Never dove; Hi from Tomball/Houston TX

[Tungsten]

Hi all,
I’ve been snorkeling and loved it, but never gone diving. I wound up here because I am fascinated with rebreathers. To my inexperienced mind, they seem clearly the best answer so far to how to breathe underwater.
Sadly, it looks like rebreathers are expensive on top of requiring a lot of diving training and experience to even start using them.
Anyway, I’m 50 years old, not in great shape, although I climb 21 floors each work day. I think I will get a mask, snorkel, and fins, and see how I do in the pool.
Assuming that goes well, how should I go about finding a good instructor? I’ve seen a couple of threads on here discussing pretty shockingly bad instructors who certify folks without really training them. I’m sure these are the exception, but as my buddy likes to say, the bell curve applies to every profession.

Well, thanks for such a great website!

 

[kotik]

Talk to Carl Griffing at Sea Sports Scuba in Katy. He's an excellent instructor and a wealth of knowledge. He'd be able to discuss in some detail about anything you're likely to be interested in.

 

[RTC'83]

I started at 54, I am glad I did. Find a local dive shop you like and start your training. I found a LDS and they had a groupon for a discovery dive, went with my wife and she did not want to continue, before I left that class I was enrolled in their OPen Water class and became certified. I have made some good friends at my LDS and continue my training.

Best of luck!

 

[Tungsten]

Talk to Carl Griffing at Sea Sports Scuba in Katy. He's an excellent instructor and a wealth of knowledge. He'd be able to discuss in some detail about anything you're likely to be interested in.

Thanks very much for the advice! I see you are from Houston - do you mind if I ask where you dive?

 

[Tungsten]

I started at 54, I am glad I did. Find a local dive shop you like and start your training. I found a LDS and they had a groupon for a discovery dive, went with my wife and she did not want to continue, before I left that class I was enrolled in their OPen Water class and became certified. I have made some good friends at my LDS and continue my training.

Best of luck!

Thanks! It is really nice to hear you enjoyed it!

 

[kotik]

Thanks very much for the advice! I see you are from Houston - do you mind if I ask where you dive?

Local diving options in the Houston area are pretty limited. There are a couple of lakes: 288 Lake near the beltway and 288, and Blue Lagoon in Huntsville. These are generally not great visibility but they work for training, checking gear, practising skills and the like. Cozumel is a pretty popular destination from Houston as the flight is fairly short and less expensive than some other options, and the water, reefs, and other attractions are nice.

I got into the cave thing so I was spending a lot of time in Florida, it's a 9 hour drive to the nearest prime destination there. That would be way down the road for you if you ever developed an interest along those lines. The first step is seeing if diving is even something you'd have a passion for.

With a recent addition to the family, my diving's been of the 'virtual' flavor for the past months.

 

[Tungsten]

Local diving options in the Houston area are pretty limited. There are a couple of lakes: 288 Lake near the beltway and 288, and Blue Lagoon in Huntsville. These are generally not great visibility but they work for training, checking gear, practising skills and the like. Cozumel is a pretty popular destination from Houston as the flight is fairly short and less expensive than some other options, and the water, reefs, and other attractions are nice.

I got into the cave thing so I was spending a lot of time in Florida, it's a 9 hour drive to the nearest prime destination there. That would be way down the road for you if you ever developed an interest along those lines. The first step is seeing if diving is even something you'd have a passion for.

With a recent addition to the family, my diving's been of the 'virtual' flavor for the past months.

Thanks again! I figured diving spots would be few and far between around here, although the two you mentioned are not too far. I’ve also heard about a place up near Austin. It seems like with limestone and springs there ought to be some decent places.

I’ve heard Cozumel is very fun.

I know what you mean about family additions! Now that mine are older I have a bit more time and flexibility, hence my interest in diving and other fun activities.

 

[Wookie]

Talk to Carl Griffing at Sea Sports Scuba in Katy. He's an excellent instructor and a wealth of knowledge. He'd be able to discuss in some detail about anything you're likely to be interested in.

+1 for Carl. He is the best instructor in Houston, no exceptions. I didn't know he was at Sea Sports, which was the shop my wife worked at before I took her away from all that.

 

[Tungsten]

+1 for Carl. He is the best instructor in Houston, no exceptions. I didn't know he was at Sea Sports, which was the shop my wife worked at before I took her away from all that.

Great! Thanks for seconding the recommendation. It seems like this board and prolly the scuba community as a whole is pretty close knit; I was sure I would get good advice!

 

[jgttrey]

Carl is very good. Another very good option is Eric Keibler at Oceanic Ventures.