Hey there from East Central Fla

[g8orjet]

Newly certified PADI Open, Enriched & Advanced along with my son who wanted to certify as his graduation present from college. I originally certified NAUI in 1980 but have been out of it for quite a few years so I figured I would re-certify with my son. I am not quite in the shape I was in 1980 so that has been a bit of an adjustment but I have enjoyed the challenge and feel that it's all coming right back, no real issues other than being a bit worn out the day after a dive and getting used to dive computers and enriched air as standard equipment now a days.

Looking forward to connecting on some good dive trips, weekends and vacations, if anyone has any recommendations please feel free to let me know.

Thanks

Bill

 

[drrich2]

You're in a good home base. Where did you do your check out dives? In the Florida region, you've got a lot of options; the Florida Keys, especially the upper Keys, are particularly popular - trip report from 2013 trip with Rainbow Reef Dive Center. Great way to get a lot of diving packed into several days; their location did change a bit from what I'm told. With AOW, you can do the deep wreck dives if you feel up to it, but be mindful you can blow through some gas fast at depth.

Get that done, and you can think about West Palm Beach, Jupiter (trip report; be mindful the lemon shark migration and goliath grouper aggregation are separate and you may wish to time your visit to hit one), Boynton Beach and Pompano Beach/Fort Lauderdale. And there's the Blue Heron Bridge to consider. That still leaves the freshwater springs, and the Gulf Coast diving.

You can get a solid start in local diving.

Richard.

 

[g8orjet]

Thanks Richard, I read some of your posts the other day, really good stuff !

Back in the day I certified NAUI off the coast of RI in March (brutal, miserable cold, especially the rescue mouth-to-mouth with faces full of snott). We did our PADI open dives at West Palm a few weeks ago on a small boat in 4+ foot seas and a lot of puke on the boat but the dives were great and quite an experience. Also did my advanced at West Palm. All in all we dove on the Governors, Mizpah & Ana Cecilia. Looking to hit up the keys and both of us would love to get into more wreck diving especially items with some history... something we both are interested in.

 

[drrich2]

Farther afield and probably not a near term trip, considering what you have close at hand, but if you want some historical wrecks, be mindful of North Carolina as a dive destination (trip report). Not a coral reef destination (at least what I saw out of Morehead City), but some genuine wrecks (as opposed to deliberately sunk artificial reef wrecks) and sand tiger sharks made it a fine trip.

If you've been to West Palm Beach, then you've been close to Jupiter and Blue Heron Bridge. I've never dove WPB or BHB; would like to try those out someday.

Richard.

 

[sheeper]

come visit the Vero Beach Scuba Club on facebook. we have lots of members throughout florida and we dive a lot!
you are more than welcome to join us on any upcoming trips and meet some great people!

 

[g8orjet]

come visit the Vero Beach Scuba Club on facebook. we have lots of members throughout florida and we dive a lot!
you are more than welcome to join us on any upcoming trips and meet some great people!

I actually signed on to the VBSC webpage and FB page the other day, will be looking to join you guys soon.

 

[iamrushman]

howdy and welcome from your southeast Florida neighbor...

 

[g8orjet]

Farther afield and probably not a near term trip, considering what you have close at hand, but if you want some historical wrecks, be mindful of North Carolina as a dive destination (trip report). Not a coral reef destination (at least what I saw out of Morehead City), but some genuine wrecks (as opposed to deliberately sunk artificial reef wrecks) and sand tiger sharks made it a fine trip.

If you've been to West Palm Beach, then you've been close to Jupiter and Blue Heron Bridge. I've never dove WPB or BHB; would like to try those out someday.

Richard.

Just read your trip report... great write up, very interesting, I have a wedding to attend next June up in Va. Beach, maybe I take a few extra days and bring my gear.

I have not yet done the BHB but plan to at some point. Will be back down in WPB again this weekend to dive with my son as he does his advanced.