vjongene
Contributor
I have 20 years of OC diving behind me, and I am thinking of switching to bubble-free diving. I did a "discover rebreather diving" experience a week ago, which included some basic info about the rebreather (a Hollis Prism 2) and emergency procedures (switch to BOV if anything seems off), a pre-dive check, a bit of shallow/confined water basic skills, and a 1 hour dive at <10 m. It all went well, except of course that my buoyancy control was all over the place. The instructor was fine, he runs the only tec diving shop on the island.
Now comes the big decision about whether to go for a full course ($1500 for a CCR 40 cert) and buy a rig. I was told that if I did, I could buy the rig used for the course at about half retail price, which sounds reasonable. But that raises more questions. Is the Hollis Prism really the best unit for "recreational" CCR diving? There are no dealers for any CCRs on the island, so how much of a pain will it be to get service? I can get parts shipped here from most places, but at a premium. Or should I just forget it and stick with OC diving as I have for the last 20 years, and I am now pretty good at?
Any advice would be appreciated. I have not made up my mind yet. Thanks!
Now comes the big decision about whether to go for a full course ($1500 for a CCR 40 cert) and buy a rig. I was told that if I did, I could buy the rig used for the course at about half retail price, which sounds reasonable. But that raises more questions. Is the Hollis Prism really the best unit for "recreational" CCR diving? There are no dealers for any CCRs on the island, so how much of a pain will it be to get service? I can get parts shipped here from most places, but at a premium. Or should I just forget it and stick with OC diving as I have for the last 20 years, and I am now pretty good at?
Any advice would be appreciated. I have not made up my mind yet. Thanks!