Brian Huff
Contributor
TL;DR - Excited new guy who researches a lot and spends too much $$ (only according to my wife)
Hello SB.
Like the title says, it's taken me 43 years from start to finish to get my OW cert.
First tried in 1985 when I was 11 at Texas Scuba. Back in the old PADI days where they made you assemble everything in the pool and hazing was treated like a right of passage.
I did alright, but we did our checkout dive in possum kingdom lake in Dallas. My 11 year old self couldn't handle the 6 inch visibility and the mask removal got me.
Tried again with my wife when we first got married in 1997 . But she ended up not being able to equalize below 9 or 10 feet due to tubes in her ear when she was young, so we finished what we could of the class and hung up our fins.
This summer, I decided to give it another try, this time with my 16 year old son and whadayaknow, seems a middle-aged-dog can still learn some new tricks.
It's all about persistence!
I'm a tech-head who geeks-out on researching the heck out of things and always buy way too much stuff on any hobby I ever do (flying, boating, guitar, you get the picture) and Scuba sure is a great place to have fun with equipment.
Luckily (for my wallet and marriage), I've followed the DIR community for a long while and have already secured most of my setup. BP/W, nothing fancy, no funk'ing it up (#flappysnaghazard).
I'm not 100% DIR as I did go with a PDC console due to getting a great deal on some Atomic B2's that had an AI Pro Plus 2. I figured while I'm getting used to everything and just gaining experience, the PDC will be a good piece of equipment for me and the extra big display will be nice until I get my muscle memory down about checking my gauges.
Here's what I'm rigged out with:
DGX basic SS BP/W - no shoulder pads or anything but I did get two trim weight packages while I work on getting my weight/breathing/etc figured out.
DGX Custom - DGX Singles Harness / Backplate / Wing Package | Dive Gear Express®
Atomic Aquatics DIN 1st stage and B2 Primary and B2 Secondary. Currently setup with the standard Rec Diving length hoses but at some point I'll move over to long-hose and octo-necklace as I really see the benefit.
Oceanic Pro Plus 2 PDC, Console unit with compass - no quick disconnect or anything.
iOS Dive Log with Dive Log 6 on the PC
ScubaPro Spectra Low Volume 2 Mask
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P4BRXO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Two sets of fins
ScubaPro Elite from the LDS for our certifications
Atomic Aquatics Smoke on the Water split fins that I picked up used. They were really cheap and I kind of just wanted to try them out. They are great so far, but I anticipate they'll only get used for warm water Rec diving. I'll pickup a set of Apeks RK3 soon which will more than likely be my main/travel set as I progress over the next few years.
When I first got my cert, I went full-on Christmas-Tree for a weekend and came to my senses when I was at my LDS trying on a SP Hydros Pro and looked up to see a backplate sitting in a corner, reminding me that there are way more things to research and try out with a BP/W setup.... for example, a guy down the street sold me a Halcyon Evolve 60 wing for $100 (I'll just keep that in the back of the closet until I'm ready for some twins thank you very much!)
I'm very happy to have my son certified with me and I convinced one of my best friends to get certified as well. It was a totally selfish move on my behalf as I wanted more dive-buddy possibilities seeing as how my son is 16 so he'll have other pursuits often taking priority.
I live in NC which has some great wreck diving options and we're already signed up for some AOW lessons to head down the Deep, Wreck, Nitrox, Drift, Boat, Night, Adv Buoyancy, Dry Suit pathway. If I don't run out of enthusiasm before I run out of money, I'd naturally head towards Tech Diving.
Finally, my job allows me to travel to different parts of the world. I spent several months in Israel over the past couple years and have projects in South Africa and Montenegro coming up, so travel diving is high on the list.
With all that said, I'm self-actualized enough to recognize I'm in the honey moon "I can't think of anything else and want to do all the things" phase of a new hobby. My goal for the next year is to simply get experience and learn to be at home underwater.
This forum has been a huge help in several of my late night research topics (some call them rabbit holes).
Looking forward to learning from everyone here and hopefully have some fun.
Hello SB.
Like the title says, it's taken me 43 years from start to finish to get my OW cert.
First tried in 1985 when I was 11 at Texas Scuba. Back in the old PADI days where they made you assemble everything in the pool and hazing was treated like a right of passage.
I did alright, but we did our checkout dive in possum kingdom lake in Dallas. My 11 year old self couldn't handle the 6 inch visibility and the mask removal got me.
Tried again with my wife when we first got married in 1997 . But she ended up not being able to equalize below 9 or 10 feet due to tubes in her ear when she was young, so we finished what we could of the class and hung up our fins.
This summer, I decided to give it another try, this time with my 16 year old son and whadayaknow, seems a middle-aged-dog can still learn some new tricks.
It's all about persistence!
I'm a tech-head who geeks-out on researching the heck out of things and always buy way too much stuff on any hobby I ever do (flying, boating, guitar, you get the picture) and Scuba sure is a great place to have fun with equipment.
Luckily (for my wallet and marriage), I've followed the DIR community for a long while and have already secured most of my setup. BP/W, nothing fancy, no funk'ing it up (#flappysnaghazard).
I'm not 100% DIR as I did go with a PDC console due to getting a great deal on some Atomic B2's that had an AI Pro Plus 2. I figured while I'm getting used to everything and just gaining experience, the PDC will be a good piece of equipment for me and the extra big display will be nice until I get my muscle memory down about checking my gauges.
Here's what I'm rigged out with:
DGX basic SS BP/W - no shoulder pads or anything but I did get two trim weight packages while I work on getting my weight/breathing/etc figured out.
DGX Custom - DGX Singles Harness / Backplate / Wing Package | Dive Gear Express®
Atomic Aquatics DIN 1st stage and B2 Primary and B2 Secondary. Currently setup with the standard Rec Diving length hoses but at some point I'll move over to long-hose and octo-necklace as I really see the benefit.
Oceanic Pro Plus 2 PDC, Console unit with compass - no quick disconnect or anything.
iOS Dive Log with Dive Log 6 on the PC
ScubaPro Spectra Low Volume 2 Mask
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P4BRXO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Two sets of fins
ScubaPro Elite from the LDS for our certifications
Atomic Aquatics Smoke on the Water split fins that I picked up used. They were really cheap and I kind of just wanted to try them out. They are great so far, but I anticipate they'll only get used for warm water Rec diving. I'll pickup a set of Apeks RK3 soon which will more than likely be my main/travel set as I progress over the next few years.
When I first got my cert, I went full-on Christmas-Tree for a weekend and came to my senses when I was at my LDS trying on a SP Hydros Pro and looked up to see a backplate sitting in a corner, reminding me that there are way more things to research and try out with a BP/W setup.... for example, a guy down the street sold me a Halcyon Evolve 60 wing for $100 (I'll just keep that in the back of the closet until I'm ready for some twins thank you very much!)
I'm very happy to have my son certified with me and I convinced one of my best friends to get certified as well. It was a totally selfish move on my behalf as I wanted more dive-buddy possibilities seeing as how my son is 16 so he'll have other pursuits often taking priority.
I live in NC which has some great wreck diving options and we're already signed up for some AOW lessons to head down the Deep, Wreck, Nitrox, Drift, Boat, Night, Adv Buoyancy, Dry Suit pathway. If I don't run out of enthusiasm before I run out of money, I'd naturally head towards Tech Diving.
Finally, my job allows me to travel to different parts of the world. I spent several months in Israel over the past couple years and have projects in South Africa and Montenegro coming up, so travel diving is high on the list.
With all that said, I'm self-actualized enough to recognize I'm in the honey moon "I can't think of anything else and want to do all the things" phase of a new hobby. My goal for the next year is to simply get experience and learn to be at home underwater.
This forum has been a huge help in several of my late night research topics (some call them rabbit holes).
Looking forward to learning from everyone here and hopefully have some fun.
