| fireflock |
I was just wondering if there are any other scuba divers on the board.
I have yet to use the pilot as a scuba-mobile, but I think it could do the trick. It will probably hold 4 divers and gear (no tanks) or 2/3 divers with tanks.
The recent threads on sleeping in your Pilot makes me think that the Pilot might be a good place to crash when you drive into the marina late friday night for an early morning departure.
Rich |
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| john802 |
Are you certified master diver? Scuba diving is one of my past time during the spring and early fall season.
-john |
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| fireflock |
Certified Master Diver - nope.
I guess I would classify myself as a standard recreational diver. Open Water - SSI.
I live in NC, so I enjoy visiting the shipwrecks here during the summer and fall. My last dive trip was in January (Key Largo) and my next trip starts in a few days (Cozumel). |
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| john802 |
I'm jealous... Cozumel's water is a nice place to do some diving. Are you flying to Cozumel or are you taking a boat? If you ever come to Los Angeles Area, look me up and will take my brother's boat to Cabo San Lucas and do some serious diving.
-john |
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| fireflock |
I found a decent fare direct to Coz, so I don't have to take the ferry.
Thanks for the offer. I will take you up on it if I make it out that way. I have never been diving in California, and I would jump at the chance.
Let me know if you ever want to dive North Carolina. Water temps in the summer and fall reach the 80's and vis can be in the 70-100ft range as a result of the gulf stream swinging by the coast. I have a 20ft boat that I use for some closer inshore sites (~10 miles out). I usually stick with larger charter boats for offshore diving (20+ miles out).
Rich |
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| calbear |
How funny!! The reason I started the tent thread was we used the pilot as the vehicle for us to go Abalone diving in Mendocino, California! I am a certified SCUBA diver as well and look forward to using the Pilot to go diving.
It worked great for three of us and all our gear for two days of Ab diving. Plus with the Yakima cargo basket, I had the float and additional stuff on the roof. Used some large rubbermaid bins on top of the cargo tray to hold wet gear and other stuff. Everything with the car was perfect EXCEPT, the key can't get wet, so I had to put it in my buddies truck...
Love diving -- and it was one of the key reasons I got the Pilot! |
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| john802 |
The farthest north I went diving here in CA. is around Farallon Island near San Francisco last summer. I'm a Padi Divemaster Certified for the past 18 1/2 years.
-john |
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| devin1955 |
| Does anyone know if NAUI still exists? I haven't been diving in many years, but I think I still have my card around here someplace. |
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| john802 |
quote:
Originally posted by devin1955
Does anyone know if NAUI still exists? I haven't been diving in many years, but I think I still have my card around here someplace.
Two buddies of mine are NAUI certified. Matter of fact, my gear are Naui Brand. They are most popular certification body in the far east.
Where are you located in Southern California? We should get together one of this days to do some serious diving.
-john |
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| fireflock |
quote:
Originally posted by calbear
Everything with the car was perfect EXCEPT, the key can't get wet, so I had to put it in my buddies truck...
Love diving -- and it was one of the key reasons I got the Pilot!
Great point about the key. I 'knew' that the key had non-waterproof stuff in it, but I'm not sure I would have made the connection before diving. I'm so used to putting keys in my BC pocket that my Pilot key would have probably gone right in there as well.
One question - what did you do with your tanks and gear while sleeping in the Pilot? |
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| calbear |
We didn't have tanks because we were Abalone diving, which is free-diving only.
The wetsuits were hung up to dry on a line between two trees and the other gear was in some containers we slid under the nose of the car. We would have just put tanks there too.
We were staying in Van Damme state park in Mendocino. The other camp-goers there are divers too. We weren't really concerned with theft while we were there.
Our clothing and other non-outdoors stuff we just threw in the front seats (lots of room there actually) or along the 2nd row floor area. |
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| CincyDiver |
| My wife and I were at Van Damme Beach last year. I watched this guys wishing I had my gear with me. I'm an Advanced Opened Water diver. I'm glad to hear the Pilot makes a good dive buggy. It's one of the reasons I bought it. |
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| john802 |
quote:
Originally posted by CincyDiver
My wife and I were at Van Damme Beach last year. I watched this guys wishing I had my gear with me. I'm an Advanced Opened Water diver. I'm glad to hear the Pilot makes a good dive buggy. It's one of the reasons I bought it.
How many years have you been diving? Is your wife scuba dive also?
-john |
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| calbear |
quote:
Originally posted by CincyDiver
My wife and I were at Van Damme Beach last year. I watched this guys wishing I had my gear with me. I'm an Advanced Opened Water diver. I'm glad to hear the Pilot makes a good dive buggy. It's one of the reasons I bought it.
Be sure to use the cargo tray and get some large, high-walled, rubber tupperware bins. I strongly suggest the more rubbery kind as I've had the clear plastic kind break on me... |
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| FLPilot |
Open water certified myself and yes the Pilot comes in great use. I put all my gear and tanks in the back with no worries (on top of the cargo tray of course). I don't go often, which should be a crime living in S. Florida! Problem is that I don't know many divers here and will not dive by myself (I think that's rule number 1 isn't it)
I would love to dive with anyone else from here that decides to take a little trip. I mostly do beach dives, but am up for anything. I will see if I can find some pictures I took with my underwater camera and will post them. |
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| devin1955 |
quote:
Originally posted by john802
Two buddies of mine are NAUI certified. Matter of fact, my gear are Naui Brand. They are most popular certification body in the far east.
Where are you located in Southern California? We should get together one of this days to do some serious diving.
-john
I'm near Riverside. I certainly appreciate the offer, but I'm not what you'd really call a diver. Last time I did any diving (the underwater kind anyway, my favorite kind is the jumping out of the plane type) was in the 1970's. I got my certification in 1972 while in high school, mostly because I'd always had a bit of an interest and I was able to take the course as part of the P.E. curriculum, which only cost me $25 if I remember correctly, plus some equipment rental bucks for beach training on weekends.
In reality, I've never been that much of a water person, so I never got that involved in the sport. |
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| john802 |
quote:
Originally posted by FLPilot
Open water certified myself and yes the Pilot comes in great use. I put all my gear and tanks in the back with no worries (on top of the cargo tray of course). I don't go often, which should be a crime living in S. Florida! Problem is that I don't know many divers here and will not dive by myself (I think that's rule number 1 isn't it)
I would love to dive with anyone else from here that decides to take a little trip. I mostly do beach dives, but am up for anything. I will see if I can find some pictures I took with my underwater camera and will post them.
That is the golden rule of Scuba Diving "Never scuba dive by yourself". I dive with my better half majority of the time.
-john |
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| CincyDiver |
There are a number of divers in Ohio that I get together with on a semi-regular basis (they dive in January -- too cold for me).
I've been diving about four years now. Been to Florida a number of times. I'm going down to the Ft. Myers area in late May and I'll be taking my gear with me to see if I can hook up with some folks I know for a couple of dives.
I've finished three dives solo. All have been in Ohio quarries and none deeper than 40ft. In all cases my buddies surfaced and tracked my bubbles and I kept an eye on them. I won't be making a habit of it.
Before the Pilot I stuffed all my gear into rubber containers. The advantage now is I can set everything up at home and hit the water faster on the first dive. |
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| john802 |
I have a rubber container (44"x 27"x 24") that I use to stuff my gear. My only problem now is to find a small waterproof plastic bag to store my Pilot key/remote. Does anybody have any ideas?
-john |
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| calbear |
| I try to minimize gear when abalone diving (though of course one should in general anyway) but if you're using scuba and wearing a BC, perhaps one of those small, slim, waterproof boxes would do the trick. You could stick it in a BC pocket. |
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| calbear |
I could go on and on about how sick that story is. The most disturbing aspects:
1) Dive buddy completely failed in his obligations to stay with his partner. He should not have gone back alone.
2) Buddy also didn't care/notice/alert others that only 3 divers returned to the boat.
3) Boat had no process to ensure divers down = divers returned.
So many more. ARGH! Hate stories like that... there's always a column in Scuba Diving magazines about how stupid people make stupid mistakes resulting in major injuries or death. All avoidable. |
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| john802 |
quote:
Originally posted by riseboi
Sorry, don't mean to threaddrift but this thread reminded me of this story I read about on cnn.com
Thank goodness for the boy scouts
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/04/...r.ap/index.html
I fault the master diver on that group for the error. He should have counted everybody before leaving the 1st diving location.
-john |
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| john802 |
quote:
Originally posted by calbear
I try to minimize gear when abalone diving (though of course one should in general anyway) but if you're using scuba and wearing a BC, perhaps one of those small, slim, waterproof boxes would do the trick. You could stick it in a BC pocket.
What do you think of Aquapac #AQUA-600 Waterproof Pouch. The manufacturer guarantee's that it will be waterproof up to 130 ft.
-john |
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| FLPilot |
quote:
Originally posted by john802
What do you think of Aquapac #AQUA-600 Waterproof Pouch. The manufacturer guarantee's that it will be waterproof up to 130 ft.
-john
I can see it now, you get back to shore and your case isn't there. Of course your keys are not wet, but there are out in the ocean floating around.....
(from the website)
guaranteed waterproof to 130ft (40m)
floats in water |
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| john802 |
quote:
Originally posted by FLPilot
I can see it now, you get back to shore and your case isn't there. Of course your keys are not wet, but there are out in the ocean floating around.....
(from the website)
guaranteed waterproof to 130ft (40m)
floats in water
:D :D :D |
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| fireflock |
quote:
Originally posted by john802
I have a rubber container (44"x 27"x 24") that I use to stuff my gear. My only problem now is to find a small waterproof plastic bag to store my Pilot key/remote. Does anybody have any ideas?
-john
I just got back from Coz and my buddy had one of these boxes:
http://diversdirect.com/scripts/eca...000999&Group=19
He took it to 100ft a few times with no problems. I will probably get one myself before my next trip. |
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| john802 |
fireflock - Thanks for the info. I just put in my order. So how's Cozumel? Did you take any pictures?:cool:
-john |
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| fireflock |
Coz was great! We did 9 dives over 3.5 days. The diving was amazing, the seafood was spectacular, the crusie ship crowds were terrible, and the flight home came too soon.
I took ~400 pics, most of them underwater. I don't have a strobe, so anything but the close shots lack any real color. I'll post a few once I sort them out.
For coz veterans, my two favorite dives were Santa Rosa Wall and Columbia. |
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| fireflock |
| The weather wasn't always the best |
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| fireflock |
| but I was ready to dive anyway. |
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| fireflock |
| We saw some bright fish |
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| fireflock |
| and some fish were pretty hard to see |
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| fireflock |
| Some fish swam alone |
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| fireflock |
| while others enjoyed the company of friends |
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| fireflock |
It was a short trip, and the end came too soon. I'd love to get back - I'm saving my airline miles.
Meanwhile, it's diving season in NC now so I don't have to travel as far to get my fix. |
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| john802 |
fireflock - Nice underwater pictures from your dive!!! What is the deepest dive did you do on that trip?
Thanks,
-john |
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| fireflock |
The deepest dive was right around 100ft. The really make an effort to start deep and drift up slowly. One a typical first dive we would start around 100ft and make our way up to ~50ft over ~45-40min. Follow that with 3-5min hanging around 15 ft and it was time for a surface interval. The second dive was typically 60-30ft depending on the site.
There is deeper stuff (beyond 130), but the DM's like to be comfortable with your skills before they take you there. There is also plenty of shallow stuff (as shallow as 15') for begining divers or those wanting longer bottom times. |
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| john802 |
quote:
Originally posted by fireflock
The deepest dive was right around 100ft. The really make an effort to start deep and drift up slowly. One a typical first dive we would start around 100ft and make our way up to ~50ft over ~45-40min. Follow that with 3-5min hanging around 15 ft and it was time for a surface interval. The second dive was typically 60-30ft depending on the site.
There is deeper stuff (beyond 130), but the DM's like to be comfortable with your skills before they take you there. There is also plenty of shallow stuff (as shallow as 15') for begining divers or those wanting longer bottom times.
I've never taken anybody beyond 120 ft. deep unless I know their capability. There are so many things that can go wrong if you go deeper than that even for experienced diver.
BTW, I'm glad you enjoy your trip even how short it was.
-john |
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| FLPilot |
| fireflock: Your pictures are incredible! What camera were you using? I am itching to go diving, but again don't have anyone to really go with. I haven't kept a log of my dives, which makes going to a dive center bad since I can't prove my skill and dives (although I don'y dive much anyway). Other reasons are that I just don't have the time. |
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| fireflock |
I have a Nikon Coolpix 4300 with a Fantasea housing. It's pretty much an amateur setup - no strobes or anything - but it's affordable (compared to some other underwater digital cameras setups), easy to carry, and the camera is easy enough that the rest of the family can use it topside.
I've been diving in the Florida Keys, and at Ginnie Springs. I also hear that Florida has some good shore diving. I enjoy diving NC, but sometimes I wish I lived closer to Florida.
Rich |
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| FLPilot |
quote:
Originally posted by fireflock
I've been diving in the Florida Keys, and at Ginnie Springs. I also hear that Florida has some good shore diving. I enjoy diving NC, but sometimes I wish I lived closer to Florida.
Rich
Yes, where I live I can swim out about 5 minutes and hit the first reef. It goes from 17 ft to 40 ft. We have a lot of sunken ships, but those you would need a boat to get to. My deepest dive has been 84 ft, as I like to spend as much time under the water. I usually stay between 20-40 ft. I also like lobster season as that is a challenge in itself learning how to trick those "bugs" to walk into your net. |
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| ncelk |
Nice photos fireflock!!!!
I somehow missed responding earlier, but I am scuba certified (padi) and live in High Point, NC.
I got certified back in 1998 and to my disappointment, have not dived local NC.
Most of my dives have been in Florida.
Any suggestions for good basic dives in N.C. off the coast?
Regards,
ncelk |
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| fireflock |
This article has a pretty good introduction to NC diving:
http://www.scubadiving.com/article/...0-0-306,00.html
A lot of people love diving in NC, and a lot of people don't really care for it. I think those who have a bad experience probably didn't really know what to expect. It's different than diving in Florida or the Caribbean. The premier wrecks are kind of deep by recreational standards and the boat rides are long (1-2hrs each way). Conditions can be spectacular (80 degree water, 100ft vis, no current) or terrible (20ft vis, strong current) so you have to be prepared for both, It can be exhilirating and frustrating - all in the same trip. When things go right there is nothing else like it.
The Indra is a great wreck for first time NC divers. It is shallow and closer to shore. They do open water checkout dives with student there all the time, so it is a great way to get familiar with things before heading offshore.
http://www.nc-wreckdiving.com/WRECKS/INDRA/INDRA.HTML |
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| john802 |
| Can anybody recommend a good and reliable underwater housing for a Nikon digital SLR D100? |
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| Pilotari05 |
quote:
Originally posted by john802
Can anybody recommend a good and reliable underwater housing for a Nikon digital SLR D100?
You can go to this site for digital underwater photography equipment.
www.bhphotovideo.com.
They have a wide selection on video and photographic equipment.
Good luck |
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| john802 |
quote:
Originally posted by Pilotari05
You can go to this site for digital underwater photography equipment.
www.bhphotovideo.com.
They have a wide selection on video and photographic equipment.
Good luck
Thanks for the link!;) I'll try to contact them tomorrow to see if they have the Ikelite #6610 in stock. |
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| Pilotari05 |
quote:
Originally posted by john802
Thanks for the link!;) I'll try to contact them tomorrow to see if they have the Ikelite #6610 in stock.
I think they have Ikelite 6810 for Nikon D100 |
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| beef_jerky |
I got PADI certified in May '04. I went to Costa Rica a week later, but didn't dive because the of the Red Tide...
I've only been on one trip. I went diving near Myrtle Beach, SC. I did the Barracuda Alley Dive. I think it was a good choice for a first dive. I'll probably try to hit another site down there later this summer. I'd like to check out some of the NC dives posted earlier in this thread. |
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| jfrano |
Yes, the Pilot is great for divers. I do numerous dive trips, both day trips and extended trips to Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. With the club we'll visit various spots. I have plenty of room for my two sets of doubles, gear box, dry suit bag, clothes etc and have taken two other divers and my wife on occasion. Will also on occasion take my boat when it works for some of the dive locations.
Joe |
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| piconut2 |
My girlfriend and I just got back from a trip to Hawaii and we did one of the best night dives in the world! We dove with Manta Rays that were as large as 1000 pounds and 16 feet across! Talk about a cool experience. The rays are attracted to the plankton which is attracted by the dive lights. It's just off the coast of Kona at Garden Eel Cove. I suggest this dive to anyone heading to that region.
Here are some images I took with my Sony W-7:
http://www.robuck.net/hawaii/Ray1.jpg
http://www.robuck.net/hawaii/Ray3.jpg
http://www.robuck.net/hawaii/Ray5.jpg |
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| john802 |
quote:
Originally posted by piconut2
My girlfriend and I just got back from a trip to Hawaii and we did one of the best night dives in the world! We dove with Manta Rays that were as large as 1000 pounds and 16 feet across! Talk about a cool experience. The rays are attracted to the plankton which is attracted by the dive lights. It's just off the coast of Kona at Garden Eel Cove. I suggest this dive to anyone heading to that region.
Here are some images I took with my Sony W-7:
http://www.robuck.net/hawaii/Ray1.jpg
http://www.robuck.net/hawaii/Ray3.jpg
http://www.robuck.net/hawaii/Ray5.jpg
Nice! My family will be going to Maui in the middle of August to visit some relatives and hopefully I can do some diving to my favorite places. I can't wait to try my Nikon D100 w/ Ikelite #6710 underwater housing. |
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| jfrano |
quote:
Originally posted by fireflock
The recent threads on sleeping in your Pilot makes me think that the Pilot might be a good place to crash when you drive into the marina late friday night for an early morning departure.
Rich
Just bring one of those fans that plug into pilots plug, on a sweltering night you'll need the breeze! |
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| john802 |
quote:
Originally posted by jfrano
Just bring one of those fans that plug into pilots plug, on a sweltering night you'll need the breeze!
Like this... |
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| piconut2 |
quote:
Originally posted by jfrano
Just bring one of those fans that plug into pilots plug, on a sweltering night you'll need the breeze!
Yes, but how do you use the fan if the 12 volt plugs aren't hot when your pilot is not running? |
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| jfrano |
| You dont have to have the Pilot running to draw off the battery. The little juice those fans draw will NOT drain the battery, over night. In any case I have one of those portable DELCO units, inflator with jumper to the internal battery, work GREAT!! |
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| john802 |
quote:
Originally posted by piconut2
Yes, but how do you use the fan if the 12 volt plugs aren't hot when your pilot is not running?
I use my portable 12v air compressor/battery charger/12v outlet to power it. I also converted my 2 rear power outlets to hot at all times by bypassing the rear accessory power socket relay. |
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