The Argonauts John or Jean Francois ???????

[scubafreek864]

This is the kind of info that needs to be posted before hand, and not after the fact.

I am looking for any excuse to go diving, no matter what.  I have been in some real sh*t holes, just ask Terry.  I will dive anywhere, no matter what the vis.  For some reason, I really enjoy lake clean up dives.  Unfortunately, I could not make the Prior Lake clean up this year, and will not be diving for some time due to a recent back injury, but will be diving hard core after getting the all clear from doc.

Please post any info for upcoming diving get together's, you may have more, and more in attendance every week, or year.

[Terry]

I have been in some real sh*t holes, just ask Terry. 


                                  Robert,  was that description really necessary? Sure you and I have dove in some places that weren't stellar, heck some weren't even good, but sh*t holes? Ok, other then Lake St. Joe,,,,

[DetectorGuy]

There is a slight difference between complaining about a dive shop, and adding constructive criticism. As far as your other suggestions... Been there, bought the shirt. A while ago I fired off this thread called "ICSD New Shipwreck Challenge". Here is a link if you want to re-read it to check out my intentions:
It was a place for divers to drop locations of non-documented sunken boats so that others could go there and enjoy them also. As far as the other ice diving challenge went, I can't say when I have had so much fun. While I never started a "club" I am happy to be part of one. Here is a link to our "club":
As far as doing my own thing... I love solo diving! Can't get closer to doing my own thing than that. Now if I only knew what denegrade means (I am not sure that is even legal...) but I don't know if I ever tried that. Was that popular 34 years ago?

[Deltaforce]

Ah you caught me.  Couldn't find the spell check button on the mnscuba post screen.  ;D Mrs. Johnson (my 6th grade English teacher) would have taken me to task.  Glad you caught it before she did.

I appreciate your comments. 

your quote -- "So the dive shops continue to lead these newbie lemmings to the cliff called Square or Perch or somewhere in the Carribbean where the water is 15' plus visibility for financial reasons."

You might also want to check out the fun dives by the local dive shops mentioned in the thread...always better to have first hand knowledge on a topic before you denigrate (sic) it. 

[grumpie]

Don't understand all the complaining about the vis and the bottom muck. WHY don't you complainers come out to little long lake tomorrow nite and go diving. its Tue nite fun diving not a lot of bitching and better yet see where the  next Tue nite fun dive will be because it will only talked about there not here. so you will miss the rest of the summers fun dives.
Dick.

[DetectorGuy]

Good to Go USDiver. I was just messing with you. I usually don't just go with the flow but put a bit of spin on a conversation to get people riled up and talking. I agree that there are so many facets of diving and everyone has a different way to enjoy diving. I would like to go diving somewhere warm where the water is clear and the bottom is full of neat things to see. The reality for me is only to enjoy that for a week a year, and the other 51 weeks I get to work hard enough to afford to go again the following year. In those 51 weeks up here in the tundra that some call Minnesota, I make the most of it, and dive where I can, as often as I can. The dive shops here are all doing a great job, and with the tough economy, they need all the business they can muster. I am pretty sure I need them more than they need me. When I was picking on Padi, it was just one simple divers opinion. Of my 7 C-cards, 4 of them are Padi and 3 are Naui. With no more Naui shops in the state, it feels like the "Put Another Dollar In" organization is cornering the market. Once the fox is in the hen house, there are no more checks and balances. It would be good to have divers get a training that is not watered down for the "vacation only divers" as some of them might just want to eventually get into diving on a regular basis but not really get their moneys worth. I know the quality of training is all based on the instructor and the level at which he or she teaches. This level of training could be just the minimum required by Padi, or it could be above and beyond what Padi requires. You do have to agree that Padi as an organization is getting softer by the month. Pretty soon you will be able to pull up to a drive through kiosk in your renta-car at some swanky vacation resort and slip in 4 Ben Franklin's and pull out a shiny new C-card. Kidding of course but you get my drift (pun intended).

[grumpie]

Just because smith diving is gone, that does not mean that there are not active status instructors here there are three that I know of. All of naui classes are avaible here in the city. PM me and I will help you with any class you would like, or find it for you.

[scubafreek864]

For the record, this was not aimed at the ice diving this winter!!    ;D

St.Joe was the major one in mind.

[Hydro]

Eeh I'm content with the size of the diving community in mn, its large enough to have things going on , but small enough that I can go to a random lake and feel like 1000 divers haven't been there..id rather see random moonscape and weeds than piles of stuff other divers have piled up, virgin lakes get me more excited   ... I don't like feeling like I'm a side market for dive shops but I can't blame them, they have to make a living or they disappear, I have too much gear for most applications, and I don't care about any more classes unless lakes around here get deeper. So all they can get out of me is an air fill.  Diving alone or with a few buddies in cold dark holes is fine with me any day, I guess im weary of diving with strangers but everyone is a stranger at some point    

But really mnscuba is the best place to hear about what's going on in mn generally, dive shops can't relay all the info that flows through this site. Non diving meetups are pretty cool to hear diving stories and cooler to see videos that don't get posted.
Someone just needs to open a scuba dive bar.

[Terry]

                    In honor of the seven deadly sins, (that I, personally like to rotate with the seven days of the week), I just finished wolfing a pizza, but it gave me time to think. First, I think Johns (Deterguy) right, no doubt he's sick of hearing that, not nearly as sick as I am, of telling him, ( I think that's 3 times now) but thats another deal. You don't hear the, "put another dollar in", "pay and dive immediately" that spell out NAUI or CMAS or NASDS, but PADI kicks out a lot of divers, so maybe that makes them an easy target. What I miss about Aubineau's "advanced" class, is that it went on a 2 year rotation, cant imagine that today, every Thur. night and it dove (sorry) into topics like, small boat handling, marlinspike seamanship, reg. repair/tanks, hypothermia, deco, wrecks, compressors, ice, night, etc. put on by his instructors who were into each topic. I suspect in some ways PADI chopped each into a separate cert. and a separate bill, miss a class no big deal it would come back around in 4-6 months. After class we go out to a local dive on University ave. and have some pizza and salads, and sit around and bs about the class. Back then you didn't get a card, in fact with Aubineau you had to beg to ever get a card, but you learned a lot, and you had time to develop friendships for the type of diving you liked to do. The difference was a single fee, so if the individual class wasn't of interest to you, you could still show up maybe learn something, maybe not, but you only waste your time, today with all the seperate fees and cards, if a topics not of interest, your for sure not showing up, due to the seperate bill. Guess its just the way times change.     TRINITY