Scuba Diving :)

[northernladuk]

Don't forget to call your fins flippers all the time the instructor is around. They love that... honest

[d000hg]

Gets even more fun in a dry suit as you can let air in to that as well/instead of your BCD. Kinda amusing when all the air goes to your feet and you can't let it out as the valve is on your upper arm which ends up at the bottom when it goes wrong Very funny watching all the feet appear at the surface during training sessions.

I was told many years ago that this isn't just funny, but can be very dangerous. Without a scuba tank, it would make for a fairly good elaborate-James-Bond way of killing someone.

[cojak]

I think that's why I should maybe avoid the drysuit for now and get the hang of the BCD buoyancy first, otherwise I'll be floating all over the place!

No, with proper training that shouldn't happen in the first place and if it does you'll know how to get out of it.

(It's happened to me when I was using a drysuit that was too large for me and was a very unfunny experience indeed.)

[original PM]

I am just lolling right now at the thought of all these legs floating around...

does sound dangerous and quite scary if it happens to you though.

[northernladuk]

I was told many years ago that this isn't just funny, but can be very dangerous. Without a scuba tank, it would make for a fairly good elaborate-James-Bond way of killing someone.

Out of a training environment it isn't funny. You could spend so much time panicking about righting yourself you will forget to look at your dive computer and end up at the surface without realising it. In shallow training water it isn't a problem and they teach you to right yourself by curling in to a ball and then opening out the right way up. It only happens when you are new to a drysuit and just for the first few times.

[Wanderer]

Places to dive?

I've only done a few dives, but I've been to a few places that I'd recommend.

Egypt is a bit tense at the moment and I wasn't all that happy with my last trip there. The Egyptians are usually really nice people but due to the lack of tourists and the troubles going on there are a lot of angry resentful people around because the tourist trade has been wrecked. It's pretty lawless and when they get hold of a tourist they will try to rob them blind (literally) if they can. Close to the UK though and you can get good deals on holidays.

The Great Barrier Reef is awesome but it's a long way to go. Take them up on the offer of the sea sickness pills before you go out because the trip out there can be really rough though it's dead calm out on the reef. People who didn't take the pills (hippie backpackers with an aversion to anything chemical and not "natural") puked their guts up and were first in line to get them on the way home.

Probably my favourite place in the world is Thailand. Genuinely lovely people (friendly and genuine like the Balinese), great food, top diving, great tailors/masseuses and it's fairly cheap.

It's always worth taking independent local advice about reputable dive centres to use....

[cojak]

L'Estartit in Spain, Malta and Gozo (Gozo is the best of the two) and Menorca (for cavern diving) are some of the best diving destinations if you want to stay in Europe.

[mudskipper]

I've only done a few dives, but I've been to a few places that I'd recommend.

Egypt is a bit tense at the moment and I wasn't all that happy with my last trip there. The Egyptians are usually really nice people but due to the lack of tourists and the troubles going on there are a lot of angry resentful people around because the tourist trade has been wrecked. It's pretty lawless and when they get hold of a tourist they will try to rob them blind (literally) if they can. Close to the UK though and you can get good deals on holidays.

The Great Barrier Reef is awesome but it's a long way to go. Take them up on the offer of the sea sickness pills before you go out because the trip out there can be really rough though it's dead calm out on the reef. People who didn't take the pills (hippie backpackers with an aversion to anything chemical and not "natural") puked their guts up and were first in line to get them on the way home.

Probably my favourite place in the world is Thailand. Genuinely lovely people (friendly and genuine like the Balinese), great food, top diving, great tailors/masseuses and it's fairly cheap.

It's always worth taking independent local advice about reputable dive centres to use....

Yep, the pills came up along with everything else.

[Clare@InTouch]

I've only done a few dives, but I've been to a few places that I'd recommend.

Egypt is a bit tense at the moment and I wasn't all that happy with my last trip there. The Egyptians are usually really nice people but due to the lack of tourists and the troubles going on there are a lot of angry resentful people around because the tourist trade has been wrecked. It's pretty lawless and when they get hold of a tourist they will try to rob them blind (literally) if they can. Close to the UK though and you can get good deals on holidays.

The Great Barrier Reef is awesome but it's a long way to go. Take them up on the offer of the sea sickness pills before you go out because the trip out there can be really rough though it's dead calm out on the reef. People who didn't take the pills (hippie backpackers with an aversion to anything chemical and not "natural") puked their guts up and were first in line to get them on the way home.

Probably my favourite place in the world is Thailand. Genuinely lovely people (friendly and genuine like the Balinese), great food, top diving, great tailors/masseuses and it's fairly cheap.

It's always worth taking independent local advice about reputable dive centres to use....

I like the Thailand idea, especially if it's like Bali in terms of people and atmosphere. Seeing a few more temples and washing a few more elephants whilst also being able to dive sounds lovely. At this rate all my annual holidays will be based around diving

[cojak]

I like the Thailand idea, especially if it's like Bali in terms of people and atmosphere. Seeing a few more temples and washing a few more elephants whilst also being able to dive sounds lovely. At this rate all my annual holidays will be based around diving

It will, we're squeezing 3 days diving in Gran Canaria later in the year.