Greenhorn in the PNW! :)

[treesaptrish]

Hey there, I'm Trish and I'm super excited to join the Scuba community. I've been active on reddit and such, but I'm hoping to get my Cert soon, so I wanted to get more involved! Any beginner tips of course are welcome, I've probably heard most of it by now, but a lil greenhorn like me could use all the help I can get, especially tips for divers who are small, and not very strong! I am working on building strength, and overall improving physical fitness, and would like to specifically work on maximizing breath control to get the most out of my dives. Also, I have a wetsuit already, but if anyone has recommendations on an affordable drysuit for petite women, that would be greatly appreciated!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

There are a number of cost effective brands, USIA and Seaskin are two examples. But don't get any gear until after your certification and be sure to be certified in a dry suit during your open water class.

Where are you located? If in the Seattle-Tacoma area, I would recommend 8 diving (Eight Diving – A Seattle Diving Company and Dive Shop) or if you are more by Olympia (or down in Portland) then Off the Hook Diving (othdiving.com).

They provide the highest quality instruction in the area with their attention to proper weighting (including weight distribution) of which I cannot overemphasize the importance. They also provide quality equipment to their students and have smaller ratios.

The quality of training and equipment varies dramatically in the Puget Sound region. I guarantee you won't go wrong with either of these shops.

You may be interested in reading some of the links in my signature. Feel free to contact me directly or ask me questions here.

 

[Marie13]

If you’re an odd size, custom is the way to go.

 

[treesaptrish]

There are a number of cost effective brands, USIA and Seaskin are two examples. But don't get any gear until after your certification and be sure to be certified in a dry suit during your open water class.

Where are you located? If in the Seattle-Tacoma area, I would recommend 8 diving (Eight Diving – A Seattle Diving Company and Dive Shop) or if you are more by Olympia (or down in Portland) then Off the Hook Diving (othdiving.com).

They provide the highest quality instruction in the area with their attention to proper weighting (including weight distribution) of which I cannot overemphasize the importance. They also provide quality equipment to their students and have smaller ratios.

The quality of training and equipment varies dramatically in the Puget Sound region. I guarantee you won't go wrong with either of these shops.

You may be interested in reading some of the links in my signature. Feel free to contact me directly or ask me questions here.

Thanks so much for your reply! Oh I'm definitely not getting any gear until after my certification, mostly just budgeting right now. I found everything I need except for a Dry suit, which will be essential since I want to do cold water, being a Puget kid I live up in the Snohomish county area, so there was a place in Edmonds that was recommended to me, Underwater Sports up in Edmonds, if you've heard of them? I'll look into Eight Diving for sure, I haven't heard of them yet! I didn't start diving until I moved out of the Seattle area. Small ratios class wise is pretty important to me, so that's really nice!

 

[treesaptrish]

If you’re an odd side, custom is the way to go.

That's what I was thinking I'd have to do :/ I'm 5'0'' and 160, trying to get my weight down before I get a suit since I'm already planning on losing weight. Do you know if they're terribly expensive/who makes affordable customs?

 

[Marie13]

That's what I was thinking I'd have to do :/ I'm 5'0'' and 160, trying to get my weight down before I get a suit since I'm already planning on losing weight. Do you know if they're terribly expensive/who makes affordable customs?

The Seaskin mentioned above. Roughly around $1K.

 

[treesaptrish]

The Seaskin mentioned above. Roughly around $1K.

Oof! At least it's not quite as bad as I thought! Once I'm certified, I'll look more into Seaskin, thank you!

 

[Marie13]

Oof! At least it's not quite as bad as I thought! Once I'm certified, I'll look more into Seaskin, thank you!

My high end DUI custom drysuit was $4100. Most people don’t spend close to that much.

 

[treesaptrish]

My high end DUI custom drysuit was $4100. Most people don’t spend close to that much.

Whoa! good to know what i can expect in the future though, if i ever wanna go high end!

 

[Mrbigbe]

Whoa! good to know what i can expect in the future though, if i ever wanna go high end!

i just ordered a seaskin but have not got it yet. I did the Nova fully loaded with about everything you can add to it and only spent $1200 bucks. I am also about to be certified in Everett. if you order the seaskin go ahead and order all the under suit stuff too as it should all be made to kit into each other nicely.
I got the under suit ,shorty, and socks with all the options for another couple hundred.