Toasty Toes

Tired of having nippy nubs on the ends of your feet? Try wearing 3mm neoprene socks under your wetboots for toasty toes at the end of a dive.

One of the scariest things for me would be getting trapped under a wave without a regulator in my mouth. This is why I don't surf...YET. Someday, maybe I'll be able to play on the waves.

One of my goals is to spend 6 months in Egypt learning to freedive so I can spend 3 minutes under water in the Baja with one of these amazing creatures.

First in a series of TEAM BODY GLOVE doing a surf/scuba vacation on the Baja. This is one of the top places on my list to go...so jealous!!

The ideal way for a novice diver to purchase their own equipment is with a high limit credit card and the experience only seasoned divers have. Selecting a dive set up in a world you've just earned admission to is tough. Most start the search with misinformation, opinions from other divers and strangers recommendations. Poor buying decisions now can affect you later in time and money. With this in mind...let's look at making your first scuba gear purchases.

First, let me emphasize just how crucial your choice of gear is. Your personal safety and comfort depend on it. If your gear doesn't fit properly or isn't the right kit for conditions, you may find there are dives you opt out of or, worse yet, you choose to dive and accept too high of a risk by doing so.

The first step to making a smart buying decision is to consider the type of diving you will be doing. Try to think ahead. What underwater activities piqued your interest during your Open Water class? If your diving is going to be exclusively holiday diving in tropical locations, your gear will look much different than your classmates who opts to dive in the temperate local waters as well.

Where do you want your passion to take you? The equipment needs of someone who wants to delve deeply into fish identification is different than one who wants to explore wrecks at depth. Quality equipment, properly cared for, will last you many years, so its important to saving you money in the long run to take future diving plans into consideration now.

For the first step in your decision: Make a dream list of those places you want to go with your diving in the next 5 years. What classes do you wish to take? What environments are you most likely to be spending time in?

When I was in college, I was not...well, shall we say, "athletically gifted". I've always lived by the philosophy, if it's flying at you, DUCK! So, volleyball, softball and basketball were never sports I spent very much time with.

I did take PE in college...one quarter of badmitton and two quarters of golf. This taught me to be savvy in the boardroom, as I wasn't going to be making any points on the course.

One of the reasons I'm a PADI Instructor is the high quality of educational materials PADI provides to the students. The PADI education department takes their position seriously, to the point, certain PADI courses are recommended by the American Council of Education f0r college credit.

According to the PADI website:

A university or college may use the ACE credit recommendations in a variety of ways. The institution may apply the credit to your major replacing a required course. They may also use the credit as a general elective to possibly waive a prerequisite course.

Universities and colleges that accept ACE credit recommendations for PADI or EFR courses typically handle them like transfer credit. Transfer credit is often awarded without an additional fee. This may save you tuition fees while at the same time allowing you to possibly meet graduation requirements.

For more information, check out the PADI site HERE , then sign up for the next GirlDiver scuba course for a college credit which really WILL open up a new world!

50 things to accomplish by Age 50. Deadline: October 1, 2017.

Build a million dollar business, not for the money, but more as a benchmark of serving others
Live on a sailboat
Live in a foreign country
Have Christmas in a snow laden cabin
Swim with Stellar Sea Lions in Hornby
Experience kite surfing
Learn to watercolor
Trek thru Nepal
Ride an elephant thru the jungle
Get my motorcycle endorsement
Buy a motorscooter
Spend the winter in Colorado
Raft the North Platte River
Canyoneer in Bryce Canyon
Ride the Seattle to Portland bike ride
Take Kiley to New York for Christmas
Take Micah to New Orleans for Jazz
Spend a stormy winters day at Kalaloch Lodge
Stay at the Bellagio
Learn to build websites
Get into photography for my own articles
Finish my quilt
Get dressed to the 9’s with a place to go on New Years Eve
Join the Tacoma Elks club
Girlfriend trip with Kathy
Return to Trinidad…skip Tobago
Eat bushrat and see the Zambezi in Zambia
Donate 20 classes to worthy causes
Dive the Bermuda Triangle
Put together a scuba program to help at-risk teen girls
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Volunteer 7 days straight at the Tacoma Rescue Mission at Christmas
Learn to both shoot and load a handgun
Create 20 web videos promoting scuba as a “fun” sport for women
Dive the Artic
Put together a “teen toy drive” for teens at the Family Shelter at Christmas
Dive Palau
GirlDiver West Coast Tour
Visit Indonesia
Blog for 50 days straight
Bike thru Vietnam
Attend a gala charity event
Ireland…pubs, dives and castles
Ride in a helicopter
Dive the North Carolina Wrecks
Ice Diving
Dive with an aggressive species of shark
Design and plant a yard…and stay there long enough to watch it bloom
Freedive
Thailand Girl Tour…massage, aromatherapy, yoga, culinary delights…oh, and a bit of diving too!