SCUBA

Did it once, when i was 18. Completely freaked me out. On a beach in Greece. Did loads of snorkeling as a kid in the med, so was, one could say a little cocky when we were going through the 15min briefing... Saying to myself, come on hurry up.. Anyway, all was good in shallow water, but as soon as we went deep, i dunno if it was the weights, and the tank, but something just went ping inside my head, and i went into a panic.. Like as is i was thrown in the water with some weights strapped to me.. Couldn't get my breathing under control and started freaking out. Swam upto the surface ripped off my mask in a panic. Instructor said to me, are you ok, and i was too embarrassed to say i was having a panic attack, and just said i had water in my mask.. Anyway for the remaining dive instead of actually enjoying it, i was just trying to keep it together mentally. Maybe it was the copious amounts of booze for the many nights before that made me fragile? maybe i'm just too claustrophobic for it ? Maybe i should try it again one day.. but gotta say, it wasn't something i enjoyed at the time...
 
It can get VERY claustrophobic at 40 mtrs when you can't see anything outside of your torchbeam, don't know up from down and the narks set in, You just have to really compose yourself and place your trust in your equipment and training completely.

I had a few arse clenching moments when a few guys got "lost" in a wreck for 20 minutes @30 odd meters and the time at Scapa when 2 guys had to be taken to Aberdeen to spend time in the chamber after 5 days into a week long liveaboard trip.

That said, the social scene is cracking and I've seen parts of the country I probably wouldn't otherwise.
 
I have no interest in seeing a seal @ 4 c


I'm talking deep blue lagoons with some colour and stuff... :D

Not interested in going that deep, Just chill stuff....
 
Nitefly said:
I wouldn’t say learning to scuba dive is relaxing... but doing a couple of long shallow dives in a lovely overseas location is great. I much prefer the shallow dives at 8-12m. Safer, warmer, still plenty to see if your in a good spot. Best dives have been deep but a little hairy.

Fair weather scuba diver, here! Overall it’s not a hobby I’d invest conserable time in but some people seem to make it a lifestyle sport.
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Exactly the same for me. Max 20m, warm seas, pretty fish, always with an instructor. I really enjoy it that way because it’s more relaxing and you can concentrate on seeing good wildlife.

I did a dive in a military lake in Portsmouth once and it was murky and horrible! Submerged helicopter was ok I guess, but you couldn’t really see it!

My last scuba dive was in Komodo and it was like paradise.
 
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wolfie138 said:
want to learn this as my bucket list includes swimming w/ mantas and doing a cage dive w/ great whites. how much does kit cost? if you just do it as a holiday thing, i assume it'd be far better just to hire gear, or is it the sort of sport where you need to do a certain amount of dives each your to reamin certified?
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You don’t *need* to scuba dive to do these things. We cage dived with sharks with snorkels in South Africa and we got a better view of manta rays in Komodo snorkelling than the divers imo. We were able to follow three massive rays for about 30 minutes and got pretty close when one got curious and came towards the surface. The divers saw them from underneath as they passed over and that was it.

I did however dive in both places and had a fantastic time, it’s just not compulsory to do scuba to do those two specific activities.
 
I have been SSI OW certified for about 8 years and done maybe 30-40 dives. I am a casual diver, I don't even log. I have dived in Australia, Fiji, Nicaragua, Thailand and many other places. Last dived 2 weeks ago in Koh Lipe, Thailand. I'm a basic diver. Not a hobby per se but just good to have if something cool is near.

Highlight was shark feeding in Fiji and a huuuuuugeeeeee tiger shark came along. They did warn us she may turn up but nothing prepares you for something of that size!

I would say do the open water course so you can dive anywhere in the world. Agree with what many have said - the deeper you go the worse - everything cool IMHO is about 12m. Best light, etc.

I do not find diving relaxing. I find the whole hassle of gear set, boat journeys and everything else to just be tiring and quite often it's boring stuff like corals. I'd only dive again if it was something cool like Mantas and Whale sharks. Also, if you find a good mask for the love of god keep it. On my last dive I gave my mine to my gf and I used the shop ones, did not fit well, leaked, then was too tight and pressed against forehead whole time. Had a sore bridge for 4 days.

Some vids:

Australia - including underwater scooters -
(Damn seems to be blocked for a bit of music tha tlasts about 20 seconds! - removed all audio)
Fiji - General dives and Shark feeding -
 
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tom_nieto said:
You don’t *need* to scuba dive to do these things. We cage dived with sharks with snorkels in South Africa and we got a better view of manta rays in Komodo snorkelling than the divers imo. We were able to follow three massive rays for about 30 minutes and got pretty close when one got curious and came towards the surface. The divers saw them from underneath as they passed over and that was it.

I did however dive in both places and had a fantastic time, it’s just not compulsory to do scuba to do those two specific activities.
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thanks for the info. the thing i saw for shark dives were in a cage for a good few minutes and obviously using breathing kit but i don't know what sort of training is needed to do that - to be honest, money being what it is, i haven't researched either of these things in-depth. interesting about the rays though, SCUBA or not i'd just love to swim w/ or around them and get some decent pics if poss - so that'll mean even more outlay to get a good underwater cam, probably.
 
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