, can't say that anymore.
been certified since about 1980. back when I trained you had to prove you could swim and had to tread water for 30 minutes before you could sign up for classes. they only had open water and open water II. each class was 6 months once a week for 6 hours and after you finished open water II you were proficient at search and recovery, lift bags, deep dives (125 feet), nitrox, heliox, doff and don blindfolded, underwater navigation, cave and wreck, staged decompression, and a whole host of other tasks. I have dove all over the east coast and Bahamas, really love exploring wrecks. still have my twin tank set up but have not used it in 20 years.
bought one of those dive skins when they first came out( think full body pantyhose type material) it was advertised as protecting you from scrapes and stuff. was diving with a group off Florida and they were really making fun of me but after we surfaced we realized we had been rubbing fire coral, everybody except me had bad rashes and then they all wanted to go buy there own diveskins.
have a light for cave and wreck diving that uses a projector bulb and can only be used under water or it heats up to bad.
the heliox was fun to use, we all talked like donald duck for a good 30 minutes after we surfaced.
Certified P.A.D.I. rescue dive instructor back in the 80s thru the 90s. My work hours got to be to much and let it lapse. My hat is also off to all current and former instructors.
Recreational diver here with advanced certs.
Lets talk of the exotic dives we've been on
Checking in from Northern Michigan, been a rescue diver since 2003. I spear fish and underwater metal detect mostly now. Lived in the pacific north west for a while, believe it or not I have never dove warm water.
Tried diving when I was younger, really loved it. I kept getting bad ear infections so I finally gave up and moved on to other things. Never was certified though just out with friends who were.
Divemaster. Went on a dive in Florida a number of years ago and had to abort the second because of an air pocket behind a tooth. When I got home I got the tooth pulled. BTW: those offshore landing jacks are pretty cool to see. Who knew they put them on the beaches of FL during WW2 to prevent invasion? Got my cert in a snowstorm. Boy that was darn cold.
Best Dive? Maybe The Blue Hole in Belize. Looked up to see sharks circling overhead or maybe the coral spawn in Curacao on a night dive. Stunning place to get in the water. Curacao is also awesome. Went on a boat dive and they were short a trailer for the dive because of illness. I volunteered because divers are like that. Got a Staff Polo for my dive which is cool. One guy was a so and so. Knew more than anyone and wouldn't listen. Got in the water and despite warnings promptly went down 120ft or so. When he got back up they pulled him from the dive, wouldn't let him in the water again and called every dive operation on the island so he was banned. All on the first day of his dive vacation.
Have not been in the water in almost 10yrs due to work so it lapsed but my gear is still in good shape just in case.
I'm kinda interested in what gear people are using now since it's been awhile for me. I used a Sherwood Brute and still have it and it always worked for me. Good and versatile. Wore a Suunto Mosquito or a Citizen Cyber Aqualand NX with a Tissot Seastar 1000 as backup.