Roll Call - Skydiving SCUBA Divers

[Zennie 0]

This is has come up from time to time on other threads but I thought I'd start one dedicated to the question.
I did SCUBA before skydiving, and still enjoy it immensely. I've just decided I like jumping off things. I'd like to hear who does SCUBA, where they like to go and what dive operators they like to go with.
I've been to Grand Cayman and loved it. We went with Treasure Island Divers and they were great. Recommended dives: Trinity Caves, the Oro Verde wreck (esp. as a night dive) & Stingray City.
Haven't been to Coz yet. That's next on my list.
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[ADRNALN 0]

You must be CRAZY to scuba dive. That is so dangerous. Did you know you could die scuba diving. What do you have a death wish? Didn't you see Jaws? Crazy just plain nuts!!!
LOL!

[mattb 0]

I can't afford a second expensive hobby! Especially one that keeps me grounded for a day after doing it.
-mob

[DZBone 0]

Can you BREATHE under there?

[Zennie 0]

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Can you BREATHE under there?

Yep. I just absorb the oxygen through my skin.
On the other points...
It's kinda funny. My wife still thinks I'm half-whacked for wanting to jump out of an airplane, but doesn't think twice about SCUBA diving with me. I tell her SCUBA is statistically more dangerous and she say I'm rationalizing. Go figure.
On the expense. Yep. It's expensive alright. The equipment is every bit as pricey as skydiving equipment (high-performance BCs, regulators, dive computers, etc.). Don't even start with underwater photography equipment!
Then to make it worse, ya gotta fly to places like Cozumel to see anything besides catfish in 3-foot visibility water.
But it's still fun. Just can't do it as much.
At least skydiving is convenient.
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I still dive regularly, but not for sport. I get paid to dive as part of my job. A job, which by the way, has taken me to Roatan, Cozumel, Antigua/Barbuda, Trinidad/Tobago, St Kitts/Nevis, Barbados, and last but not least: Key West 29 times in the past three years. Not bad places to get "forced" to dive if you ask me; plus I get paid an extra $215 per month to do it.
Chuck
Special Forces Underwater Operations Combat Dive Supervisor

[flyingferret 0]

I am certified as a PADI open water diver. I have never been anywhere other than inland lakes in Texas. Which, is also probably one reason I like jumping better. I live 30 minutes from a good dz. I live hours from a pretty dive site. Still being in college I have never had the money to go to Cozumel, etc. Someday I will. However, (and let me know what you guys think about this) I am more comfortable in the air. I like SCUBA and think it is a very cool feeling. But it makes me just a bit clostrophobic. Somehow 'flying' seems more natural. HA :)
Malachi

[freeflyguy 0]

Scuba is bad. I love the same feeling. Flying. Especially when you fly up the hull of a wreck, then fly through the cabin. a trip. Sorry fellas, I love to skydive, but there is more to life.
John Pennecamp state park in Key Largo. Cool. only about a 30 foot dive, but you boat out to the middle of nowhere, fall over the side in what appears to be open ocean, and Wow! Caverns, tunnels, monster groupers, rays. It is like a maze. And only a short drive from Miami.
Blackbeard sailboat cruise to the Bahamas. Included booze and food, 4, 5 or 6 dives a day. Wake up in the morning, stumble out of your rack, put on the bc, and trip over the side of the boat. Nothing but relaxing and diving.
If you don't mind being cold. A million places in the Puget Sound (Seattle), for marine life and terrain you have never seen before.
ANY wreck, be it ship, plane, train or automobile (Houses are fun too)
It is a kick. I gotta go, haven't been for a while.

[SpeedRacer 1]

It's strange, but a lot of skydivers also do SCUBA. I got certified (NAUI) in Massachusetts in 1988 or 1989, but I've only gone a couple of times, always with rental gear, and the last time was about 10 years ago. As stated before, I can't afford a second expensive hobby. For that matter, I can't even afford skydiving, but I do it anyway !!
My certification SCUBA dive was in Gloucester, MA in EARLY MARCH!! The water was 31 degrees F (that's -0.5 degrees C)!!
It sucked. I had just a regular wetsuit and I nearly froze my ass off & you couldn't see anything alive under there due to 1) turbulence and 2) it was still F&*%KING WINTER!!!! As we left the water it began to snow!!
But a year later I SCUBA dived in Hawaii and fed a hotdog to a puffer fish .
Speed Racer
"De plaene!! De plaene!!"

[Deleted 0]

Ah! scuba! I sure do enjoy a good dive in warm water with some visibility, problem is you gotta go a long way to get it. I been to Cozumel stayed at Casa Del Mar. It was decent. Not like a five star but nice for the money. Some good dives. Palancar reef, Santa Rosa wall, Pase Cedral Its all good there. Water 100+ vis. and about 82 degrees. We even made a couple of shore dives right in front of the Hotel. There's an old plane in about 25 ft. of water. You guys in Tx have a nice dive spot about 100 miles off the coast of Freeport. The flower gardens, its about $300 for the weekend on a dedicated dive boat. I started skydiving again because I couldn't get enough scuba in. Now skydiving has taken over. I made a dive in the Gulf Of Mexico right off the coast of Louisiana, but you have to go about 50 miles to get good water and it cost about $125 for a one day trip. Spear fishing is great on the rigs. Scuba is a lot of fun but skydiving is still more fun and I think a better value!
Cloud9 (i can't get logged in)

[Iflyme 0]

I am a licenced SCUBA diver, although I haven't done any diving for a few years now... The diving on the West Coast of Canada is considered some of the best in the world - particularly at "Race Rocks" http://www.racerocks.com/-- the diversity of life here is unparalelled any where else on the planet. I've shot underwater video of sea lions frolicking just a couple of metres from my face, visited with various octopus in and out of their den (they may be a smart as your pet dog), and collected swimming and rock scallops and ablone for dinner. I've also been on a dive with special forces divers from the USA, Britian and Canada during a military exercise as they set Banglor Torpedos (I *think* that's what they were called if my memory serves me).
I think that the fatality rate is higher for scuba divers because we skydivers are much more safety oriented. I don't scuba dive anymore because I can't afford two expensive sports - but I still like to put on the wet suit and weights and do some snorkeling, finding all sorts of interesting critters to show my kids.
Frank

[DZBone 0]

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they may be a smart as your pet dog

Apparently most cephalopods are. I had a very cool experience hanging out with some cuttlefish while snorkling in St. Lucia. They are really very curious, and clever.

[jfields 0]

Tack one more to the SCUBA-Skydivers list. I got my NAUI certification about 10 years ago. They are both fun, but right now I'm a lot more focused on skydiving.
I also did some SCUBA in the Army Reserves as part of Operation REEFEX, which put decommissioned and cleaned equipment on the seabed as artificial reefs. We dropped old tanks from barges. It was pretty neat stuff. Seeing a 50-ton tank go barrelling past you underwater headed for the bottom is fairly memorable.
Here is one link:
http://www.aquaexplorers.com/tanks.htm
If anyone is interested in more info, send me an e-mail.
Justin

[numskull99 0]

I started skydiving before skuba. But I don't much care for skuba. Skydiving is the only way to go.

[DivaSkyChick 0]

Me too, add me to the list.
I was a PADI certified Asst. Instructor in Honduras - 80 degree water and 200 ft visibility was the norm! We used to rent an island - a cay, really,from a crazy old vietnam vet for $20 per day and bring over a group of ten to fourteen backpackers we'd pick up in Guatemala... Those were THE DAYS. Sigh... Of course, now I skydive and have no spare cash for SCUBA diving - and wouldn't anyway off the coast of So Cal - too damn cold! The best places I've been to have been Thailand and Byron Bay, Australia. Now THAT is the place to live - Byron Bay has great skydiving, great scuba diving, hang gliding, sea kayaks - everything a girl could want AND and excellent bars right on the beach.
When I die, please let heaven look like Byron Bay,Australia...

M

[Zennie 0]

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When I die, please let heaven look like Byron Bay,Australia...

Man, skydiving & the Great Barrier Reef. Don't get much better than that.
I've heard the Honduras kicks butt. Especially Roatan. Not touristy and great reefs. People are supposed to be really nice.
Roatan, Truk and the Keys are on my "must dive" list.
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[jcoller 0]

I have been lucky enough to dive at Palau, Guam and the Great Barrier Reef.
Palau is absolutely awesome. In case you don't know, it is about three hours (flying time) south of Guam. Not much there but Scuba Diving, but man is it neat. Bunch of sunken WWII Japanese freighters, reef dives, drift dives and lots of sharks!

[ERICCONNELLY 0]

Go deep, go often. Love to dive. If it's raining (which is often up here) at least I can have fun getting wet.
Favorite place - BELIZE.

[Albatross 0]

Chalk one more up to first SCUBA diving. I made my first SCUBA dive at 14 in Hawaii. That is the way to do it. I would love to go back and make a few jumps and then dive for a day. I was fortunate to dive with the humpback whales off of Kona. As awsome as the sunset is in freefall, being 50' from a mother and her calf with whale song vibrating through my chest is still the most awsome experience that I have ever had (it even tops being on Everest).
Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO
Albatross

[des 2]

another one here.
did my certification on palau(great spot).since dived in the philipines,and saipan.
my fulltime job is drogue pulling,so my hobbies are scuba and fishing,which we ofen do after work,at least 3 times a week.ahhhhh,the tropics,ahhhhh,it just doesn't get any better.
des

[Deleted 0]

Add another one to your list. I only started skydiving recently ( 90 jumps so far), but I'm really enjoying it. I've been scuba diving 21 years, qualified as an instructor in 1984. I do a fair bit of cave diving, trimix and rebreather stuff.
A few discussion points that might interest you, based on my observations here in South Africa. Most of the skydivers in the club at our DZ have qualified as scuba divers at some time, even if only to a very basic level. On the other hand, not many of the scuba divers I know have ever tried skydiving. I believe that roughly half the skydivers have tried scuba, only about 5% of the scuba guys have tried skydiving. (Based purely on my perceptions - I'd be interested to hear opinions from others)
People often ask me which is more dangerous, scuba diving or skydiving. Of course, it depends on your views on either being a "danger sport". I haven't got any statistics to back this up, but I feel that scuba is more dangerous. In skydiving most emergency situations have a common response (two handles!), whereas many scuba diving emergencies rely on an "assessment" stage in order to decide on the correct action. The skydiving emergency responses are largely motor skills, the scuba responses often have to be considered. Where the scuba diver does have an advantage is time - the ground is not rushing up at 200 kph when your regulator fails! Anyone else got any ideas on this?
blue skies / safe diving
Mike Beresford
mberesford@amplats.co.za

[jfields 0]

I'd agree with Mike on more skydivers also doing scuba than the reverse.
Many scuba emergencies actually have more decision time than an entire freefall, and way more than the actual decision-making window in freefall.
Wouldn't it be neat if you could mix emergency procedures? After a skydiving mal, just do a scuba "emergency ascent" back to the plane. ;-)
Justin

[GeekStreak 0]

THAT I'd like to see !
1111,
GeekStreak

[Zennie 0]

Quote

After a skydiving mal, just do a scuba "emergency ascent" back to the plane.

You'd have to exhale really hard!
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[Keys 0]

I did skydiving before PADI. My inlaws love the way I have dragged their daughter into skydiving and SCUBA.
I've done sites around Jamaica. They were pretty cool. Well, warm actually. I trained in Chicago and froze my *^#% off. Of course in Chicago if you want to take a leasurely swim in Lake Michigan it's probably best to suit up and grab a tank. To get good diving I need to travel, but for skydivers who haven't done it, DO IT! Experience it all.