Newbie needs advice

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

vjongene

Contributor
Messages
390
Reaction score
47
Location
Willemstad, Curaçao
# of dives
1000 - 2499
I have 20 years of OC diving behind me, and I am thinking of switching to bubble-free diving. I did a "discover rebreather diving" experience a week ago, which included some basic info about the rebreather (a Hollis Prism 2) and emergency procedures (switch to BOV if anything seems off), a pre-dive check, a bit of shallow/confined water basic skills, and a 1 hour dive at <10 m. It all went well, except of course that my buoyancy control was all over the place. The instructor was fine, he runs the only tec diving shop on the island.
Now comes the big decision about whether to go for a full course ($1500 for a CCR 40 cert) and buy a rig. I was told that if I did, I could buy the rig used for the course at about half retail price, which sounds reasonable. But that raises more questions. Is the Hollis Prism really the best unit for "recreational" CCR diving? There are no dealers for any CCRs on the island, so how much of a pain will it be to get service? I can get parts shipped here from most places, but at a premium. Or should I just forget it and stick with OC diving as I have for the last 20 years, and I am now pretty good at?
Any advice would be appreciated. I have not made up my mind yet. Thanks!
 
Why would you buy one? I think the main reason is to extend dives (deep dives and/or caves) Or to take pics and have better interactions with the fish.

If it is to do rec dives it seems a lot of extra hassle with many extra points of failure without gaining anything.
 
Is the shop a dealer for any other units? Or just the prism. If its the only training available then you have to decide if the prism does the dives you want or not.
And if OC does those dives "just fine" then its just a ton of money & effort for no gain.
 
I have 20 years of OC diving behind me, and I am thinking of switching to bubble-free diving. I did a "discover rebreather diving" experience a week ago, which included some basic info about the rebreather (a Hollis Prism 2) and emergency procedures (switch to BOV if anything seems off), a pre-dive check, a bit of shallow/confined water basic skills, and a 1 hour dive at <10 m. It all went well, except of course that my buoyancy control was all over the place. The instructor was fine, he runs the only tec diving shop on the island.
Now comes the big decision about whether to go for a full course ($1500 for a CCR 40 cert) and buy a rig. I was told that if I did, I could buy the rig used for the course at about half retail price, which sounds reasonable. But that raises more questions. Is the Hollis Prism really the best unit for "recreational" CCR diving? There are no dealers for any CCRs on the island, so how much of a pain will it be to get service? I can get parts shipped here from most places, but at a premium. Or should I just forget it and stick with OC diving as I have for the last 20 years, and I am now pretty good at?
Any advice would be appreciated. I have not made up my mind yet. Thanks!

Why do you want to spend all the money to get a rebreather? You dont list any reason why you want to. Also will you be solo diving or do you know people that would be rebreather diving also? It seems rather pointless to go rebreather if you will be diving with regular scuba divers and buddying up with them. When they have to end the dive you could stay down much longer...also If you had any issue they wouldnt know bupkis what to do to assist or check things out whereas another rebreather MAY possibly be able to assist before you have to bailout... just some random thoughts I had reading your post.
 
Why would you buy one? I think the main reason is to extend dives (deep dives and/or caves) Or to take pics and have better interactions with the fish.

If it is to do rec dives it seems a lot of extra hassle with many extra points of failure without gaining anything.

I should have been more specific about why I am thinking about diving a rebreather:
1) I am an avid photographer, and would like to be less intrusive to marine life. Btw, this also applies to hunting for lionfish, which we try to keep under control here.
2) Extended dive times, particularly in the 25-40 m depth range. There are several wrecks here that have longish approach swims and where I would like to have more bottom time.
3) In the long run, I would probably want to go deeper to explore other wrecks that are less accessible.
4) I would like to back to places like Truk Lagoon and Bikini Atoll and do more extensive explorations of the wrecks there. I have dived them on OC (air and O2 deco), but would have more leeway.
 
Why do you want to spend all the money to get a rebreather? You dont list any reason why you want to. Also will you be solo diving or do you know people that would be rebreather diving also? It seems rather pointless to go rebreather if you will be diving with regular scuba divers and buddying up with them. When they have to end the dive you could stay down much longer...also If you had any issue they wouldnt know bupkis what to do to assist or check things out whereas another rebreather MAY possibly be able to assist before you have to bailout... just some random thoughts I had reading your post.

Good point about finding buddies. This is something I want to discuss with the instructor, who knows everyone on the island who does tec diving. The dive shop that hosts him is right next to our place, and I hope to link up with buddies that way.
 
CCR = Deep or Long or Both. Deep requiring Tir-Mix, it makes sense if you plan to do a bunch of that kind of diving as gas bills become huge. Long as in you start requiring multiple stage bottles and I don't mean two. Deep and Long =s duh.
 
I think there are 3? Total? Or 4? CCR divers that are residents of Curaçao. I assume you’re referencing Alain’s P2 and Goby Divers? While there always seem ample used P2 accessible to buy at will in the US, it will be nice to dive the same unit as the others on the island (other diver is on a REVO which is another discussion) as well as avoiding the nuisance of shipping parts down there. Goby will likely be the easiest logistics for helium and sorb when the time comes for it.
 
I think there are 3? Total? Or 4? CCR divers that are residents of Curaçao. I assume you’re referencing Alain’s P2 and Goby Divers? While there always seem ample used P2 accessible to buy at will in the US, it will be nice to dive the same unit as the others on the island (other diver is on a REVO which is another discussion) as well as avoiding the nuisance of shipping parts down there. Goby will likely be the easiest logistics for helium and sorb when the time comes for it.
Goby recently moved to be right next to us, very convenient. I know Alain (instructor) and Bernardo, whose wife runs Goby. I have to have a conversation with them about logistics. My usual dive buddy in interested in CCR, but I don't think he has the time or money right now.
 

Back
Top Bottom