39 replies to this topic

[Racer184]

...What I don't like about diving with him is he won't get up early...

Leave him behind if he is not ready on time. Next time he will get up early and be ready on time.

I believe "if you are not 15 minutes early, you are late".

I wish people had asked me to go diving when I was a teenager..... women look really good in wetsuits!

[sharkbait97]

No one else in my family dives so I would hang out at the shop and see who was going to the lake on the weekends and tag along. Kind of funny to watch a 15 take the bus to a dive shop with a bag of gear just so I could go play in the pool.

[shadragon]

I wish people had asked me to go diving when I was a teenager..... women look really good in wetsuits!

It isn't the wetsuits. They look good out of them too...

[diverdeb]

I wish people had asked me to go diving when I was a teenager..... women look really good in wetsuits!

It isn't the wetsuits. They look good out of them too...

Simon, you are so funny. (I feel the same way about men, in or out of wetsuits, they look good, well, most of the time).

[techintime]

There are some really fun, safe, dive activities for kids as young as 8-years old. SSI has "scuba rangers" and PADI has "sealteam" or something similar. I'm familiar with the scuba rangers. I put my then 8-year old through it. The course teaches them pretty much the same skills as a basic OW, up through the pool work, and the limited cert is for a max depth of 14 feet, in "pool-like" conditions. So they can go into the ocean or lakes on really shallow dives, but they must be accompanied by a certified scuba ranger instructor on all dives.
The kids are like sponges too. They generally take the training very seriously because you impress upon them that this is an adult activity that carries some risk. My 8 year old has pointed it out to me when I have missed a step on my pre-dive equipment check (much to my embarassment) like when I failed to check my safe-second when we were prepping for a pool session at a grand total of 4 feet planned maximum depth. This shows me he remembers this stuff.
Weve done tons of pool dives together and one ocean dive when he was 9 and he loved it. We saw a see turtle and loads of fish. In his words it was the "most fun thing I've done in my entire life". As a single Dad with every other weekend and half the holidays, that one comment made all the expense and effort worth while.

[diverdeb]

There are some really fun, safe, dive activities for kids as young as 8-years old. SSI has "scuba rangers" and PADI has "sealteam" or something similar. I'm familiar with the scuba rangers. I put my then 8-year old through it. The course teaches them pretty much the same skills as a basic OW, up through the pool work, and the limited cert is for a max depth of 14 feet, in "pool-like" conditions. So they can go into the ocean or lakes on really shallow dives, but they must be accompanied by a certified scuba ranger instructor on all dives.
The kids are like sponges too. They generally take the training very seriously because you impress upon them that this is an adult activity that carries some risk. My 8 year old has pointed it out to me when I have missed a step on my pre-dive equipment check (much to my embarassment) like when I failed to check my safe-second when we were prepping for a pool session at a grand total of 4 feet planned maximum depth. This shows me he remembers this stuff.
Weve done tons of pool dives together and one ocean dive when he was 9 and he loved it. We saw a see turtle and loads of fish. In his words it was the "most fun thing I've done in my entire life". As a single Dad with every other weekend and half the holidays, that one comment made all the expense and effort worth while.

I couldn't agree more!! Although I am a bit biased as I'm a Scuba Ranger Instructor. We have a wonderful, active program at our shop. We have just started Underwater Archeology Ranger as a specialty - learning about the de Luna wrecks here in Pensacola (from the mid-1500's). We have an opportunity to dive one this summer - it's in 12' of water! And it's a real archeological site. The kids are going to "train" just like the college students at UWF and get see a real working site. It's such an amazing opportunity. I just know we're going to have at least one that grows up and make that their profession. I'm SO stoked about Scuba Rangers this summer!

[ScubaStacy]

Wow, guess I got started a bit sooner than most of you! My daughter turns 26 this month and I love diving with her! The only drawback is that I have to pay for every trip - so we usually only go on Christmas! This is us this past Christmas in Belize - hammin it up as usual!

Edited by ScubaStacy, 15 March 2008 - 10:18 AM.

[techintime]

There are some really fun, safe, dive activities for kids as young as 8-years old. SSI has "scuba rangers" and PADI has "sealteam" or something similar. I'm familiar with the scuba rangers. I put my then 8-year old through it. The course teaches them pretty much the same skills as a basic OW, up through the pool work, and the limited cert is for a max depth of 14 feet, in "pool-like" conditions. So they can go into the ocean or lakes on really shallow dives, but they must be accompanied by a certified scuba ranger instructor on all dives.
The kids are like sponges too. They generally take the training very seriously because you impress upon them that this is an adult activity that carries some risk. My 8 year old has pointed it out to me when I have missed a step on my pre-dive equipment check (much to my embarassment) like when I failed to check my safe-second when we were prepping for a pool session at a grand total of 4 feet planned maximum depth. This shows me he remembers this stuff.
Weve done tons of pool dives together and one ocean dive when he was 9 and he loved it. We saw a see turtle and loads of fish. In his words it was the "most fun thing I've done in my entire life". As a single Dad with every other weekend and half the holidays, that one comment made all the expense and effort worth while.

I couldn't agree more!! Although I am a bit biased as I'm a Scuba Ranger Instructor. We have a wonderful, active program at our shop. We have just started Underwater Archeology Ranger as a specialty - learning about the de Luna wrecks here in Pensacola (from the mid-1500's). We have an opportunity to dive one this summer - it's in 12' of water! And it's a real archeological site. The kids are going to "train" just like the college students at UWF and get see a real working site. It's such an amazing opportunity. I just know we're going to have at least one that grows up and make that their profession. I'm SO stoked about Scuba Rangers this summer!

Tell me more about this Underwater Archeology Ranger, when, where, how much, all that stuff. I feel another Pensacoloa trip coming on.
mark

[diverdeb]

There are some really fun, safe, dive activities for kids as young as 8-years old. SSI has "scuba rangers" and PADI has "sealteam" or something similar. I'm familiar with the scuba rangers. I put my then 8-year old through it. The course teaches them pretty much the same skills as a basic OW, up through the pool work, and the limited cert is for a max depth of 14 feet, in "pool-like" conditions. So they can go into the ocean or lakes on really shallow dives, but they must be accompanied by a certified scuba ranger instructor on all dives.
The kids are like sponges too. They generally take the training very seriously because you impress upon them that this is an adult activity that carries some risk. My 8 year old has pointed it out to me when I have missed a step on my pre-dive equipment check (much to my embarassment) like when I failed to check my safe-second when we were prepping for a pool session at a grand total of 4 feet planned maximum depth. This shows me he remembers this stuff.
Weve done tons of pool dives together and one ocean dive when he was 9 and he loved it. We saw a see turtle and loads of fish. In his words it was the "most fun thing I've done in my entire life". As a single Dad with every other weekend and half the holidays, that one comment made all the expense and effort worth while.

I couldn't agree more!! Although I am a bit biased as I'm a Scuba Ranger Instructor. We have a wonderful, active program at our shop. We have just started Underwater Archeology Ranger as a specialty - learning about the de Luna wrecks here in Pensacola (from the mid-1500's). We have an opportunity to dive one this summer - it's in 12' of water! And it's a real archeological site. The kids are going to "train" just like the college students at UWF and get see a real working site. It's such an amazing opportunity. I just know we're going to have at least one that grows up and make that their profession. I'm SO stoked about Scuba Rangers this summer!

Tell me more about this Underwater Archeology Ranger, when, where, how much, all that stuff. I feel another Pensacoloa trip coming on.
mark

It's an ongoing project. We started with a field trip to the NWFL Archeology Museum/Offices (that's not the official name, I'll have to look it up) for a wonderful presentation on what it means to be an underwater archeologist (UA). They had a great powerpoint presentation with pictures of everthing it was (and wasn't - pirate treasure hunt, etc.). Tomorrow we have our 1st pool session focusing on skills a UA uses - such as, we have made a grid and we're going to learn to record where in the grid we find things. There will be several sessions leading up to the big dive later this summer.

As for price, I don't have the details off hand. I can put you in touch with the shop if you want specifics. PM me if you want and I'll tell you who to contact and how.

It is WAY COOL - in true Scuba Ranger fashion!

[Bubble2Bubble]

I have one Son, His name is Ashley and he is 27 years old.
He lives in California and he thinks scuba diving is cool and might get a cert someday?
But for now I think he is trying to make me a Grandpa

O My I just got another gray hair

Bubski