As Title
wife reckons at 59 I've finally lost the plot, while on holiday in egypt the other week I did the Padi open water diving course, nearly as good as doing a trackday in the blade
need some advice on equipment

tony

Did my open water in Koh Tao, Thailand in January.

Havent had time to go anywhere since, but loved it when I was out there. Was pretty stormy the days before so visibility wasnt great but still loved it.

Wished I had done a night dive and wreck dive when I had the chance as everywhere else I have been has been twice the price.

out of interest what was the cost in thialand cost me £220 in hurghada including padi registration, going back to sharm el sheik in october to do advanced OW so I can dive on
the thistlegorm
have you done any in UK
tony

[Edited on 1/11/09 by mad-butcher]

[Edited on 1/11/09 by mad-butcher]

Best bet is to join your local BSAC or SAA club. If diving in this country within the club they will probably want you to do some qualifying dives to transfer your PADI quals to their standards (BSAC and SAA are very similar).
Clubs are great because the training is usually far cheaper than PADI and to be honest is much better quality. I did my trainning to Dive Leader in SAA and went into technical diving before I had a motorbike accident and couldnt carry the kit anymore.
It is totally different diving around the UK due to the need for dry suits and the pretty poor visbility.
Once you have some UK experience (8st of kit humping into a RIB in a 10ft swell) the warmer climates of the Red Sea etc will be a doddle.
As for kit (regulators) I allways liked Mares for normal recreational diving upto 40mtr and Poseidon for 40mtr +.

did my PADI open water course about 7 years ago, shortly before i was due to go on holiday. I learn't the basics in Stoney Cove near Coventry, where the water is cold and vis is poor, then did my next dives in the warm clear water off Fiji - wow!

On my return i continued my training to the advanced open water level, yet again in the cold british waters, but this time in a dry suit. Since then i have dived in many places around the world and loved it every time.

I moved to sunny Florida a few months ago and have be continuing my training (just done the nitrox course) so I will be doing alot more diving in both the many fresh water springs and hopefully so some wreak dives off the coast

friend runs dive right dive school of bristol. Where abouts are you? He may be worth talking too. I wouldn't go diving on ur own with doing some accompanied dives in the uk. Its supposed to be very different in cold dark water to that u get abroad.

I worked as a diving doctor for a couple of years, and agree completely with the above about joining a 'good' club over here - not all BSAC clubs are the same! Diving in the UK is difficult, cold, generally has bad vis and is about the best training you can get for diving anywhere else.... vis anywhere can go from great to zero in a few seconds, and knowing you can deal with it is really helpful!

Kit choice is personal, but remember it is life support equipment, if it goes wrong you can be in all sorts of trouble, so don't skimp, get the best you can afford, and take local advice (some regs are OK in the warm, but freeze up in the cold for example).

I think the Carnatic is my favourite Red Sea dive....

Chris

My dad use to be the manager of the Scottish Sub Aqua Club, diving far more times a year than his poor suffering family could really be bothered being dragged along

He gave it up at about 45 as he considered he was realistically getting past the point where his age was an issue. I'm sure he would have some genuine concerns about someone taking it up at almost 60. Off course it all depends on you own health but you do need to be quite fit to cope with currents and tides. He and another diver once had to crawl on the bottom for about ¼ of a mile against a receding tide to stop themselves being swept out to sea, and I mind him often coming back exhausted yet he’s always been quite heftily built. That’s pretty much what put me off in the end, that and how cold the water always was.