SCUBA divers in the house?

I got PADI OWD certified in about 2002 when I lived in CA.  Did a few beach dives and a few Catalina/Kelp dives, then moved back to PA and never did another dive.  I want to take a refresher class and get some equipment.  I have fins, mask (likely no good anymore), and a regulator which I bought used in 2002 and I remember it was cheap.  I think I have gloves and boots.  Anyway, once I determine what is good and what is crap, I'll need a BC, weights, wetsuit, tank, etc.

Most of my dives will be at a freshwater lake in Ontario.  I'm told that the vis sucks between 30 and 60 feet, but I wouldn't go deeper than about 25-30 looking for anchors, trash, lures, observing fish, and fishing rods.  Also, freshwater in Canada with significant light blockage means that deep = really cold.  Thermocline is usually around 30-40 feet.

I met a diver up there once, and he dove with a short sleeve/short leg 3 mil suit, but he was also doing short dives with a pony bottle.

- am I on the right track thinking that a 3 mil full body would work?
- suggestions on what equipment/brands to get?
- since there is a modest probability of lots of fishing line, and retrieving lures, I should have a knife, yes?  Suggestions?

Curtis I'll give it a try:

first Rent RENT RENT 

1 I own all my equipment plus three tanks my reg and tanks need inspection andservicing every year or two that's 300 or more every year. So unless your diving a good bit that's nearly the cost of rental for a couple of trips.

2 all Major  mfg make acceptable stuff, most cost upgrades are either for connivence  , or special purpose or good marketing.if you are doing what you describe ie max 50 ft depth a simple computer is sufficient.

3. a small cheap knife and a pair of surgical scissors are a better combo than a big knife. I attach mine to my bc some people like the calf mount . Mines attached to my bc so it's  just one less step to getting dressed.

4. rental and diving with other people will give you a better idea how to rig you gear for your use.

5 remember if you are going to fly to a resort dive you are probably end up renting anyway.

6 .  So what should yo buy to begin. A good mask $50_100

                                                                     Fins $200, snorkel $40, safety sausage $60, dive bag cheap mesh ones are fine $75; knife and scissors $100.00 = $600.00

7 don't buy used until you know what your looking at. Then it can be a great place to buy your gear.

a 3 mil suit is what we wear in the summer in fl we wear heavier 7mm if we are diving below 65 bottom temps so I'm guessing it's not enough . But talk to some locals. Based on a 30 foot depth an 80 cubic tank should last you nearly 45 minutes  45 miniutes under water is a lot of heat loss.

finally you are a very inexperienced diver don't do this lake diving alone ask anything and I'll try to help

I did my  dive training  at Dive and Surf. And also did a few beach dives and Catalina kelp beds and Garibaldi fish dives , 

it was fun at the time but seemed like a lot of hassle for the time in the water ,  I just did snorkeling when I went to Hawaii and Fiji , 

Are you going to have a dive buddy ?

I am a NAUI Divemaster with over 400 open water dives in California and Florida. My advice would be find a local dive shop that offers classes and take your PADI advanced open water class. This will be a great refresher and get you up to speed on current practices, you will also have a chance to meet some new dive buddies. How dives are conducted and the preferred equipment varies with the local environment. Here in Florida we do a lot of drift dives, but that was not a common practice in California.

I will also say rent first and try different BC's, regulators, etc. personally I prefer a backplate and wing over a BC, but this is personal preference. I got to try this out in a pool swapping gear with dive buddies, another good reason to find a good shop and class.

3mm wetsuits are not going to cut it in cold water, I wear that in Florida water unless it is really warm. In Ca waters it was not uncommon to wear 7mm farmer john with a 5mm or 7mm jacket as well. If i was diving regularly in cold water I would really consider a dry suit, but that can get expensive and additional training should be taken.

I learned to dive in the early '70s, it was a much simpler time. I bought my gear out of a mail order catalog along with a How to Scuba Dive manual. Filled the tank up, stuck my head in the bathtub and then the local swimming pool, and finally in 20' of mud bottom covered lake. It was going great until I stirred up the bottom and soon couldn't tell which way was up and got vertigo. I finally found the bottom and pushed up and reached the surface. I eventually was able to take dive classes during college PhyEd. Don't learn it in that order.

Look into the diving club down outside of Middletown, PA. 
 

it's an old flooded quarry with a bunch of equipment at the bottom. I think they do lots of training course there.

I got my PADI cert in a quarry in 2007. Have never been down again.

If there is a quarry in PA like mentioned above, I highly recommend that to take a refresher. 

There are dive shops in Ontario that organize dives and can probably answer your questions and set you up with equipment one way or the other; buy or rent. 

As you probably know the two hot spots in Ontario are Tobermory   at the north end of Huron and The St Clair river on the other end of the lake.

Many years ago the NAUI checkout dive was in Tobermory and mostly I recall it being cold. The instructor at the time told the group that for 99 percent of us our dive future would include one trip to a destination like Cancun and then we would never dive again. I never even did the destination trip and just reverted to snorkeling,

Apropos of nothing, I have watched a few dive groups in the St Clair and they all carry a screwdriver.

Pretty solid advice here. I got my advanced open water cert at an abandoned quarry in East central Illinois. I opted for the deep dive cert which meant I got to go from 72 degree surface temps after a 400ish yard swim down to 90 feet and 42 degree water. Due to the water temp and depth that got cold real quick.

Just to make the whole leisure dive experience better I would wear a thick wetsuit. I dove in other areas of said quarry with similar temps and thermoclines as you described. I'd say you're probably looking at about 15-20 minute dives.

Definitely go play locally and then check out the recommended places in Ontario.

You're not planning on doing solo dives, are you? I've never been to Canada, so let me know when you need a dive buddy. 

My open dive at the University of Wyoming was a frozen lake Ice dive. BRRR

VolvoHeretic said:

My open dive at the University of Wyoming was a frozen lake Ice dive. BRRR

Definitely alert and paying attention!!!

Curtis, what is your build? My wife and I certified, but her health will likely keep us out of diving. We have some good stuff I can send you pictures of, as more options.

Advanced with some other certs.  have around 150+ dives in.  Not real sure exact as we were bad on logging stuff for a while.

What are the temps?  They can range a bit up there.

I dive regularly in 78ish degree water with nothing on.  *rash guard, not nude*  In these temps, my wife freezes.

75-76 is where I start to get cool in the water and need something.

70 and below you better have something.

I have a 7mm from when we lived in PA, did some dives in 40ish and slightly under in that.  For short dives, that still works, longer is a bit too much.

As far as gear.  Rent now, if you can try some different stuff, do it.  It will help you get an idea of what you want.  But, go to a dive shop and try one things.  Look around, touch, feel, see what is good. plan to spend a decent amount.  Get something thats not being phased out.  they change parts and pieces and can be tough to get replacements if you buy some older things.  This just happened with the wifes old BCD, though it was prolly 15 years old. Brand names can be good for this reason. 

Here's the location of the quarry that used to be a dive center. No idea if its still open or not. 

https://goo.gl/maps/M27Cy2bfxvGPC48V9

Update: this location is closed. It was bought by Solid Waste Authority to use a reservoir to pull water for the incinerator. Sucks, because it looked super cool:

In reply to matthewmcl :

6'1" 220lbs.  Linebacker-ish.  46 chest, 36 waist, 31 inseam, 17.5 neck

Tons of good advice here.

Diving buddy; mostly yes.  The longer story is that I like to dive, I spend 2 months on a lake in Ontario where I know I've lost a dozen anchors and 5 gajillion lures, along with a handful of rods/reels.  I always wanted to see where we were fishing.  For two weeks out of the summer, I have a diving buddy where we might go past thermocline.  The rest of the time will likely be 15-25' dives while dad is anchored on a rockpile jigging.  Go down, pick up some trash, free up an anchor and tie it to a rope for recovery.  I would be in a 30' radius of the boat's anchor rope.  Basically what I already do with a snorkel, but I can stay down there for longer than 20 seconds, and if I get my finger stuck on a hook or otherwise encounter an emergency (which I have... not fun) I at least have 45 minutes of air to figure it out instead of 10 seconds.

Clubs/renting.  I have yet to find anywhere that rents.  We're talking about a very isolated wilderness lake on Crown land.  The nearest gas station is 10 miles.  The nearest actual town is 60 miles.  The local OPP (police) has some rescue divers and the nearby barracks (about 10 miles away) will fill tanks for civilians for a "donation", but the nearest dive shop I've found is 2+ hours away.  I would basically have to rent the equipment here in PA and keep it for 2 months which isn't very cost-effective.

I'm trying to remember the suit I wore when I dove in CA.  It was full length, and I think it was 5mil?  Booties, gloves, hood as well.  The coldest we dove was 58, but more commonly low 60s.  Off of Hermosa Beach I remember seeing 68 in September one year.

So should I shoot for 5 mil?  Surface temps are often in the mid 70s on that lake, sometimes 80, but not for very deep.  As you wade in the water you get about 2' down and it's notably cooler on your toes.  Very little turnover.  We'll get one or two good nor'easters that will make a 1' chop, but that only churns up about 2' worth of water.

In reply to pheller :

Thanks!  That turned up in a search but haven't visited yet.

Edit:  Dang.

If you are salvaging lures I think it would be good to have a pair of needle nose pliers, attached with a lanyard, to pull the hooks out of the snag.

jharry3 said:

If you are salvaging lures I think it would be good to have a pair of needle nose pliers, attached with a lanyard, to pull the hooks out of the snag.

Agreed.  I learned that the hard way when I was young and dumb.  Burying the barb of a hook in your thumb while the other hook is helplessly buried in a log wasn't a fun feeling when I was 10' down with a snorkel.  Fortunately the hook broke and I could get to the surface without shredding too much flesh.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

jharry3 said:

If you are salvaging lures I think it would be good to have a pair of needle nose pliers, attached with a lanyard, to pull the hooks out of the snag.

Agreed.  I learned that the hard way when I was young and dumb.  Burying the barb of a hook in your thumb while the other hook is helplessly buried in a log wasn't a fun feeling when I was 10' down with a snorkel.  Fortunately the hook broke and I could get to the surface without shredding too much flesh.

Broke off in your finger or in the log?

Have you considered a oxygenated perfluorocarbon rig? 

(I'm kidding) 

Tons of good and useful advice.  
 

have you looked into a surface air supply?    For relatively shallow diving it might be easier to use something tethered.

You can cheat a bit on the wetsuit thickness by dumping hot water inside the suit just before you go into the water.   You're gonna be wet anyway (wetsuit) but instead of using your body heat to warm that layer against your skin, warm water will give you extra time before too much heat loss happens.