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Any Fellow Divers Out There?

duaneflowers

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 13, 2013
Messages
2,522
I just registered my latest Gibson online and noticed the scuba diving tickbox under interests. I gathered it must have a pretty high correlation to merit its own tickbox as many other popular hobbies must be relegated to the 'other' tickbox.

So, hands up... who else dives? I was recently whale shark diving in the Philippines and will be heading to a small Okinawan Island next month to dive with the local Manta Rays. I'm a Rescue Diver with 20 years under my (weight)belt and love to 'get wet' every chance I get!


Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? :spabout
 

chaz498

New member
Joined
Dec 18, 2002
Messages
147
Yep, another diver here! Hope you're lucky with the Manta's - we went to Komodo last year and were fortunate enough to have a 5m wingspan pregnant female hovering over our heads for about 5 minutes on one dive. So cool! They like current so near to high tides/full moons is best.
 

hoss

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 1, 2004
Messages
6,748
I had a great time scuba diving in the early 2000s and made it to SSI Master Diver.

Been to the Red Sea in Egypt many times and made most trips on liveaboard boats for a week.

Seen Mantas at Elphinstone Reef, also Oceanic White Tip (Longimanus) Sharks.

Excuse the picture quality, this was in the early days of digital underwater photography :dang

manta1.jpg


manta2.jpg


manta3.jpg


weissspitzenhochseehai1.jpg


weissspitzenhochseehai2.jpg
 

PaulD

Active member
Joined
Jun 25, 2007
Messages
673
Yes, Lifelong diver here. When I was younger did some fairly serious deep wreck diving with trimix (up to 100 metres), this was before it was trendy to be a 'techie' diver and the group I dived with were among the first in the UK to do mixed gas diving. More of a fair weather / warm water diver now though! My most recent trip was the southern Red Sea in Sudan where we had some great diving.

Paul
 

duaneflowers

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 13, 2013
Messages
2,522
Very cool... that Oceanic White Tip must've had your heart racing...

Here are a couple videos of a Whale Shark in Cebu and a Manta Ray in Okinawa... I'll see if I can find my video of a Banded Sea Snake in Guam, those sucker's venom is 10x more deadly than that of a cobra...


 

renderit

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
10,951
I used to back when I was younger. Now I avoid beaches as the damn kids keep trying to roll me back in the water! Last time I nearly drown.
 

63sg

New member
Joined
Nov 4, 2006
Messages
311
Open water advanced/Nitrox certified here for the the last 9 years. Only have about 250 dives to my credit, but been to a few nice places (Palau, Caribbean, Hawaii) and had some great fun swimming with sharks & taking video with my GoPro.

Off to Cabo San Lucas in December for golf and scuba.
 

tdarian

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Messages
3,575
Since 1990. Truk, Palau, Red Sea, La Paz, Yucatan Cenotes, and local Southern California waters my favorites.
 

Xpensive Wino

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 3, 2012
Messages
6,079
A dad has been killed in by a shark in front of his daughter as they were diving off the coast of Australia.


The victim, who has not been named, was diving for scallops off the coastal town of Orford in Tasmania when he was attacked.
Police said the man, aged in his 40s, had failed to reappear after entering the water from their dinghy.


His daughter, aged in her 20s, went in to find him and saw her father being attacked by a "very large" shark, believed to be a great white, police said.


She raised a flare to attract help but the man was fatally injured by the time he was pulled to the surface.
"This is a deeply traumatic incident for the daughter," said Inspector David Wiss.


The attack happened off the east coast near where a four and a half metre (15ft) great white shark was seen on Friday, government ranger Peter Lingard told The Examiner newspaper.


John Hammond from the Scallop Fishermen's Association of Tasmania said he was shocked by the news. "[It's an] absolute tragedy for the family. Bloody terrible," he told ABC.


"From what I understand his daughter was swimming with him so it would just be horrendous for [her]."


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/tasmania-shark-attack-dad-killed-6134852
 

BoyBastos

Active member
Joined
May 4, 2015
Messages
300
A dad has been killed in by a shark in front of his daughter as they were diving off the coast of Australia.


The victim, who has not been named, was diving for scallops off the coastal town of Orford in Tasmania when he was attacked.
Police said the man, aged in his 40s, had failed to reappear after entering the water from their dinghy.


His daughter, aged in her 20s, went in to find him and saw her father being attacked by a "very large" shark, believed to be a great white, police said.


She raised a flare to attract help but the man was fatally injured by the time he was pulled to the surface.
"This is a deeply traumatic incident for the daughter," said Inspector David Wiss.


The attack happened off the east coast near where a four and a half metre (15ft) great white shark was seen on Friday, government ranger Peter Lingard told The Examiner newspaper.


John Hammond from the Scallop Fishermen's Association of Tasmania said he was shocked by the news. "[It's an] absolute tragedy for the family. Bloody terrible," he told ABC.


"From what I understand his daughter was swimming with him so it would just be horrendous for [her]."


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/tasmania-shark-attack-dad-killed-6134852


...like a drunk uncle on thanksgiving, or any given day..pppfftt.
 

J T

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Messages
10,501
I have PADI Advanced Open Water.

You know finding stuff on the bottom like old bottles may seem uninteresting to most people, but coming upon something like that is exciting. Like treasure hunting. My friends used to make money cleaning the bottoms of boats, changing zincs, props and stuff like that at the marinas around here.
We would dive near the rocks and get lobsters at night. Even if we didn't find lobsters big enough, it was still a dive.
 

63sg

New member
Joined
Nov 4, 2006
Messages
311
I got my advanced open water cert in 2007. Did the classes, plus five final dives (two night dives w/navigation) in the marine part at Catalina Island to get certified.

One thing they make you do is take you down to 100 feet and start doing math problems to see if you're getting nitrogen narcosis. I passed easily, but there are some people who can't do addition and subtraction without an Excel spreadsheet or calculator. LOL

Night dives in the marine park there were awesome...rows of kelp with narrow cleared passages through them. I came around one corner and our dive master waived his arms wildly and pointed left. We swam up with our lights.

The one and only time I saw a large black sea bass six feet from me. This sucker was five feet tall, 7 feet long and two feet wide. He turned towards me and yawned (or sucked some fish in, I dunno). His mouth as 18 inches wide and two feet tall. That'll get your attention!

Lobsters galore. Huge. And protected in the marine park until lobster season in late fall. All we could do is imagine waving a stick of butter at them.

Since then, I got my nitrox certification and I've been all over the globe diving (over 250 dives now in 9 years). It's so damned relaxing...no phones, email or anyone who can talk to you. Just hand signals and underwater chalk/pen boards.

I go every chance I get. Next time will be Cabo San Lucas in December.
 

guitplayer

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Messages
2,114
I`ve been diving since 1982. Silver River(FL) was still open. I could see the glass bottom boats from where I would be.
From 1996 till 2003 spent an average of 36hrs a week under the water.
All work related.:dang
 

Rev.WillieVK

Active member
Joined
Jul 26, 2002
Messages
9,268
Used to dive and was pretty hardcore for 3-4 years; I always knew my ears would be a problem and after flying with the flu, my ears quit. I haven't 'sucked nitrogen' for over 20 years, and I miss it bigtime. :dang

i-cPSHvDt.jpg


i-8WVNwdj-L.jpg
 

duaneflowers

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 13, 2013
Messages
2,522
Holiday weekend coming up so I will be doing a little 'lite' beach diving. I'm a rescue diver, certified in nitrox, wreck diving, deep diving, underwater photography and underwater navigation. I can pick up my PADI master diver certification any time I decide to send in the paperwork... I never really felt the need to, maybe next month when I'm diving in Okinawa, that is a certified PADI establishment.

@chaz498 - Love me some mantas... night diving in Kona was the bomb as far as manta diving goes. They really loved the plankton we were making for them and they looped to prove it!!!
@PaulD - Trimix is way cool... its so nice to be able to stay down and enjoy for awhile. Most of my recent diving is nitrox and I really do enjoy the accompanying oxygen high!! :dude:

@63sg - Catalina is a hoot! Did you take a selfie with the Jacques Cousteau plaque? I love that kelp forest and the big bass are indeed awesome!!! Cabo sounds like a diver's dream... enjoy and don't forget your GoPro, those little suckers are awesome for diving. Those videos I posted were done on my GoPro Hero2.

@J T - I love finding stuff 'down there', especially the rare find when penetrating a wreck. Guam has some great wrecks, but they've pretty much been gone over with a fine tooth comb.

@guitplayer - I have a buddy who is a navy diver and he probably logged about as much as you did... he really appreciated the dives in his free time when he wasn't on the clock and/or wearing underwater hazmat suits for more 'sensitive' repairs. My brother also had to train as a diver when he was in the navy... his training was done in the Maldives... must've been a bummer...

@Rev.WillieVK - Are you blaming the diving or the Marshall stacks? :hee Seriously... no way to repair the damage? Not being able to dive would suck big time!!!

@Tokyo Mike - Spot any great whites? I know its rare... but that would be majorly cool! I may be heading out to Yonaguni Island this winter when and if the hammerhead swarms return. Been trying to get our schedules to sync up for a few years but one of us is always busy!

@tdarian - How did you like the Red Sea? How was visibility? Its on my short list...

@renderit - Stay away from Japan... whale hunting is still legal and I'd had to see you wind up with a harpoon in your a$$ (and please DON'T post the pix if it's already happened). :laugh2::laugh2::laugh2:
 

Xpensive Wino

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 3, 2012
Messages
6,079
@renderit - Stay away from Japan... whale hunting is still legal and I'd hate to see you wind up with a harpoon in your a$$ (and please DON'T post the pix if it's already happened). :laugh2::laugh2::laugh2:

Ren could go in the water with you and be your "chum" couldn't he?

Might attract a few "cool" great whites. :hee
 

tdarian

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Messages
3,575
duaneflowers, I really liked the Red Sea. We went in August 2009, flew in through Cairo and then into Sharm. Things were politically stable back then in Egypt and the area at large and I think the Red Sea resort areas would still be OK.

The diving was excellent! Warm air and water, abundant reefs and cool wrecks. You'll need to be comfortable diving off of smaller zodiacs in swift currents.

We dove with Red Sea Diving College aboard the VIP One. If you use the VIP One you'll stay in touch with us @ LPF because they are internet connected for most of the area. I recommend these guys. Excellent week!

http://www.redseacollege.com/sharm-diving-liveaboard/

http://www.vipone.com/
 
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