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floatingpi
Lung Diver
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First Name: Mike
Location: Lake Andes, SD

Questions about dive trips.

Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:17 pm

It's been a while since I have posted. Life has kept me from making it to any of the vintage dive gatherings. However, my wife has been commenting about saving up for a trip. Might be to one of these vintage gathering or a fancy trip to one of those "tropic" destinations. I did have a few questions regarding I thought I would ask here. I have never been on a dive trip beyond meeting people at a local dive spot.

Gear wise, how is attempting to use vintage gear on trips? Is there any special things they require to have or frown upon that I should be aware of?

Speaking of gear specifically, I am thinking of ordering a 3mm suit from JMJ. Seeing a lot of posts on this site its the place to go for a vintage style suit. While I know temperature comfort varies greatly person to person. Would this be a good suit to use in other warmer climates or is another style a better choice?

What locations would you suggest for attempting to make a trip to? What have fun things for both divers and non-divers to do?

Thanks for the help with this.

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Bryan
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Re: Questions about dive trips.

Mon Feb 06, 2017 2:46 pm

Ask Luis about diving with Scuba Club Cozumel. .....In my opinion best value for your $$$ Tons of diving, Double Hose Friendly but they do ask you to have a safe 2nd and bc. Plenty of stuff for the non diver to see and do or just relax on the beach at the resort. Dive Bonaire....90% of the time you are shore diving and you could use any gear you like. Hundreds of dive spots to choose from. Florida Keys are hit and miss and are mostly by boat so if the seas are up you are staying in. I hear charters around Key Largo are more receptive to double hosers than they were in the past but someone who has been more recently will have more current details.
At the very least plan on coming to White Star this year ....I know it's not much different than what you dive now but we would all enjoy meeting you and the BS sessions are worth the price of admission.

JMJ MAKES GREAT SUITS....But they are expensive. Unless you MUST HAVE a suit for an event that is 100% period correct I would skip it. 3mil suits for the tropics off the shelf are dirt cheap and if you are a rack size you can grab one on E-bay or from another diver really really cheap. I like the Pinnacle brand but there are plenty out there. With that said, if I were a working diver who wore one day in and day out I'd have JMJ make me one of their custom nylon 2 side suits.....
Doing it right should include some common sense, not just blindly following specs and instructions. .Gary D, AWAP on SB

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Herman
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Re: Questions about dive trips.

Mon Feb 06, 2017 3:07 pm

I think my first question to you is, what else besides diving do you and/or your wife want to do? If laying around the resort is your/her thing then plenty of places will do, if it's hard core shopping or night life that eliminates a lot of places. If you can give us a better list of "must haves" and "nice to haves" we can do a better job of giving you suggestions. That said, I just go back from Bonaire with a small group. 3 DH regs (2 AKs and a Phoenix) and we had no issues and in the past I have dove no BC and a mistral all week so they could care less, at least for the most part. time frame is also an issue. I do not like scheduling anything major in Fla or around the Caribbean from late July to early Nov due the hurricanes.
Herman

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floatingpi
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Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:44 am
First Name: Mike
Location: Lake Andes, SD

Re: Questions about dive trips.

Tue Feb 07, 2017 12:17 pm

@Byran - I will look for the information for White Star. In the past the timing of some of the gatherings have not been the best. August/September are back to school season for teachers and not a great time to take off. Thanks for the suggestions of the locations to try. My Dad dove Florida once, and wasn't wow'd by it.

@Herman - My Wife and I when we travel like to eat out at unique places. While Gina doesn't eat any of the odd food. We do like trying special items. So I would like to say restaurants. Sight seeing is also fun for us. We do like hiking and walking around. Gina of course likes to shop as well. My Must haves would be. Good Restaurants, Atmosphere that my wife would feel good being on the shore/boat alone if I am diving, Diving where I can use the equipment I have without hassles. Something we can see/do once the diving is over.

Thanks for the input on this!

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simonbeans
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Location: Rochester NY

Re: Questions about dive trips.

Tue Feb 07, 2017 4:15 pm

Simply, Scuba Club Cozumel. Town is a short walk with lots of good eats, and stuff to see. Buddy Dive Bonaire. Again nice diving, you get a truck to sight see or shore dive (not my favorite) lots of stuff to see like Parrots in the desert, donkeys everywhere. My favorite places if you are at a resort, but for me, a live a-board is choice #1.
Check out my website: www.vintagescubastuff.com

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1969ivan1
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Re: Questions about dive trips.

Sun Feb 12, 2017 8:57 pm

Scuba Club Cozumel is impossible to beat fro the money. The food is great and if you dont want to be adventurous inre the food you are covered with more American food if you like. I find the local Mayan chow is rather tasty however. We go almost ever year in November and it has never been a disappointment. The employees of the resort are top notch and very friendly as well. I bring a single stage reg that I use on all my shore dives and use an argo on the drift dives.

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Turtleguy9
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Location: Caldwell Idaho
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Re: Questions about dive trips.

Thu Jun 15, 2017 2:49 pm

Are you folks planning a Scuba Club Cozumel trip for this November? After my move from Hawaii to Idaho, I have just been dry. My work schedule has been work every weekend for the last 4 years. I have loved The scuba club on every trip there. Got my passport, and would love to go.
Turtleguy9

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Bryan
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First Name: Bryan
Location: Wesley Chapel Florida
Contact: Website

Re: Questions about dive trips.

Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:10 pm

Turtleguy9 wrote:Are you folks planning a Scuba Club Cozumel trip for this November? After my move from Hawaii to Idaho, I have just been dry. My work schedule has been work every weekend for the last 4 years. I have loved The scuba club on every trip there. Got my passport, and would love to go.
Turtleguy9
Luis is El Jefe of that expedition so get with him...Far as I know we are going in Nov and would be great to have you along!

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk
Doing it right should include some common sense, not just blindly following specs and instructions. .Gary D, AWAP on SB

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georgeaustin
Master Diver
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Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:41 am
First Name: george
Location: Los Angeles CA

Re: Questions about dive trips.

Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:57 pm

I just returned 2 weeks ago from Anthony's Key in Roatan. I dived my Voit V66 with an SPG - I couldn't keep interested divers and others (especially employees of the resort) away from doing the whole "ooooo ahhhhh" deal.

Scuba Club Cozumel is very used to double hose divers there. The diving in Roatan was some of the best I've ever done in over 4 decades of active diving - mosquitos about killed me though.

I just this week booked Beqa Lagoon in Fiji for February which is such a good deal you can't afford NOT to go

Have fun

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luis
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Re: Questions about dive trips.

Thu Jun 15, 2017 8:37 pm

Did you meet Nico? He was our dive master last year at Anthony’s Key. Super nice guy and very good creature finder.

We enjoyed the diving very much and I liked the resort, but Christine got bit by no-see-ems (or maybe it was sad-flees). They didn’t bother me (I guess I am not that sweet), but they bothered her a lot.
Luis

Buceador con escafandra autónoma clásica.

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georgeaustin
Master Diver
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First Name: george
Location: Los Angeles CA

Re: Questions about dive trips.

Thu Jun 15, 2017 11:14 pm

Yes - I met Nico but our DM was Sherwin and our boat captain was Louis. Sherwin was ok and Louis was exceptional. Very hospitable resort, great food too. The shore dive- Back Porch - was incredible so we did 4 dives a day every day. White Hole and Mary's Place were spectacular as was Butchers Bank - all of them- could have passed on the night dives - too many lights, too many people in the water for my taste. Great trip, I was sleeping soundly by 9:30 every night . We didn't even have time or energy to go into town.

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