nogoslow
Registered
I got Inspired on a pool dive today to share my story with you. Let me start by saying that I love this site and have been researching it for more than a few years and several hours and have learned a lot from you guys and gals. After 4 years and no post I figured it was time for me to share one.
I am 36 years old and just certified June of last year in Pensacola FL. I live in Arkansas and we are lucky to have a few clear water lakes to dive in. Every year I take my wife and kids on vacation in Pensacola and we swim and snorkel and love the beach life. The year before last we went to a surf shop and I bought a snorkel set and was not happy with the finns so I did what every male with a pocketful of money would do, I gave that set to the wife and went to the dive shop the next morning while the wife slept in late. I ended up getting an atomic frameless mask, atomic split fins, booties, an ultra dry snorkel and a bag to put it in. I loved it and the wife got over it after a nice dinner at Peg leg Petes. That got the wheels spinning in my head and I checked on open water classes and decided that while on vacation next year I would get certified. I am the type of person who goes all or nothing when I get interested in something and dont want to be able to blame my gear. I am like that with all of my hobbies. I had researched a lot of things and decided what I thought would best suit me.
By the time classes rolled around I had purchased an aqualung 3mm wetsuit, aqualung dimension i3 back inflate BC, Atomic Z2x sealed Din Reg, Cressi Ellipse octo and a used but good Oceanic Pro Plus 2.1 computer. When I showed up for class they knew I was serious (LOL). They set my regs up with a longer hose on the primary and a short hose necklace for the octo. Since I was taking the class without a partner, they buddied me up with the assistant instructor and he took extra time with me on the skills to show me how to donate my primary instead of the octo like everyone else and how to dump and load my integrated weights and just in case showed me how to do the weight belt like everyone else ect. I pretty much knew most of the skills and practiced some at home because of this site so it did not take me long to get comfortable. I started out with 16 lbs of weight in the pool and was ok but ended up with 20 lbs on our shore dives in the gulf. I enjoyed it and got within 5 ft of a nurse shark about 6 ft long before I even saw it on the bottom, almost kicked it with my fins. The only problem I had was a teenage boy was on top of me the whole time I guess he didnt trust his dad as a buddy (lol) or because I was teamed up with the asst. instructor. He managed to kick my mask off twice and my reg out once, I stayed calm and replaced my mask and went to my bungee necklace octo until I got a hold of my primary, by the time the instructor had us do our mask removal and reg retrieval skills he looked at me, gave me a wink and skipped me, he had seen it all, rolled his eyes and later told me, that is diving with beginners 101. I also got my Nitrox Cert since it was cheaper with the open water class and those last two dives I was on the Nitrox and had plenty of energy left to get all of my equipment up the beach after the 300 yard surface swim back.
Since then I have purchased two new AL 80s and a 16 ft 52 bottom aluminum semi V to do some fresh water lake diving this summer. I went to the pool today to freshen up my diving and ended up dropping 8 lbs out of the BC and am now down to 12 lbs, I was at 15 ft with 450psi in my tank and with full lungs started ascending and with half lung or less I was descending so should be good in fresh water I will usually have around 800psi when ending anyway. Now I just have to remember to calculate my sac rate to see where I am. I think the next thing in the future will be an air compressor and I will be pretty set but that is a big purchase Im not ready to go all in for. Im very happy with my set up and plan on adding a BP/W and paddle fins when I get some more experience and decide to go deep, wreck, or Cavern. But for now I just want to dive and get experience before I think about the rest. The hardest part is finding a dive partner and my two 10 yr old sons are interested so who knows where that could go, Thanks to all of you for the posts and knowledge and Happy Safe Diving!
I am 36 years old and just certified June of last year in Pensacola FL. I live in Arkansas and we are lucky to have a few clear water lakes to dive in. Every year I take my wife and kids on vacation in Pensacola and we swim and snorkel and love the beach life. The year before last we went to a surf shop and I bought a snorkel set and was not happy with the finns so I did what every male with a pocketful of money would do, I gave that set to the wife and went to the dive shop the next morning while the wife slept in late. I ended up getting an atomic frameless mask, atomic split fins, booties, an ultra dry snorkel and a bag to put it in. I loved it and the wife got over it after a nice dinner at Peg leg Petes. That got the wheels spinning in my head and I checked on open water classes and decided that while on vacation next year I would get certified. I am the type of person who goes all or nothing when I get interested in something and dont want to be able to blame my gear. I am like that with all of my hobbies. I had researched a lot of things and decided what I thought would best suit me.
By the time classes rolled around I had purchased an aqualung 3mm wetsuit, aqualung dimension i3 back inflate BC, Atomic Z2x sealed Din Reg, Cressi Ellipse octo and a used but good Oceanic Pro Plus 2.1 computer. When I showed up for class they knew I was serious (LOL). They set my regs up with a longer hose on the primary and a short hose necklace for the octo. Since I was taking the class without a partner, they buddied me up with the assistant instructor and he took extra time with me on the skills to show me how to donate my primary instead of the octo like everyone else and how to dump and load my integrated weights and just in case showed me how to do the weight belt like everyone else ect. I pretty much knew most of the skills and practiced some at home because of this site so it did not take me long to get comfortable. I started out with 16 lbs of weight in the pool and was ok but ended up with 20 lbs on our shore dives in the gulf. I enjoyed it and got within 5 ft of a nurse shark about 6 ft long before I even saw it on the bottom, almost kicked it with my fins. The only problem I had was a teenage boy was on top of me the whole time I guess he didnt trust his dad as a buddy (lol) or because I was teamed up with the asst. instructor. He managed to kick my mask off twice and my reg out once, I stayed calm and replaced my mask and went to my bungee necklace octo until I got a hold of my primary, by the time the instructor had us do our mask removal and reg retrieval skills he looked at me, gave me a wink and skipped me, he had seen it all, rolled his eyes and later told me, that is diving with beginners 101. I also got my Nitrox Cert since it was cheaper with the open water class and those last two dives I was on the Nitrox and had plenty of energy left to get all of my equipment up the beach after the 300 yard surface swim back.
Since then I have purchased two new AL 80s and a 16 ft 52 bottom aluminum semi V to do some fresh water lake diving this summer. I went to the pool today to freshen up my diving and ended up dropping 8 lbs out of the BC and am now down to 12 lbs, I was at 15 ft with 450psi in my tank and with full lungs started ascending and with half lung or less I was descending so should be good in fresh water I will usually have around 800psi when ending anyway. Now I just have to remember to calculate my sac rate to see where I am. I think the next thing in the future will be an air compressor and I will be pretty set but that is a big purchase Im not ready to go all in for. Im very happy with my set up and plan on adding a BP/W and paddle fins when I get some more experience and decide to go deep, wreck, or Cavern. But for now I just want to dive and get experience before I think about the rest. The hardest part is finding a dive partner and my two 10 yr old sons are interested so who knows where that could go, Thanks to all of you for the posts and knowledge and Happy Safe Diving!
