Greetings from Pittsburgh, PA - USA

[Kohanbash]

I looked into this a few years ago. They list the requirements on their website.

Volunteer at the Zoo

I know you must own your own gear and volunteer a few times monthly. Used to require Rescue Certification and commit to weekday dives.

From the Website:
"Divers must be at least 18 years old, hold an open water SCUBA certification from a recognized agency (PADI, NAUI, etc.)."
"Scheduling varies, but divers must participate at least once per month and attend regular volunteer dive meetings to stay active in the program."

I know they have dives on weekdays and weekends.

 

[MrBigfins]

Hello Craig, southwest pa here as well. I dive with Scott's scuba in freeport. Great shop, They have a quarry called Crustys that is open in summer near grove city that we dive. Dutch is nice, we bought season passes for next year. Gilboa quarry isnt far. Welcome to SB

 

[MrBigfins]

I refuse to go dry, I am comfortable to low 40s in a semidry and if its colder than that I'm not diving lll

 

[CDMac]

I am comfortable to low 40s in a semidry

What month of the year do you have to stop diving? I'm not sure I want to do all that much drysuit diving but I really have no idea yet. I'm a California boy who grew up swimming in the Pacific so cold water is nothing new but the older I get the less I want to tolerate it =)

What's the diff between a semi-dry suit and a regular wetsuit?

EDIT: I just looked up semi-dry suits. Never even knew they were a thing. I just thought the progression went from 7mm wetsuit to drysuit. Thanks for the insight.

 

[MrBigfins]

Sept or October and start back up aprilish. I dive hollis neotek 7/8 semidry. Comfortable for me at 40 to 65ish, then I drop down to a lighter suit. I tend to run on the warmer side though. I'm spoiled though, I love warm water so I prefer to travel

 

[Kharon]

Grew up in East McKeesport. Did a ton of snorkeling but no diving. Heard stories about huge fish in the Allegheny, Monongahela, and the Ohio. Especially at the point. Viz was zero though. One diver told my cousin that he sat on what he thought was a log and it swam out from under him. Apparently he swore to never dive the rivers again.

 

[MrBigfins]

I wouldn't dive those rivers if you paid me

 

[CDMac]

thought was a log and it swam out from under him

 

[CDMac]

I wouldn't dive those rivers if you paid me

I'm thinking I have a lot more tropical dives in me than cold quarry/river/lake dives but who knows. I just need it to get to April so I can get my c card.

 

[MrBigfins]

Quarry diving around here is fun in decent weather. I will say that doing your cert dives here has the possibility to make you a better all around diver then doing it all on a vacation. Part of why I try to dive many different types of locations. Diving in Lower vis, colder temps around here, help me to train myself to cope with distractions. It increase my confidence in my abilities to handle complications should occur on other dives. That and I cant travel often enough to get my fix of blowing bubbles. You will love cozumel and you can go for really cheap. Some stunning coral, lots of wildlife