I am a certified diver. I used to dive all the time off the coast of So. Cal. It got to be where it wasn't any fun. The waters cold and the vis sucks. Made a few trips to Catalina and up to the Channel Islands. Much better diving and visability.

However my best dives have been in Maui and those are the ones that spoiled me and caused me to quit diving locally.

My biggest regret is I didn't get certified while in the Navy. I could have dove some awsome places. Instead I saw some pretty cool bars.

I hear ya.

I got certified in Huntsville, TX in a sand pit with zero visibility. That way you had to use a compass.

But I don't dive locally. The water around here is like diving in a ditch.

I dive in the Bahamas or somewhere like that.

If you can't see what's the use, it's not like you're commercial diving and getting paid for it.

The Bahamas are amazing. I can't wait for Memorial Day.
I usually get at least 2 dives a day in.

I got PADI certified while in Cuba in the 90s, loved it but other than a dozen or so dives I've yet to do it again. Snorkeled in Maui and I bet that would have a plethora of great dive sites. Color me jealous bikemike and scho

If it's that time of the month the shark can be really bitchy! :LOL:

Bull sharks are mainly in the Gulf and I won't dive there-those sharks are NASTY MF'ers and just bit a surfer in Florida last week.

I've seen Lemon, Nurse, Black Reef Tip and White Reef Tip sharks while diving, plenty of rays but no manta ray.

I've never seen a whale, seal, or dolphin while scuba diving. :deevee:

Want to dive in the Galapagos and Baja California next

I saw a 500-600 pound Jewfish Grouper in Caymans and when it opened it's mouth you could see clear into it's body-it could nearly swallow a diver.

Did see many whales during mating season in Maui breaching all over the place and the Jersey Shore in Winter migration.

Seen dolphins too numerous to count at the Jersey Shore and on boats

Never saw any hammerheads or makos or great whites and I'm damn glad for that!

I snuck into Cuba in March 2001 from Toronto and stayed two weeks. It was awesome! Didn't dive but did stay at Veradero for 5 days. The sand there was the softest I've ever laid my feet upon-just like baby powder.

I bet we could tell great stories about our time there.

I did have a couple really interesting dives off of La Jolla Shores one year. The giant squid were spawning and there were millions of them. The tubular egg sacks littered the bottom. This drew in all kinds of other sea creatures to feast. It was the most activity I saw in an area on any dive.

Rays were gracefully swooping around feeding. Sharks, dolphins, sea lions and teams of other fish were darting about. It really was incredible. There is no way I could describe it acurately. The squid were so abundant you could literally swing your octopus around and hit a squid.

Kind of a funny story....

When I was in Cancun doing a two dive tour I had just finished the first dive and come back up to the boat. I was feeling pretty shitty from the night of drinking before and ended up yaking on the boat. I felt better after this so I figured I might as well go on the second scheduled dive. Well I jump back in the water and am about to desend when I yak again but this time with the regulator in my mouth. The puke comes blasting out the valves into the water and provided some nice fish food. I don't think anyone saw me so I let the air out of my BCD and headed down.

p.s. It was a rental

That's awesome! :thumb:

I never dove in CA and not sure why. I lived there for 6 years :hmmm:

Yeah, I went to Cozumel for my honeymoon 20 years ago and the diving was fantastic. We went through there on a cruise last summer and the bottom looked like a moonscape.

Local diving is not the reason that most people certify, but there is some real value to local diving. Most lakes and reservoirs will be cooler than the Caribbean and have limited visibility so there are some uncomfortable considerations but lakes and reservoirs are a great place to practice skills you already have and master new skills. Lakes and reservoirs don't typically have current or surge, they have an actual bottom to limit any uncontrolled descent, and they are a great place to practice navigation because you can't cheat. If you can become comfortable diving in lakes and reservoirs, you will have a much easier time in the Caribbean (or other dive destinations).

Local diving also becomes more interesting if you consider the historical importance of your local body of water. For instance, the nearest dive site to Albuquerque is a natural cold-water spring called the Blue Hole of Santa Rosa. On face value, you have a hole in the ground with cold water, about 8 fish and sometimes a few hundred crawfish. If you consider the history, you have a natural phenomenon that is more than 10,000 years old. One cave in a series of underground waterways. A place where dinosaurs came to drink. A place where Native Americans would have come for water; and Spanish conquistadors, and westward settlers and (most likely) even Billy the Kid.

And here is one of the many reasons to own your own gear, unless you really think the gear is getting properly cleaned (or you just enjoy the thought of breathing through some strangers vomit reg).

p.s. I'm certified through Rescue Diver and I've been to: Bonaire, California (San Diego), Cancún (including the new underwater sculpture park), Cenotes, Costa Rica (Pacific side), Cozumel, Jamaica, New Mexico (Blue Hole, Conchas, Perch Lake, Elephant Butte, Navajo Lake, Rock Lake), Nicaragua (Little Corn). Panamá (Coiba), Saba, St. Kitts.

There are flooded mines in SE Missouri where you can cave dive. I always thought that sounded interesting but never made it over there to give it a try.

Too bad you can't dive in Pearl Harbor.

How strange that would be.

I did that. Got certified while attending DCA School in RI. Have dove for lobsters in water so murky could not see my outstreched hand.

Coolest dive was the wall off the back beach at GITMO when my ship was in RefTra. The ship's chart said the dropoff was from 60 feet to 2000 fathoms (12'000').