I'm Certified! PADI Rules.

[ScubaJ]

Congrats on getting certified and welcome to the board.

[hooligan]

Congrats! Welcome to our underwater world!

[oddbod]

Congrats! Now can we start the PADI bashing?

[scubadiver888]

Originally Posted by oddbod

Congrats! Now can we start the PADI bashing?

Yes, start..... now: Put Another Dollar In.

[jbanks27]

Originally Posted by snagel

Welcome and congrats on the certification. The learning has just begun.

Had to laugh about your post title - "PADI Rules". Do they offer this in a "specialty cert"? You'll understand later after you've spent some time on the forum. PADI is a good organization, just a little too "commercial".

Congrats again and have fun.

Snagel

I would like to announce the new PADI Scuba Toys Forum Posting specialty. For the small price of $@@#$#@#$.00 you too can have your very own Scuba Toys forum Posting specialty card. With this card, you can tell other divers that you were certified to post and properly answer all questions in a orderly, proficient, PADI manner. No minimum dive requirement. Does not count towards professional level certs. Must be renewed monthly. May be purchased through gift certificates.

[MSilvia]

PADI gets a lot of grief, but let's face it... it gets a lot of people underwater for the first time relatively safely. Where they go from there is up to them.

Congrats on your certification, and happy diving!

[BouzoukiJoe]

Originally Posted by scubadiver888

Congratulations! Hope you have many more dives to come. Two more training to consider... Rescue Diver and Advanced Open Water. The AOW will let you go deeper. Don't know about Puget Sound but in my area, deeper equals better viz. Unfortunately, it also equals thermocline and colder water. But then there is always Dry Suit training.

If the water was 50F- a drysuit might be in order. My cut-off these days is about 70F, depending on how hot it is up top.

Congrats to Imcertified!

[MSilvia]

Originally Posted by BouzoukiJoe

If the water was 50F- a drysuit might be in order. My cut-off these days is about 70F, depending on how hot it is up top.

50's nothing a good 7mm suit can't handle.

[BouzoukiJoe]

Originally Posted by MSilvia

50's nothing a good 7mm suit can't handle.

Is there such a thing as a good 7mm suit? Wet suit compression at depth is bad enough in my 5mm.

[MSilvia]

Originally Posted by BouzoukiJoe

Is there such a thing as a good 7mm suit? Wet suit compression at depth is bad enough in my 5mm.

I enjoyed diving in my S.A.S. 7mm farmer John and Jacket for years in temps to the low 40s, and only switched to a drysuit for redundant buoyancy on deco dives with steel doubles. Better exposure protection didn't factor into my decision at all, although the drysuit has let me dive year-round in temps as low as the mid 30s.

Unfortunately, S.A.S. (Sub Aquatic Systems) stopped making suits years ago, but I strongly suspect some of the new suits by manufacturers like Pinnacle have to be just as good.