my ex bought me a course thingie last year and i still havent used it.. i wonder if its still valid? hm

Got my Rescue done yesterday... Oh the pain!

i went cage diving with sharks on the weekend

Quote:

On the deep dive didnt get a single inkling of being narced. Very disappointed.

Narcosis depends on lots of things. The padi AOW deep dive has a max of 30m, when in theory there will be some sort of narcosis, but it may not be noticable. Take a hit of air at 60m, or even 40m in the back of a cave, and I guarantee you'll feel something! Very much like feeling drunk, but with important things to do.

Recently completed my PADI open water in Maui. Keen to get back under as soon as possible, any recommendations for the best diving around Sydney?

Doing my Divemaster at the moment.

Yippeee!!!

You've been powering through it. I did my open water SSI course last week in Cairns. Can see how people get hooked. Will definitely be back for more!

are you paying to do your divemasters? most people by that stage go for a DMT program, where you get paid shit amounts for a month or so while you get your DM, then you generaly are offered work as a DM with the crew who trained you, for not much better pay but some rather fucking awesome job perks. From there, most people are just logging dives and racking up tickets looking for the instructors grand prize. It's actually in the geneva convention that women have to sleep with dive instructors. How good is that?

Half way...

I paid for the DM as part of an instructor development course and once completed we get paid slave rates for being DM on courses. Something like $10/diver to pay for petrol and not much else. After that Ill do something similar to get instructor which will cost another $3k I suppose but after a few open water courses then diving will start to par for itself.

As for the women, there is one on this course but she is a lawyer who specialises in family law. There is no way I am going near that.

I did my Open Water in Feb.. I want to do my Adavanced course soon.. but I want to get a few more dives in before I do it.. I went around Cronulla for my Cert and there were some nice dive sites.

Unfortunately my dive buddy is in the UK, so I'll need to find another one.

Congrats on doing your resuce cert Mayday. I saw a guy going for his cert in Thailand and it looked pretty crazy.

seriously mayday, paying 3k for an instructors cert AND working for "we're doing you a favor" rates? I thought the student instructors in Cairns got a raw deal, but that's rough as guts. Shit you can buy a course for that retail here. If you want to finish your certs in style, run way to the tropics for 3 or 4 months and get your tickets. Better pay, more dirties and heaps nicer diving. Mad if you don't, that's a seriously fucked deal hey.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mayday

As for the women, there is one on this course but she is a lawyer who specialises in family law. There is no way I am going near that.

I ROFL'd

Quote:

After that Ill do something similar to get instructor which will cost another $3k I suppose but after a few open water courses then diving will start to par for itself.

Umm, yeah, it'll pay for itself, but only just that, and only if you teach quite regularly. Make sure you factor in PADI membership and Liability insurance (about 7-800 bucks a year together iirc). There's a very good reason I've been in non-teaching status for the last few years...

There's a few good things about having an OWSI ticket, teaching people can be heaps of fun if you have the right mindset for it, and it's a good cert to have when travelling (DM's don't really even get hired much nowadays). If you're active and visible enough you can get sponsored for cheap gear by dive gear companies (not that you need to be an instructor for that). Making money isn't one of those things. There are very few people indeed in the entire Australian diving industry who are making money.

Quote:

If you want to finish your certs in style, run way to the tropics for 3 or 4 months and get your tickets.

I agree on price, diving, and chicks, but you'll most likely come back a shit instructor who can't teach anything but nuffy cattle truck tropical diving.

Just got back from diving in Thailand, we did Phi Phi Islands and Sail Rock off Koh Phangan. Both really great. Going to Port Douglas in July but hoping to get a few more dives in around Sydney before then - any recommendations for either place?

Has anyone dived the Yongala? I want to get my advanced open water and do that sometime soon as well...

My mate just got back from Guam. I'll have to ask him about the wrecks when I see him tomorrow.

I'll ask him about local dive spots. I think Kurnell has a good spot.

Here is a tip: Never become a divemaster. You get way too much spam from PADI about shit you dont care about when you do.

am heading to port douglas in 4 weeks - doing my dive course on the tallrook boat. can't wait!!

then me and the boyf can go diving together

i've dived in

Vanuatu near Vila
Tahiti at Manihi
Fiji at Taveuni
Fiji at some remote location, was on a cruise and we dived near the ship.

I did my PADI course as soon as i turned 15. Its a fantastic past time. One of my top spots is cateran bay on the north end of border island in the Whitsundays. The course is easy peasy. Unless you have to make an emergency trip to the surface cos you lost all your air due to a busted o-ring (not the one in your anus) on your first open ocean dive :S

Oh and don't have a chicken noodle cup o soup on the boat between dives. The rocking boat might make you spew it through your regulator on your second dive...That shit is nasty. True story.

*bump*

Finally getting off my arse & doing this. Can't believe I've lived where I do for so long, and not got my ticket! Medical booked for tomorrow, course booked over 2 weekends starting 12th Dec 08.

Apparently I'm a mild asthmatic, though I've never had an attack, and stopped using Ventolin years ago because I didn't see the point. About 8 years ago I was told I'd need to do a saline test, so went to some specialist clinic and was hooked up to some sort of peak flow machine, and made to breathe through saline air, and they told me I would be fine to dive. No idea where those results ended up though So I'm hoping I get the green light tomorrow!

There's some bullshit diving near where I live, inc crays, and a couple of wrecks, so I'm looking forward to this like you wouldn't believe!

I've spearfishing for the past few years now and do freediving in between however I am yet to undergo a scuba course. Some of the guys I go out diving with have guts. Like these people will do 40 - 50 meter down time dives and are able to hold there breath at around the 5 - 6 minute time. I can currently go down to 25 meters on 3 minute down time it used to be 3:40 though.

If you want to show you've got balls then stick with freediving it also allows you to be more manouverable.

By the way does anyone here spearfish?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj-yogi

I've spearfishing for the past few years now and do freediving in between however I am yet to undergo a scuba course. Some of the guys I go out diving with have guts. Like these people will do 40 - 50 meter down time dives and are able to hold there breath at around the 5 - 6 minute time. I can currently go down to 25 meters on 3 minute down time it used to be 3:40 though.

If you want to show you've got balls then stick with freediving it also allows you to be more manouverable.

Scuba and freediving are total opposites IMO- you're going to have to unlearn a shitload of habits if you learn to scuba. It's all about staying relaxed, using minimal effort (to conserve air) and above all, NOT holding your breath.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj-yogi

If you want to show you've got balls then stick with freediving it also allows you to be more manouverable.

Yeah, I'm totally doing it to prove I've got balls.

Fuck there is some stupid on ITM today.

I've freedived & spearfished since I was a kid, and now looking to add an extra dimension to it.

Anyone got any tips for dive torches? going to start doing some night time snorkeling for crays once the weather improves!

As long as you get a reputable brand you cant really go wrong. I use a Undwater Kinetics Q40 for looking into into cracks and small gaps during the day. For night diving i'd consider a light cannon or something similar. Check out http://www.uwkinetics.com

^yeah go a cannon style job for night diving.

Just got the green light at my diving medical!

(Wasn't sure how I'd go with a long ago history of mild asthma.)

*cough* So have I mentioned I'm excited as all fuck about starting my course! I HATE waiting for a new adventure! Although I guess it somewhat adds to the excitement. Might go in and grab my course books etc this afternoon and do some reading to keep my mind occupied!

I did a PADI open water dive course over Christmas in Kho Tao Thailand. The best fun ever. Did the one session in the pool and 4 dives over 2 days, including some theory sessions and the test. Cost about $430 all up including accommodation and equipment.

Want to do a few dives up or around the Barrier reef in Feb. Anyone got any suggestions where?

The shark thread in C&P forum got me thinking, does anyone here dive with a Shark Shield? Review please?

I doubt I'd use one for everyday diving, but every now and then when in certain areas (abrolhos islands) I wouldn't mind having one.

Going diving this weekend to un-snag a couple of pots for a mate, looking forward to it! Birthday on Saturday, so will wait until I get all me dive shop vouchers for gifts (hehe) before I buy my kit. Until then, been/using borrowed gear. Who else is going diving soon and where??

Oh, and just out of interest, with which org did everyone do their course? Or if many, the bulk of their accreditation over the years?

SSI for me.

Next step I think for me is looking towards doing a couple of specialties, racking up my 24 dives and attaining adv open water.

Quote:

Originally Posted by No Rehersal

Your theory of having to work hard against ambient pressure may make some sense if you were talking about trying to breath through a hose from the surface. Which is not possible beyond long snorkel length.

To inhale, you have to fill your lungs. while it's not harder to draw air in from the tank (due to the reg, as you mentioned), it is harder to expand your chest cavity against the pressure of the water. It gets very noticeable the wrong side of 40m, but for athsmatics it's a problem even at 15-20m (or 2 atmospheres, which is twice as much as the ambient pressure being exerted on your body at sea level by the air around you.) Further, the total capacity of the chest cavity is reduced at depth. The net result is at depth, the volume of gas in a flexible container (such as the lungs,) decreases. It's not a theory, it's a law of physics, Boyles law.

Quote:

Originally Posted by boyles law

For a fixed amount of an ideal gas kept at a fixed temperature, P [pressure] and V [volume] are inversely proportional (while one increases, the other decreases).

it's not about who's right or wrong though, it's about ensuring people have the facts so they can assess the risks for themselves.

Ticked up my rig on the weekend, through the Oceanic Ezi-Pay deal. Basically, no interest, ever, 20% deposit, spend up to $6k, the more you spend the more your weekly repayments are as it has to be paid within the year. I'm sure I could've found a better deal thru ebay/second hand/ex hire gear etc but couldn't be arsed looking. Total was around $3500, less my 20% deposit, leaves me with approx $54/week repayments.

Oceanic; OceanPro FX

Integrated weights, and I love the front operated rear dump valve; saves searching around behind me for the toggle. Upgraded this from whatever the basic BC in the package was, mainly due to the integrateds and the pretty colours.

Oceanic; VEO 250

The computer was the only other thing I wanted to upgrade, so that if/when I get into nitrox & decompression diving this model will do the trick, and I won't be trying to offload through the quokka to get a new one

+ reg, occy, 12L tank, 5mm elastoprene wetty & weights.



All ready to go diving! We were keen as for yesterday, but weather let us down devo.

OH and my bro bought me a 1200mm spear gun for my birthday too. Stoked.

(Double post, I know. But I'm excited.)

Anyone going diving this weekend? Was supposed to have a trip teed up for the Abrolhos Islands next weekend, but that has been changed to midweek, so I'm out. May just hit up one of the local reefs.

Nice kit korupt. And since you got it on HP, I'd say you got a pretty good deal. Stay out of the mixed gas stuff as long as you can. I know..err, knew, guys who really did know what they were doing who still managed to die on that shit. You wouldn't get me on mixed gas or a re-breather unless you were paying me. Lots.

DNW intergrated weights in my BC though. Make sure your buddy knows where they are and how to dump them. Everyone knows how to drop a belt, not everyone knows how to find and remove intergrated weights. You do, sure, it's your kit. But what happens if you're blacked out and your buddy has to get you to the surface? Worst case scenarios are fun to speculate on...

That's interesting what you say about the nitrox... I'll keep that in mind! tbh I wasn't really interested in it anyway, was more just keeping my options open. I think the first specialties I'll do will be stress & rescue, and night diving.

Yep, will definitely be making sure my buddy knows how to operate all my stuff, speshly the integrateds!

Got one short dive in over the weekend, but vis was terrible. I knew it would be, but I really wanted to get out there anyway haha!

Doing South West Rocks in a few weeks.

Want to do another few dives before then as I have time off in the week leading up to our trip. Wouldn't mind doing a ship wreck or night dive somewhere.

yongala out of towsville/home hill. (go with mike ball, costs more but it's a wreck dive, so go with pros.)

the further north you go, the better the diving gets. cairns is busy, plenty of boats, but the boats out of port douglas go to better reefs. if you do go from cairns, any boat thta goes to norman/saxon or hastings would be my pick.
it's the off season so shop around. call the companies directly rather than booking through an agent, and try to cut a deal. ie, if i pay for transfers and a dive, can i get second dive free or cheap? if you guys won't do it maybe another company will." isa good line.

if you come to cairns, go to reef teach the night before your dive, it adds awesome.

batt reef is my fave off port douglas. with the flooding we've had, there's a lot of debris and sediment even out on the outer reef, so don't expect much. in the way of vis also, it's still pissing rain here more often than not, but it's wet underwater anyway so get over it.

if you really want to blow your mind on the east coast, get on a boat that does a run up to cod hole and the ribbon reefs, the only better places are in buttfuck nowhere up the west coast.

hands up everyone who installed a cd rom in a computer (3 minute job) and got a dive and transfers out of it...

*looks around*

*raises hand*

N4TE... do you/would you ever dive alone? If so, is there anywhere you draw the line?

Been so shitty lately; no swell/wind during the week, then huge swell all weekend. not much fun for shore dives

define alone. completely by myself? or without a buddy but hanging with another buddy pair? I've dived as a third wheel before, which imo is not diving alone if you're all experienced and aware of each other and have agreed to dive as a group of three before anyone's toes get wet, but I'd never rec dive solo, ever. I can see myself chucking on a tank and jumping over the side of a boat solo to solve a problem or fix something, if the situation demanded it, that's about where I'd draw the line, where the risk of not dealing with a problem by diving alone exceeds the risk of doing a dive alone.

That said, I've dived with people who were so fukn useless I might as well have been diving alone. So the point is moot. Good buddys ftw. Join a club, put up a notice in a dive shop, someone's always up for logging some bottom time.

Got back from Lord Howe Island last week, went out on a couple of boat trips there for some truly fantastic diving, did two sites on the outer reef outside the lagoon, and one each off Malabar Head and the Admiralty Islands. 35m viz, 26 degree water, epic swim-throughs and tons of marine life (including some 2.5m bull rays), was fucking awesome.

It's really got me psyched to get more serious about my diving now, I've registered to do my advanced certification in a couple of weeks and after a few years of only owning mask/fins/boots & snorkel and hiring the rest I've started to cobble together the rest of my own rig. Picked up a Neptune Blaze 5/7mm semi dry wettie for $300 at Subaquatics last week (they have a stack of half-price Neptune suits at the moment) and scored a second-hand Scubapro BCD for $72(!) on eBay- the BCDs a bit old but apparently was only used for a couple of years then put into storage and still looks mint- worth a punt I reckon and if it turns out to be shit I haven't lost much $$.
Next up on the list is regs- anyone know much about buying them second-hand (what to look out for and avoid etc)? I'd imagine you'd want to get hem serviced after buying them, anyone got an idea of the typical cost?

Couple of pics from the LHI trip here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

Picked up a Neptune Blaze 5/7mm semi dry wettie for $300 at Subaquatics last week (they have a stack of half-price Neptune suits at the moment) and scored a second-hand Scubapro BCD for $72(!) on eBay- the BCDs a bit old but apparently was only used for a couple of years then put into storage and still looks mint- worth a punt I reckon and if it turns out to be shit I haven't lost much $$.
Next up on the list is regs- anyone know much about buying them second-hand (what to look out for and avoid etc)? I'd imagine you'd want to get hem serviced after buying them, anyone got an idea of the typical cost?

what's going on with all the sales at the moment? My local Tusa shop's knocking out 7mm semis for 50% off retail, tri-ex kits for 33% (66% off) 25% off tanks and regs, 10% off computers, and it's just hitting the peak season so by rights they should be upping prices, not dropping them. not arguing though, gonna get a new fins/mask/snorkel set that matches my wetty so I can be a fashion concious, color co-ordinated underwater fuckstick.

If you want a second hand reg, (and it's really not such an awesome idea imo, risk aside, a retail refit costs enough to make it cheaper to buy new most of the time) ask at a dive shop where they have their equipment serviced, and approach whoever that is for 2nd hand kit. At least then you know it's been rubber stamped by someone who knows what's what.

Most of the parts you'll be concerned about with a reg and would want to check (crossflows, grommets, seals, 2way valves etc,) require a full dismantle to inspect. imo your first stage is your most important bit of kit, and I would not even consider buying someone else's problems. save up and go for new.

Quote:

Originally Posted by N4TE

Most of the parts you'll be concerned about with a reg and would want to check (crossflows, grommets, seals, 2way valves etc,) require a full dismantle to inspect. imo your first stage is your most important bit of kit, and I would not even consider buying someone else's problems. save up and go for new.

I hear what your saying mate. TBH I'll only buy second-hand if I can get it cheap enough to make it worthwhile including the cost of getting both stages fully serviced as soon as I buy it- no way I'm trusting it underwater otherwise. Same goes for the old BCD I got, it's going straight to the shop when it arrives.
But I have noticed that there seems to be a bit of gear floating around thats been bought by people who've dived a few times then given up and put it in storage- so there are some bargains to be had.
Re the sales, remember you're just coming into peak season but down south we're into autumn now and a lot of the Sydney/Melbourne based wholesalers are probably shedding stock- which might still be translating into cheap gear up your way. Good for us all anyway... I've dived in 8 degree water before so winters not really a put-off, especially if I can get some bargain kit!

Im doing some diving in Colombia at the moment. 70 bucks = 2 boat dives, all kit including dive computers and crystal clear 26 degree water. I love the third world sometimes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by N4TE

what's going on with all the sales at the moment?

The gear part of the dive industry is tanking at the moment. A combination of people scared of the GFC and cutting back on luxuries and the online dive stores eating into their profits big time. The bigger distributors like Aquanaut, Oceanic and Scubapro are doing their best to hold out, but it's an outdated model, and it's killing them. Basically the size of the market here vs the US means you can buy just about any gear in the US and some parts of Europe for the same price as the shops are buying it from the distributors.

Quote:

You wouldn't get me on mixed gas or a re-breather unless you were paying me. Lots.

Horses for courses. Being limited to air means you can't safely do anything beyond maybe 45m, and longer deco times then. Deco-ing on air is more dangerous than using a hotmix. It's not for everyone, but deaths are relatively rare if you're careful and conservative in your approach to progressing through deeper and longer dives. Rebreathers are a necessity beyond 100m IMO, and longer penetrations of caves. Same with solo diving, past a certain point diving in a buddy pair is more dangerous than diving alone.

Just finished my advanced course today, pretty easy stuff, only the peak performance bouyancy bit was much of a challenge (and consequently the bit that I reckon will improve my diving the most). I was easily the most experienced student on the course though, most of the others were pretty much fresh from their open water certification. One chick freaked on the deep dive and sucked down 120 bar of air in 7 minutes resulting in the Divemasrter having t o bail to the surface with her. I reckon there should really be a prerequisite of 15-20 logged dives before you can do your advanced, I reckon half of my coursemates would get more benefit simply from more bottom time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nazaar

The gear part of the dive industry is tanking at the moment. A combination of people scared of the GFC and cutting back on luxuries and the online dive stores eating into their profits big time. The bigger distributors like Aquanaut, Oceanic and Scubapro are doing their best to hold out, but it's an outdated model, and it's killing them. Basically the size of the market here vs the US means you can buy just about any gear in the US and some parts of Europe for the same price as the shops are buying it from the distributors.



Horses for courses. Being limited to air means you can't safely do anything beyond maybe 45m, and longer deco times then. Deco-ing on air is more dangerous than using a hotmix. It's not for everyone, but deaths are relatively rare if you're careful and conservative in your approach to progressing through deeper and longer dives. Rebreathers are a necessity beyond 100m IMO, and longer penetrations of caves. Same with solo diving, past a certain point diving in a buddy pair is more dangerous than diving alone.

Also using a rebreather you can pretend you are a frogman going to attach some limpet mines to an enemy ships hull.

I'm doing my open water PADI course in just under a month. I'll be up in Cairns for a wedding so decided to stay on an extra 3 days and do the course, can't wait!

Question regarding the medical cert. When I was younger my eardrums burst on a flight. I have trouble with my ears every now and then when descending. Am I likely the have the same issues diving??

Quote:

Originally Posted by HARV3Y

Question regarding the medical cert. When I was younger my eardrums burst on a flight. I have trouble with my ears every now and then when descending. Am I likely the have the same issues diving??

I'd almost guarantee that you'll have some sort of problems with your ears unfortunately, given that you're dealing with exactly the same thing as when you're flying- ie an increase in pressure in the outer ear as you descend. Of course you might just find that you can grab your nose and blow hard to force your ears to equalise and you'll be fine- lots of people need to do that, which is no issue. Only some lucky people seem to have ears that just equlise themselves without having to force things.