End of 2018 and plans for 2019?

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

So 2018 has not been a bad year. I had started a thread many years ago on diving Passamaquoddy Bay in Maine and New Brunswich. This year in April, I got to do that dive with macro photography legend, Andy Martinez. For those of you who love macro and don't mind cold water, this dive is a must.

Also got to dive the wreck of John Morgan off of Virginia Beach. I was impressed beyond words. There are not a lot of places where you will see an armed transport fully loaded with tanks and planes, sitting at the bottom. People go to Truuk lagoon for that! If you are on the east coast and this wreck has slipped off of your radar then be sure to make it your stop and hit me up. Best time to dive would be September onward.

Plans for 2019: Here is what is in plan for next year. If any of this falls in your neighborhood or if anyone would like to join in then let me know.

a) I will be finishing my UTD Tech 1 dives in Pampano Beach. Date is to be finalized but it will be after March. Id like to stay in the area a little after the course and do a few more tech dives. If anyone had any ideas or suggestions then shoot!

b) Technical dive charter in NC. Possible wrecks can be Manuela, Naeco and Atlas Tanker. Six people are needed. May is the more realistic time frame but anytime after that is good too. Let me know who would like to join in. 6 peeps only!

c). A Great Lakes trip is long over due. Looking to book a few days on Lake Erie with Osprey. I am open date and time wise so let me know who is in and when.

I was also hoping to meet Abnfrog for ice diving. March seems very unlikely but those who end up joining him please post some pictures or videos and have fun.

 

[Marie13]

Me:

New Year’s Day shore dive on a shallow Lake Michigan wreck. George F. Williams. Air temp forecast to be 25F. Water temp was 37F yesterday.

Mid-January: doubles maiden voyage in pool. Also pool dives in Feb and March.

Quarry opens in April. More doubles work.

Straits of Mackinac trip mid-June

Toby mid July

Intro to Tech early August with abnfrog in the hinterlands of northern Ontario. Yes, I’m driving. Will see friends in Toronto on the way.

Will be hitting Lake Michigan and maybe Lake Huron wrecks very frequently.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

From the middle of January to the middle of March I squeezed in two dives between trips to Phoenix. Merry's Mom was dying and we sat vigil with her, then had to stay and take care of her house and finances. In April we took a much needed break by spending two weeks at God's Pocket in British Columbia. For two months beginning in June we hauled our boat out and made several repairs including bottom paint and adding a custom ladder.

We finally made some dives in August and September, but the Fall has been hit and miss due to storms and high surf. I'm hoping 2019 will be a much better year. We have two weeks at God's Pocket scheduled in March if the new owners can get their permit on January 15th. No other trips planned until 2019, but I'm hoping for a lot more local diving until then.

 

[scubadada]

2018 was my best year to date, 216 dives, 227 hours. Galapagos Aggressor, Bonaire, Cayman Aggressor, rest of the dives in Boynton Beach, Jupiter, and West Palm. I got to dive with my wife and my son.

Revillagigedos and Bonaire scheduled so far for 2019. Bonaire will be with my wife, hope to get in more dives with my son and some with my daughter.

Good diving to all, Craig

 

[MichaelMc]

2018: I switched to OW sidemount mid year with LP50s and got a dozen dives in with them, out of 33. Got AL40s to learn how AL80s behave for travel. Happy in sidemount though more to learn and no boat use yet. Some highlights were having a harbor seal as dive buddy for half a dive, having a young sea lion tap me on the head and then play peak-a-boo in the kelp, and helping two of our Berkeley divers get into northern waters with one of our other TAs.

2019: Looking at classes for sidemount, solo, and cavern down in Mexico in the winter/spring, Under the Jungle is on that list. No future cave plans but cavern seems a way to hone and check skills, and the Cenotes are enticing. Florida is an option as well, as family lives in Atlanta. Plus lots of Carmel/Monterey shore dives, and maybe try the north coast. Finishing my DM, maybe with tiny doubles.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Another year of seemingly endlessly trying to hone skills like shooting an SMB while hovering precisely at 20 ft in perfect trim?

 

[Compressor]

More diving of course but its tough to find people who want to dive frequently in my area or who want to travel and dive.
Hopefully I can meet some SB folks and dive with them.
Improve my diving technique including trim, buoyancy and air consumption.
Try not to order dive gear so frequently. (I know this will not be sustainable).

 

[maj2]

My plan for 2018 is to introduce my daughter to more local diving. To date, she has primarily limited her local diving to the odd trip to a quarry to practice skills for warm water destinations.

Now that she was the drysuit that she always claimed was a prerequisite for more cold local Great Lakes diving, it is time for her to discover that local diving is so much more than quarries, and that she can stay warm while diving here.

A couple of trips to Tobermory will be in the plans.

One of the first dives of the spring will hopefully be a trip to the F A Meyer wreck close to home in Lake Erie. My great grandfather (my daughter's second-great grandfather) sailed on her as an oiler during the 1902 Great Lakes shipping season when the ship was still known as the J Emory Owen. He sailed on the lakes for several years in the early 1900s, but this is the only ship for which I have written documentation that he sailed on it.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

New Year's Day - Joining a LDS for a local shore dive. Looks like about 38* for the low that day and 67* for the high.

Early January- Pick up my SS back plate from LDS. Hopefully do a test dive locally to figure out how much ditch-able weight I can lose.

1/11 to 1/14 - Key Largo boat diving with the brother. We have accommodations and the boat (his) lined up, but are pretty much winging it otherwise.

1/15 to 1/1X - Taking AOW course near WPB and LBTS. Looking forward to my first drift, night, etc. dives.

 

[Tribal]

2019 should be a good year

In april or may its a LOB at the Redsea.
Half june its intro to cave.
September or oktober a week to Malta.
And there should be Advanced Nitrox somewhere aswell.
Inbetween all of that there should be a lot of local diving.