Pool sessions

[Painter]

In a different thread several people suggested to me that pool sessions over the winter would be a good idea because I won't be able to dive again until late Feb. when I go to the Virgin Islands. (I can't afford a dry suit right now, and I'm not sure I'm all that interested in ice diving anyway.) So far, though, all I have been able to find have been refresher courses, which I don't think that I need. I'd really like to just get in the water with some other people to practice and get comfortable. I live in Upstate NY, near Albany, but I'm willing to drive a couple of hours. Any suggestions?

 

[boulderjohn]

I have no idea what your situation is in your area, but in our area, there are a few public recreation centers that allow you to go in with scuba gear and practice. The dive shops that have their own pools will let you rent time in them at a very reasonable price--they will do just about anything to offset the tremendous price they pay for having that pool. Dive shops that do not have pools rent lanes in recreation centers for their OW classes, and when they do, they allow certified divers to join them for a small fee.

 

[Marie13]

You have a couple of choices.

Public pools that will let you dive during open swim periods.

Dive shops with pools on site. I did that last Saturday with two buddies. $10/hour including tank and weights. Shop even puts tanks right at pool side. . We did 2 hours. Small pool but it was good to get wet.

If a dive shop is running a small OW class in a rented pool, see if you can piggyback on the class, staying out of their way, of course.

I just got certified in early October and need to work on some things, so I'll also be doing some private sessions with an instructor over the winter, too.

You don't have to have a tank on your back to work on things, as I've found out. Take your fins, mask, and snorkel to public indoor pool and do laps. I'll be doing that to improve my kicks.

 

[Chip Elliott]

My LDS is going to let me use their pool whenever they have a class and I can just hang out and work on skills in buoyancy and other stuff

 

[arcticat99]

up here in Canada lds rents public pool on sunday evenings and for small fee you can go practice skills .i have my gear so it costs 10 bucks for a rental tank and weights and that includes about 2 hours pool time cheap entertainment

 

[TMHeimer]

A pool session once in a while is a good idea. Go over the skills by mimicking them on land in between. If you have a thick wetsuit you can drive to a (unfrozen) lake and do one dive--back into car with heater going. Suggest "lobster claw" mitts.

 

[Marie13]

Have to get in the water some over the winter otherwise your gills start to dry out!

 

[ColoDale]

I dive in a public pool when a dive shop I know of has students. They have part of the deep end and some lanes in the shallow end for instructing. I pay a small fee and they bring me a tank and weights. I will generally do this to test new gear or camera equip. I rinse my gear off well as the public pools put large amounts of chemicals in them so that it feels it would eat my skin off. The downside to the pool is that ever since the last several Olympics and successes in swimming events, the pools are packed here.

 

[icechip]

Check to see if any local high school has a pool. That's what we use.

 

[rongoodman]

In a different thread several people suggested to me that pool sessions over the winter would be a good idea because I won't be able to dive again until late Feb. when I go to the Virgin Islands. (I can't afford a dry suit right now, and I'm not sure I'm all that interested in ice diving anyway.) So far, though, all I have been able to find have been refresher courses, which I don't think that I need. I'd really like to just get in the water with some other people to practice and get comfortable. I live in Upstate NY, near Albany, but I'm willing to drive a couple of hours. Any suggestions?

Get in touch with Scuba Shack, just south of Hartford. They have access to a large pool in West Hartford. Their next Core Principles class, which was the old Buoyancy 1, starts on Jan 8.