[fran-ray]

Hi,

I'm going to do my PADI in Egypt at the end of July, and i was wondering if anyone else has done it.

If you have please could you tell me what it involves and whether or not you found it easy.

Thanks

[DaveP]

I did mine Scuba Diving course a few years ago - it's easy enough. There's a fair amount of studying to do, but that's more interesting than difficult. If you can get the books before you go and read up, that'll help speed things along.

The only part I didn't enjoy was getting the wet suit on and off. There's all sorts of tricks to making it easier, such as washing liquid on the legs or plastic bags on your feet (so legs slide in easy, and washing up liquid gets washed away). Once you've got yourself and your equipment set up so you remain horizontal at neutral bouyancy then you can swim along no problem.

To get extra effect from swimming only with your arms, check out the surfer web-type gloves. They're made of neoprene (wetsuit material) and the web gives you alot more power in your strokes when swimming.

I've not dived since doing the course, but the next time I go somewhere with warm water that doesn't require me to where a wet suit, I'll certainly do some diving.

[In The Wind]

Yeah, I dive. I’m a C5/7 quad and I’ve got decent hand control. I only dive warm water, I wouldn’t want to try to use a wetsuit….,

I’m guessing that you are talking about your open water testing. You shouldn’t really have any problems, just stay calm and think. If you have not done any diving, I would suggest that you get a book and study a little. The only thing that is technical are figuring bottom times but it’s nothing difficult or anything that would be exaggerated by a SCI.

I absolutely agree on the board gloves, you can look here, http://www.watergear...bbedgloves.html for an example of them. They make a 100% difference in your water mobility. You might have to put them on last, just practice with them to see what works best for you.

I can’t think of anything that would cause you any real problems once you get in the water, good luck!

[milosh]

i did my course back in '04. i love scuba diving a lot!

[kabal]

I liked it aswell but only saw it as a one time challenge. (cause of the wet suits and handeling of heavy equipment and getting in and out of the water)

I also got the PADI. The challenge was to get balanced out well in the water. We used some additional clip on weights (little ones). to get the balance in the water just right.

The webbed gloves are a must ! But if you do move diving then a electrical underwater hand held motorized scooter is nice aswell.

good luck

This post has been edited by kabal: 12 April 2007 - 11:36 PM

[bdmpastx]

http://www.eels.org/home/ has some good info as well.

[essexscipilot]

Great, thanks.

Nice bike pic by the way.

[KimAndSophie]

I've never been scuba diving, but a few weeks ago I decided to try swimming again. I haven't been swimming since my injury and wasn't even sure if I could. Julian helped me get into the pool, and I realized that I could still float, but I couldn't lift my head out of the water to breathe, and I also can't take in a deep enough breath. I can only hold my breath for 10-15 seconds before I need air.



I was determined to swim, so we went to Wal-Mart and bought a scuba mask and snorkel. LOL not the most attractive way to swim, but now I can swim again! And after a few days I was doing a lot better. I even noticed that my neck wasn't as stiff as it usually is, my shoulders didn't hurt so much, and my legs weren't as stiff as they usually are!



I have a question though. We got an adult sized mask, and the first day it worked great, but by the second day water kept seeping into the nose piece. I think it's coming in around the area of the corner of my mouth. If I got a youth sized mask, do you think it would make a difference?

[sailorjerry]

Hi, I am a physical therapy student from Florida. I am working on an assignment where I am collecting and consolidating information about scuba diving for individuals with spinal cord injuries, so those who wish to learn/go scuba diving can have access to that information in one place. Would anyone know of good websites/facilities that would be helpful for me to include?

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate the help!

Stay wet!
Mike