Scuba diving

Colorado

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Do we have any certified scuba divers here? We're going to Cabo in January for my second dive trip. If anyone has any recommendations for shops, dive sites, etc., I'd love to hear them for Cabo.
 
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wxman1

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Really enjoy doing it but am not certified or anything. Have debated doing classes at the place in North Liberty that does it.
 

cytor

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I would love to try it. I am a good muff diver, so I have experience.
 
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Drew0311

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I got certified years ago at the YMCA. Not sure if they do it anymore though. I quit scuba diving because my ears can't handle the Pressure of being past 20 feet.
 

Colorado

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I'm two years out from my first dive trip. I don't want to "waste" a day with a refresher course
 

Clonefan94

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Scuba diving is one of those things in life I really wish I would have been able to do. Luckily I found out fairly early in life that I have an extreme allergy to neoprene. I found out wearing knee brace while mowing. I woke up the next morning with contact dermatitis on every joint on my body and was ready to kill myself to get rid of the itching. First thing the doctor said was, "Luckily you didn't find this out on your first day of a Scuba diving trip. I've had patients who did find out that way and it was bad."
 

ISULibrarian

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Do we have any certified scuba divers here? We're going to Cabo in January for my second dive trip. If anyone has any recommendations for shops, dive sites, etc., I'd love to hear them for Cabo.
I'm certified, but don't actually like it very much. I got certified because my husband loves diving, went a couple of times but then had a panic attack at the thought of diving right at the start of another dive. As for diving in Cabo, you might have a better luck on Reddit; I found this post and it's pretty recent, might be a good starting point:
 
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sunset

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Whale sharks should be around in the Sea of Cortez. A short trip from Cabo but not bad considering it’s one of only a handful of places in the world to dive with them.

Fishing out of Cabo is world class.
 
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Farnsworth

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I have PADI Advanced Open Water Diver. I love scuba diving, but haven't been in Cabo.

I'm going to Waikiki in November, so now it's close the trip that I need to look into diving shops. If anyone has done it around Oahu let me know some information.

I've done Australia, Fiji, Riviera Maya, and Jamaica (most there).
 
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ClonerJams

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the-office-scuba.gif
 

Colorado

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I have PADI Advanced Open Water Diver. I love scuba diving, but haven't been in Cabo.

I'm going to Waikiki in November, so now it's close the trip that I need to look into diving shops. If anyone has done it around Oahu let me know some information.

I've done Australia, Fiji, Riviera Maya, and Jamaica (most there).
How involved is the Advanced Open Water certification?
 

Cloneon

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Do we have any certified scuba divers here? We're going to Cabo in January for my second dive trip. If anyone has any recommendations for shops, dive sites, etc., I'd love to hear them for Cabo.
"Advanced", obtained in Monterey, CA. As far as advice, I'd seek very experienced dive masters for your tours. As with all trips, get second opinions. If it were me, I would avoid personalized tours. Stay with a group. Of course, you will not dive first day. Shop instead and ask a lot of questions of the locals. The more you know, the safer you'll be and the better your dive will be.
I dove with my dive master off of Santa Barbara. The biggest thing I learned from him was to 'slow down' and observe. I always figured the more area I cover the more I'd see. Definitely NOT the case. There's much more you miss by scurrying. For example, as I was tailing my dive master (who either has a spear or a camera with every dive: this time a spear), he stopped and pointed at the sand below me. I couldn't see a thing, he then pointed again. Still nothing. Then he used the tip of the spear and up from the sand comes the biggest Halibut I'd ever seen. Or another more nerving experience was a Moray eel. He used the camera on this trip to separate us from the rather aggressive striking eel. Bottom line, tag along with a dive master if possible.
 
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Cloneon

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How involved is the Advanced Open Water certification?
For me, it was a 200' dive and a separate night dive. Like anything with risk, take the time to learn the potential complications. BTW, I purposely took on my fears in my bucket list. Being semi-claustrophobic, this was a leap. But, with experience comes calmness: the number one thing to have when diving.
 

BandAlum

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Do we have any certified scuba divers here? We're going to Cabo in January for my second dive trip. If anyone has any recommendations for shops, dive sites, etc., I'd love to hear them for Cabo.
Advanced Open Water diver here with almost 200 dives in my log. Favorite spots so far are Roatan, HN and Grand Cayman. Haven't had a chance to dive the Pacific yet but Fiji and the Philippines are on my bucket list.
 
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Farnsworth

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How involved is the Advanced Open Water certification?

Good question. It must not been too much involved as all my certifications while I was doing in vacation. I read it in Iowa and then did all the test while in Jamaica, had to do maybe 3 dives to all the demonstrations while in the ocean. It was really easy.

It was really awesome because at Couples Resorts (I did at Swept Away) you can do all the diving is free. So I dived every day (or twice) that I could do. I mainly did Advanced Open so I could go deeper and also I think you had to do this for 2 tank dives. You SHOULD do it, going deeper doesn't seem like it's that different, but I saw way interesting things for those dives.

You can also certified to spear with Lionfish hunting so I did that as well. It was free since it's a invasive species in the Caribbean so they want them gone.
 
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Farnsworth

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For me, it was a 200' dive and a separate night dive. Like anything with risk, take the time to learn the potential complications. BTW, I purposely took on my fears in my bucket list. Being semi-claustrophobic, this was a leap. But, with experience comes calmness: the number one thing to have when diving.

What is your certification? 200' or Night Dive is not for Advanced Open for PADI.

Although I'm sure a lot of shops don't you want to go.