Sometimes I get frustrated with learning new things,,,,, diving is certainly becoming one of them. I was reminded of my upcoming Belize trip several times in the past two days soooooooo I have become focused on my trip again. I had put it off in the background since I made arrangements back in April/May to go (all the way to last week in Sept/first of Oct). I don’t do "hurry up and wait" very well. So I push these things away until I get really close to going,,,,,,, at least I try to.
Came back from my OW Cert in Saba, an incredible island down in the St Maartens locale but of the Dutch persuation. Maybe not so much for the younguns on here (no clubs) heck,,,, no McD’s,,,, no KFC’s,,,,,, no Wal-Marts,,,,,,,,,, hummmmmm ,,,, not sure why I went there myself now,,,,,,,,,,, oh yeah,,,, getting my OW card. Incredible place, Nat’l Geographic Seal of Approval and PADI and every other sticker there is. It’s good for a week or so get-a-way, as everyone caters to you, no cruise ships.
Anyway, this happened in January and of course even in Florida the Jan water temp here is not good (unless your a fanatic,,,, you know like a biker that even in 0 degree temp, with snow and ice on the roads, they get there longjohns and 12 other layers of cloths on and ride that bike everyday, everyday, everyday,,,,, ) soooooooo I figured I had some time to get my stuff together and get into the diving thing. Shouldn’t be too hard right? Got my OW card,,, live right here in Florida,,,, right next to the water,,,,, dive shops and dive sites galore,,,,, divers everywhere divin,,,,,,,, shee-yut,,,,,,, yeah right!!!!
Except for a few people that rented their stuff like me on the dive trip in Saba,,,,,, out of 12 divers and 5 dive masters that crewed the boat,,,,,,,,, no one had any equipment that was the same,,,,,, let me allow that to sink in as my naiveté may have already become very apparent to all you seasoned "scubadogs" out there,,,,, no one had ANY of the same equipment,,,,,,,,,,,, no one bought ANY of their equipment from the same place,,,,,,,,,,,, tap ,,, tap,,,,, tap,,,,,,,,, tap,,,,,,,, No one used the same dive shop,,,,,,,, no one liked the same online sources for equipment,,, for brand names ,,,,,,, for sources of information about ANYTHING! ,,,, tap,,,, tap,,,,,, tap,,,,,,, tap,,,,,,,,,,,
Now for those of you (and I get so lonely out here in the consumer twilight zone) that have already gotten all your stuff,,,,,, and have four sets of everything ((and enough bits an pieces to make two more)) and different brands and sources of obtaining them,,,,,,,, don’t even know where half of your stuff is let alone remember that you even still had that,,, and this,,, and that,,,,,,,,,, and OMG! I thought I’d lost that!!!!!!! ,,,,,,,,,,,,, maybe,,,, MAYBE you just don’t remember how frustrating it is to try and find some decent equipment,,,,, a decent dive shop,,,,, a decent dive site,,,,,, and I am talking just decent here. Nothing incredible, or outrageous,,,,,, just some decent stuff. I can’t believe how defficult this is.
I am looking at spending money here,,,,,,,,, remember???? Try really hard and remember back when you first discovered diving. How incredible it was! How you wanted to get going with this and get out there and dive,,, dive,,,,, dive!!!!!! And you have nothing!,,,, nothing!,,,,, nothing!!!!! And everytime you ask,,,,,, EVERYTIMEYOUASK,,,,,,, anyone about anything you get a different answer,,,,,,, gaughhhhh!!!!!! Everytime I go to blogs, websites,,,,,, you know even THIS DiveBuddy website has a couple of blogs or forums or whatever that people are going back and forth on with their experiences with this brand or that piece of equipment orr orrrrr that dive trip or location or dive shop or whatever it is. "I had a great time there" "Oh yeah? I went there and they screwed me! They Suck!" ,,,, "I bought that piece of equipment and it is really great!" "Well ,,, I bought that same thing and it fell apart as I was taking it out of the box! It Sucks!"
Welllllll,,,,,,, I guess I’ll have to just go out there and bite tha bullet,,,,,,,,, and as you may have figured out,,,,,, this is exactly the reason why I haven’t asked anyone (or named specific names) of the hotel I booked,,,,,,,, or used the dive shop I’m already booked to use,,,,,,, and/or what restaurants or whether San Pedro or mainland is better,,,, or whatever. Of course I will appreciate any and all information from those of you that have good things to say about any of this,,,,,,,, heck! I’d even buy someone a beer that told me what the heck difference it makes whether you buy a fin that is split or not,,,, what difference does it make? Why did they do that? and then,,, THEN not have someone else get on here and say nu uhnnnnn,,, that’s not the reason,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, tap,,, tap,,,,,, tap,,,,,,,,,tap,,,,,,,,
verrrrryyyyy frustrating,,,,,,, could do a monologue about it,,, or would that be a mono-blog,,,,,,,,, :) peace out