F-Body Europe

A Brit dive instructor just set the new world record depth record for scuba in Thailand. 1,026.9 feet (313 meters) !!! The deepest I have been is about 135 feet. It took 12 minutes to get there and 6 hours and 40 minutes to get back for the decompession. He used 30 tanks in the process. That must have been a wild ride.

Ouch... I'd have to check my logg, but I think the deepest I've been has been right around the "official" 90ft, and that during the AOWD course ... can't imagine going down over 10x that deep ... couple guys did a 130ft dive down in Austria at the "Black Wall" (goes down vertically at least 150ft and then some) in spring of '02, but I didn't join them (they were all pretty experienced, one of them was the instructor)
Problem with those deep-dives is the whole logistics around it - I saw a report on TV about a deep-dive record attempt somewhere in egyptian waters - they must have had at least 20-30 people or so as support personell). Lots of different air/gas mixtures to get back safely, and still enough danger to the diver ...
Hm ... didn't even get to do any diving this year ...

Its been forever for me too. But I am going to FL in March to go on a boat for a week. Wake up, dive, eat, dive, nap, dive,lunch, dive.. you get the idea. I will have to check all the equipment pretty soon. The nearest dive shop that services my regs is in Koln. It took him forever to get the parts I needed last time.

Yeah, right, make me jealous ... first Silke takes off to FL, now you ... tsts ...

I thought I seen dive shops in K-Town and Pirmasens ... did you check in the area yet?

Edit: Just noticed, you're in Spang ... so Cologne isn't that much farther ...

Man that's crazy. Never been over 60ft myself, and it has over 10 years. I did find my PADI card last week though.

Mav

Hm ... how many divers do we have here???

I'd love to try! Also, skydiving, if anyone knows about that around here

Diving's not that hard ... requires some basic fitness, couple of hours of theory, and some indoor and outdoor training hours ... and discipline when actually diving ... I took the courses winter of 01/02 and did my open water certification on leave in FL ... had a great time ... only problem is, there aren't that many nice places to dive here in Germany ... unless you like cold water and less than 10ft visibility ...

Did severakl dives down in Austria May of 02, mountain lake "Attersee", ~50 degrees water temperature (dropping to ~40 between 20 and 30 ft ... brrrrr) Nice scenery, though ...

I read about an old gas storage tank in Duisburg they built as an indoor dive center - 36ft deep or so, sunk different stuff in it to make it interesting, IIRC even fish been placed in it ... I could find out some details if anybody is interested in taking a splash ... ?

About skydiving - I know there are several schools that offer paragliding courses (e.g. up here in the Rhoen) Of course, that requires some hills ... don't know whether the ones they have around K-Town are sufficient for any kind of skydiving/paragliding ... Apart from that, you can probably take basic/beginner courses in the Alps ... go down there for a week or two of leave, and enjoy ...

I am making plans to go to Croatia or Italy this summer to do some dives in the Adriatic. Looking at the prices, Croatia is super cheap. My landlord went there a couple years ago and said it was really nice. I wouldn't mind diving someplace around here either. I went up to rescue diver cert when I was in the Azores, so I can (sort of) tolorate the cold water. For awhile anyway. Maybe we can get enough people together to make it worthwhile.

The local dive shop regularly had trips down to Croatia, and really loved it ... nice weather, decent water, good visibility ... and, from what I was told cheap & good food ... would be nice to fit a trip in between the dragrace schedule

HEy Dave
I believe Croatia has abann on it for military members unless you are deployed . Might want to check on it through your intel shopjust to be safe.

I'll go via Canada and avoid all the customs hassle...

Just got infos on one of the indoor places, the gas tank ... water is around 50F/8C right now ... don't know about you guys, but diving's a lot more fun in warm water

I'm too afraid to get the bends, although I'd love to try it one day! I love snorkeling.. I went in Mallorca, and it was gorgeous. If you haven't been, that would be an IDEAL place to go diving.. The water is crystal clear. Just check out these 2 pics!

Also, we flew Ryan Air out of Saarbruecken, for less than 50 Euros (for round trip 2 people).....

Hm ... driving to the airport is more expensive than the flight ... great ...

Maybe for you, Garry. You can fly out of a lot of places. That was just the closest to us.. We even took the Bug!

anyway, pictures look great! Almost as nice as the water off the keys ... and probably a lot less expensive ...

Oh it was amazing. I tell you, if someone spends 3 or more years here, and doesn't go there, they are crazy, and really missing out.. I'd go again in a heartbeat, if it wasn't for all the other cool places to go!

I pasted on the boat trip. I heard a horror story about on toilet on one of their cruises. Not so much the toilet broke (sh!t happens )as much as the way the outfit handled their customers on the boat. Anyway, I have booked 4 days at Walkers Cay in the Bahamas. They have a daily shark feed that is one of the best dives in the world. Should be awesome. The sharks didn't bite Heidi Klum in the arse when she went, so I should be safe. If I was a shark and going to bite an arse, that would be the one.