Liveaboard diver killed from shark attack off the coast of Florida
February 26th, 2008 Filed Under Uncategorized
Via the Palm Beach Post.
A diver on a live-aboard out of Florida was killed from a bite to the leg during a shark dive put on by the live-aboard. I’ve yet to participate in one of these chummed water shark experience without shark cages, but it just kind of seems like a bad idea, doesn’t it? According to the article, the Bahamas Diving Association sent requests to dive operators to stop doing shark dives inthe name of safety. It is not legal to do these types of dives in American waters.
Read the article here.
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Pucker factor
February 23rd, 2008 Filed Under Uncategorized
From www.surfshooter.com.
Whoa!
Photo by Kurt Jones.
According to surfshooter.com this is actually a dolphin.
Click the photo to go to the pics on surfshooter.com.
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Another use for that tank that failed hydro?
February 19th, 2008 Filed Under Uncategorized
Here is a product sold on the Petco web site - it is an acrylic aquarium in the shape of a SCUBA cylinder:
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Get college credit for PADI certifications
February 18th, 2008 Filed Under Uncategorized
If you are working on an Associates or a Bachelor’s degree, your school may accept PADI certifications for recreational/physical education credits. The following PADI website has information on it:
http://www.padi.com/padi/en/footerlinks/collegecreditsace.aspx
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If you are buying a used tank, look for a REE number
October 23rd, 2007 Filed Under Uncategorized
If you are buying a used tank, especially a low pressure (LP) tank, look around the top of the tank where the serial number is for “REE” and then a number. This Rejection Elastic Expansion (REE) number is what is used to give the LP tank the “+” rating so it can be filled to 10% over the service volume stamped on the tank. Without the REE number, a hydrostatic test facility will only rate the tank to the service pressure stamped on the tank. Unfortunately, LP tanks are marketed according to their “+” volumes, so if you have a LP 95 that cannot get its rating, then you really have a LP 85.
It may be possible to get the REE number for the tank from the manufacturer if you send them the tank serial number.
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Moved the SCUBA blog from Blogger to my own URL
October 4th, 2007 Filed Under Uncategorized
I moved my blog from Blogger to my own URL with WordPress as my blogging tool. My reasons for this are:
- Ownership and control of my content - my domain = my content
- More control over the blog interface. Blogger is limits and WordPress is rich with plug-ins and administrative control
- Google doesn’t index Blogger entries
- Ability to have more control over potential future Adsense and other marketing
- I want to start working on page rankings for this URL as a potential future site for a team blogging initiative on SCUBA
I had trouble importing the Blogger posts to here. The delivered import tool with Wordpress didn’t work, so I created a hosted wordpress blog (wordpress.com), imported the Blogger entries (it worked there) , then exported them to a file and imported here. Then I deleted the hosted blog.
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Holy shark bait!
September 29th, 2007 Filed Under Uncategorized
Whoa! Apparently this pic is not doctored and is the real thing. I guess this shark is in the mood for a banana. I found a link to it at http://scubadiving.gadling.com. Here is the post URL:
http://scubadiving.gadling.com/2007/07/05/reason-451-why-im-afraid-of-the-ocean/
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Safety stop
September 27th, 2007 Filed Under Uncategorized
A note on the “recommended safety stop.” We know that recreational no decompression limit (NDL) diving is “no decompression diving.” NDL diving does involve making a “safety stop.” How is a safety stop difference from a deco stop? They are both doing the same thing - letting the body deal with nitrogen bubbling out from an ascent, and to do it at a depth that keeps the bubbling under control for the body to off-gas it through the lungs for a given amount of time until enough nitrogen has been gotten rid of to make it safe to continue ascending.
Deco diving involves multiple deco stops at various depths in order to complete the ascent, and these stops are mandatory and with a glass ceiling. Even though NDL tables are set up so that a diver in trouble can bailout to the surface, whereas the deco diver has to deal with the problem at depth, I wonder if recreational divers often skip the safety stop because it is something that is recommended but not seem by them as being mandatory? My training emphasized that a safety stop is always part of the dive, so really all recreational dives are all decompression dives with a minimum 3 minute deco stop at 15 feet.
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Now diving dry
September 25th, 2007 Filed Under Uncategorized
I haven’t been too fond of my Pinnacle Arctic wetsuit and have been on the search for something that will suit me better. I was on the fence as to whether or not to go dry. Having a dry suit certainly makes things more comfortable and convenient for California diving, but cost was an issue for me. Along with the cost of the suit there is the cost of undergarments, regular seal replacements on the suit, and the chance of tearing a seal while on a trip. I found a DUI TLS SE suit on sale at a local dive shop (LDS) near me, so I pulled the trigger.
I initially bought the Pinnacle Temperate fleece undergarment for a Channel Islands live-aboard trip. I went with fleece since they are cheaper so I could kind of see what I like and don’t like in the cheaper stuff and go from there. I also brought some middleweight REI thermal long undies, a fleece shirt and a Primaloft vest to add to the Pinnacle if it wasn’t enough.
The water temps in the Channel Islands were in the mid 60’s and I was OK with the fleece with the middleweight undies. I added the Primaloft vest on one shallower dive where the temps were near 70 deg F, and I got a little warm on that dive. What I didn’t like about the fleece is it is big and bulky. It doesn’t pack very small either.
From reading online reviews and studies about undergarment thermal qualities, I decided to go for a synthetic loft insulator. Thinsulate is used in many undergarments, but in the world of outdoor clothing Thinsulate is kind of old skool stuff. I believe it is used for diving wear because some of the properties that make it less desirable for outdoor wear do not count against it as much for dry suit wear…and may even help it (like how it is heavier than other insulators and doesn’t compress as much). I wanted to go for a higher loft insulator that would compress more than Thinsulate so that when I dump air from the suit I would lose more buoyancy and therefore (hopefully) be able to pack less weight for keeping control between 15 feet and the surface. One property to a higher loft insulator is its insulating properties are more affected by the amount of air in the suit. This can be a positive or a negative depending how you look at it. It is positive in that the undergarment has a wider thermal range over which it works, the drawback is you have to put a little more air in it than a denser insulator to get good insulation.
I got bit by the dry suit bug and made a SCUBA addiction buy of the Dive Rite Primaloft jumpsuit. I then took it to San Diego for diving as well as to Monterey. Water temps were colder. Monterey was its usual 55 deg F. With the Dive Rite suit and thinner leg undies and just the medium weight shirt undie, I was fine. It also packs small and is nice and light. It is basically a sleeping bag that you wear. It is pricey, but that is dry suit diving.
Overall, I like diving dry much more than wet. My wetsuit was too cold for Monterey, and with the dry suit I am fine. On the live-aboard trip I did all but one of the dives. In the past I tended to skip more dives when diving wet…especially the night dives.
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Divemaster certification
September 25th, 2007 Filed Under Uncategorized
I recently completed the PADI Divemaster certification. I was interested in taking the course as part of my initiative to be a better diver; I liked the idea of revisiting and mastering the basic skills from Open Water (OW) class, as well as learning more of the science behind diving. Secondarily, it did sound interesting to perhaps work with a shop in assisting OW classes.
The DM course is basically four parts:
- Re-learning the basic open water skills to a higher level of critique than before, plus adding a few additional skills
- The study of the physics, physiology and other subject areas to have a better understanding of the principles behind the principles learned in the open water and other courses.
- An introduction to being a teaching assistant and run through of the programs a Divemaster can teach
- Review of some aspects of the Rescue course
The water skills part of the course focuses on the ability to have “demonstration quality” skills so that the Divemaster can demonstrate a skill taught in OW class to a student that may be having some difficulty and requiring one on one work. So all the fun skills from OW have to be reviewed and rehearsed to where the diver can not only completely nail the skill, but also do it in a way that shows the steps involved so a student can be watching underwater and be able to pick up on how the skill is performed. Some other skills are thrown in to help build task loading ability, like doing a BCD remove and replace underwater, and the lovely underwater gear exchange with a buddy while buddy breathing (the exchange of mask, BCD and fins). I found that mastering these skills gave me a higher level of comfort and confidence in the water. I also felt more self-aware…like how a golfer and bowler will become more aware of what is going on in their swing as they build experience. With more self-awareness comes the ability to better fine tune technique and equipment.
The bookwork part of the course gave me answers to why some things are they way they are. I particularly enjoyed the study of physics and physiology, like more information behind decompression theory.
A Divemaster can teach a few PADI programs, like Discover Snorkeling and Skin Diver. We took turns teaching skills from a course to the rest of the class.
The review of the rescue technique of dealing with an unresponsive diver found underwater is always good to run through while being graded by an instructor.
So did I get what I wanted out of the class? Yes - my primary objective was accomplished. Would I recommend it to someone who wants to accomplish the same objective? Absolutely.
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Why I like Nitrox
May 18th, 2007 Filed Under Uncategorized
Nitrox seems to be a somewhat debated/controversial issue in recreational diving. I think the controversy is around what the expected benefits are. For example, there are rumors/opinions that Nitrox makes you warmer than if you were diving with air. When I inquired about Nitrox certification at my local dive shop, one of their questions was along the lines of “What are you trying to achieve with Nitrox?” I like that they asked that…like they are looking out for the consumer/diver to make sure the diver will actually get what they think they are going to get.
There is one and only one benefit to Nitrox as stated by PADI and other dive organizations, and that is that, when compared to a dive profile using air, you get either a longer bottom time or a shorter surface interval. All other benefits are opinions, topics for debate and subjects of personal experiences.
What I was wanting to get from Nitrox was some alleviation from the headaches I get when I finish a dive. I am pretty sure it is caused from CO2 buildup. I don’t skip breathe or use other methods to conserve air. I am not trying to compete with myself or others on how long I can stay down. I try to keep my breathing as natural as possible, which ends up being a deep breath in and a slow exhale…then repeat. Still, I tend to get ill…and the headaches are often accompanied by nausea. When I was reading up on the CO2 thing, it seems some people are just more prone to CO2 buildup in their body, and I guess I am one of them. I hoped Nitrox would help make diving more enjoyable by feeling better after a dive. So….I got the Nitrox certification and did some dives with and without Nitrox. I did notice a difference and was getting the benefits I was hoping for.
This relates to my previous post about a dive operator saying that you don’t need Nitrox for a dive. That may be true in terms of the surface interval and dive planning for the boat trip for the day, but it is not true for the benefits I get from Nitrox. I see Nitrox as another piece of equipment for recreational diving, so let me have Nitrox just like I might want to bring a flashlight, camera, dive sausage, etc.
The owner of the shop where I got the cert from told me he likes Nitrox because it makes him feel less exhausted after being in the water most of the day teaching students. He said that when under water for a class he is constantly going here and there to help students with their exercises, get them untangled fro each other, etc.
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Rescue Diver certification
May 17th, 2007 Filed Under Uncategorized
I am catching up on this here since I let this blog go for a while. This past year I got the PADI Rescue Diver certification. Overall this was the most gradifying certification so far. I feel like a better diver now that I can more effectively help someone in an emergency situation.
The training includes scenarios for both underwater and surface-level emergencies ranging from a diver panicking to finding someone unconscious. It also includes search techniques for a diver who is not accounted for….which includes a combination of divers going in the water to look for the person, to having someone search the parking lot for the person’s car to see (1) is the car there, and (2) is there dive gear in the car (i.e. are they are the bar eating fish and chips while everyone thinks they are in the water). We also did CPR certifications, as well as certifications on using the automatic defibrillators you see in airports.
Towards the end of the course, I also noticed I was much for efficient at getting geared up. I also noticed I felt more relaxed in the water, and buoyancy felt even more natural than before (assuming proper weighting).
Next stop - Dive Master.
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Just found a recent dissenting opinion about Lahaina Divers
May 16th, 2007 Filed Under Uncategorized
I just came across this negative review of Lahaina Divers in Maui on the forum at scubadiving.com:
http://www.scubadiving.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=28242
Some points made in the post that I have comments on:
- Setting up your gear
- Food
- Dive Master leading the group
- Crew interaction with the divers
- Nitrox availability
Setting up your gear - the author complained that the crew did not set up the gear for the diver on the first dive, but then for the second. I agree with this practice - I think divers should set up their own gear for the first dive, and then then the crew will switch tanks for them in between dives. Having the divers set up their gear is kind of a test to see how “in practice” they are. If they are fumbling around and can’t get the primary on the tank correctly or can’t get their BC rigged correctly, then that tells the dive master (DM) to keep an eye on that person in the water. I like to set up my gear for the same reason why I bought my own gear - to know that it was done right…or at least the way I think it should be done 
Food - The author complained about the quality of quantity of food on the boat. I don’t eat much before or in between dives since I am usually concentrating on not getting sick. I often come up from a dive feeling sick, so if anything I nibble on a little bread or some chips to get the sea water taste out of my mouth and to have a little something in the tummy. Given that, it still sounds like the dive shop should step up their game in terms of food. Instead of perishables that have to be delivered daily, they should try some packaged goods like energy bars…or something they can stock up once a week on and move from the shop to the boat on their own. They also shouldn’t limit food. It is a vacation, people pig out. If someone wants to scarf half a box of cookies and then chuck them up over the side on the way back, then more power to them.
DM not leading the group on the second dive - Every tropical & Hawaii island dive I have been on has been led by the DM in order to prevent divers from touching stuff or from doing something foolish like sticking out their finger around the mouth of an eel (a good way to lose the finger). I wonder if a DM called in sick and they couldn’t get a replacement, so they had to have the one DM stay on the boat (which they should for safety). My dives in Monterey and the Channel Islands were not guided. I wonder if dives on a tropical live-aboard are guided? I have done live-aboards in the Channel Islands - those were not guided, and the protocol is the boat is anchored at a location for so long…you can dive as much as you want or not dive at all during the time the “pool is open.”
Lack of crew interaction with the divers - I find that unfortunate. Crew interaction builds upon the the diving experience. When I went out with Lahaina, I found the crew to hang with the divers, but that was a year ago; they probably have the same instructors but all new boat crews by now.
Nitrox availability - I almost had a similar experience. I ordered nitrox for most of my dives (there was one where I was going over 100 feet, so I did air on that one), but on some they were not planning on bring the nitrox tanks, and other others I had to remind them….which meant they had to scurry at the last minute to measure the O2 and get the tank on the boat. I find it interesting that they will say “you don’t need nitrox on this dive” for shallower dives. It is all recreational diving; you don’t need nitrox on any dive from a boat like that since the dive profile will be for people without nitrox and without computers. It is more of a comfort or “the way dive” kind of thing. I tend to feel sick less often when I use nitrox. They should allow it on any dive where you won’t be going over 100 feet, or at least let divers know in the shop what their policy is on it instead of taking an order for it and deciding on their own to not fulfill the order. I think they do what they do because it takes extra time and effort to furnish nitrox for a diver, so they make excuses as to why it isn’t on the boat when the diver ordered it in advance.
So does this cancel my overall positive review of them? Well, it does remind me of some things they need to improve upon, but overall I would still go to them again.
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Lahaina Divers - review
September 1st, 2006 Filed Under Uncategorized
I dove with Lahaina Divers in the first week in August 2006 for my Advanced Open Water class. My search for a diver operator in Maui consisted of searching the internet, and then seraching on each dive operator’s name to find reviews and/or comments. Here is the list that I ended up with:
- Lahaina Divers
- Maui Dive Shop
- Turtle Reef Divers
- Ed Robinson’s Diving
- Mike Severns Diving
From reading other reviews, customer opinions seemed to split these shops up in to two groups - Lahaina Divers and Maui Dive Shop being the big boat operators, and more boutique smaller vendors. I read reviews of people either reporting of or being concerned that the larger shops operate “cattle boats” wherein bigger boats mean more divers in the water at a site and therefore a more crowded dive experience.
My requirements were to satisfy my desire to do the Advanced Open Water (AOW) course while in Maui, as well as the ability to accommodate two teens who would be doing resort dives for a day. I would be staying north of Lahaina, so figuring convenience to the dive shop was a factor as well.
From visiting web sites and making some calls, I gathered that the Ed Robinson and Mike Severns diving operating smaller boats that would take one tour group of people (one dive master to lead the dive and 6 or so divers). Maui Dive Shop and Lahaina Divers operate bigger boats that can take two or so tour groups of people. I tend to favor bigger boats since you’re more likely to have a real restroom, a little room to move around and less rocking and rolling to and from the dive site. I don’t consider a 46 foot dive boat with two groups of divers to be a cattle boat. I do consider a cattle boat to be the large catamarans that carry 50 to well over a hundred people on snorkeling tours. You get that many people bobbing around in the water near the boat and it does feel crowded to swim around. The small single group dive boats probably have a toilet, but there is no enclosed restroom to use it, so my past experience has been you go through some saloon style doors and take a couple of steps down where you find the toilet/head. Of course the little doors don’t come up very high, so you can tell when a guy is going #1 because everyone on the boat gets to see his back from about mid-back up. I like having a little more privacy as I am not the kind to go #1 in my wetsuit.
I was most impressed with Lahaina Divers when I called around asking about how they do the AOW and how resort dives are handled. With Lahaina I was put in touch with Steve Dimas, the instructor who would be teaching the class. He and I chatted on the phone and traded some emails following that. Overall this was a much more personal experience than the other operators, with Maui Dive Shop being the least personal (I was talking to a scheduler type of person). Maui Dive Shop didn’t have any opensing for the AOW class for the week that I would be there. I think I was calling a week or so before our arrival date. As far as the resort dives, I was looking for a place that would do boat dives for the kids; not all operators do that.
Convenience to where we would be staying and proximity to the dive sites were another factor. Apparently most of the dive site, including Molokini, are south of Lahaina. The advantage of dive shops in southern Maui is they have less distance to travel before getting to the dive site, so they could beat the other dive boats there. One disadvantage of a southern Maui location is longer drive time from where we were staying. Being somewhere at 6:30am on vacation is a lot harder when there is an extra 30 minutes or so involved.
I ended up choosing Lahaina Divers based on the great experience of getting questions answered, their availability, how they handle resort dives, and the size of their boats.
Our experience with Lahaina Divers:
Our first day of diving was the resort dives for the kids and the first set of dives for my AOW class. We were able to go on the same boat and dive the same location, some place along the west coast a bit north of Lahaina. As far as feeling crowded under water, it wasn’t an issue. After my instructor and I finished some exercises on one dive, we looked for the group under water with the kids; we didn’t see them until we surfaced. If it were crowded, we should have been able to find them with ease.
The kids loved their SCUBA experience so much that our kid (he was there with his friend) decided to go for his Open Water certification while we were there.
My second dive trip was to Molokini. Molokini had significantly better visibility than the Maui coast dives. I saw the boats from some of the smaller dive operators, and having a real bathroom and having a bit of a rough ride on the way back made me appreciate having a bigger boat.
Our kid had a great experience with his Open Water class. Back at the dive shop, the people working the shop were great too.
Overall I would recommend Lahaina Divers to others looking for diving in Maui. I would use them again if and when we go back to Maui.
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Advanced Open Water certification experience
September 1st, 2006 Filed Under Uncategorized
I decided to go for the Advanced Open Water (AOW) certification while on a vacation in Maui. I haven’t taken any classes since my Open Water in 1998. My motivation for taking the class is I am interested in pursuing the Dive Master ranking.
I signed up with Lahina Divers to do the class, which consists of studying five ’specialties’ (subjects) in the AOW book, completing the corresponding knowledge reviews, and then going on five dives. Each dive corresponds to a subject studied. The Deep Diver and Underwater Navigator subjects are mandatory, and then Lahaina Divers said they usually do Underwater Naturalist, Peak Performance Buoyancy and Boat Diver. I bought the AOW book from a dive shop local to my home prior to the trip and finished the knowledge reviews on the plane to Maui.
My AOW class was a private session since no other people signed up for a group class the week I was out there. The class consisted of four boat dives and one shore dive (UW Navigation).
Did I learn much? I think reviewing buoyancy principles and practicing some UW compass tasks was helpful, but I wouldn’t consider this to be an advanced course in diving. I see it as “Open Water, Part 2.” I wish I had taken AOW right after getting my Open Water certification. Over time I learned many of the skills taught in AOW just from limited experience.
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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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