Video cameras my change the game for UW photography

August 19th, 2006   Filed Under Uncategorized  

I was chatting on the phone yesterday with someone at a marine camera store in San Diego. He was commenting on how the increasing quality of still pictures that can be taken from the newer HD video cameras is coming close to digital still cameras. I have a 3-chip video camera that can take 3mp stills. The pics it takes are not near the quality of the shots from my little Nikon Coolpix 5000 camera, most probably because of better post processing software in the Nikon than in the video camera. However, I can see that as technology advances that the video cameras may be able to capture a good enough unprocessed image wherein you can do sufficient post processing on a computer to get acceptable results.

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SCUBA certifications

August 14th, 2006   Filed Under Uncategorized  

My recent “advancement” in SCUBA certifications to Advanced Open Water, as well as recent readings about SCUBA accidents and criticisms of rapid SCUBA training programs got me thinking about what a diver is really qualified to do based on their training and experience. I got certified in 1998 and have around 50 dives to date with experience in various conditions from cold and low visibility to fighting current to nice tropical environments.

Here’s how I see it, based on PADI courses and certifications:
The Open Water Diver certification is the first level of certification that makes you a “SCUBA diver.” With this you can rent and buy SCUBA gear, dive on charter trips in resort locations and go off with a fellow diver to dive by yourselves where ever you want to. Getting this certification can be done in three days or so and with a total of five dives. Even though an Open Water diver is “allowed” to dive without professional supervision or in conditions unfamiliar to them, I think they should not attempt it without additional experience.

Without additional experience, I think an Open Water Diver certification qualifies a person to dive on chartered dives (where the dive is led by an experienced diver familiar with the site) under similar conditions under which they where certified. For example, if someone is certified in calm tropical waters, then more training should be taken before doing a cold water dive or diving in current. Cold water diving is more challenging in that the additional equipment can be claustrophobic, and the thicker wetsuits makes maintaining buoyancy more difficult. Diving in a current can be stressful in that the diver can feel like they can’t make it to the boat and/or are being swept out to sea.

The Advanced Open Water is the next certification. It requires five dives and basically hones skills learned in the Open Water course, or develops new skills depending which areas of focus the student and instructor decide to take. I think the advanced class should be taken immediately after the Open Water class. The advanced class doesn’t make you an advanced diver; it is really an Open Water part two course. After this course I believe a diver can start trying new things, like making the jump from warm to cold waters, or going from guided tours (where the guide has additional training in recognizing and handling underwater emergencies) to dives that are not guided and you and your dive buddy go on your own. An example of this would be a live-aboard dive trip where the boat ties off at a dive site for a couple of hours. Divers can make one or more dives there at their leisure as long as they are staying within safe margins of depth, bottom time and surface intervals. There would be a dive professional on the boat who will brief the divers on the dive site and handle any emergencies that come up (literally) like a diver surfacing and saying that his buddy is tangled up on something underwater, or a diver coming up unconscious or with decompression sickness.

I wish I had taken the advanced class right after the Open Water class. I have learned a lot just from diving experience, but it would have been am easier road to travel if I had the advanced class under my belt. Why did I take the advanced class now when I got certified in 1998? I am interested in pursuing either the Divemaster or Instructor ranking, so I need to make incremental steps to get there. So yes, experience can take the place of the Advanced certification, but having the Advanced is good when you don’t have the experience.

After the Advanced Open Water is the Rescue Diver course, which is additional training in first aid and preventing, recognizing and treating in-water emergencies. I think the Rescue course is what makes a person a good or worthwhile dive buddy. There have been cases of divers dying in relatively shallow water (60 feet or so) due to botched underwater rescues such as buddy breathing when the diver should have been able to surface safely on one or less breath of air. There has even been a movement against having a dive buddy for two reasons (1) a buddy may cause more harm than good, and (2) being a buddy can impose some legal liability if you try to save someone and fail, or the other diver waits for you to save them (i.e. buddy breathing) when they should surface instead. I think the Rescue certification is the minimum divers should have if they are going on their own dive trip that doesn’t involve chartering a dive boat or guide.

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