Scuba diving and divers around Munich

Ok, I know we're miles from the sea, but there are lakes. And come to think of it, after a while out of the water even a puddle looks good.

Any divers out there, PLEASE get in touch.

Derek

Have a look at the interest group for SCUBA diving.

We lived out in Singapore for a bit, so got bitten by the diving bug, but its gotta be too cold here for tourist divers like me
My mate did some lake diving round here. Said it was bloody BLOODY cold, at altitude, and not any fun atall. Think it was something to do with military service though, so whaddya expect. Never done altitude or lake diving or dry suit diving though, so reckon it may be a laugh.

Cold is relative,

Well relative to the warm pub afterwards. I learned to dive in Scotland, which was cold. but it has its good points.

Also just think about having no salt to clean from your gear afterwards.

Derek

Owain,

Thanks for that, I didnt know about that link, it looks like there are some of you out there.

What experience do any of you have with german dive shops

Derek

diving here in the summer is pointless. There is nothing to see because the water is way too murky and there is little wildlife. Things start to improve from about November but by then you need a dry suit. I don't have one and can't afford the investment at the moment, so no diving for me. I prefer trips to Croatia and other locations.

I have tried out two dive shops in Munich and wasn't impressed. I still prefer to go on the trips organised by my diving instructor to the Red Sea, caribean and other places.

I find the quality of the instruction very iffy here. They will advance someone from absolute novice to divemaster in about 10 weeks and not a single dive in the open sea. I certainly wouldn't chose anyone from that school as my dive buddy.

I've done ice diving here - some nice photos. I'm very keen to go and do the deep wreck in Lake Geneva, and have some mates who dive it regually. There is also meant to be a place called the grunne see in austria which fills only for short periods of time which could be fun. I have all my kit here, so can dive whenever.

As for OG's murky vis, I'm told this isn't always the case but that you are advised to go higher. No worries for me!

(Off line for the next week, but I'll be very interested to see how this thread develops)

As for diving here,

If its green and cold then it probably is only worth it if you like looking at the little things, (which I do) animals and plants and so on. Wrecks, yes ok, I believe there are some interesting ones in stanbergersee, but since thats going to be a bit deep, I would rather not have to bother with mixing the gasses. Been there done that, want something easy. Unless it is a particularly spectacular wreck.

Ice diving sounds fun though, I have only ever done that in a sea loch in scotland.

Like Ben, I also have all my own kit and a nice warm drysuit, essential when diving in Scotland, Except a tank and some lead that is. So if anyone feels like a wee splash, even if it is in the green, Let me know.

Does anyone organise regular trips, or should we all try and get together and organise something ourselves.

What about TT undersea. Just an Idea.

Derek

Can anyone tell me about where to go for diving lessons here...I wantto go to egypt in November but need to get certified first...Where I am from in NY it was like 800 dollars so I passed on that...But I am sure I can do bettter...even if it is only in a pool...let me know if anybody knows whats up...thanks...

Why not do it in Egypt? Takes a week, nice warm water, good scenery.

I agree with Showem.

Did my PADI advanced open water last summer in Egypt. One word: Sweet!! South towards Marsa Alam has some of the best diving in the world...my fav is near Dahab...The Blue Hole and Eel Garden were...Sweet! This site Sinai Divers is pretty good...

I just tried diving on the family's last holiday and loved it. We are going to Mexico in August and wanted to try and get my diving certificate by then. I know you can take the classes here, but do you know if there are any in English? Anyone know? Or if they would even let me take them in German if I could have someone there to help me translate??

The guys who I did the ice diving with, Taucherhof, are excellent and speak English. The whole set up they have is great - onsite accommodation, compressor, food/meeting room, hot tub...

They also have an occasional instructor, based in Munich, who is native Scottish.

I'd offer to teach you myself, but without facilities it's pretty tricky.

Ben, are you a qualified instructor?

Yeup, BSAC Advanced Instructor, ex-South Scotland area coach, Nitrox instructor, Ice Diving instructor... blah blah blah...

I've been diving for about 12 years, almost all of it in Britain. I used to be into all the deep wrecks etc. but recently I'm more a fan of underwater photography so tend to stay shallow. There are loads of pictures (not many recent ones) on my website - http://www.benpanter.co.uk/diving.

@ Ben
Thanks for the link!
Those ice diving pics are amazing!!!

I've dived (doved? doven?) a lot in Greece, very clear water, great vis, but not much to see - the Greeks have fished their waters to death, literally. There was a ferry that went down about 5 years ago just off Paros and they may have opened that up for diving. Mykonos is much better for what you get after you dive...

I have dived lots in the UK, Red Sea and Caribbean and whilst the Caribbean is probably the best place to have a holiday, the Red Sea for diving is where it's at.

Sadly lugging my dive kit here is just not worth it, as although lake diving might be... interesting, not really going to get much in the way of coral or big fish!

unless of course, someone knows better???

okay, so am off to thailand in october. may be a bit premature, but my travelling companion actually suggested we go diving, do a class whilst there. i hadn't actually thought of it, but the more i think about it, it sounds wonderful! it's one of those "scared of the unknown" things and after wathching "the cave" you would think hell no, but yeah, it sounds really great.

my question is, i wear glasses/contact lenses. will this be a problem? should we considering taking any piece of equipment with us?

contacts are no problem but be carefull not to open your eyes when you take your mask off underwater (one exercise on the course is to remove your mask underwater, replace it and expunge the water). You cannot wear glasses with a mask, so if you cannot wear contacts, you will need a special mask lense from an optician.

I would also try and get the theory out of the way here in Munich and just do the open water dives in Thailand.

If you don't already have a mask, take a bit of time finding one which is a good fit. Test it in the swimming pool. A leaky mask is a nuisance but if you're wearing contacts it's worse.

Depending on your eyesight you may want try diving without the contacts when you do the mask off exercise.

no chance in hell of that! i'm happy if i can see the time on the alarm clock when i wake up
i've done a bit of white water rafting and kayaking (badly done eskimo rolls too, albeit it's been nearly 2 years since my last tour), so i'm pretty used to the contacts-under-water fun. i thought about getting a mask, so i guess i will! thxx.

elfenstar, depensing on your luggage situation, it is probably worth while investing in your own ABC (ie mask, snorkel and fins). Most novice divers have at least these.

Wouldn't recommend the contacts + mask option. It's a pain in the arse. If you get an unexpected kick in the face from a dive buddy, or something similar, and your mask comes off underwater it could be a problem.

From a dive store back at home I ordered a mask to my prescription. Was a piece of piss really, the guy running the shop took my prescription, rung up the mask distributor, and I had a shiny new mask within the week. Doesn't suit all prescriptions obviously, but if you have contacts I shouldn't think that should be an issue. Apparently this is quite a popular option, so most dive stores should have this service.

Only problem with this option is working out what to do with your glasses/contacts while diving. I bought a small waterproof container which I clip onto my BCD, so no worries there.

Good luck.

you are right about the risks but to put it into perspective, I have over 100 dives in my log book, every single one with contacts and never had a problem. as long you feel confident enough to able to ascend safely should you lose a lense this isn't really a problem.

Prescriptin masks here in Germany are f*ing expensive, so for someone just starting out, not really an option.

Everyone is assuming you have soft or gas-permeable lenses Elfenstar. If you don't, diving with contacts will be a problem, but fine if they are soft or gas-permeable.

Lots of people who wear glasses find they don't need anything while because of the magnification of the water. What I would do is go down to your local pool with a pair of swim goggles and without your contacts in and see how well or poorly you see. That will let you know. I never dive with contacts in and found it fine. Most interesting things to see are within arms-length if you ask me, only sometimes is something off in the distance worth seeing clearly. And that will depend on the water quality anyways. You could have better than 20/20 vision, but if a big storm the night before has kicked up the bottom, you won't see anything more than the near-sighted diver with you.

ah yes. Forgot that some people still use those hard ones. ugg.


this only really works for people with up to about -1 dioptine. caused by the refraction of the light through the water. If you have -4,5 like me, then it won't be an option. It sounds like Elfie has the same as me, "Maulwurfsyndrom".


certainly worth a try and won't cost you anything exceot the entry to the pool.


it is also worth considering the fact that you have to be able to see above water when you surface. especially if you will be doing anything funky like a drift dive. Nothing worse than not being able to see your dive boat or zodiac when you surface.

Fair point OG, but I'm hoping at least her buddy wouldn't be blind. Yes, yes, you can become separated underwater, etc etc, but that's really a bigger issue than ability to see or not see.

Ditto. I wear disposables anyway, so if I lose a lens, who cares, would just mean that the rest of the dive might not be as fun, 'cos I cannot see as far. I've taken my mask off underwater though and still not lost a lens, just squint, and it stays in for me. My missus wears hard lenses, and also swims and dives with them in, and never lost one.

Dunno if I would do a course here before going to Thailand. Training here will be in a boring, boring, swimming pool. Obviously depends on where you go in Thailand, but not everywhere will have a pool, so you'll likely train in some nice little sandy cove. Much more fun, but yeah, if you are already qualified before you go, you could spend that time doing dives. Make sure you do some night diving whilst you are there, its heavenly.

Just to give you another reference point, my vision is -1.75 in one eye, -0.75 in the other. I've been tempted to buy a mask with lenses about as long as I've been diving, but never got around to it. So much of what you see is close up and small that I'm uncertain of the benefit, for my level of sight anyway. I've never worn contacts, only a standard mask, but I know a lot of people who do and have no worries with them - esp. the daily disposable type. My advice would be to use disposables if you feel it's worth it, and if you do decide to continue then think about investing in a mask when you know you can justify the cost (probably about 150E)

Or as is very often the case in Thailand, you'll go out with some divemaster who has no idea of where they are, and you'll surface miles from the boat anyway.

I think if you leave your contacts behind, and go with a normal mask you could be missing out on a few things in the water. For me at least, my eyesight is shithouse enough that if I neglected to bring my contacts or prescription mask, I wouldn't notice a shark go past me 20 metres away.
More importantly, in my experience at least, even if your vision is only slightly blurry, you may miss hand signals from the divemaster or your dive buddy.
For interest's sake, my prescription mask was 70 yoyos for a -2.5 dioptre. Vision is better with my glasses than looking through the mask, but it's not ground with the same precision, so no great surprises there really.

As to the question of learning to dive here versus Thailand, I would definitely do it here. Your training is likely to be less rushed, but also you won't have to dick around learning to dive, in an environment where all you are going to want to do is jump in the water and chase fish.
At least if you do it here you can find out if you freak out underwater...

yes, do the theory and pool dives here then complete your open water dives in Thailand. make you have contact with the dive school in Thailand first to ensure that they will do the open water dives with you. If they are PADI they almost certainly will do this for you.

Do it all here - cold water learning makes for better divers.

A semi-joke, do it where ever you want really.

theres a town near where i come from in ireland called "muff", and they have a diving school there called (i kid you not...) "muff divers", priceless!!!

thanks everyone again for the dive tips. on koh samui, we bought our own mask and smorkels, but it took us forever to get our masks not to fog up. in the end, we had to use a local thai toothpaste! and i discovered i had less problems with my contacts in salt water than in the pool, so taking off the mask underwater was not problematic.

what annoyed my bf & i the most was the fact that we had to do homework while on vacation! the instruction (by an aussie) was decent, complimented by PADI-prepared videos, but i could tell he really was more interested in gettiing us in the water. we had a half day pool course, then 4 open-water dives over 2 days. surreal that we actually did it! we paid close to 10,000 Baht per person, plus another 2,500 Baht for the dive dvd, but what the hell...

but it was only on the last 2 dives where we really got to enjoy what we were doing. we nearly sat on some poisonous indian-fish-thingy, but only the instructor was worried. we had no clue! i only freaked when a fish started biting me and once a sea snake slithered under my legs.

sadly though, i kept thinking about scogs and what he told me at the ayinger brewery about picking out the novice divers. i bet he would have had some good laughs at me!

Wondering if this rejuvinates this thread!!

kinda just bought myself 7mm arctic BARE wetsuit, and am keen to use some of the clubs in Germany and Austria to dive a lake ... it will be my first real lake cold water dive, have dived cenotes in Mexico which were cold ...

so does anyone diving in the lakes ... or is this thread dead to the dust ... ???

earth calling ... anyone out there??

If nobody answers your diving call you can always go and swim in the Amazon. Oh, I forgot, trying to surpass oneself and promote an environmental message is stupid, sorry for suggesting it...

Hi,

Going to Sharm Sept, Before you take a dive course I believe you need a docs cert, can anyone suggest a doc in Munich that I can get this done before we leave ?

Thanks

MG

Actually, I'd like to know about the doc's too... I've been diving since 93, but haven't dived in 2 years and some places can be picky about that!

afik, you can self-certify that you are healthy (i did). Doc's certificates are only necessary if you are planning on doing some training here in Germany. But it you do need one, go here:

http://www.tauchmedizin-in-muenchen.de/

hi everybody,

I am off to the Maldives in September and am trying to find any dive shops in Munich to replace defunct BCD et al.
I've googled ('dive shops in Munich') without any success.
So can anyone let me know of any dive shops they have experience of/would recommend... or any at all for that matter.

TIA

Some shops here. Don´t know how useful the list is however I googled Dive Muenchen and came up with a lot of hits.

I can recommend Dive Center Paradies in Allach (www.dcp.de).

Had my regulator serviced last year. Competent, good service.

Enjoy your Maldive vacation - "Gute Luft"