Scuba Diving...

[Wing Nut]

Best part about moving back to Florida.  

On top of that, I get to do my Divemaster Course, (I already have my Rescue Diver card) then I work on my Instructor certification.  Even better is that all of my gear is now 6 years old and I have an excuse to buy new stuff!

Anyone else here dive?

[Hai Perso Coyone?]

Ah, I wish I could dive..........

[Katahu]

I dive in Silent Hunter III.

[ozzy72]

I used to dive, been a few years now. Great fun

[Tequila Sunrise]

tried it for a while but could never get into it, prefer the other two kinds of diving (sky and  ;))

that said I suppose the water around Florida is a bit more initing than the River Clyde  :P

Craig  8)

[beaky]

Took almost the whole course years ago in Jamaica, but ran out of time and money for the certification. Then I started flying... $$

But I will eventually get my card... I've always enjoyed snorkeling, and SCUBA is like snorkeling cubed... the first time I went down the anchor line and kneeled on the bottom, looking up thru 30 feet of water as I took a breath.... it's fantastic!!
I'll probably get my cert.next time I visit Florida.
 Last time I was down there, went with a friend and his brother and their girlfriends to Crystal River to swim with the manatee; the brother's an instructor, and just happened to have extra tank, etc. with him, so I rented a BC and he took me down to the mouth of the spring for a brief lesson.
After we came up, they went down into the caves... and saw a couple of 6-ft tarpon hanging around the mouth- wish I'd seen that!!
But just snorkeling around with the manatee was good enough for me... you done that yet?

[Woodlouse2002]

First time I used a snorkle was trying to find a lost anchor this summer. Ever just sticking your head in over the side of a boat is fecking weird. Took about 15 minutes before I could actually breath with my head in the water.

[Theis]

I used to dive, been a few years now. Great fun

Was that after you learned, that the spitfire cant fly over the pund in one strecht?

[legoalex2000]

damn, id kill to learn how to scuba. i love being underwater as much as i love being in the air ( must hate ground... )

and of course when you get your  instructor's license, you won't be in illinois anymore...

oh well... have fun!

Ramos

[Rifleman]

[quote]

[Wing Nut]

1960!  :o  I'll bet THAT one has seen a few dives!  

Mantees are cool...  ;)

[beaky]

1960!  :o  I'll bet THAT one has seen a few dives!  

Mantees are cool...  ;)

If you've never gone over to Crystal River when the manatee are returning for the winter, be sure to check it out this year. Last time it had been very mild so far; people were saying they wouldn't be back yet, but they were everywhere!!
I rolled off the boat and almost landed on one, then looked below me and saw another cruise past  near the bottom. Within minutes I was observing a cautious mother and her very curious calf... she kept a flipper on him to keep him close by, but otherwise ignored me.
If you snap your fingers, they will often come right up to you and roll over so you can scratch their bellies. Like big water-dogs...

[Bazza]

Like Rifleman my CMAS ticket goes back towards 1980, (it's so battered I can't read the date.)

Both my wife and I team dived throughout New Zealand, mainly in the Bay of Islands and the Poor Knights Islands, considered by many to be some of the best scenic diving in the world.     Have also dived in the Fiji Islands, and the Great Barrier Reef off Australia.

Highlight of my diving was to explore the wreck of the Rainbow Warrior sabotaged by the French and scuttled as a dive site in the Bay of Islands.

Low-point of my diving is to look at my gear, stowed in my garage and unused for several years, the result of anno domini.

[Rifleman]

Majority of my dives were done in Georgian Bay .......

......off the Bruce penninsula, between my brother, sister and myself, we dove some wrecks in Fathom Five Provincial Park.........
.....the Charles P. Minch, the Sweepstakes, and the City of Grand Rapids........nothing deeper than 65 ft on these.....

........safe diver all the way !  ;)

[Wing Nut]

Boy, that sounds cold!  All of mine were done in Florida, mostly in the Keys.  I also loved diving in the springs.  My two favorite dives were the Eagle off of Islamorada and Devil's Den, a sinkhole in Williston, Fla.

Here's the Den...

http://www.devilsden.com/

Here's a good page on the Eagle...

http://www.upperkeysdivesites.com/z_pan ... ?siteID=34