Wife and I are brand new, looking for ideas...

[chrisreedrules]

My wife and I are both very new to scuba and we live in the northeast Florida region. We were just certified a few weeks ago for our open water certs. We are still waiting for some of our own equipment to come in (a couple of lines and some weights) but I'm hoping to get some feedback as to whether or not some of our current plans are appropriate for our skill level:

July:
*Once all of our equipment comes in we would like to go dive Devil's Den and Blue Grotto to familiarize ourselves with our new BCs and work on our buyouncy control and team work. We considered perhaps Ginnie Springs but it can be a little wild until after Labor Day in September so we might save that one.
*We have scheduled a dive at the Disney aquarium that we are very much looking forward to at the end of July.

August:
*Thinking of taking a trip out to Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, and perhaps Glacier NP sometime in late August. Would diving anywhere out here be beyond our current skill level? And sorry for the noob question but is there specific training we should seek out for diving at higher elevation locations? Would we likely need thicker than 5mm wet suits for the cooler water?

September:
*Advanced Open Water Certs
*Key West reef diving sometime near the end of September?

We are both very new but have fallen in love with scuba. We're very excited to get back in the water! Any helpful tips/advice/critiques of dive/trip plans are most welcome.

 

[flyboy08]

Skip the AOW until you get some dives under your weight belt....I'd say 50 or so....buoyancy in fresh water is different than in Salt, but you already know this I'm sure....will you be doing more spring dives? I hope not! Travel to a few dive destinations in Central America and get the feel for the sport.

Diving in Yellowstone? Them geyser get pretty warm! Lol! No diving there, just enjoy what is has to offer. There's plenty to do out there besides diving.

Welcome to the hobby.

 

[chrisreedrules]

Skip the AOW until you get some dives under your weight belt....I'd say 50 or so....buoyancy in fresh water is different than in Salt, but you already know this I'm sure....will you be doing more spring dives? I hope not! Travel to a few dive destinations in Central America and get the feel for the sport.

Diving in Yellowstone? Them geyser get pretty warm! Lol! No diving there, just enjoy what is has to offer. There's plenty to do out there besides diving.

Welcome to the hobby.

Thanks! We have heard a lot of mixed advice on the AOW. Many people say to take it ASAP after the OW cert others say wait and get a little experience first. As far as spring dives, we won't be doing anything too deep. No cave diving (for now!). We have been to Devil's Den as part of our open water cert so we figured to go back there on a weekday when it isn't so crowded since we are already familiar. And we've heard Blue Grotto is good for beginners as well. We go down to the carribean several times a year and we do plan on diving next time, but we don't have anything solid planned just yet. And as far as Yellowstone, we were thinking more of some lakes in the Tetons and maybe something out in Glacier. Yellowstone would just be for some day hikes and sight-seeing.

 

[Rocketman3]

if there is water you can probably dive it... however there may not be much to see. I live in Utah, yes we have a few ok spots to dive - crater at Midway, blue lake, Flaming Gorge, etc, etc. but none of these are nearly as good as Mexico or the Florida Keys.

Also lake diving NEEDS 7mm - it's cold down there!

Have fun

 

[arew+4]

I would start with long weekends, key largo and points south. Get a good number of dives in (40-60) then do AOW. Then some week or longer trips to the caribean, once your comfortable relying only on each other, do Bonaire, and grand Cayman, lots of shore diving no schedules to worry about.

 

[chrisreedrules]

Thank you for the replies all! The keys are high up on our list of "want to dive sooner rather than laters". We've also been considering our own steel tanks. I know many recommend not purchasing tanks until you know you're going to be diving quite frequently but the allure of our own steel tanks is tempting. Especially because we can drive to most dive locations in the keys from where we're at (although it would certainly be a long dive).

Does anyone have any advice for diving off of St Thomas and St John? Okay for beginners? Perhaps we'll do that in August instead of Yellowstone and the Tetons.

 

[arew+4]

My wife and I did a resort course/discover scuba in St. Thomas, (that got us hooked, we started classes as soon as we got home) and have been back twice. The diving is generally pretty easy, and I would say underrated, at least it was when we were last there about 15 years ago.

 

[chrisreedrules]

My wife and I did a resort course/discover scuba in St. Thomas, (that got us hooked, we started classes as soon as we got home) and have been back twice. The diving is generally pretty easy, and I would say underrated, at least it was when we were last there about 15 years ago.

Thanks! We go to St Thomas quite frequently so it's a prime location for us.

 

[KathyV]

...We are both very new but have fallen in love with scuba. We're very excited to get back in the water! Any helpful tips/advice/critiques of dive/trip plans are most welcome.

All 3 of the all-inclusive, diver-dedicated, Clearly Cayman resorts are offering free nitrox and free nitrox certification during mid-Nov to mid-Jan; see the link below. (You have to complete the online PADI nitrox class before the trip and they will do your certification dives.)

Be advised that the free shore diving offered by the Cobalt Coast resort on Grand Cayman may not be consistently available during the winter due to the winds. You can add on a 3rd dive at the Brac and Little Cayman resorts for an extra fee if you are interested.

How long of a drive for you to get to Fort Lauderdale? Southwest recently started offering direct flights from FLL to GCM with 2 free checked bags. If you decide to go to Cayman Brac or Little Cayman it will be an additional $110 roundtrip on Cayman Airways.

Free Diving, Nitrox, and Nitrox Certification*

 

[chrisreedrules]

Thanks for the reply Kathy! Our LDS has offered us free nitrox certifications so we will likely do it through them. And I appreciate the travel tips! I'm an airline pilot and my wife has a very flexible schedule so it's easy for us to travel (and we do frequently because it doesn't cost us anything to travel almost anywhere we want). Planning a trip to New Zealand in the spring of next year which should be a lot of fun for diving and exploring.