Scuba Diving newbie

J.Wilt

J.Wilt

Well-Known Member
Jan 29, 2010
1,083
W. Mich. / Lake Michigan
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Looking for a new hobbie so my wife and I decided to take up scuba diving. We just completed our classroom and confined dives this past weekend, 1/2 way there to being certified now just need some open water dives. We will be in Florida next week for 10 days, hoping to get a couple dives in and then heading to Cancun for a week maybe some more diving in. Can't believe we didn't do this sooner, guess I have more time and money now.:smt001 We tried a Discovery Dive last year in Cancun and loved it below is a pic they took of us, got to love the suit.
image.jpg
 
J.Wilt said:
Looking for a new hobbie so my wife and I decided to take up scuba diving. We just completed our classroom and confined dives this past weekend, 1/2 way there to being certified now just need some open water dives. We will be in Florida next week for 10 days, hoping to get a couple dives in and then heading to Cancun for a week maybe some more diving in. Can't believe we didn't do this sooner, guess I have more time and money now.:smt001 We tried a Discovery Dive last year in Cancun and loved it below is a pic they took of us, got to love the suit.
View attachment 38528
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I love diving! I took a 16 week class at my local community college back in 1995. It got me 2 PE credits. If your doing your open water dives in Florida then it might be worth going for an advanced open water certification. With that you will be able to have more diving opportunities open to you in Cancun.

When you get to Cancun, check with Phantom divers in Playa Del Carmen. I've been diving with them for years. By far my favorite was the wall dive in Cozumel. You take the ferry across from Playa and the reef is totally different than on the Yucatan side. You go deep to about 110' down a reef wall and a moderate current sweeps you along as you gradually ascend to the end of the reef. Along the way you see the trench to the abyss fade into darkness below you. At the end you are about 30' deep and you go through beds of sea grass full of sea horses before a safety stop at 15 feet. Then its Miller time!

Another good dive experience is a Cenote dive. Your not ready for a cave dive yet but there is an open pit 150' deep south of Tulum which is a totally different experience from the ocean diving. At about 60' it transitions from fresh to salt. You go through a cloud and need a light below, kinda creepy but cool. Even this open dive isn't for the faint of heart. Last time I went the crocks were about. Don't worry though they can't dive deep and they seemed pretty skittish around people, I believe some locals may eat them.

Congratulations, its a great hobby. Take it seriously though, every dive. I have seen a lot of stupid maneuvers by inexperienced divers with too much confidence. A membership with DAN is a good idea too, especially if you go into decompression and require treatment.
 
Second the comments on the Cozumel wall dive. Was there a couple of years ago. During the dive, just drifting along the wall, a couple of Manta Rays just slowly flew by. For sure plenty of interesting things you will see.
 
Bucit said:
150' foot dive is pretty deep for a newbie.
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There is now way I'm getting my wife down that deep for a long time. We will take it slow, she still thinks I convinced her to take up the sport to crash in on some life ins. .....NOT! At a 100ft the nitrogen starts to mess with your reasoning. The dive master that was teaching us said one of his students tried to give her Octo. to a big grouper because she didn't think it was breathing. LOL
 
X3 on Cozumel as a great dive spot. Lots of choices of dives and depths. The wall dives are cool. The current drifts you along the wall and you can relax and watch the scenery.

For me I hate deep dives in the Caribbean. The things to see are no better than a 50 to 60ft dive and your time "doing" is very low at those depths so it's a waste of time on vacation.

That said one Cozumel dive we did was going under coral tunnels at 120 and coming out the other side over the deep blue below. Short dive and a bit advanced for sure but very cool.
 
Since you are from Michigan, check out Fathom Five national Park in Tobermory Ontario if you are up that way. Quite a few wrecks to dive and the water is clear (and brass monkey cold).
 
Creekwood said:
Since you are from Michigan, check out Fathom Five national Park in Tobermory Ontario if you are up that way. Quite a few wrecks to dive and the water is clear (and brass monkey cold).
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Our dive instructor was telling us about that dive site, said it was very cooooool. Lots of ship wreck dive sites in the Great Lakes, would have to get trained in dry suit diving for shure. I would prefer to look at aquatic life and coal and stay warm.
 
Have a great time Jeff and Wendy! I hope to "dust off" my open water certificate and do some diving in St John/St Thomas the first week of Feb.....its been a couple years. And I agree with you....the only open water diving I did in Michigan was to get certified....since then the warm Caribbean for me!
 
If you are looking for five star diving, but still accessible for newbies, I would recommend Grand Cayman as well as the West and South sides of Puerto Rico. For the PR dives, you can time yourself to be there for the Whale migrations. That will change your life. Ive been diving for almost 20years and its still one of my favorite sites. For the total experience, investigate dives at Desecheo island on the west side of PR.
 
I always felt the best diving was reefs in 30 feet of water or less. You get more dive time and the deeper you go the more light is filtered out and colors start to fade.
 
This thread brings back lots of memories. I too got certified for PE credits in college. We did our dives in NY [murky] and in a quarry in PA [cold]. Fast forward, i decided to get my advanced certification and dove off of LI NY. That was the last cold water dive done. I am now purely a vacation diver... clear warm water is the utopia. I also think <40 feet or so gives optimal time and beauty, but again its what you are looking for. Enjoy your new world...
Ron
 
All good points here. Shallower dives will give you better colors and time. But, every now and then, go for some deep dives. Once you swim next to a 6ft spotted eagle ray at 115ft, you will understand why. Different creatures at depth. Either way...you could scuba dive in a hot tub and it is still a killer feeling.
 
Whatever you do if you're learning make sure you go with a VERY reputable licensed company. We have patients that signed up to learn "in the islands" that lost their hearing plus other issues because of being taught incorrectly. It can be a dangerous pastime if you don't follow the correct rules. But if you do, and it's "your thing", understand it's fantastic. Enjoy!


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I've been out of scuba diving for a number of years now & I think that my last dives were in Cozumel as well. I am a certified "Master Scuba Diver" and have dove all over the Carribean at one time or another. Some of my first Carribean diving memories take me back to Bonaire. Fairly bland night life back then, but great diversity of dive sites for both day and night dives. For excitement, we would skip over to Aruba to ramp up the excitement, then back to Aruba for some serious diving. Two to three dives a day/night back then. I really should get back into it. I miss those night dives out there chasing down lobster, etc. with my spear gun at our villa in Jamaica. We sure had some great meals the next day!!
 
I worked with my older sisters and brother in laws with a high adventure Scout troop for about 15 years. We'd train and take 28-30 people down to Ft Lauderdale and charter an 88' custom dive boat named Bottom Time II and head out to the Bahamas. The majority of the best dives were within 40' of water as well. Living on Bottom Time II for a week we'd always do the deepest dives first working our way up to shallower dives as the day past on. We'd normally get 3-4 dives in a day and usually had 2-3 night dives per trip. Great experience and 3 of my 4 children all got certified and have some of the best memories with those trips.

The kids all had to work football and basketball games in food stands at UVA to raise the money for their trips and it all taught them a lot of value about having to work to raise the money for their trips as well which was another great learning process. I still carry all my gear on GT but have not dove in years. I'm a warm water person only so diving anywhere north of FL is not going to happen unless I have to which is why the gear is on the boat.

Merry Christmas and wishing everyone at CSR a Happy New Year!
 
+1 on what BritLady said "if you're learning make sure you go with a VERY reputable licensed company". Steve and I are both PADI Divemasters. We've dove with some not so reputable companies where the equipment was that great ... which made for very uncomfortable dives. Always use a reputable company and insist on checking your equipment before the boat leaves the dock.

We've dove up north (cold water diving) in Georgian Bay (Tobermory) and Lake Ontario (Kingston), the St. Clair River and the Detroit River. We've dove extensively in the Florida Keys, Mexico and the Caribbean. Our favorite dive destination hands down is Curacao.

Enjoy!
 
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