Scuba

Mikey-D

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Any other scuba divers around? I got my PADI open-water cert about 3 weeks ago and have logged 12 dives so far.
 
Any other scuba divers around? I got my PADI open-water cert about 3 weeks ago and have logged 12 dives so far.

Yup. I dive. Haven't been for a couple of years, but it is an awesome experience. Where have you been so far?

I've been to British Virgin Islands, Florida Keys, St. Kitts, off the southeast coast of Spain, and Sydney, Australia.

Best experience I've had was a night dive in the BVI's. Saw octopus, lobsters, crabs, and a sleeping sea turtle.

Scuba diving is awesome.
 
So far, all my diving has been local (and will probably remain that way this year).

My first four were in a quarry out near Fort Erie, then Marmora, then somewhere near-ish to Trent U (slept most of the way there/back), and finally did 4 dives on 3 wrecks in Kingston.

Can't wait until I get to do some international diving!
 
PADI open water here as well. Got my certification in Thailand, which was very cool.

So far I have been to Dominican, Cuba, Hawaii, Thailand, Great Barrier Reef (Australia), Cozumel.

Have yet to do any local diving, I hear there is some interesting stuff along the St. Lawrence. Something about a flooded city, that was flooded years ago to expand the seaway.
 
300+ dives, locally and internationally. There is some great diving in our own backyard. Niagara River, Kingston, Ivy Lea, Brockville, Lost Villages near Cornwall (if you really enjoy current). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Villages
 
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I had a friend who got certified somewhere equatorial as well. She's never been diving up here though, and while I've never done any diving down south, I've been told it's a world of difference cold-water diving vs warm-water diving.

I've currently only got one other trip planned, and that's to Kingston again on the July 24/25th weekend. Should be a good time!
 
I free drive mainly, but am hoping to get my open water cert this year. I did an intro to scuba dive while in Hawaii and LOVED it. Cant wait to test out my gopro on my next trip.
 
scuba is amazing, it's been a few years since I had a chance to go since I havn't been to the carribean in a while. Did my certification in the Caymans it was incredible.

Actually looking into doing some diving locally, I hear tobermory has some decent dive sites has anyone here been up there?
 
50+ dives here, spent 3 weeks on Ko Tao off the coast of Thailand just diving and riding a motorcycle two winters ago....great time. Nothing like ringing in the new year on a sandy beach in shorts and a t-shirt.

I've also done Cuba and Mexico...

Diving in Canada doesnt interest me one bit for some reason...oh yea, the cold!
 
I got certified back in the mid 80's. Diving in Ontario is very cold and dark. I've been down on the Wyoming in Lake Muskoka several times. Diving down south is much nicer. Stuart's Cove in the Bahamas was, by far, the best. I did a wreck dive and a shark dive with them a couple of years ago. It was pretty cool.
 
I free drive mainly, but am hoping to get my open water cert this year. I did an intro to scuba dive while in Hawaii and LOVED it. Cant wait to test out my gopro on my next trip.

If you're looking to certify, I've had nothing bad to say about the Ajax Scuba Club. That's who I did my cert through, and all my dives have been through them so far this year. The website blows (they're looking into getting it redone), but you can check it out at ajaxscubaclub.on.ca
 
Got certified in 1991. Am now certified as a Rescue Diver through PADI. Have done about 150 dives (I no longer keep a log book).

I did my open water dives back in Dec 1991 in a quarry in Innerkip. It was really cold.

In Ontario I have done dives in Innerkip, the Sinclair River, Tobermorey and Lake Ontario. Other places include Lake Champlain, Vermont; Cancun, Cozmel, Playa del Carmen and Ixtapa, Mexico; Jamaica; Turks & Caicos; Costa Rica; Panama; and Greece.

I must say, that I prefer the warm water dives. As a result, I usually only dive when I go away on vacation.
 
Rescue Diver here too!!

Favorite diving was in the Maldives!! I'd live there if I could.
 
I have my own fins/mask/snorkel, but if I were to start scuba diving a couple times a year, is it generally worth investing in my own gear or just rent?
 
Like Smokeater above, I have around 300 dives, heck, about 1/3 of them with him.

Like most things I take up, I got a little obsessive about it. Did deep, ice, mixed gas, solo, cave, wreck penetration, all that stuff. The harder and more technical the better. I bought a rebreather in 2008, and did my cert in Grand Cayman. That is an awesome place to dive.

However, I came to realize that with a couple of young boys, with this evermore hardcore diving style I was taking risks that weren't fair or very responsible. I then sold my Rebreather and a whole bunch of tanks and regs and crap, and am now only doing mellow, shallower dives, and much less frequently. Now that I am addicted to my motorcycle instead of diving, it leaves much less time for diving.

Someone above said that diving in Ontario is dark and cold. Poppycock. Okay, so the Waome in Lake Muskoka is one such dive - deep, cold, and super creepy. However, if you go to Brockville or Rockport, you can dive in warm clear water all summer, see fish and wrecks in awesome conditions. If you go to Tobermory in the summer, it's cold, but the water is often gin clear, and the sunlight penetrates very deeply. And there's a hundred other fantastic dives within 4 hours of Toronto.

Go with some experienced friends, learn something, have fun, and dive safe.
 
I have my own fins/mask/snorkel, but if I were to start scuba diving a couple times a year, is it generally worth investing in my own gear or just rent?

From a financial perspective, rent for the love of god. Owning is painfully expensive. If you want nicer/better gear, owning is the way to go, but you pay dearly for the privilege. You have yearly gear checks, tank visuals, tank hydros every 5 years, if you change size your wetsuit no longer fits etc. Even if you buy most gear, renting tanks makes sense. The cost to fill vs the rental cost takes a while to pay off tanks (especially considering the yearly testing required). I love diving with steel tanks, but if I was doing it again, I would probably put up with Al's so I wouldn't have the hassle and expense.

If you are doing any questionable diving, owning is the only way to go as I don't trust rental gear as much as my own gear (and you shouldn't be doing questionable diving with gear you are not 100% familiar with).

Unless I am going on a dive vacation down south (which I have never done), I don't bother travelling with my gear. It takes up so much space and normally I just get in a couple dives.
 
From a financial perspective, rent for the love of god. Owning is painfully expensive. If you want nicer/better gear, owning is the way to go, but you pay dearly for the privilege. You have yearly gear checks, tank visuals, tank hydros every 5 years, if you change size your wetsuit no longer fits etc. Even if you buy most gear, renting tanks makes sense. The cost to fill vs the rental cost takes a while to pay off tanks (especially considering the yearly testing required). I love diving with steel tanks, but if I was doing it again, I would probably put up with Al's so I wouldn't have the hassle and expense.

If you are doing any questionable diving, owning is the only way to go as I don't trust rental gear as much as my own gear (and you shouldn't be doing questionable diving with gear you are not 100% familiar with).

Unless I am going on a dive vacation down south (which I have never done), I don't bother travelling with my gear. It takes up so much space and normally I just get in a couple dives.

I am currently renting only tanks, regs and BCD. I bought everything else, because when I did the math on it, the number of times I'd need to rent this year alone would pay for more than half the cost of buying.

I'll get regs and BCD (and computer) next year, probably, since I'd really rather be diving with a computer than with a basic console, and I like using a back-inflate BCD with integrated weights (don't really like putting 20-odd lbs on a weight belt :P )
 
Further to the renting, if you can hold off on buying for a while, you can learn more about the gear you may want to own on the long run. I bought so much stupid gear that I ended up selling again because in the beginning of your diving career, to quote one of the more infamous diving instructors in Canada "You don't know what you don't know."
 
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