Loves water, new to diving

[FloppyFoot]

Hi all!

I've always been an avid pursuer of lots of various water sports-- racing sailboats, water skiing, fishing, swimming, snorkeling, and keeping freshwater aquariums. My girlfriend and I are planning a trip to Australia for a friend's wedding, and we've finally decided to take the plunge into diving. Both of us have done a lot of snorkeling but always wanted to try diving, and this was an opportunity we couldn't pass up.

We're in the process of getting our open water certification. We're in the middle of the course and should have it wrapped up next weekend. In Connecticut this time of year it's easy to do the pool component, but we're trying to organize a quick trip to Florida for the open water dives. Seems a shame to waste precious days on the Great Barrier Reef going over class material!

Please be patient with any questions I've got in the coming months. We're still making decisions on how much gear to buy versus renting where we go, exactly which dive drip in GBR we're going to do (thinking of one of the live aboards departing from Cairns), what type of underwater photography gear is best for the occasional user (I'm an avid photographer on land) without breaking the bank, and others.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you here, and a lot more reading!

FloppyFoot aka Charlie
:azvatar:

 

[alcina]

Welcome to Scuba Board! Sounds like you have some great diving plans already

If you need any help with things Down Under and/or Photography, drop me a note - lived here for a long time and almost never head underwater without a camera.

Once you are ready to start looking at photo gear, hop over to the UW Photo area for some great getting started tips & fire away with questions!

 

[baitedstorm]

Heya Charlie, welcome to the Board and into diving. It will truly engross your every thought after your first ocean dive. If you head down this way for your check-out dive, make sure to post a thread here in the Florida Conch Divers forum. There will be a pretty good chance you'll find some new buddies down here. We're always up to something and would love to have you both.

Cheers,
Vickie

 

[Nomaster]

WELCOME to ScubaBoard!!!
Sounds like you have a great beginning to the ADDICTION planned!
Don't be shy about questions, that's why many of us found SB in the first place. It's a great place to learn about everything diving, from gear to destinations, and the quirky people who have to carry their air with them.

STOCK MESSAGE
Hmm. Maybe.
This is a great place to meet people, talk about diving, and get information on just about any aspect of diving -or other subjects sometimes- that you can think of. Roaming through the forums is great help for me.
Now get wet with us and dive into the forums to ask questions, answer those that you can and even chat with folks about diving dreams and nightmares. ScubaBoard is a great place to spend your required Surface Intervals.
Again, Welcome to the greatest addiction!
It's so easy to forget the things that we love, but here at ScubaBoard, we're all doing our dead level best to maintain the highest level of SCUBA ADDICTION possible.
Please stay with us, interact, and keep your need to get wet alive!
When you post a question, be as sure as you can that it's in the right forum or you'll probably find it moved to where it can receive better attention.
The folks here are passionate about their diving, some about their specialty, so the reading can get very interesting, sometimes very hot.
Don't forget, if you haven't already done it, to fill out you profile as completely as reasonable, it'll save you being asked and having to repeat the information often.
[size=+3]Merry Christmas![/size]

Tom

 

[DandyDon]

Howdy!

And welcome to SB - the biggest, the best, the fastest growing, and the friendliest! If you'll click ScubaBoard.com above, you'll be taken to our long list of forums, a wealth of information and resources. At the bottom, be sure to notice the Local & Singles Dive Club forums.

Your snorkel experiences are already helping you with classes, I'm sure, and your boat experiences will help on charters, except - it's different as a passenger. More likely to feed the fish, so take your motion sickness meds, just in case. Be sure to check our New2Scuba forum, as well as those on Florida, Australia, and the Gear forums. I didn't carry a camera at all until I felt I'd pretty well learned to dive comfortably, but when you're ready - you'll get a lot of info here, too.

PM me if I can help you learn your way around; that is - click my username to the upper left, then follow the prompts to send me a "Personal Message."

don

 

[Matt the Aquaman]

:sunny Hi there FloppyFoot,
Welcome to Scuba Board - the greatest online place, the fastest growing, and the nicest! You can meet a lot of helpful people here and it’s an awesome place to get answers about scuba diving. If you ever want to chat feel free to PM me. Take care and safe diving

-Matt- almtree:

Click here to greet a new member! :happywave
No experience needed and it feels great!​

 

[FloppyFoot]

Thanks all! Can't wait for that first trip outside the pool, but one step at a time. Back to my course work!

FloppyFoot aka Charlie

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks all! Can't wait for that first trip outside the pool, but one step at a time. Back to my course work!

FloppyFoot aka Charlie

Ah, you've not been in the pool yet? When you do, some in the class may have some difficulties that you won't, because you're experienced with breathing thru a mouthpiece, wearing a mask, and swimming with fins.

If you've done any free diving, though - one big difference here. Never hold your breath with Scuba. Pretty dangerous.

Have fun!

 

[Scott Riemer]

Hi Charlie, just wanted to join the others in welcoming you to Scubaboard!

 

[dvrliz1]

Australia, fantastic! Welcome the board! I am sure you will find a lot of new, advice, friends, discussions, info, etc here that will help you a lot! Enjoy!

Ed and Liz