Hello from the midwest

[TulsaTime]

Greetings all. I've been browsing the forums here for a month or so and thought I should finally sign up.

I got my Scuba Diver cert in Jamaica in 2013 and my son and I got OW certified last year from Tim Knight at Lake Tenkiller. I've got a whopping total of 17 dives under my belt but looking forward to some more midwest muck dives this year.

We (my son and I) are both planning to get the certs, experience, and gear this year to be able to make the trip with Tim to Truk Lagoon in 2017 so I'll likely have several questions for y'all in the upcoming months. I've already learned much from here (and frankly been scared s***less by more than a couple of experiences posted here!).

Looking forward to hearing from any and all fellow midwesterners and perhaps at some point meeting up with some of the midwest muck divers group for some dive time.

 

[icechip]

Welcome aboard!
I grew up in Kansas and used to dive Lake Kanopolis about 30 minutes from my home town. Ahh, good times.

 

[drrich2]

Hi:

Haven't been to Truk Lagoon; from what I understand, it's deep wreck diving. Do you guys intend to get trained in technical diving? Do you have a preference for wreck over reef diving? I take it your son's adult or old enough deep diving won't be an issue?

For a good dive destination that's a budget trip, and would offer you lots of fun, shallow reef diving with the option for some deep wrecks to whet your appetite, consider a trip to Key Largo. You can see in my old trip report (Rainbow Reef Dive Center moved their Key Largo op from that exact spot, but I doubt that'd be much of a problem) what it's like.

Another 'all wreck, all the time' site closer to home with the enjoyment of diving with sand tiger sharks is a trip to Morehead City, North Carolina.

Richard.

 

[soonerwink]

Welcome aboard, if you haven't already check out the Oklahoma Aquanauts dive club. www.oklahomaaquanauts.com we dive year round.

 

[TulsaTime]

Thanks for the welcome, all!

I grew up in Kansas and used to dive Lake Kanopolis about 30 minutes from my home town. Ahh, good times.

How was the diving there? Best I've seen at Tenkiller is 10', worst was < 1'.

I take it from your nick and location that you dive in some pretty cold waters! I admire you for it but I'm not sure I'm quite that committed.

Haven't been to Truk Lagoon; from what I understand, it's deep wreck diving. Do you guys intend to get trained in technical diving? Do you have a preference for wreck over reef diving? I take it your son's adult or old enough deep diving won't be an issue?

I have no intention of going beyond single tank rec diving. No offense intended at all to the double and tec divers out there (lots of respect for y'all), I just don't see it in my future.

The trip is on the Odyssey and according to their website, "On a normal itinerary all sites can be dived within the recreational dive limits." Their list of dive sites has several that exceed rec limits but they all at least start within them.

That said, I haven't checked with my LDS (Tim, also my instructor) to verify the actual itinerary yet since they're a small shop and basically close down during the off season. When I said "planning to" I guess I probably should've said "hoping to" since I just saw the trip on his website and haven't had a chance to actually discuss it yet. They're on a trip to Bonaire next week and I expect they'll likely resume ops shortly after returning.

My son will be 29 this year and I'll be 53 so I'm likely more of the limiting factor.

I don't know that we have a preference of wreck vs reef since all we've dove thus far has been reef. But diving WWII wreck sites has been on my bucket list since I first saw pictures of them and the opportunity to do so with someone we know and whose guidance we trust seemed too good to pass up.

For a good dive destination that's a budget trip, and would offer you lots of fun, shallow reef diving with the option for some deep wrecks to whet your appetite, consider a trip to Key Largo.

On our list as well. We might do that later this year as a change-up to local lake diving. Maybe even a LOB with Capt Frank. Do you know how the conditions are there, say, late October or November?

Another 'all wreck, all the time' site closer to home with the enjoyment of diving with sand tiger sharks is a trip to Morehead City, North Carolina.

Interesting! We lived in NC for 11 years (mostly Raleigh) and my son was actually born in Wilmington. We'll have to look into that, thanks for the tip!

Welcome aboard, if you haven't already check out the Oklahoma Aquanauts dive club.

Thanks, and I plan on doing just that! Coincidentally, my son called tonight and said he stopped by his LDS in Shawnee to discuss gear and they mentioned y'all. Apparently, you have meetings in OKC and Tulsa?

 

[icechip]

I like New England diving, both the lakes and the ocean, some rivers too. You learn to deal with 7mm and extra lead and varying viz.

You're right, on a good day back in my Kanopolis Days, viz was usually about 10' too!

 

[Littlerayray]

Welcome have fun dive safe