#20	About Buddies Photos Lou - Bro Wheaton IL 60187 Male 47 years old Joined On: 6/7/2025 Last Login: 4 hours 10 minutes ago. Looking For: Dive buddy - just friends Habits: Don't smoke or drink Relationship: Single Children At Home: No

Since 2008, I’ve done warm-water dives all over the Caribbean, Central America, Key West, and some of Europe. As a result of enjoying and tiring of the same spots (i.e., at least 20 visits to Grand Cayman, at least 30 visits each to Cozumel, Mahahual, and Roatan), I desire to transition to sidemount diving in Florida springs and/or Mexico cenotes which I enjoyed during single-tank cavern dives of eight cenotes in Tulum and Merida, Mexico, between 2012 and 2023. I have all necessary equipment for a full cave class.

I mention this background for two reasons:

1. I would like to find someone who has or will share short-term lodging for a couple of months in or near High Springs, FL, on the cheap, so that I can take cavern/intro to cave/full cave; and

2. Before and after that happens, I intend to dive locally here in Illinois (like at Haigh Quarry) to practice buoyancy with sidemount gear, take a dry suit course and practice with drysuit, etc.

As a result, the "new" diving I will transition into will be processes to which I am unaccustomed. I may not be the best diver to be paired with if you are a struggling novice, since I will likely feel just like that at times while I am dialing in my sidemount setup. While the "dialing in" of anything underwater is a life-long learning process, the huge part of the bell in the learning curve should not be long. In other words, I should not be a bad companion for very long, if at all. I mention all of this for "full disclosure." I also welcome the thought of joining you in your journey if you want to learn something new together, like drysuit diving, or even embarking on obtaining full cave certification. CCR and DPV later? The sky’s the limit and I would love to hear from you!