End of 2019 and thoughts for 2020

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Some of us are already having this discussion on our last years thread. I thought I should make a new thread so that we can post our last years highlights and the coming years goals.

End of 2018 and plans for 2019?


2019:

The year had only begun when I fractured my ankle and ripped tendons just when the diving season was about to begin. This meant that I was unable to dive for over six months. Staying out of water was not easy and I felt like I needed to do something. I signed up for SSI Assistant Instructor course and all the readings involved in it, prevented me from feeling that I am losing time.

Also finished Self-Reliant Diver course though I have not been a fan of solo-diving diving all my life. Since diving is fun because it is a group activity, I hope I will never get to use this card. I simply wanted to see what was taught in the course so yes, another C-card for my collection and the course was a good way of getting my fins wet.

So in the end, it was a time well utilized and it will influence the decisions I will make.

2020

My ankle has healed and I am looking to jump in. Slowly. My own views on diving have evolved quite considerably over this time, as the injury gave me some time to think about my long term investment in diving without worrying about the next dive. I was initially hoping to continue my technical and cave training with UTD, but the UTD instructor that I was training with, is no longer local to me. With him gone, I am unsure if DIR style of diving is the progression for me. Helium prices are constantly going up and I see some GUE divers unable to do 120' ft dives simply because of the cost of Helium. It prompted me to start a thread which is worth studying by itself.

Is Open Circuit Trimix dying a slow death?

In short, technical diving could very well be in the process of some drastic changes and it is possible that we will see two very distinct camps in the future. Deep air divers who will mostly dive to a max depth of 150' without Helium and CCR divers. This realization has prevented me from putting a Trimix course in my 2020 goals, at least at this stage. What is the point of getting a card when you are restricted to diving in your npo helium range (whatever it may be.) If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions on whether OC Trimix would still be worthwhile, then Id love to hear.

Advanced Wreck with John Chatterton. I am open to this one and if anyone else is thinking along the same lines then let us get in touch. Further plans are as follows:

Ice Diving: Anyone doing ice dives on the East Coast USA or even Canada, please post your plans in this thread.

Ice diving thread (who is doing it?)

Great Lakes: Id love to hit Tobermory, 1000 Islands or Lake Erie Osprey Dive Charters. If you have a Great Lakes trip in schedule and are looking to fill the boat then let me know.

North Carolina: We scheduled a NC tech charter but my ankle was in a steel boot so I could not dive. Those of you who went had a great time. If you are interested in doing some tech or deep dives then we can start another thread and dive Atlas Tanker.

New Jersey Wrecks: Because they are close and they are here.

Those are my thoughts for 2020. What is everyone else doing or thinking of doing?

 

[NothingClever]

2019:
- will have completed 200+ dives split between shore dives, boat dives and LOBs
- got AN/DP qualified
- bought a twinset and deco tins and regs so I can fill and dive (train) when I want
- organized a tec dive club that came together quickly with all the right teammates
- watched the tec dive club fall apart just as quickly when the boat owner backed out to pursue an UW surveying contract with his government
- increased Dive Gear Express’ quarterly revenues by 4.7%

2020:
- complete normoxic and hypoxic Trimix training
- find a smaller, fast boat with a seasoned skipper that can get us to all the sites the big charters won’t go with their OW crowd
- reinvigorate the tec dive club
- dive in Egypt and Florida
- find an instructor in Florida so I can learn more advanced skills to expand my dive portfolio
- dive with my wife and daughter and be the happiest dive buddy at 12m, my daughter’s JOW limit
- buy a Ford Transit van and kit it out for diving and motorcycle track racing

 

[Doc]

2019
Went diving
Got my third Cancer diagnosis,
Went diving
Continued Medical Whack-A-Mole.
Going diving

2020
I’m going diving some more.

 

[RainPilot]

GUE divers unable to do 120' ft dives simply because of the cost of Helium

I don't know any GUE or UTD divers doing trimix in the 30-40m range, outside of class dives. It really isn't a thing.

I am unsure if DIR style of diving is the progression for me

Nothing stops you from adopting as much (or as little) of the DIR philosophy as you are comfortable with, without doing specifically DIR courses. I am pretty sure that there is a tech instructor near you who teaches in a DIR-ish fashion regardless of the acronym on the card they issue. Hell, if you find yourself passing through UAE or feel like meeting somewhere fun, I would be happy to help with that.

For myself, 2019 has been an interesting year. I became an IT with SNSI, dived Phuket with Chris from Deep6, became a normoxic instructor on OC and CCR and generally met a lot of new diving friends from all over the world.

2020 will be a year of consolidation for me, need to bed down all the new facets of my diving and teaching and make them an integral part of me vs something I still need to think about. Baby steps but fun lies ahead.

 

[FreeFlyFreak]

2019 - Didn't have any plans, everything worked out as planned.
Oh, and I learned to Scuba Dive in cold water and did multiple cold water dives, plus went on 2 warm water scuba vacations on top of that.

2020 - No plans as usual... I fully expect everything to work out as planned.

Every day is a good day.
Every year is a good year.

 

[Rob9876]

2019 -- Three trips to Cozumel, a good bit of quarry dives.

2020 -- Hopefully some trips to Cozumel, perhaps some Florida dives, also quarry dives, probably do Rescue Diver with my son.

 

[Ana]

2019 Went diving about 95% of weekends an holidays with good seas.

2020 Want to go diving 97.5% of weekends and holidays with good seas, and maybe call in sick when seas are flat during the week.

 

[Marie13]

2019 - Lots of Great Lakes wreck diving. Straits of Mackinac, Tobermory, southern Lake Huron, many in Lake Michigan. Drove up to Temagami, ON, for ITT/VIP over a long weekend with abnfrog as instructor with Lowviz for a classmate. The drive was just incredible. Classes were awesome. Got blown out a lot on the lake from the middle of August on. Bad weather came early. Ended up diving at the local quarry instead.

2020 - my goal is to get tech certified. Period. AN/DP/Helitrox in the summer. Solo in the spring. Will probably make dives out of Sanilac, MI and Milwaukee, as well as my usual Chicago boat. First wreck after tech cert is the Thomas Hume, 150ft to the bottom of Lake Michigan. Beautifully intact lumber schooner that went down in the early 1890s. Been waiting and working my arse off toward this one. So no big trips in 2020.

I’ll probably be heading over to Gilboa Quarry in OH a lot. Have tech trained friends in MI and OH to dive with. Only 1-2 people tech people local to me to dive with. So I go to Gilboa. Was just out there Sunday. Got a lot of good feedback. Friends said I looked pretty good in the water. Yay! I know what I need to work on. Will head over there in Jan through March, too, if weather is good for the drive and no ice on the quarry. Pool sessions over the winter, too.

Lot of hard work coming up. Looking forward to it.

 

[scubadada]

SB Friends,

I have had a wonderful diving year in 2019 and have one more week in Florida before it ends. It looks like I will end the year at somewhere around 210 dives.

I spent 2 weeks in Bonaire with my wife in April and returned for 2 weeks in Sept/Oct. During the second visit, both my daughter and my son were able to join us for part of the time. During the two days of overlap, the four of us were able to all dive together for the first time since 2004! I also spent a fantastic week on the Nautilus Explorer in the Revillagigedos in May. The remainder of my dives were in Boynton Beach, Jupiter, and West Palm. Lemon Shark and Goliath Grouper aggregation were both very good. You never know what you will see, I had 5 dolphins join me on a solo dive in Boynton Beach in January, and my wife and I had a fantastic encounter with a Great Hammerhead in August.

I only have a few plans made for 2020. My wife and I will be returning to Bonaire in April and I will be visiting Malpelo in June on a half boat charter of the Ferox with Sten Johansson. I'm hoping to meet @Trailboss123 during one of my visits to Florida.

Very best and good diving to all for 2020,

Craig

 

[Khrissi]

Red Sea once more ( Roots ) then Malta wrecks if I get certified AOW. K