I love diving but only in gin clear water south of Miami.

You should read this book that my buddy wrote. It's about a father and son from PA that died on a German Sub wreck off NJ. You know many of the places in the book.

It's called "The Last Dive"

The last dive

My Buddy is also the editor of
http://www.immersed.com/

Lets set up a dive in Key West next November.

good info. thanks. we have a good dive shop in the area. its called the AquaHut . i met the instructor that i will be using on a ski trip a month ago. unfortunately i may have to do my pool dives here and open dives down there. still to cold here and we are leaving for Jamaica April 20th. fortunately i will be down there with a group of friends that already dive and i'm pretty comfortable with that. when i get back i will most likely do some dives with my local instructor to familiarize myself with the conditions here. i know they do many outings all summer long out in the great lakes and in some of the local quarries.




madcow- do you know Robert Wagner at AquaHut?

thanks for the info Ron. i ordered a copy of that book. in the Barnes&Noble review it was paralleled with Krakauer's Into Thin Air. one of my all time favorites. looks like a good read

dave, I would have to agree with formula583, Ohio diving is TOTALLY different than Jamaica (uh ya no sh!t Thrill ) your chechout dives in warm crystal clear water will definately be a cakewalk (THATS GOOD), but when you jump in a 45 degree quarry the mind numbing cold and low visibility can very easily send you into a panic attack (THATS BAD!) As far as buying gear, like several others have mentioned, I bought high end gear and it has lasted a long time. In general dive shop prices are sky high compared to what you can buy through mail order. Check out www.leisurepro.com they have great prices and an even better selection. before you buy gear you need to consider the type of diving you are going to wanna do If you wanna get into light wreck, ore even technical wreck diving you are going to need a lot different gear than you would just doing vacation diving in tropical areas. As far as Regulators are concerned check out Sherwood, they make a few that are very well suited for cold water. I use the Maximus and love it. Also dont belive all the gear ratings in the big dive magazines Not trying to bash Scubapro but a few years back they came out with a regulator that was rated as the BEST EVER regulator to hit the market, I belive it was the T 600, anyway I have seen them fail multiple times in cold water deep dives (yeah great ratings from Rodales ) I really wouldnt reccomend buying from E-bay, I am sure there are deals out there, but I dont like the idea of buying "second hand life support gear" check out http://www.scubaboard.com/ its like OSO for divers. Good luck and be safe.

Tony

I have always used Dacor and had good luck with it. Buy medium range stuff since most of the bottom end stuff has no features and the top line stuff is made for "extreme diving". If you are not familiar with the equipment I would stay away from eBay. Some of the deals are okay but some a re a serious rip-like you buy it and find out it's discontinued and no parts are available. Remember too that if you need a regulator "tuned up" or given a yearly check it is like 100 bucks-so unless used stuff is REALLY cheap it is not a good deal compared to new. A good dive instructor(not necessarily the guy that owns the shop) can give you some real good ideas about what to buy.

good points about ebay. i wouldnt buy used stuff anyway but i dont know enough about it yet to know whats what. at the dive shop here they are offering some good combo equiptment packages and are comping the cost of the cert if you buy one of them. i will look into that first i think and than get some advice from my friends that dive .

Dave, good move, you'll love the book and learn a lot about diving techniques. I've read into thin air too and yes, it will keep your interest cover to cover.

Last time I saw Bernie it was at our High School reunion and he mentioned that he was diving on German subs off the coast. I thought he was a nut only to learn that he's made diving a career. He's been on the Andria Doria and some other super deep (like 300 feet) dives.

We should hook up in Key West for a few bubbles.

Enjoy.

been a certified rescue diver since i was 16

Everyone has provide some good info on the gear, but there are significant differences in the expectations between diving in the southern waters. Specifically, visibility, cold water, thermoclines, currents, wildlife, etc.

I am assuming that your local diving conditions in Ohio are similar to Upstate, NY (Finger lakes, Lake Ontario, St Lawrence River).

Some of the most interesting local diving is specialty diving, such as night diving (the fish are basically sleeping or stunned by the lights, and you can get within inches before they take off), ice diving (need to do this at least once, but would not make it a habit), and wreck diving.

Good luck and enjoy it - - - just be sure to schedule a trip often.

lake front i think you are right. our conditions are similar to yours. one of my friends that has encouraged me to get into this has also said night diving is somthing i have to try. we also have quite a few quaries around here.

great info guys, i am