VFRW Scuba Diving Thread

Figured we'd start a diving thread seeing as there are so many of us that enjoy it here.

I've been diving for 11 years now, I'm certified under SSI as a Master Diver.

I have specialties in Boat Diving, Deep Diving, Underwater Photography / Videography, Diver Stress & Rescue, Dry Suit Diving, EAN Nitrox, Navigation, Night & Limited Visibility, Ice Diving, Wreck Diving, and Equipment Techniques.

I've dove in many tropical locations including the Bahamas/Exumas (live aboard dive boats), Mexico, Belize, and Columbia.

I used to cold water dive regularly but I no longer have a dry suit, so now I only warm water dive.

....

I'll post a list of my equipment later .... share away!!!

 

Been diving since I was 9. Learned on an old double hose rig that you had to roll to your side to purge. lol
Use to deep dive but not anymore. Nitrox, high pressure steel tanks and computers. Love to spear fish. Night drift diving is fun and exciting too. Nothing like seeing a shark zip through the beam of your light.
That reminds me I need to get my tanks VIPed.

 

I'm a little different...lol.
I was an assistant instructor, dive a dual rebreather and currently Exploration Cave Dive in some interesting locations...

I mix my own gas and my wife has allowed me a dive shed - heres a pic...

Dive Shed by Pete Smith, on Flickr

 

Micronesia is on my diving bucket list for sure. Check out Bloody Bay wall in Little Cayman, world class diving.

 

Wow Dive Pete, nice set up!

 

A buddy of mine owns a dive shop. He has been trying to get me back into deep diving on Tri-mix. There are several big wrecks in the 200 - 240 range near me. Most are loaded with giant Goliath groupers.

 

thanks, took me a couple of years to get it to this....
I built the Shed, then plumbed it & fitted the mixing panel then the haskell & filter was added. The high pressure compressor is a Bauer Mariner & the blue Clarke low pressure compressor is just for the Haskell - but now i also use it for air tools..lol

 

A lot of guys on here are going to look at your shed and think "wow that could have been a bunch of nice bikes!" lol

My friend who owns the dive shop bought a hydrostatic testing setup. I could not believe the amount of studying he had to do to be certified. Mountains of books. But he is one of the few around that does it and he has a lot of good contracts with fire departments.

 

I dove on Okinawa in the mid eighties and then stupidly sold all of my stuff. No forethought whatsoever. I did a lot of snorkling in Guam, but I wish I would have dove there. Creepy as hell when you snorkel off the coast of Guam and you know the the deep wall your floating above is over 1200 feet down, the water below you is black and you have the entirety of the Pacific Ocean behind you...

Never felt so small in my life.

Diving in Okinawa is freaking incredible. Especially in the "Toilet Bowl".

Edit, I just looked up videos on YouTube and the reef there looks dead compared to when I was there. It was just like the reef in Finding Nemo when I was there in the 80's.

 

Oh man. What an awesome setup, Pete!!

I'd love to do Rebreather. What rig are you using???

Gator, Micronesia is big on my list. I also live night diving and drift diving.

One of the best moments was seeing a huge hammerhead on a wall dive in Columbia. I love wall dives and looking down - the sensation of flying!!!?


Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

 

Some set up Pete, not jealous at all.
I only dive on holiday, never dived in Scotland.
Some great dives here, but a dry suit has never appealed to me.
Wet suit shorts, rash vest and warm water.

 

Dry suit diving is a PITA ... you're lugging 200lbs of gear into the water with you ... it is fun, but you're so tired from lugging gear.

I have 2 wetsuits ... one is a farmer john sleeveless type, and the other is a shorty with long sleeves 5mm for all day diving.

 

The Palancar wall in Couzmel is a great wall dive. There is one spot on it where your in shallow water near the edge, you swim down into a tunnel for about 30 feet then it turns toward the wall. You come out on the side of the wall..... freaking awesome feeling. Crystal water, almost always 100+ feet of vis. Little Cayman's Bloody Bay wall is giant too. Bottom there is something over 20,000 feet. The Cayman trench. lol

 

Here's my gear list ....

Genesis GS2000 Regulators
Aeris Atmos AI Dive Computer w/Air Monitor & Mixed Gas
Genesis Cobra BCD (I really want a back inflate though)
ScubaPro Twin Jet Fins
Akona Dive Knife
3mm Farmer John Wetsuit (sleeveless)
5mm Shorty Wetsuit with full length arms.
Hydro Optix Mask

I sold my tanks and Oceanic dry suit when I stopped cold water / ice diving locally.

I've got a bunch of different dive lights as well ... I sold all my camera / video gear.

 

I'll try and dig out a pic of my dive lights , it is relatively impressive lol.
I started diving in 86, stopped for a while until 2000, then took it back up in a big way and did a load of courses until 2007 then started diving for myself till now....

Gator,

I currently have the RVF, CBR and my daughters micro bike in the shed as well !!!! The VFR sits in the garage with the rest of the expedition kit and rebreather equipments....

My wife allows me a lot of latitude to keep occupied - if you look at my Flickr account / albums you will also see my photography studio.... I like to do things 100%

 

I have a bunch of Tech equipment if you guys interested. :wink:
Dive dry since the 90s
Too old to hall my shit around now ound:

 

I became a certified NAUI diver back around 1973. Went diving in the Keys for a while. It was great. Came back to Lake Erie and lost my dive partner 4' away. That was the last time I really dove. The lake was really bad then. I still have my aluminum tank with J valve and US Divers regulator with gauge which are in pristine shape. The only thing I have used over the years is my divers knife. More like a small hatchet.

It was really a lot of fun in clear water. Only did sport diving nothing below 75'.

 

[video]https://www.facebook.com/craigmtr/videos/vb.585802770/10153435842362771/?type=2[/video]

 

[video]https://www.facebook.com/craigmtr/videos/10153435842362771/[/video]

Guys, why can't I get a video to embed in the post, what am I doing wrong? Using the insert video link, worked before if I removed the s from https, now I can only get it to show as a link.
Using a mac.

 

Wow. That's an dive certification agency I haven't heard of in a long time.

It's because it's a FB video / post. You need to find the direct YT or Vimeo link.