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garvin90
03/28/2006, 12:26 AM
As I had mentioned at this past meeting(and for those that did not get a chance to attend), do we atleast have a interest from any of our members to be scuba certified for any dive tours?

Since Tom so graciously passed(more like threw it) that torch on to me, I thought I might just see if there is a interest there. I know there is atleast one dive shop intown on 84th st.

So lets hear it, how many hobbyists here want to "swim with the fishies"?

P.S. I myself am NOT certified, all I'm asking here is if there is interest to be and we can go from there.

CH
03/28/2006, 11:56 AM
I would love to get certified, but have no idea on cost or anything like that. I've never even been diving so it would be all new to me.

Willie41
03/28/2006, 04:35 PM
I feel the same. Need to know cost.

drbessmer
03/28/2006, 11:20 PM
I have been PADI certified for about 3 years now and am still waiting for a chance to swim with the fishes. My point is I have a huge interest in a trip. Gina is interested in Scuba too and has done a fun dive but still needs certified.

lvpd186
03/28/2006, 11:31 PM
I'm with Tom on this one, sorry fellas.

drbessmer
03/28/2006, 11:42 PM
I think i paid a couple hundred dollars to get certified, a couple more in gear thats sitting in my closet such as a mask, boots, flippers. So about 500 bucks. I was certified in lincoln through husker divers, and open watered in the natural wonders of a sandpit in kearney.

WedThursFri
03/28/2006, 11:52 PM
Sweet - the good life - Nebraska !!!!!!

garvin90
03/29/2006, 12:39 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7064920#post7064920 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lvpd186
I'm with Tom on this one, sorry fellas.

Ok... your with Tom on what stance exactly, can you clarify please?

Alright so we do have some interest and mostly were just looking at the cost factor versus Nebraska is landlocked right? I'm off work tomorrow so I will do some phone work and find us the cost involved in certification and hopefully if there is enough people maybe even a group discount. I will try to have this updated by 5pm tomorrow.

Willie41
03/29/2006, 08:03 AM
Sounds good to me. I have done snorkeling in the carribean and its pretty neat.

pcpets
03/29/2006, 02:44 PM
I am a certified PADI instructor, I don't teach any more but if there were enough divers interested I would be happy to sponser a trip through the store.
Jeff
Paradise Cove Pets

Dewey115
03/29/2006, 03:56 PM
I am very much interested in any info/certification right now. Its something I have always been wanting to do. As for trips I think in the future (as in 6+ months from now) I would be interested, just alot going on at the moment...

garvin90
03/29/2006, 05:25 PM
Alright so far what Ive come up is we want to be PADI certified(which is for life) and that only 2 shops in Omaha offer that. Underwater World Scuba Center and Adventure Scuba School are these places. Underwater World has a website of www.scubauww.com, Adventure does not.

Jim White at Adventure seems very nice and we actually talked for about 40mins about all this and he recommends leisurepro.com for our equipment needs. He doesnt give a group rate since his single fee is only $175 already. There is like a refundable $25 deposit for materials and its a 5 session course. When he feels we are ready for a actual open water dive it will be a $125 fee. That $175 I do believe covers all the equipment rentals as well.

Undewater World is $215 for 5 sessions and I believe the open water at $150.

The thing about the open water stuff is that since it is chilly here now, they wont beable to do any open water now unless we are willing to do a actual trip to the beachs. The open water will have to wait until June or so.

Underwaters business phone# is 339-1884 and Adventure is 934-9555 if anyone wants to call them and see what they think of the place.

I was thinking if El Presidente(thats YOU Tom) wants to check with them about maybe having someone do a little talk at one of our meetings it might not be a bad idea for those of us interested.

Ray

tom obrecht
03/29/2006, 10:15 PM
Well it looks like you are throwing it back at me so I will answer. Initially I was all for anyone interested in taking advantage of the network of saltwater people to get this rolling. The reason I mentioned you should take this adventure on is that I'm the president of the marine society not a scuba certification class. If anyone wants to take advantage of the work you've put foward so far, great. I'm staying out of this one for this area is outside the realm of the society's boundaries. I'm not against the idea at all, just don't have the time or effort needed to get this thing going. I would prefer if you were having a speaker come in to talk about scuba certification to do it on your own time and not the society's. I'm trying to put all my effort into getting the society back on board with where I feel it needs to be.

Tom

garvin90
03/30/2006, 12:22 AM
Thats fine, are you also saying that the only way to get you to the bottom of the sea is with cement shoes? hehe I could find a hairy knuckle enforcer... but they dont advertise in the yellow pages. :D

What does everyone else think about this so far?

Oh and thanks btw to Jeff for the dive sponsoring offer.

Mercutio
03/30/2006, 08:38 AM
Just FYI, if all else fails, UNO offers a class also.

garvin90
03/31/2006, 02:08 PM
Do you know how much merc?

Mercutio
03/31/2006, 03:38 PM
No clue. I imagine it would be more expensive than going to someone direct.

pcpets
03/31/2006, 07:40 PM
Just an FYI a lot of resorts in the Carribean offer introductory SCUBA courses for much less, you don't get certified but you get to dive with one of the dive masters while you are there. Then if you decide you want to be certified you can do it when you return. They usually rent all the equipment with the course, that way you don't have to carry everything with. All we would need to do is book a group trip through a local travel agent. Cozemel or Cancun would be the most cost effective for a trip of this nature.
Jeff

Mercutio
03/31/2006, 08:57 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7085260#post7085260 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pcpets
Just an FYI a lot of resorts in the Carribean offer introductory SCUBA courses for much less, you don't get certified but you get to dive with one of the dive masters while you are there. Then if you decide you want to be certified you can do it when you return. They usually rent all the equipment with the course, that way you don't have to carry everything with. All we would need to do is book a group trip through a local travel agent. Cozemel or Cancun would be the most cost effective for a trip of this nature.
Jeff

I can vouch for that. On our cruise a couple years ago they had just that. There was also a more advanced "trek" for the people previously certified, but they made it clear which was which.

Willie41
04/01/2006, 09:47 PM
Iwould rather get certified here in Omaha.

blackcows
04/02/2006, 12:01 AM
I have been a certified diver for about 7 or 8 years and what I would suggest that you guys do is use the PADI referal system. This is what I did when I was certified. What happens is that you do all of your classroom work and pool work here in Nebraska and then the instructor will give you a referal sheet and you take this to your dive destination and you do your check out dives there rather than here. I did my check out dives in Grand Caymen but I have also done some check out dives for advance clases in a lake in IA and I can tell you it sucks to dive around here. Even when it is warm out the water is cold and dirty. I have been diving in Australia, Hawaii, and all over the Caribbean and don't recall any times when I have been nervous but I was somewhat nervous diving around here because you can't see your hand in front of your face. I am not sure it would be a good first dive experience.

You guys might want to check out Big O Scuba also. In my opinion Bill probably has the best shop in town.

http://www.bigoscuba.com/

Mike

wormdog99
04/02/2006, 05:26 PM
Hey guys. I got certified last summer through Heartland Scuba down in Lincoln. I'm not exactly sure what all the cost was but I have all my receipts at home in my dive log book and will get them out and give you a run down of what it cost me. I would strongly, strongly recommend being PADI certified instead of the other, which I can't remember right now. I have heard of people not being allowed to dive because they were certified through this other organization and not PADI. I haven't heard of anyone being denied because they were PADI certified though. Just a personal experience.
As far as my experience with Heartland Scuba, it was great. Brian, the dive instructor who taught me, is amazing and very, very good. I have nothing but good things to say about him. But, back to the price thing. I will get that out when I get home and post what it cost.

Matt

garvin90
04/05/2006, 01:29 PM
Does anyone else agree with blackcows about the referal sheet and actually going to dive in the ocean rather than a lake? I personally agree since all the lakes ive been to in the surrounding states always seem to be cold and murky regardless of the season.

Wormdog, did you ever get that price sheet?

Willie41
04/05/2006, 02:48 PM
At Big o Scuba you can take your class part online and then do diving where you choose.

wormdog99
04/05/2006, 03:28 PM
Hey guys...sorry about the delay. I forgot that I had put my dive book in storage for the time being. I'm going to get it tonight and give u guys the price run down. I did my open water diving out at Sandy Channel Lakes in Kearny. It was perfect for begining. The visability wasn't as good as the ocean, obviously. The lake itself is only about 27 feet deep at the deepest, so need to worry about getting lost in the darkness. Plus the lake has a wide variety of freshwater fish that are quite use to people so they let you very close. Not quite as cool as the marine fish, but still pretty cool. The little sun fish play in the bubbles of your exhaust if you hang out with them for a while. Any way, I should have those prices posted tonight. Sorry about the dealy.

Matt

wormdog99
04/06/2006, 12:07 AM
Dive Expenses:

Course Materials: text book, dive log 65.00
Pool Dive Training: 225.00
Enriched Air Course: 59.00
{Optional Specialty)
Enriched Air Specialty pack: 65.00
6xEquipment Rental Card: 150.00
Lake Diving Weekend: 95.00

It totals to about 660 to get certified, before buying equipment. Now, you can take off 59 and 65 dollars for the enriched air course. That was just a specialty I picked up because I could piggyback it with the regular dives. You can also reduce your equipment rental if you only want to rent the equipment once. They had a deal going on so I purchased a package rental. Not quite sure what just one rental is. So just say then that you are down to around 500 bucks. The equipment I bought was kind of spendy because I intend to use it quite often after I graduate school. Here is a price break down of the stuff I bought and still have receipts for:

Mask: (about) 70.00
Boots: 35.00
Fins: 115.00
Shorty Wetsuit: (about) 50.00
Misc. Items: (about) 30.00

My equipment totals about 300 dollars. You can get cheaper gear and you can get much more expensive gear. With the items that I bout I only need to rent my BCD and air tank whenever I go diving so it works out nice. Maybe rent a thicker wetsuit if the water is colder. All of my equipment I bought off of a website called www.leisurepro.com. The equipment sold locally is much more then what you will pay online.

I hope this helps for those of you interested. Like I said, I was certified down in Lincoln at Heartland Scuba and would highly recommend it. I have some coupons for a free open water dive night at the shop, if they are still good. Basically Brian invites people to come in and have a few Coronas and test out the gear in the pool in hopes that he can persuade people to join. If I can find the coupons I’ll check and see if they are good. If so I’ll let you and those of you who want are more then welcome to use them and check out the facility.

If you have any questions about the post, just pm me or post them on this thread. Hope I can persuade some others to get involved in diving.

Matt

blackcows
04/10/2006, 05:34 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7121540#post7121540 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wormdog99
With the items that I bout I only need to rent my BCD and air tank whenever I go diving so it works out nice.
Matt

You'll need to rent a regulator also.

A lot of people now use a dive computer which calculates bottom time and surface interval. The majority of the time it isn't going to be that important because you will be diving with a Divemaster who will give you the time, depth and surface interval for the dive (ie 80 feet for 20 minutes with a 30 minute surface interval) but it's nice to have. I have had mine for a few years and don't remeber what it costs but I am sure like everything else you can pay from $200 to $2000 depending on what you want.

If you are looking for someplace that is a fairly easy trip and fun you can try http://www.stuartcove.com/ . They are in Nassau, Bahamas and have shark dives and some cool wrecks to dive.


Mike

garvin90
04/10/2006, 05:55 PM
Looks very interesting, thanks blackcows.

I think I'm leaning alot more now to just getting the testing and everything done here and then doing that referal sheet at an actual ocean dive site, especially since mr. paradise cove has offered a sponsor tour. What are the rest of the posters opinions?

wormdog99
04/11/2006, 09:05 PM
Sorry about that blackcows, in my mind I included the regulator with the BCD. The dive computer I will be getting this summer is about $700. It does everything including recorded surface temp and current water temp and is Nitrox compatible as well.


Matt

P.S. I found those cards I was talking about and they are still good. I have 5 of them. They are good for 1 discovery dive night at Heartland Scuba in Lincoln. From what Brian, the dive instructor there, and others have said it is a great time. If anyone is interested please let me know
.

blackcows
04/12/2006, 06:25 AM
Matt,

I figured you knew that but wanted to make sure anyone that was new to this understood it correctly.

Does the new computer give you the ability to download to a home computer? If I were going to get a new comptuer that would be something that really interested me. Not a really important feature in terms of usability but something that would be fun.

Mike

wormdog99
04/12/2006, 11:51 AM
http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/CategoryID_1985/Context_954/Sort_Price/DescSort_1/SWDWCQC.html

This is the dive computer. I believe it links to a PC but it doesn't say so on this site.

Matt

Willie41
04/12/2006, 01:00 PM
I would rather do my training here also and then go do a dive somewhere.

garvin90
04/20/2006, 12:06 PM
Sorry for not posting for several days, too busy with work.

This is what I'm reserved for; I need to save up the whole couple hundred bones for the scuba class and everything so I'm looking at doing my testing in about 2-3months(plus i have to scedule time off work) so is anyone looking to wait that long or is everyone else ready to do it now?