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from Gainesville, Fl

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

etchone

New Member
Oct 28, 2005
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21 yr. old male beginning freediver.
I started a couple of months ago after I got back from Europe and have found so many beautiful places to swim/snorkel in North Central Florida. We have beautiful springs and cave systems. I currently live in Gainesville for my studies in political science and criminology.

I'm currently taking a scuba diving course through the university, but I definitely feel restricted by all the gear we have to carry. As much as I know scuba will be a valuable skill to have, there are too many things that seem to get in the way, to make you feel like an outsider in the water.
I'm really enjoying freediving and I have noticed that the training has also helped me with my wrestling and biking.

I would love to find someone to teach me to spearfish in the North florida area or in Miami, which is where my family lives. Also, I figure since I will be travelling once I graduate college, it'd be good to meet freedivers in other parts of the world.

Hector
 
Hi Hector,

Welcome to deeperblue.net. The forum is an incredible source of information available in previous threads as well as having numerous members who are willing to help you with all your current questions.

Let me go on a bit of a rant for a moment because we have a few things in common:

I am a former University of Florida Academic Diving Program (UFADP) student instructor. I actually did my Naui ITC (instructor training course) with greats like Jarrod Jablonski (the CEO of Halcyon dive equipment and creator of DIR), as well as Scuba guru Tec Clark.

I have stood in your shoes. There is a good chance you will be lured into cavern and cave diving up there since this kind of diving is about the only decent diving around Gainesville. If you do go in that direction, PLEASE BE CERTIFIED IN CAVERN AND CAVE DIVING FIRST!!! This is coming directly from somone who has had to pull a none breathing body out of cave, fortunately we were able to revive her.

Diving is a great sport and the more you learn, the better it gets. Please feel free to send me a private message by clicking on my name if you have any questions. From one University of Florida student/diver to another!

Good luck and welcome to deeperblue.net,

Jim
 
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