Hello new forum people

[MuscleBobBuffpants]

Hi, I'm another Kiwi, only been diving a year.

Based in Auckland and I spend too much time surfing forums and not enough time diving...

[Sarah]

Bob, don't feel bad, I even have an i in my screen name for Internet Dive

There is a Kiwi forum here....

[MuscleBobBuffpants]

Thanks, I will keep an eye on it.

Are you another Aucklander or do you come from a saner part of the country?

[Jason Ooi]

Hi bob,

I'm newbie too...diving from Hong Kong

[Azza]

Gday Bob.
I am from Auckland. Where in Auckland are you?
I got the impression from some of your posts on ********** you might be from Devonport?

[MuscleBobBuffpants]

Other side, I'm in Herne Bay.

[Azza]

Cool. I thought you might have been from Philomel.
Im in Glenfield.

Do you get out much? Where do you like to dive?

[Scott]

I even have an i in my screen name for Internet Dive

Hmms.. haven't had a chance to play in the pool yet? =(

[MuscleBobBuffpants]

Cool. I thought you might have been from Philomel.
Im in Glenfield.

Do you get out much? Where do you like to dive?

I'm ex air force, spent a bit of time on a frigate, that's probably why you had the impression I was over there.

Don't get out very much, my stepfather lives on the coromandel, so we (my wife is my dive buddy) try to go for a dive when we are over there.

I haven't dived a lot in NZ, I quite like sightseeing wrecks (no inclination to go inside, seen the inside of enough ships) and we have to get our act together and go dive Waikato etc. But I haven't done any of the PADI specialties and to be perfectly honest don't see the point of most.

I probably should do at least the deep dive one, considering I am planning on doing the Coolidge in April.

I understand you are an instructor, are you independant or through a shop?

Bob

[Azza]

I'm ex air force, spent a bit of time on a frigate, that's probably why you had the impression I was over there.

Don't get out very much, my stepfather lives on the coromandel, so we (my wife is my dive buddy) try to go for a dive when we are over there.

I haven't dived a lot in NZ, I quite like sightseeing wrecks (no inclination to go inside, seen the inside of enough ships) and we have to get our act together and go dive Waikato etc. But I haven't done any of the PADI specialties and to be perfectly honest don't see the point of most.

I probably should do at least the deep dive one, considering I am planning on doing the Coolidge in April.

I understand you are an instructor, are you independant or through a shop?

Bob

Ex RNZAF makes sense.

The waikato is a pretty cool wreck. Its really nice and colourful and can be multilevelled for maximum time.
The Tui is a lot smaller but better IMHO. Its a little deeper tho so unless you are diving nitrox you only get around 15-20 minutes bottom time, but the fish life on the Tui is fantastic!!
Hopefully I am taking my boat up to dive them sometime in the next month.

If you are doing the coolidge then I would recommend the Deep Specialty and Nitrox. If you do Nitrox they will allow you to deco on Nitrox, as opposed to air which can mean long time hanging around.
The wreck spec will more than likely give the operators a little more confidence in letting you do some of the more challenging dives but is probably not too much of an issue.
I did the Coolidge around 3-4 years ago and loved it. It was great!

Yes I am an Independant Instructor. It's more fun that way and I can take as much time as my students need.