Hello From Vancouver

[ElectricSquid]

My 15 year old son and I recently completed our open water certification at a nice resort in the Dominican. Very relaxed. Just 2 of us with one instructor and plenty of time to practice skills. I paid $400 for my son to read a book. Unfortunately, they showed us videos with most of the information. I think he skimmed the text and still scored higher than me on the exam. Ah well. Maybe books are over-rated.

Looking forward to our first dives in cold water. At the moment we own no gear, and are going to rent this summer and figure out what works for us. We have a sailboat and will probably drop the hook in a quiet cove, plan some dives, work on buoyancy and practice skills.

Scubaboard has been highly educational. Reading through all the posts on everything from gas management to accidents I now feel like I know enough to know what I don't know. Informed ignorance. Have to start somewhere.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello. Looking forward to learning more.

 

[DCBC]

Welcome aboard! You'll certainly find the diving here different from the Dominican... Good diving.

 

[Hawkwood]

Welcome and congrats. Along the lines of what DCBC said....you trained to dive in Dominican-like conditions.

Those are not the same as are found around your location. Cold is only one of the differences. You learned the basics of open water diving, but not necessarily those of your local diving conditions.

Find a Shop and go diving with folks who can show you the ropes. You will be much better prepared and more likely to enjoy the local diving.

 

[ElectricSquid]

Thanks for the advice. I am actually headed out to a local dive club / shop this morning. A local introduction is good.

So the 55 degree water, restricted visibility, & 6 knot currents will be a little different than the Dominican? We better do this soon or we will be forever warm water vacation divers...

 

[Hawkwood]

Thanks for the advice. I am actually headed out to a local dive club / shop this morning. A local introduction is good.

So the 55 degree water, restricted visibility, & 6 knot currents will be a little different than the Dominican? We better do this soon or we will be forever warm water vacation divers...

Nicely done! Yup. it is, but you already figured that out .

Tell us how it went and how you found the "transition".

Bill

 

[angryjuliet]

Welcome here.

 

[Tin Toad]

I have done all of my diving here in the Puget Sound. lots of great diving get hooked up with a local club you should have a blast I really look forward to getting somewhere warm some time let me know how diving off your sailboat is. I am in the market for one myself soon and am looking forward to trying to find some good coves to drop the hook in next season.