New guy from Miami!
- Thread starter Scubadoo1
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drrich2
Contributor
Welcome to ScubaBoard, @Scubadoo1 - for BCD recommendations, there are a lot of threads. I'll break it down a bit like this:
1.) Jacket BCD - what you see far and away the most of, most likely. Easy to float it with head out of water at the surface, a bit harder to get horizontal trim at depth, an all-in-one unit.
2.) Rear inflate BCD - the air bladder puts more air to the rear, so you can achieve horizontal trim underwater more easily, though you might tend to pitch forward a bit at the surface?
3.) BP/W (Back Plate/Wing) - a modular system with a great deal of customizability that confronts you with many choices, though you can buy a system trusting that it's probably got about what you want (or you can think over and micro-manage every piece, your choice). Popular with technical divers and a minority of recreational divers. This is what I migrated to.
4.) ScubaPro Hydros - kind of its own thing. Some people love them, there've been reports of durability issues that might've largely resolved with modifications over time, this you'll have to read up on yourself.
In a nutshell, if you trust a local dive shop to steer you, or you rent gear, I suspect you'll likely end up in a jacket BCD. Many on ScubaBoard advocate the BP/W system.
1.) Jacket BCD - what you see far and away the most of, most likely. Easy to float it with head out of water at the surface, a bit harder to get horizontal trim at depth, an all-in-one unit.
2.) Rear inflate BCD - the air bladder puts more air to the rear, so you can achieve horizontal trim underwater more easily, though you might tend to pitch forward a bit at the surface?
3.) BP/W (Back Plate/Wing) - a modular system with a great deal of customizability that confronts you with many choices, though you can buy a system trusting that it's probably got about what you want (or you can think over and micro-manage every piece, your choice). Popular with technical divers and a minority of recreational divers. This is what I migrated to.
4.) ScubaPro Hydros - kind of its own thing. Some people love them, there've been reports of durability issues that might've largely resolved with modifications over time, this you'll have to read up on yourself.
In a nutshell, if you trust a local dive shop to steer you, or you rent gear, I suspect you'll likely end up in a jacket BCD. Many on ScubaBoard advocate the BP/W system.
Welcome to scuba board. Lots of great resources here. We’re a bit north of you but get to Lauderdale by the sea and the Blue Heron bridge quite often
Thank you so much for that. When I got certified, I was using an Aqua long rental BCD. Found it pretty easy to use. I may stick with the jacket style for now. Saw the back plate and wing. They look pretty cool. The hybrid jackets look good too. I guess it just takes time and research to see what else works for my recreational diving.
For sure. We’re off on holiday for a bit but I’ll DM you when we plan to hit the bridge next. It’s a great dive.
There are lots of good shore dives around and a lot of good dive charters. As a new diver I appreciated having the boat crew around with other experienced divers. It was also an easy entry to get dropped just above the wreck or reef. There are also some meetup groups that do shore dives. Much depends on budget and preference. Where abouts are you, in downtown Miami directly?
Here are some old posts about various local sites we’ve done from Nathalie’s blog.
freedomtourtravel.com
There are lots of threads on a scuba board about local sites too. And lots of great pictures
There are lots of good shore dives around and a lot of good dive charters. As a new diver I appreciated having the boat crew around with other experienced divers. It was also an easy entry to get dropped just above the wreck or reef. There are also some meetup groups that do shore dives. Much depends on budget and preference. Where abouts are you, in downtown Miami directly?
Here are some old posts about various local sites we’ve done from Nathalie’s blog.
South Florida Diving Archives
freedomtourtravel.com
There are lots of threads on a scuba board about local sites too. And lots of great pictures
drrich2
Contributor
If you later take an interest in BP/W options, a few tips (you'll get more detail from people who know a great deal more than I on the subject):
1.) Main BP options are aluminum (a bit lighter, and you can get anodized in case you don't like the bare silver metal look) or stainless steel (heavier, which is bad for luggage weight but good for not having to add as much lead to dive). Stainless steel forms a rust-resistant outer layer, but you can interfere with that process if you coat it, I'm told, so it's not a good idea to paint or powder coat it, etc...and you're stuck with that bare metal look, near as I can tell.
2.) Some prefer donut over horseshoe style wing bladders, figuring the air has a better path to move around and not get trapped on either side.
3.) Some people like deluxe harnesses and some like simply threading a single continuous piece of webbing through to make a harness. I believe the latter is compliant with the GUE Fundamentals course (which some take in pursuit in excellence in dive skill, and some because they want to get into GUE diving), and deluxe style harnesses tend to not be.
4.) Some back plates are intended for a single tank, and some for doubles - but you can add a single tank adapter and dive a single tank on the. In theory I suppose you could swap out backplates since the setup is modular, but after watching the dive shop guy thread mine when I bought it, if I needed to use different backplates, I'd plan to get 2 setups.
5.) You may need to do a little more customizing with a BP/W setup's harness to get the best fit, as opposed to a jacket BCD.
I dove a Sherwood AVID BCD until the tank bands tore off the plastic (?) binding them to the setup (some consider it a design flaw), so I basically tossed the setup. I went to a Hollis-based BP/W setup. I don't regret that, and if one part breaks I don't have to ditch the whole thing. I do think it helps horizontal trim and I don't need quite as much weight in the water. But I do sit lower in the water at the surface.
For the recreational diving I do, I don't love one and despise the other (BP/W vs. Jacket), but I did make a choice. I wear a strap on thigh pocket from Dive Rite since BP/W setups don't tend to have the pockets common on jacket BCDs.
P.S.: Yes, I know there are other BP options - Kydex, carbon fiber, soft plate, etc... There are wings with 2 bladders for redundancy, and wings made extra tough. I narrowed it down.
1.) Main BP options are aluminum (a bit lighter, and you can get anodized in case you don't like the bare silver metal look) or stainless steel (heavier, which is bad for luggage weight but good for not having to add as much lead to dive). Stainless steel forms a rust-resistant outer layer, but you can interfere with that process if you coat it, I'm told, so it's not a good idea to paint or powder coat it, etc...and you're stuck with that bare metal look, near as I can tell.
2.) Some prefer donut over horseshoe style wing bladders, figuring the air has a better path to move around and not get trapped on either side.
3.) Some people like deluxe harnesses and some like simply threading a single continuous piece of webbing through to make a harness. I believe the latter is compliant with the GUE Fundamentals course (which some take in pursuit in excellence in dive skill, and some because they want to get into GUE diving), and deluxe style harnesses tend to not be.
4.) Some back plates are intended for a single tank, and some for doubles - but you can add a single tank adapter and dive a single tank on the. In theory I suppose you could swap out backplates since the setup is modular, but after watching the dive shop guy thread mine when I bought it, if I needed to use different backplates, I'd plan to get 2 setups.
5.) You may need to do a little more customizing with a BP/W setup's harness to get the best fit, as opposed to a jacket BCD.
I dove a Sherwood AVID BCD until the tank bands tore off the plastic (?) binding them to the setup (some consider it a design flaw), so I basically tossed the setup. I went to a Hollis-based BP/W setup. I don't regret that, and if one part breaks I don't have to ditch the whole thing. I do think it helps horizontal trim and I don't need quite as much weight in the water. But I do sit lower in the water at the surface.
For the recreational diving I do, I don't love one and despise the other (BP/W vs. Jacket), but I did make a choice. I wear a strap on thigh pocket from Dive Rite since BP/W setups don't tend to have the pockets common on jacket BCDs.
P.S.: Yes, I know there are other BP options - Kydex, carbon fiber, soft plate, etc... There are wings with 2 bladders for redundancy, and wings made extra tough. I narrowed it down.
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