Great OW Class

[Taigin]

Shout out to Ocean Concepts in Hawaii!

As of today, they have certified me as a PADI OW diver. Profile pic is from 3rd ocean dive at 44 feet.

I shopped around, and other dive shops did not use as great a gear, and didn't seem to want to spend much time on classes. A dive shop in Kailua taught OW in three days. Any three days you wanted. OC taught us on jacket BCs, and a dual (primary and octo) reg setup, and on ocean dives 3 and 4, put us in back inflate BCs with octo/inflators so we could experience both and find out what we liked.

Ocean Concepts spent a week on classes and pool skills. 2 ocean dives on Sat and 2 on Sun. I look forward to learning more from them.

Only downside: Dive 4 I accidentally brushed a sea urchin in two fingers and a thumb, and got stung. That is it.

[fisheater]

Congratulations!!

Now. Go out there and dive more. (I got certified 3 weeks ago and have been kept out of the water by an evil combination of unsafe surf conditions and family obligations. Soon. Soon.)

Also. Are you going to be buying your own gear soon? Jacket or back inflate? Separate octo or integrated octo/inflator?

[FyVe]

congrats and welcome aboard.
i like how the place where you did your OW had you try both BC styles.
what did you prefer?

[KGNickl]

I'm jealous of people who get certified in nice tropical locations. I live in Missouri and had my 1st OW dives in a small little quarry.

[cgvmer]

Congrats, enjoy your access to warm diving.

[pyre24]

Originally Posted by KGNickl

I'm jealous of people who get certified in nice tropical locations. I live in Missouri and had my 1st OW dives in a small little quarry.

I know, Im stuck in Illinois, and it was just a little lake. depest Ive gone is 40ft. Congrats on your certification.

[mwhities]

Originally Posted by KGNickl

I'm jealous of people who get certified in nice tropical locations. I live in Missouri and had my 1st OW dives in a small little quarry.

Me too but, we can handle lower viz better.

[MLenyo]

Originally Posted by mwhities

Me too but, we can handle lower viz better.

exactly. my instructor and DM kept saying "if you can dive here, you can dive ANYWHERE." tiny indiana lake for my OW dives.

[Taigin]

Originally Posted by fisheater

Congratulations!!

Now. Go out there and dive more. (I got certified 3 weeks ago and have been kept out of the water by an evil combination of unsafe surf conditions and family obligations. Soon. Soon.)

Also. Are you going to be buying your own gear soon? Jacket or back inflate? Separate octo or integrated octo/inflator?

Well, I hope to buy my gear soon, but that is up to the almighty dollar.

My opinions are this:

I like the back inflate. The one we used was a ScubaPro Knight hawk. Only had 2 downsides.

1) Had to REALLY remember to orient myself the right way to use the dump valves

2) With the mild taco effect, I had trouble finding the bottom dump valve.

I liked the Octo/inflator because if I needed to do a manual inflate, I could keep my mouth on the inflater and not have to switch between the reg and the inflater mouthpiece.

Now while I used the Kighthawk, one of my instructors had a Zeagle Ranger. He seemed to really like that alot. I liked the fact that the bladder is pulled securely to the front of the BC, so you can locate the dump valves easily.

[fisheater]

Originally Posted by Taigin

Well, I hope to buy my gear soon, but that is up to the almighty dollar.

My opinions are this:

I like the back inflate. The one we used was a ScubaPro Knight hawk. Only had 2 downsides.

1) Had to REALLY remember to orient myself the right way to use the dump valves

2) With the mild taco effect, I had trouble finding the bottom dump valve.

I liked the Octo/inflator because if I needed to do a manual inflate, I could keep my mouth on the inflater and not have to switch between the reg and the inflater mouthpiece.

Now while I used the Kighthawk, one of my instructors had a Zeagle Ranger. He seemed to really like that alot. I liked the fact that the bladder is pulled securely to the front of the BC, so you can locate the dump valves easily.

ScubaToys is the place for Zeagles! Call them for a price on a Zeagel BC and reg and Octo-Z. They'll give a much better price than shown on the website.

Good luck and good diving.