Anything simpler than Open Water?

[TMHeimer]

Being too busy sure beats having too much free time, due to being unemployed or unemployable.

I've been retired since 1996. I've never had too much free time. And I really don't do very much.....

 

[CT-Rich]

Just finish what you started. A couple crappy quarry dives and you are all set. Not sure why you would pay PADI to start over from scratch. As has been pointed out, diving in ten feet is no less dangerous than thirty. You are probably more likely to run in fishing line and it is much easier to silt out in the shallows.

While a hooka is not technically scuba, there are a lot more moving parts to deal with. The attraction of scuba is being untethered. Hooka you are now towing a float with a gas powered compressor behind you. Now you get to worry about breathing fumes/ exhaust. Swim under a branch and you get figure out why your airline is no longer long enough to let you surface.

Scuba gear is super reliable, with the absolute fewest moving parts and skill requirements for what you are interested in doing. If it is still to much effort, try buying a fish cam and an aluminum rowboat.

 

[Bob DBF]

Hooka you are now towing a float with a gas powered compressor behind you.

Or electric, no fumes. I have used Hookah, gas powered, and had no issues with its use. The hose and float is an issue if you are used to SCUBA, but only 'till you get used to it. A matter of choices.

The bigger issue is that you are still breathing compressed air under water, and the same issues that are important to diving that one takes training and certifies for, are also important to Hookah. Physics and physiology are the same regardless of which way you are diving.

I would jump in with the freedive crowd, however it has its own issues to deal with, and could kill as easily as screwing up diving compressed air.


Bob

 

[TMHeimer]

I "free dived" (as it's called now) decades before OW cert. I called it snorkeling and going down to the bottom. But I rarely went deeper than 10-12 feet. In recent years PADI has dropped the word "hyperventilation" in favour of something like a couple of deep diaphragm breaths. All those years I did extensive hyperventiling--like 4-5 or more breaths. I may have been just lucky to have never gone unconscious, or maybe it's not a big factor at those shallow depths.

 

[Bob DBF]

PADI manual in '80 was saying hyperventilate no more than 3 to 4 breaths with no less than one minute between dives, and went on to discuss why you could blackout.

Because I solo freedive, I do not hyperventilate at all. I relax on the surface until I'm ready, then take a deep breath and dive. It's easier to deal with the desire to surface and breathe than pass out underwater and live. This limits my time and depth but I get by ok.


Bob

 

[TMHeimer]

PADI manual in '80 was saying hyperventilate no more than 3 to 4 breaths with no less than one minute between dives, and went on to discuss why you could blackout.

Because I solo freedive, I do not hyperventilate at all. I relax on the surface until I'm ready, then take a deep breath and dive. It's easier to deal with the desire to surface and breathe than pass out underwater and live. This limits my time and depth but I get by ok.


Bob

Yeah, well maybe I WAS very lucky. I would dive down 8-10', look for shells, back up, hyperventilate again and back down, over & over. I suppose I rested at times to let everything even out. I rest at times practicing clarinet for the same reason--when you feel that touch of dizziness coming on.