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Telegaster

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Messages
6
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Location
Indianapolis, IN
# of dives
0 - 24
Hello All,
I just completed my OW referral down in Key Largo with my fiance. We loved it and can't wait to get back into the water. For now we're more interested in traveling and doing tropical diving (looking into sites/shops in st thomas this august) but I eventually want to expand to the great lakes after more experience. As far as gear goes we're taking a careful look into BCD's and Regulators (more for equipment familiarity than anything else) but holding off on impulse buying anything for now.
 
There’s no need to get a lot more experience to do the Great Lakes. Go to one of the quarries and get used to more neoprene and colder water. Then hit one of the many shallow wrecks on the southern end of the lake.
 
Welcome to ScubaBoard from a fellow Hoosier! I’m now an expat Hoosier living in Florida.
 
I don't know if they are still in business, but there's one area shop that would not be on my list:

Woman drowns during training... (page 4)
I'm not sure if they are still in business, this is the first I've heard of them. I do just about everything through divers supply indy.

There’s no need to get a lot more experience to do the Great Lakes. Go to one of the quarries and get used to more neoprene and colder water. Then hit one of the many shallow wrecks on the southern end of the lake.

Great to hear, I would love to have more local options so I don't have to fly to a destination every time.

Welcome to ScubaBoard from a fellow Hoosier! I’m now an expat Hoosier living in Florida.
Thanks for the welcome! I actually am originally from NJ but came out here about four years ago. Buying a house so I guess I'm officially declaring myself a hoosier at this point.
 
Divers' Supply Indy is a good shop. I did a lot of my training with them up through Divemaster. I was an active Divemaster with the shop for a few years but that was 8-10 years ago now.

If you're interested in Great Lakes wreck diving you might find a presentation I did for a local FL dive shop useful. They asked me to speak about wreck diving in the Great Lakes last month for their Wreck Month. They have it up on YouTube. I also shared it here in ScubaBoard. Here is the link:

Presentation on the Wrecks of the Great Lakes (for a S. Florida audience)

If you find it fun and useful ... excellent! That was my goal. If not, at least it was free! :wink:
 
Welcome to ScubaBoard Telegaster,

Greeting from St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands!

I’ll admit, I am totally biased about the diving in the USVI, but I saw you mentioned coming to this part of the Caribbean. Part of your tropical holiday may be more about resort experience, tours and shopping than diving. But in case it’s more about the diving, I thought I’d throw in my two cents.

St. Thomas and some of the surrounding small islands has some nice sites but very shallow reefs. Of the 4 islands, St. Croix is known for its diving, as we sit on the Puerto Rico trench (the deepest in the Atlantic). The trench brings nutrients to feed our coral and marine life.

I’m not knocking St. Thomas, it’s got a lot going for it and of course St. John and the BVI’s are nearby (when they’re fully open), just letting you know when it comes to diving St. Croix has a bit more diversity. Depending on time available maybe you can split your stay? You can catch a ferry or seaplane over.

Wherever you end up enjoy your holiday. Give me a holler if I can help.
 
For now we're more interested in traveling and doing tropical diving (looking into sites/shops in st thomas this august) but I eventually want to expand to the great lakes after more experience.

Great to hear, I would love to have more local options so I don't have to fly to a destination every time.

Welcome. A big question with a multi-part answer is, what do you want out of a dive trip? I've got 4 dives in St. Thomas with Admiralty Dive Center (they did very well with me), none in the Great Lakes. That said, I don't think anyone will challenge the assertion those are very different places to dive. For some examples of what I'm talking about, consider...

1.) Some people are big on lush, underwater 'flower garden' coral reef diving in 'bath water' conditions (tropical, often low current), and some pretty tropical fish. the Caymans (e.g.: Little Cayman's Blood Way Wall and Jackson Bight area), the outer atolls of Belize (such as via live-aboard) and the diving I saw off southern Roatan with CocoView Resort would serve that purpose well. So would some of the more southern west coast dive sites of Bonaire, which is popular with shore divers.

2.) Some people like the above, but enjoy shore diving. Bonaire is the regional mainstay of this, but Curacao is really good if you need sandy beaches and a larger island with more topside civilized entertainments.

3.) Some like good reef, a nice mix of tropical creatures, overall budget trip costs, a variety of good, often cheap food topside and don't mind drift diving...Cozumel!

4.) Some people like diving with big animals - Goliath grouper and sharks out of Jupiter, FL, the off-shore wrecks with sand tiger sharks out of North Carolina, tiger and lemon sharks out of Tiger Beach at Grand Bahama, a mix of creatures in the Galapagos and Socorro, etc...

5.) Some people love cave diving.

6.) Some love history, the 'real' wrecks vs. those placed as artificial reefs, and places like the Great Lakes, South Carolina or Truk Lagoon have special appeal.

Some people just take dive trips to dive. Some want topside amenities like a luxury hotel or 'authentic' encounters with foreign locals, or excursions (e.g.: jungle tours, zip lining), shopping, etc... Some are taking a non-diving spouse or kids. If you tell us more about what you're looking for in a dive trip, we may be able to suggest some places.
 
3.) Some ... don't mind drift diving...Cozumel!
Don't mind? How about flat out love drift diving?
Boynton Beach FL is another option that's only a day's drive away.
 
Hey hey. We’re here in St Thomas right now and diving with Aqua Action Scuba next to the Secret Harbour Resort. Having a blast in the 83-84 degree water with 80-100 ft viz :). First time in the USVI but enjoying it. Some great reefs and wrecks so far on the boat dives. We’re going to do some shore diving tomorrow. If you are around the East end they’ve been taking good care of us.

It may change, but getting here required some specific Covid tests up loaded to a portal.seemingly quite strict requiring clia labs and eua tests within 5 days of arrival. Make sure to look up the labs and tests to ensure you’re good before you go
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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