"New diver"

[NYCNaiad]

looking forward to start diving since I moved to Cayman Island, Is this a good deal for a diving set BCD, Regulator and Weights for Sale | EcayTrade Please help me!!!
Thanks

You may want to create a new thread for this in a different section so people see it & it's not just tacked onto someone's else intro.

 

[Schwob]

Belated welcome! I'm also a Madison diver (and there are a few more lurking around the board). Madison Scuba, now located in Sun Prairie, is my shop of choice. Starting in late May and running through early October, our dive group goes out every Tuesday night to a different site in town. We typically make a few special runs up to Devil's Lake for evening and night dives. And as it so happens, I'm going to Bonne Terre for the fourth time next weekend.

I'd be very happy to answer any questions you have about local diving, including Lake Michigan, Wazee Lake, and what little I know of Lake Superior in the UP.

OP :Welcome

@dewdropsonrosa :
I guess it might amount to a slight thread hijack, but maybe not. I am hailing from far NW Chicagoland and wonder (because sooner or later we'll be in that area anyway again)

Diving Devil's Lake:
Are there any links you could post? Where to enter, where is the diving more interesting? Where less? All near shore or some also "mid lake"
Asking because it appears to me to also be a place suitable to practice kayak diving because yaks (or canoes) are allowed, diving is allowed and it's conveniently "less big water like" than the Great Lakes... to start out...
Nearest fills?

Bonne Terre Mine:
I do a separate thread on "strategy" for that.

 

[Schwob]

OP :Welcome

@dewdropsonrosa :
Bonne Terre Mine:
I do a separate thread on "strategy" for that.

Here:
Bonne Terre Strategie?

 

[iamrushman]

howdy and welcome from southeast florida...see your making dive buddies already.

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

OP :Welcome

Diving Devil's Lake:
Are there any links you could post? Where to enter, where is the diving more interesting? Where less? All near shore or some also "mid lake"
Asking because it appears to me to also be a place suitable to practice kayak diving because yaks (or canoes) are allowed, diving is allowed and it's conveniently "less big water like" than the Great Lakes... to start out...
Nearest fills?

There are two significant dive spots at Devil's Lake: North Shore and South Shore. The lake itself runs north to south, so these are shallow dives on a reciprocal course at the edge of the lake. However, just because they're shallow doesn't mean that they're not awesome. See the rockslide on the western side of the lake and the rock rim around the lake? All sorts of friendly fish who love to come diving with you.

I've marked the two dive sites on this map:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1moEH57bpnvB7xuAlV6o8O0qTItA&usp=sharing

Note: diving at the North Shore site requires a 10' rock climb in scuba gear. It's a little inconvenient, but very doable during the day and if you have good balance and core strength, doable at night. South Shore is a zero-depth entry, but will require you to go to the North Shore entrance to buy a park pass, leave, and then head to the separate south shore entrance. Both have great fish and similar underwater terrain.

The nearest fills that I know of are in Sun Prairie, just east of Madison - there used to be a shop in Baraboo, but it wasn't profitable enough to stay open (as I recall). Plan to bring all the air you want with you.[/QUOTE]

 

[Schwob]

@dewdropsonrosa
Wow, THANKS!

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

@dewdropsonrosa
Wow, THANKS!

I had the map on hand from introducing new divers to the lake, so I didn't have to spend all night slaving over a hot map.

If you're relatively hardy in cold water, I'd be happy to take you up diving in April. If not, perhaps in late May!

 

[Schwob]

... If you're relatively hardy in cold water, I'd be happy to take you up diving in April. If not, perhaps in late May!

Only one way to find out... and I am inclined to find out... So far only dove down to low 50s in my ol 5 mil + hooded vest, not counting a few short visits of very minutes in the low 40s below the thermocline and maybe a couple definitely too cold 20 minute stretches. But I now have a much warmer semidry wetsuit with hood... love it ... and I also will be working to get comfortable with a drysuit... which I am OK with right now, but not a love affair yet, especially getting in and out... .. but I'll get there... and I make sure I am there before remembering your offer. THANKS!

 

[Marie13]

Heck, can I tag along? Although I have to say the rock entry is a no-go due to my knees.

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

Heck, can I tag along? Although I have to say the rock entry is a no-go due to my knees.

Provided we can go diving in Chicago sometime! I'm in Chicago for work for the next couple of months (stretching into the early dive season).

How are your knees with surface swims? The zero-depth entry dive requires several hundred feet of surface swim before reaching the drop point.