Ten Ways To Care For Your Gear

Scuba diving is very equipment intensive which has become a reason to dive in its own right; people like to buy, use and talk about gear. It makes diving fun and fashionable. It provides divers with a means to customize their dive experience. It provides people like me with a job! However, dive gear is sensitive and delicate equipment (despite the efforts of the manufacturers to make it tough) that is prone to damage from wear, poor maintenance and the environment. If a diver does not pay diligent attention to his gear he will surely run into costly and potentially dangerous situations later on.

Arguably The Force That Drove Tec Diving Into Its Current Popular State Was The Equipment Possibilities!

Most divers do look after their gear to the best of their knowledge, and a good proportion of divers are well versed in the tricks and tips necessary to keep your gear fresh, but not every diver is an engineer. That’s why I’ve compiled this article with ten of the best tips and tricks I’ve learn along the way, most of which were created purely to make your life easier or make your gear last longer. So sit back and enjoy the collected wisdom of the entire dive community condensed into one easy-to-read guide!

Packing and Preparing

1) Mark Your Stuff – Your gear is valuable to you, it was probably expensive and, more importantly, it’s yours. Once you’ve cut yourself free from a fishing line with a knife it becomes “my trusty knife”, not just some tool. Likewise, once you’ve done twenty hard dives in a pair of fins they will become your favorite fins. You’ll want to keep these items, so make sure everyone else knows that they are yours! Most other divers have no intention of stealing your stuff, but on a busy boat where lots of gear looks the same then its easy to get confused. Avoid embarrassing yourself by accusing a fellow diver of theft by marking your gear with a very obvious and unique marking, especially on small goods that can “walk” easily. Bear in mind that even permanent pen can rub off so freshen your markings as they fade or consider engraving your name on cheaper items.

There Are Many Products On The Market The Allow You To Mark Your Gear Clearly

2) Bring O-rings and Tie Wraps – This is probably one of my most important rules; carry o-rings and tie-wraps of different sizes with you on every dive expedition. Just as WD-40 and duck tape will fix anything on land, o-rings and tie wraps will fix anything in the sea. It is guaranteed that someone on the boat (maybe you) will require either a new ring, or something will burst open, and you can be their hero by giving them an instant fix. You can tie wrap almost any broken dive gear back to functioning, and often you wont need to fix it any further – tie wraps are that strong!

Get An O-ring Tank Keychain And Never Worry About Forgetting O-rings Again!

3) Wrap Your Reg In Your Suit – This is a really simple tip that I rarely see done, yet it saves a lot of expensive damage. When you’re packing your dive gear (especially if you are using an equipment box) it is important that you look after your reg, especially if you want to keep it looking smart, so all I do is use my wetsuit as a packing material and wrap my regulator set inside it for cushioning. It also protects it from sun damage and dust as well as heavy knocks.

On The Boat

4) Review the Boat’s Safety Gear, and Know Your Own – Once you’ve arrived at the boat and are getting ready to set off, please pay attention to the boat briefing! I’ve given many briefings and watched as a couple or family have giggled their way through it, only to come up to me during the day asking stupid questions that I’d already answered. Also, during the briefing, ask questions about other safety precautions in place on the boat, such as where the emergency oxygen is kept and where the first air box is. Ensure you fully review your own safety equipment too, check the condition of your SMB and your alternate air source. Ensure your knife is sharp. Do all this at the beginning of the day and you can relax for the rest of the trip.

A Good SMB Is Vital Safety Gear, Buy One, Learn How To Use It And Take It With You!

5) Silica Gel - For the avid photographers among you this will seem like an obvious tip, yet I see many divers setting up their underwater cameras without putting a desiccant in the case with the camera. Silica gel packets (the little paper pockets you get inside electronics packaging that tell you not to eat them) are designed to reduce the humidity of a confined space by drawing the moisture from the air. The inside of an underwater camera housing can get moist from condensation (especially if you packed the camera in a humid environment), pop in a silica gel packet to alleviate worries. Also, try to put the camera into the housing in an air conditioned room because the air will be drier.

You Can Buy Silica Gel Specially For Cameras, Though The Packs You Get In Packaging Are Just As Good... And Free!

6) Check For Bugs - This one applies to every country, but is particularly important for divers in warm climates. Whether its a spider that climbed into your regulator when it was stored in the shed, a scorpion in your booties or a wasp in your gloves – check for bugs before you gamely start sucking on your regulator or squeezing your toes into your boots. You’d be amazed at how many people watch as ants get blasted from their regulator during gear setup!

7) Wet Your Tank Band – This is a golden oldie that get ignored by almost every novice I’ve every dived with. When you dive with a BCD every day then you have little to worry about, when you strap your tank in it will stay strapped in. However, if you are an infrequent diver (i.e. You don’t dive for work) then you will likely allow your BCD to dry out. When you go to strap your tank in, no matter how tight your pull the tank band, when the band gets wet it will swell a little which will loosen your tank. Usually this is very little and is no problem, but for real peace of mind all you have to do is wet the band prior to strapping in your tank and you’ll have no worries!

8 ) Spit In Your Mask – Another tip straight from your grandfather’s mouth. Yes, spitting in your mask keeps it from fogging up, there is no doubt about it – it is not an old wife’s tale. It doesn’t have to be disgusting, and if you can’t face spitting in public then just lick your thumb and rub the saliva on the glass. You can use de-fogging sprays but I’m still a fan of the human product because it means there is less for me to carry and it’s one less thing for me to forget!

After The Dive

9) Dry Your Dust Cap – Here comes the pet peeve of every Divemaster, everywhere – once you have finished your days diving you will likely strip down your gear. As you do so you will take your first stage off the the tank valve, at this point you’d be inclined to replace the dust cap over the delicate regulator filter, but first make sure that the cap is completely dry by quickly blasting it with air from the tank. DO NOT blast the first stage filter! You’ll drive dirt and water deeper into the regulator, only dry the dust cap!

10) Rinse your gear – Coming in last but absolutely not least is the top tip for gear longevity: once you’ve disassembled your gear ensure you fully rinse everything of salt water (or pool water). Use a disinfectant but dilute it so it’s not too harsh. When you’re rinsing your regulator ensure you don’t get water into the first stage, either avoid dunking it altogether or make damn sure that dust cap is in place. Every couple of months (depending on usage) you should fully flush the inside of your BCD with baby shampoo and warm water – pour it in through the top dump valve (which will unscrew) and let it soak, then after a few hours you should agitate it and flush out the soapy water. Rinse it clean. On top of this, ensure you service your gear at least yearly to ensure the rings and gaskets are in good condition.

Final Thoughts

Diving is an odd hobby because we are all trained how to use the equipment properly but very few divers are taught how to fully care for their expensive pieces of dive paraphernalia. It is simply tricks and tips like those above that keep your gear in good condition, looking slick and working at optimum levels for years to come. In addition I want to share with you Sport Chalet a really good online store there you can find needed equipment.

Do you have a special maintenance routine? Do you have a particular trick that you are very proud of and stick to rigidly? What is the most blatant violation of dive gear maintenance that you’ve ever seen? We’d love to hear your stories and comments, please share them using the section bellow.

Happy (well maintained) Bubbles!

By Jamie Campbell.

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Divers Like It Dry!

Divers have a tough life sometimes, especially in a logistical sense (and in the way that they have to relax on boats and then dive in the most beautiful spots on the globe – it’s a tragedy!). A diver has to take a small fortunes worth of delicate gear from his home, on a plane, in a taxi, into a dive gear box, onto a boat and then into the sea. This lengthy chain of perilous activities tends to take its toll on dive gear, but usually dive equipment is pretty tough (and surprisingly waterproof!) and can handle the abuse. The really big problem arises when you want to bring non-dive gear along for the ride too, because most cameras aren’t waterproof until they are in a case and there are very few phones out there that can handle a heavy rainstorm. The solution, of course, is to protect your valuables, books, spare clothes and food from the elements in a bag. The best bag to take is a waterproof bag, the more waterproof the better! This conveniently brings us to the topic of the day; I have a lineup of waterproof gear bags to review, ranging from a tiny valuables bag up to a massive gear sack.

Feelfree are a kayaking company first and foremost, which has given them a lot of experience in keeping dry things dry. In kayaking you need a dry bag which is capable of being completely submersed in water and not leaking, this is so that if you capsize your kayak, your gear will remain free from moisture. This dedication to hardy, practical bags has made the brand very popular with divers (especially in rainy South-east Asia) who want to get wet, but keep their dry gear dry.

I don’t have the space to review every bag in Feelfree’s extensive lineup, so I’m only going to look at the bags that I think are the most practical or are the most popular.

Valuables Bag, “Waist pack” – 0.5 litres

Starting with the smallest is the little Waist Pack. This small storage solution is primarily for your camera, phone or money. You will struggle to fit anything else in there. It has a gender neutral design that isn’t particularly aimed at any demographic which means the whole family can wear one without feeling embarrassed. It comes with a detachable strap which allows the wearer to turn it from a belt clipped design, to a shoulder-strap bag. You may also choose to remove the straps altogether and simply use it as a dry pocket inside your backpack, gear bag or handbag.

The only gripe that you may have with the bag is that although it’s light, simple and attractive – it’s not as waterproof as you may wish. It will certainly take heavy splashing with no leaks, but I’m not sure how well it’d cope with brief dunks in the sea (despite it saying otherwise)

Small And Light, Ideal For Keeping Your Latest Gadget Dry!

Dry Tube – 5 litres to 40 litres

This is the most versatile bag in the range and it makes use of a similar design to all the other dry tubes on the market. The bag is simply a welded PVC tarpaulin tube with an open end at the top, fixed onto the lip of this top is a flexible band that allows the user to fold the top over. Once the top has been folded over three to four times, he or she can buckle the two ends of the band together which seals the bag tight. This design has been well proven to offer excellent waterproofness that will withstand full (although short) submersions in the water. It is also so simple that it is virtually indestructible.

I am also very fond of the strap system which is a simple shoulder band that makes it quick to put on or off. The thickness of the strap does mean, however, that a heavy load might hurt your shoulder. Also, the bag is not compartmentalised which leads to items rattling around inside. The long thin design can sometimes make finding what you want difficult, especially if the item you seek is at the bottom, which it will inevitably be!

For the casual beach goer, or the diver with some valuables, a camera and a change of clothes, I recommend the 10 litre bag. If you wish to haul around a families’ worth of stuff or you are going on an extended trip then opt for a larger size (just bear in mind that strap – heavy loads can be sore!).

The Dry Tube Can Be Bought In A Huge Range Of Sizes And Colours.

Laptop Case – 10 litres

The amount of divers I see on the boat with a laptop out in the open on the way home from a days diving is quite shocking. What is even more surprising is the fact that a lot of them just have the laptops in a foam case inside a normal backpack with no provision for heavy rain or dropping it overboard. The gang at Feelfree have attempted to solve this issue by creating a waterproof backpack that will swallow a laptop comfortably and hold it securely.

They’ve been clever about it too – they made it look smart enough that you could consider taking it to work (if you’re a games designer) but casual enough to wear on your back while cycling (or jumping onto a boat). It’s plenty big enough for your laptop, camera, snacks and maybe even a dry t-shirt or two. You can carry it with the comfortable shoulder straps or as a briefcase with the side handle.

My only issue with it is that it’s only splashproof, not submersion proof. Which is probably sufficient for most uses being as people rarely go diving with their laptop on their tanks, but I would rather not take chances and put my laptop into a dry tube which is more water resistant.

Slick And Practical, A Well Balanced Hybrid Bag.

Dry Duffel – 25 litres to 75 litres

I don’t need to talk about this bag too much simply because it is almost identical to the Dry Tube, apart from two major differences: one, it is carried horizontally and two, it opens from the side. This side opening is ideal for combatting the issue I have with the tube, i.e. The inability to get what I want out of the bag without having to pour the entire contents out to get it. It is just as waterproof, just as simple and slightly more comfortable (due to the padded strap) than the tube.

The duffel is designed to be taken as an overnight bag (or “overweek” bag in the case of the 75 litre!) so you may find it is a little overkill for a day dive, but ideal for a liveaboard.

The Duffels Are More Spacious And More Handsome, Just Don't Overload Them...

Dry Tank – 40 litres to 60 litres

The Dry Tank is a hybrid of the Dry Tube and the laptop case. It is a large rucksack that utilises the same design principles as the dry tube. The tank has a huge internal volume that is fairly easy to access because it has a wide opening. There still isn’t any compartments inside the bag so organising your stuff is finished when you chuck it in!

As a rucksack it performs well, using well padded straps and a sternum strap to distribute load. It is a comfortable way to move heavy gear about for extended periods. If I knew it was a long walk to the pier then I’d rather take the Dry Tank than the Dry Duffel because the Tank is much more ergonomically designed. Conversely, if I was flying with my bag I’d take the Duffel because the straps on the Tank are very easily tangled and will catch on everything!

The Dry Tank Is Great For Big Loads That Need To Be Carried Big Distances.

Horizon Gear Bag – 90 litres

I’ve presented a ton of ways to keep your dry things dry, but I’ve not discussed what you should do with your wet things…Feelfree have a solution for that too!

The Horizon Gear Bag is an enormous mesh duffel bag that allows wet gear to drain and then air while in transport. The bag can be worn with the shoulder straps like a rucksack which makes carrying a load of heavy gear much more pleasant (though you will probably get a wet back and butt, bear that in mind if you’ve just changed into your dry clothes!). There is also an array of handles in convenient spots to make handling the heavy stuff easier.

On the top of the sack (when it’s lying horizontally) is a dry pocket that can be used to store your dry valuables or spare gear. This is a nice touch that allows this gear bag to act as your only bag, rather than needing a dry bag and wet bag.

Vast Storage For Your Gear And Dry Storage For Your Valuables.

Final Thoughts

Feelfree have been thinking hard about what the modern adventurer needs, and have produced a huge array of solutions for a number of damp problems. They have managed to keep the designs simple and robust which are the two magic words in dive gear. My only problem with their design philosophy is the lack of compartmentalisation in their products which can lead to rattling gear. If they address this little issue appropriately then they will be onto a winner!

Do you have a Feelfree bag? What’s your favourite style in their lineup? Do you have any sad tales of people dropping things “in the drink”? Please share your thoughts with us using the comment section bellow.

Happy (dry) Bubbles!

By Jamie Campbell

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What Is Tech Diving?

Tech diving (short for “technical”) is both a new branch of diving and a very old tradition. In essence Tech diving is a crossover of longstanding commercial diving techniques and modern recreational diving goals. A Tech diver will use very sophisticated dive methods and equipment that have been developed and refined in military and commercial diving to achieve personal, fun goals. It is a hobby, a passion and an adventure. Tech diving isn’t for everyone, many of the rewards that Tech diving can bestow are not given up lightly; often Tech divers go through discomfort and must train for a long time in order to go where they wish. It is not all clear water, designer wetsuits and beaches; it is often hard work, risk taking and tedious waiting that brings the results the Tech divers seek, not to mention the exorbitant cost of the training and specialist gear!

Tech Divers May Look Funny (And Smell Funny) But Their Devotion To The Sport Is Serious

So If It’s So Hard, Why Do People Tech Dive?

Tec diving is a peculiar sport because, to many other divers, it seems an awful lot like hard work when a normal diver can have a great dive at ten metres and spend comparatively little money. The reason the Tec guys do it however, is simple; Tec divers like to do things to extremes and thus they need extreme methods and equipment to accomplish what they desire. So, what does a Tec diver desire?

To Go Deeper, For Longer

The primary reason that Tech diving exists is because standard recreational diving has many, very difficult limits imposed upon it such as air consumption, water temperature and nitrogen buildup. These factors all impose boundaries on what can be done during a dive, they especially restrict the maximum depth a diver can reach and for how long he can stay there. If a diver wishes to stay longer or go deeper than the standard recreational tables recommend then he must use other techniques and equipment, thus he becomes a Tech diver. For instance, if a standard diver went to thirty meters he’d find that his computer gave him a very short bottom time because of nitrogen buildup, he’d also notice that his air was being used up very fast and he’d probably be getting fairly chilly too. The Tech diver aims to solve these problems by breathing modified gasses to extend his bottom time, he would carry more than one tank of breathing gas to extend his air supply and he’d likely wear a high quality drysuit to take care of the chills. There are many techniques and pieces of gear that a Tech diver has in his armory, but almost all of them are used purely to let him dive deeper, for longer.

Tec Diving Is Not Just About Going Deep, It Is Also Used To Stay Shallow For A Long Time.

Divers Love Gear

I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again; diving’s popularity as a sport is massively aided by the fact that people like to buy things, use tools and customize stuff. The fact that the dive industry is so glamorous proves this – people aren’t just buying a lump of technology to let them go diving, they are buying the latest airmax master turbo super gasblaster regulator airflow system! Diving is a “cool” industry and manages to maintain it’s “cred” by selling funky gadgets. I’d argue that a large proportion of Tech divers got into extreme diving purely for the gear that comes with it. The case and point being the re-breather which is the ultimate in James Bond type gadgets. The re-breather is an excellent tool that can achieve much, but its beauty lies in its complicated nature, the fact that a true disciple of technology will be blissfully lost in manuals and tool for hours getting it set up and ready to use is a large part of its appeal. Tech divers are gadget freaks, the clue is in their name!

Tec Divers Are Suckers For New Gear...

The Adventure!

So why on Earth would anyone want to go through all the training, spend the crazy money, endure the hardships and take the risks purely so they can go deep? The answer is often because Tech divers are an adventurous bunch who want to go places that others cannot or dare not. They want to dive on wrecks that have never been seen by the human eye since the day it sunk, they want to find deep fish that have never been named and they want to explore cave systems that are barely even known of, let alone mapped. The equipment and training that Tech divers use allows them to truly go where no man has gone before, and that is a very potent lure for some.

To Challenge Themselves

Ok, so you can accept that there are people out there who do expensive and difficult things to go down for longer in order to see stuff that nobody else has seen, but ultimately what’s the point? The Tech diver has an answer for this too; the challenge! Why else would somebody do horrible and dangerous things? To challenge themselves with a serious obstacle (in this case: the human body vs the whole ocean), learn and train how to overcome it and then do so triumphantly. Nowadays there are few frontiers left; Everest is crowded with families on vacation, you can barely see the sun for all the skydivers, the poles have gift shops on them and it is verging on dangerous to sail on the oceans now from all the one man craft zipping about. The only really hardcore frontier left on Earth is the Deep itself. Instead of climbing mountains, Tech divers drop into bottomless pits and do their damnedest to get back out again.

The Gear And Techniques:

Nitrox and Trimix

Tech divers need to beat the bottom time calculator in order to go where they want, which means using specialist breathing gases. Nitrox is the first port of call when looking into Tech diving because it allows you to extend you dive time beyond standard tables. Nitrox is basically a breathing gas that has had the nitrogen reduced and the oxygen increased. This means that the diver’s body absorbs less nitrogen during the dive and allows their computer to be more lenient. This gas mixture can be varied for the depth the diver plans on going. He may even take more than one mixture to allow him to swap during the dive to make his computer read more favorably still.

There is a limit to what Nitrox can do though because highly concentrated oxygen has adverse effects on the human body, which means there is a balancing act between how much oxygen is put into the mix versus nitrogen. The way this issue is alleviated is by adding a third gas, usually helium, which is a noble gas and therefore has very little reactive qualities. By adding helium to the gas blend, a Tech diver can make a concentration that will (at the appropriate depth) allow him to breath very little nitrogen but not get hurt by the oxygen. This gas switching is the primary reason that Tech divers require so much training, so many tanks and so much money. This really is technical!

It Is Not Uncommon For Tec Divers To Carry Up To Eight Tanks Containing Different Breathing Gas Mixes.

Decompression

Even with all the gasses and mixes available to a Tech diver, his computer will eventually run out of no-decompression time, which means that before he can come to the surface he will be required to do at least one decompression stop. This allows the nitrogen in his body to escape in controlled bursts, thus preventing DCS. Depending on the depth, time and type of gas he is breathing, a Tech diver might be required to decompress for a few hours! Which means being bored and cold for a long time!

Redundancy

Tech divers go very deep, for very long and often they dive solo. This means that they require all their gear to function perfectly at all times. Of course, humans aren’t perfect which means that gear will inevitably falter at some point for some poor guy. The way Tech divers deal with this possibility is by carrying a spare of every item of dive gear. He will carry two knives, masks, computers, lights (maybe three) and several regulators. A Tech diver might be required to decompress for hours, which means lots of breathing gas is required, so many Tech divers have their decompression gasses suspended from a line at the appropriate depths. This means they have redundant gas mixes too. Tech divers do take risks, but the techniques they use are designed to reduce them to almost negligible levels.

One way to tell if a diver is a Tech diver or not is by looking at his BCD, if it looks like a jacket then he is probably not a Tech diver, if it looks like a metal plate with a big ballon on it and compression straps then he is. These BCDs are designed to compensate for the massive amount of weight these divers carry in the form of redundant gear and extra tanks.

Final Thoughts

Whenever I hear stories about people who have done amazing things by working hard and learning new skills I am always impressed, but none impress me more than Tech divers. I feel this amazement because a Tech diver is one of the few people in the world who has the chance to see something truly new. They are the last voyagers on Earth and their commitment to exploration and challenge is inspirational… and I also love their gear!

Do you wish to start Tech diving? If you are already Tech diving, what’s your favorite dive story? What mixes and gear setup to you favor? Please share your experiences by using the comment section bellow.

Happy (gas-blended) bubbles!

By Jamie Campbell

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A Practical Guide for New Diver

A few months ago I was given the opportunity to join this site as a writer.  I have been writing on and off since high school.  Short stories, technical reports, and the like.  It wasn’t until I started diving and more specifically instructing that I really got serious about it.  It began during my Divemaster crossover training from PADI to the YMCA where I was required to prepare and present several lectures for classroom training as well as a paper on Safe Diving Practices.  Shortly after, I began to write more lectures and after getting my Instructor rating with Scuba Educators International Diving I wrote a new Underwater Navigation Course.  Following that I developed my own Advanced Open Water Course with the blessing of SEI Diving.

In that time an event occurred that was to change many things in my life.  A diver fresh out of Open Water class was on a guided dive in Grand Cayman.  This was his second dive after certification.  Without going into all the details here the dive ended with that man reaching a maximum depth of 342 feet and reaching the surface from 302 feet in about 2 minutes. Obviously he did not survive.  How this changed my life happened in a very unusual way.  Two of the other divers on that dive were a married couple from North Carolina.  The wife posted an account of that dive on a message board I frequent and led to the composition of my essay on diver responsibility titled “Who is Responsible?”  This article generated a great deal of interest and is now posted on many websites, in dive club meeting rooms, and in the personal files on divers around the world.  I use this article as a handout to every student I certify.

This article led to more essays, handouts, and course supplements I use in my classes.  I also began to develop presentations for various reasons including one on “The Failure of the Buddy System” as well as on one dealing with the benefits of Underwater Navigation training on the diver’s skills as a whole.  At some point I began to get the idea that just trying to keep my students safe was not enough.  The idea of putting my essays into one volume and getting that into more hands started taking shape.

What started out as a compilation of essays turned into much more than that.  During the development of this compilation I began to realize that there was much that was missing from OW courses due to shortened classes and the desire to separate students from their money.  So what began as a simple collection of essays turned into a book.  One dealing with the issues I feel are so often overlooked, omitted, minimized, or in some cases deliberately kept from new divers in order to keep them in the dark and force them to keep spending money on what was once basic information.

SCUBA: A Practical Guide for New Divers is what resulted from a desire to shed some light on the process of learning to dive.  The first chapter is that first article I wrote titled Safe Diving Practices.  It seemed only fitting to do that.  From there the book goes into the Basic Skills I feel ever OW diver should have, Buddy Skills, and Dive Planning.  Along with Basic Gas management and the phenomenon of divers turning their safety and in some cases their lives over to others to do “Trust Me” Dives.  Then the discussion turns to training.  Looking at when to get more training and why, how to choose and interview an instructor, and what type of training is best.  It is not all the same no matter what anyone tells you.  From OW on there are major differences.

The next items I cover are how to choose a local dive shop, why shops do carry certain lines and not others and how pricing is determined.  There then follows an overall look at equipment from masks to BC’s and computers as well as those extras that are useful but do not force you into buying gimmicks that are pretty much useless.  The final chapter deals with a subject close to my heart.  Local diving is the corner stone of recreational scuba as far as I’m concerned.  It is where divers hone skills, where they polish their technique, and where they use the gear they bought at the LDS and supported their local economy.

SCUBA: A Practical Guide for New Divers is available from Jim Lapenta and UDM Aquatic Services at www.udmaquatics.com or by emailing me at jimlap212@comcast.net .

It is available in workbook format Print version, CD, and as a Pdf. that I will email to the reader. Cost is US $20.00 plus actual shipping for print, US $15.00 for CD Plus actual shipping, and $10.00 for the Pdf.  Paypal, check, or Money Order is accepted.

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Know Your Ocean!

I love to read facts about things, especially when it turns out that something that you take for granted is actually an astonishing force of nature. We all like the sea; some of us only like to watch it from the comfort of a cafe window or park bench, some of us like to sail it and others like to get into it and explore as much of it as we can!

The Ocean Is An Awesome Force, And The More I Learn About It The More I Want To Dive It!

There are many reasons that divers love the seas, but none can be as compelling as the fact that we know very little about this vast expanse of our world. We have explored little of it and have fully examined a tiny fraction of its area. The ocean is impressive in many different ways, yet we know very little about it. This makes me even more keen to strap a tank on my back and go find out for myself!

What I’ve done here today is complied a list of amazing, impressive, humbling and depressing facts to inspire your sense of wonder, and to widen your eyes to its delicate balance that we are upsetting. I’m no eco-warrior, but the facts below make even me think twice before I buy fish without researching its origin. You might already know a few of these facts, but I’m sure there will be a couple of gems in there that you can whip out at the pub or on the dive boat to impress your friends!

The Physical Ocean

Earth has five major oceans. The largest is The Pacific, located between the Southern Ocean, Asia, Australia and the western hemisphere, over an area about 15 times the size of the USA. It contains more than 25,000 islands.

The Challenger Deep is the lowest spot in all the world’s oceans, located in The Pacific. To put its depth into perspective, if you dropped in Mount Everest (8,850 metres high), there’d still be more than a mile of ocean above it!

The Submarine Trieste Was The First Sub To Venture To The Deepest Point On Earth.

The Dead Sea is the Earth’s lowest land point with an elevation of 396m below sea level.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef covers an area bigger than Great Britain and can even be seen from space. The Reef is a collection of islands which are home to over 400 types of coral and among which live more than 2,000 species of fish.

The Barrier Reef Is True Wonder Of The World, It Can Be Seen From The Moon!

The Earth’s longest mountain range is underwater. The Mid-Ocean Ridge runs around the globe from the Arctic to the Atlantic, via Africa, Asia and Australia. That’s four times longer than the Andes, Rockies and the Himalayas combined.

The oceans occupy nearly 71% of our planet’s surface

More than 97% of all our planet’s water is contained in the ocean

The top ten feet of the ocean hold as much heat as our entire atmosphere

The average depth of the ocean is more than 2.5 miles

The sea level has risen with an average of 10-25 cm over the past 100 years and scientists expect this rate to increase. Sea levels will continue rising even if the climate has stabilised, because the ocean reacts slowly to changes. 10,000 years ago the ocean level was about 110 m lower than it is now. If all the world’s ice melted, the oceans would rise 66 m.

The average temperature of all ocean water is about 3.5°C.

Antarctica has as much ice as the Atlantic Ocean has water.

The oceans provide 99 percent of the Earth’s living space – the largest space in our universe known to be inhabited by living organisms

More than 90% of this habitat exists in the deep sea known as the abyss

Less than 10% of this living space has been explored by humans

The Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon is deeper and larger in volume than the Grand Canyon

The Antarctic ice sheet that forms and melts over the ocean each year is nearly twice the size of the United States

The average temperature of the oceans is 2ºC, about 39ºF

Water pressure at the deepest point in the ocean is more than 8 tons per square inch, the equivalent of one person trying to hold 50 jumbo jets.

The Gulf Stream off the Atlantic seaboard of the United States flows at a rate nearly 300 times faster than the typical flow of the Amazon river, the world’s largest river.

The Gulf Stream Moves A Crazy Amount Of Water, Like A River In The Sea!

The Ocean’s Contents

The worlds oceans contain nearly 20 million tons of gold

A new form of life, based on chemical energy rather than light energy, resides in deep-sea hydrothermal vents along mid-ocean ridges

A swallow of seawater may contain millions of bacterial cells, hundreds of thousands of phytoplankton and tens of thousands of zooplankton

The grey whale migrates more than 10,000 miles each year, the longest migration of any mammal

More than 90 percent of the trade between countries is carried by ships and about half the communications between nations use underwater cables

More oil reaches the oceans each year as a result of leaking automobiles and other non-point sources than was spilled in Prince William Sound by the Exxon Valdez

Fish supply the greatest percentage of the world’s protein consumed by humans.

Eighty per cent of all pollution in seas and oceans comes from land-based activities.

By 2011, 80 per cent of people will live within 60 miles of the coast.

Conservation

Plastic waste kills up to 1 million sea birds, 100,000 sea mammals and countless fish each year. Plastic remains in our ecosystem for years harming thousands of sea creatures everyday.

Although coral reefs comprise less than 0.5 per cent of the ocean floor, it is estimated that more than 90 per cent of marine species are directly or indirectly dependent on them.

Tropical coral reefs border the shores of 109 countries, the majority of which are among the world’s least developed. Significant reef degradation has occurred in 93 countries.

There are about 4,000 coral reef fish species worldwide, accounting for approximately a quarter of all marine fish species.

Nearly 60 per cent of the world’s remaining reefs are at significant risk of being lost in the next three decades.

The major causes of coral reef decline are coastal development, sedimentation, destructive fishing practices, pollution, tourism and global warming.

Less than one half a per cent of marine habitats are protected — compared with 11.5 per cent of global land area.

The High Seas — areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction — cover almost 50 per cent of the Earth’s surface. They are the least protected part of the world.

Although there are some treaties that protect ocean-going species such as whales, as well as some fisheries agreements, there are no protected areas in the High Seas.

More than 3.5 billion people depend on the ocean for their primary source of food. In 20 years, this number could double to 7 billion.

Populations of commercially attractive large fish, such as tuna, cod, swordfish and marlin have declined by as much as 90 per cent in the past century.

The blue whale can grow up to 30 metres in length; the heart alone can be the size of a car. By the early 1960s blue whales were nearly extinct, but in 1966 whaling was banned and there are currently around 10,000 blue whales in existence.

It Makes Me Sad To Think That This Huge Creature Could Ever Be Threatened By Man.

Each year, illegal longline fishing, which involves lines up to 80 miles long, with thousands of baited hooks, kills over 300,000 seabirds, including 100,000 albatrosses.

As many as 100 million sharks are killed each year for their meat and fins, which are used for shark fin soup. Hunters typically catch the sharks, de-fin them while alive and throw them back into the ocean where they either drown or bleed to death.

Final Thoughts

…and you can now pick your jaw up off the floor because that’s the end of the wonder-fest. If you’re like me you will feel a mixture of emotions having read the above articles – you will probably feel a strong sense of awe at the sheer scale of the big blue, but you might also feel a touch worried about the fragility of the ecosystems that the ocean supports. I, for one, didn’t realise that blue whales had almost went extinct, that made me really angry and sad at the same time, I love blue whales and it is my greatest wish that I should get to dive with one someday. The final fact about the shark de-finning was place last for a reason – to give you a real idea of what our race is capable of. I urge you to go and research the plight of sharks further, one organisation I recommend is Sea Shepard, a very active anti-over fishing group that really do make a difference.

Do you have any interesting ocean facts that I’ve not listed here? Are you as enraptured by the sea as I am? Do you feel a burning sense of curiosity that makes you want to go diving right now? Are you as disgusted with the over fishing and shark finning as I am? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Happy (factual) Bubbles!

By Jamie Cambell

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The Evolution of Buoyancy Compensation (No Win, No Fee!)

I’ve written about buoyancy before, where I extolled the virtues of learning and mastering perfect neutral buoyancy. I am of the staunch opinion that well maintained buoyancy is the doorway to excellent diving. The issue with this is that our bodies (read: lungs) are incapable of adjusting our buoyancy sufficiently to allow us to be very positive on the surface and negative underwater when we are in SCUBA gear. The solution that divers have been using for the vast majority of diving’s history is to weight themselves down with lead (using a weight belt) and then use a flexible container that they can fill or empty of air to compensate for the lead. When the container is empty of air, the lead pulls the diver down. When the container is filled with a little air, the diver will sit neutral in the water. When the diver fully fills the container on the surface, he will remain floating.

Of course, the diver would be both tired out and hampered if he had to hold this container of air in his hands, so the container was given straps that allowed the diver to mount this compensator on his back and leave his hands free. This, obviously, evolved into what we now call the buoyancy compensator device, or BCD (sometimes referred to as just BC). At first the BCD was nothing more than a vest that went over the head (like an airplane life vest) and was then secured by passing a cord through the diver’s legs and fastening it down. This was a clever remedy for a difficult problem, though it wasn’t the end of the design process. Dive gear manufacturers realized that the BCD could become more than just an air filled bag that strapped onto your crotch (that’s what she said, boom boom!), it could become the spine onto which all the scuba gear would attach. The modern BCD is the base station for all your SCUBA, it is your organizer, your mounting device and it also compensates for your weight belt’s negative buoyancy (it’s like Batman’s utility belt!)

The BCDs of Yesteryear Were Much Less Effective, But The Divers Were Much More Cool!

Styles

The BCD, having been around for so much of scuba diving’s history, has had plenty of opportunity to evolve into different sub-classes to suit the particular needs of many applications and diver preferences. Although there are many types of BCD, there are three broad categories that encompass most models. There are plenty of crossovers and half-breeds so this list isn’t a definitive breakdown of BCD classes.

Recreational Wing

This is the most common BCD on the market today. The reason I have used the differentiating tag of “recreational” is because there are two types of “wing” BCD, this the the common type. The common BCD has a large bladder of air (usually formed into two long lungs that run parallel to the tank) that flares out (more or less) at the sides to form something like a pair of balloon wings. Attached onto this inflated backpack is a pair of shoulder straps and a large waist belt. This BCD offers the best combination of stability, ease of release (for emergency situations) and storage solutions of all the styles of BCD, this is what has made it so popular.

The Standard BCD Format Is An All-Rounder, The Best BCD For The Average Diver.

Jacket

This is not a new technology, but it actually outperforms the recreation wing in terms of comfort and air distribution because the bladder is not just confined to the back of the BCD. The jacket’s bladder runs down the shoulders and into the straps themselves which gives a better distribution of buoyancy and is (arguably) more comfortable. In all other aspects the jacket BCD looks much like that of a recreational wing type BCD – it has pockets and hoops galore.

The issue with the jacket is there is trade off between comfort and safety which many divers cannot make. This compromise comes from the fact that a jacket’s straps cannot be released entirely in an emergency. The diver must slide out of them the same way one might doff a rucksack. Most other BCDs have the ability to completely detach all the straps, leaving you entirely disentangled from the BCD, should you need to get out of it easily or quickly in an emergency (most rescue training works on the basis that your BCD had quick release straps).

The Jacket BCD Delivers Great Buoyancy But Poor Release Options In An Emergency

Tec Wing

The divers that go Tec diving have a very different set of requirements from their BCDs. For one thing they want the ability to modify it themselves, they don’t want a pre-configured BCD. The Tec wing BCDs are much more simple looking, and can be bought as a separate back plate, straps and bladder so they can mix and match the equipment to their exact needs. Their bladders are usually much larger, round UFO-shaped balloons. They need the extra volume in their bladders because they tend to dive with a huge amount of gear and tanks (at least two of every item and up to eight tanks!). They also need them to be large and flat to give them stability with all this gear, a normal recreational BCD would leave the diver spinning and tilting!

The Tec BCD Allows For Great Customisation, But Is Too Serious For The Lay Recreational Diver.

The back plates on a Tec BCD are designed to accommodate an array of tank sizes and can be fitted with racks of up to four tanks. The Tec diver can also use compression straps that are fitted all around the BCD to pull the bladder into the shape they desire. A wreck diver needs to be able to turn fluidly, and a big wide bladder would slow his turns and make him less agile, so he’d probably dive with a skinnier bladder shape than a photographer who requires stable diving above anything else.

The Tec BCD usually doesn’t have much in the way of storage on it (though it can be modified to have more) so they often wear a vest with pockets on it and attach pockets to their drysuits.

There has been a trend to create semi-Tec BCDs that have the same size, shape and look as a Tec BCD but they are tamer and pre-built into one unit. These help the bolster the current expansion into the amateur Tec diving (basic nitrox use and simple two-tank diving).

Cross-Breed BCDs That Cater For The Half-Way Divers That Want Tec Performance And Rec Simplicity.

Bladders

I’ve mentioned bladders quite a bit so far which might have left a few of you thinking about the toilet more than the sea. The bladder is the part inside the BCD that actually holds the air. It might be part of the fabric of the BCD, called a single-bladder, or it might be a separate balloon inside the BCDs shell, called a double-bladder.

On a single-bladder BCD the material is usually a tight nylon weave with an impermeable coating on the inside (polyurethane or some other plastic). This system works well and generally will survive most abuse. However it can be prone to leaking at the seams and welds because that is where the BCD takes the most strain. It cannot really be repaired (beyond tiny leaks) because the structural integrity is compromised if the bladder bursts. Because there is less material and the manufacturing is simple, this tends to be the format that recreational BCDs take to make them more affordable and because the lay recreational diver doesn’t normally require peak performance from their BCD.

The double bladder is much more pricey because it requires a complex manufacturing process. It does reward this extra expenditure by offering a more robust BCD (less likely to puncture) and a BCD that can be repaired. By housing the air in a separate bladder it  allows the designers to use different materials for the outer shell which offers the Tec diver even more options, like trading lightness for strength (something a Tec diver likes very much!).

Auto Inflater

The BCD, being an air-filled bag, requires both filling and emptying of air. This could be a problem if you had to do this orally (imagine blowing up a balloon and emptying thirty times in an hour!) so the clever guys at the dive gear factories made a system that allows air to blast from your tank into the BCD on demand. This makes buoyancy compensation as easy as pressing the button in an elevator. They even made it analogue so you could put in small amounts of air for fine-tuning or big blasts of air for fully inflating the BCD in a hurry on the surface.

The auto inflator comes in a range of sizes and shapes (some even have a regulator built into them) but ultimately it is just a small valve that you open by pressing a button with your thumb and, when you release it the spring shuts the gate which stops the flow of air. Some of these buttons can be really stiff so make sure you test the feel of the button before buying a BCD.

Auto Inflators Come In All Shapes And Sizes, Make Sure Your One Fits Your Hand And Your Strength.

Features To Look For When Choosing Your BCD

Because the BCD is the keystone of your diving rig it is not enough for it just to be the shape you need, but you will also require it to have a number of other features so you can fully make it your own setup:

• Pockets – This is where, if you’re like me, you’ll house everything plus the kitchen skin (and a tool kit to fix the sink should it spring a leak…underwater…). A good BCD will have many pockets in many areas which will allow you to configure things just how you like it. The pockets must also close securely but be wide when you open them. I like to have a zip closing on mine because you can’t always tell if a Velcro pocket is fully shut (and how gutted would you be if you lost your £200 torch because of a loose piece of Velcro!).
• Rings and Hoops – Another storage requirement for me is a ton of hoops and rings that should be dotted about the BCD in any place the designer can fit one. The more rings you have the better you can arrange your gear. I like to have my SMB, compass and knife on my rings. I’ll also use them to hang my teaching slate off for a short while, and attach my octo to my chest. Lots of hoops means lots of configuration options.
• Good Tank Band – This is a pet peeve of mine, I hate when a BCD has a poor strap design. Ultimately a strap is a strap, there is little to it. But when a strap takes super manpower to tighten it enough to hold the tank in place, it’s just bad design.
  

  If Your BCD Has A Poor Tank Band Then You Can Buy Replacements From Other Manufacturers So You Get Excellent Performance.

• Double Tank Mount – Talking of tanks, some divers like to (or need to) take two tanks on a dive. In this case before buying a BCD you should check what tank configurations it can accept (most mid-range and top-spec recreational BCDs can take two tanks given the appropriate modification).
• Knife Holder – This is a little feature, but I like it. On my BCD I have an unsightly knife sheath tie-wrapped onto the outside of it which sticks out a lot and can be a hassle when putting my BCD on in a busy boat room. An integrated knife holder is a nice touch that keeps your profile smooth. Aim to keep your BCD sleek, because loose or dangly gear will catch on things and cause drag while swimming – avoid looking like a Christmas tree!
  

  An Integrated Knife Holder Looks Great, But Check The Knife Because Sometimes The Blades Are Cheap.

• Integrated Weights – This is a very big deal on the BCD market and has made a big difference to the way buoyancy is adjusted. With integrated weights you don’t take a weight belt (which is great because they are a pain to make up and they are uncomfortable), instead you put the lead into two removable pockets that slip into your BCD. These pockets are quick release so you can dump them just as easily as you can dump a weight belt. They are much more comfortable although they make your BCD much heavier which could be an issue if you struggle to carry a BCD and tank as it is. Some BCDs with integrated weight systems also include trim pockets at the rear which allow the diver to configure his weights to his exact specification.
• Convenient Dump Valves – All BCDs have dump valves these days, but not all of them are easy to operate which is their whole purpose in life – to be easily accessible ways of rapidly emptying your BCD! On some BCDs the rear dump valve toggle is on the front of the BCD, which I hate. I much prefer to reach to the rear intuitively in an emergency, rather than trying to remember where my toggle is! As an instructor I also approve of a dump valve being incorporated into the low pressure inflator hose (pull the hose downward and the air will dump) because if a student bolts for the surface then it is easier to reach for a long hose than a small toggle.

BCD Tips

BCDs are often poorly introduced to new divers, and sometimes even experienced divers haven’t fully come to grips with this important piece of kit. Here’s a few tips and tricks that help me ensure my BCD performs as it should.

Use Your Cummerbund!

Pardon me? Use my what? The cummerbund is the large, usually Velcro, strap that you pass around your waist, it is then further secured by a large buckle. This is, surprisingly, the most important strap on your BCD because it is what hugs the BCD to the body when submerged. On land the shoulder straps reign king, but underwater it is vital you have a tight fitting cummerbund. It is wise to refit your cummerbund once you have entered the water because when you are wet it will feel more loose, and it’s imperative that you keep that strap tight, unless you enjoy your BCD riding up and down your back!

This tightening strategy goes for all your straps. Ensure that just before you go down, you further tighten every buckle. The closer the BCD is to your body, the more natural you will feel as you swim and the better your buoyancy will be.

Tie Wrap Everything!

This is possibly a slight exaggeration, you shouldn’t tie wrap everything, but it is strongly advised that you carry five or six wraps of different sizes with you in your BCD pocket because they are amazingly useful. They can be used to attach gear to your BCD (knifes, compass, etc), they can be used to keep teaching slates together (clip a bras hook onto the tie wrap and you can hang them from your BCD ring while doing skills) and they can be a quick fix (or long term one) if a strap breaks or a hoop gives out. They are water resistant, nearly indestructible and very portable, have them with you all the time!

Inevitably You Will Need To Tie Wrap Something, Carry Them With You At All Times!

Minimise The Movement Of Gear

If you value your gear and your BCD then you will pay specific attention to this point. If you have big pockets then you will no doubt find that gear rattles around in there. If you put the wrong combination of items in together (nice torch and reel with heavy brass clip) then you may end up with tatty or broken gear quicker than you’d like. It is also worth mentioning to those of you that carry extra weight for students or novice divers that lead blocks bouncing around in a pocket are a shortcut to a burst pocket.

The solution is to organise your gear so that it doesn’t rattle (put a squashy SMB with your torch to keep it from moving) or hang it on the BCD rings. Organising you BCD properly has many advantages and only takes half an hour of playing when you get it home from the dive store.

Don’t Overweight

A heavily overweighted diver will require more air in their BCD to attain neutral buoyancy. This means their BCD is inflated into a big size which will cause drag in the water (a swimmers arch nemesis) and will restrict their movement, not to mention what it would do to their buoyancy itself! A smart diver aims to have very little air in their BCD when they are neutral, this will make them more efficient which saves air and energy – both of which are high-value resources when diving.

Service, Service, Service!

Everyone knows they need to service their regulator every six months (that doesn’t mean they’ll do it though) but not everyone thinks to service their BCD. A BCD takes serious wear and tear, yet we rarely do much more than rinse it after a dive. A smart diver will flush his whole BCD out with fresh, clean water (you can add a little disinfectant too) after every couple of dives (or before he puts it away in the shed) by unscrewing the dump valve and filling the BCD entirely with water then flushing it out again. This clears it of salt and mould which accumulates over time.

You should also pay attention to the low pressure inflator hose because they have a tendency to leak. If they do then it’s time to change the O-rings in the auto inflator. It’s a simple job but many divers will ignore the bubbles until the button is almost useless. Don’t be a lazy diver, look after your gear!

Final Thoughts

Your BCD is the helm of your SCUBA setup, it is where you steer your small submarine from. As such it should be fitted to you, in size, shape, style, function and features. Don’t be afraid to modify your BCD to your own requirements, the more you make it fit you the more prepared you’ll feel when your twenty metres deep. Learn it’s features, adjust straps, move gear from a pocket to a hoop to a strap and practice donning it and doffing it using the quick releases. If you know your BCD, then you know your gear.

Do you have a favorite BCD style? What do you look for in a BCD? Is there any modification or feature that you just couldn’t live without? If so, please share with us and leave a comment using the section below.

Happy (buoyant) Bubbles!

By Jamie Campbell

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Masks: Windows Into Another (damp) World!

Divers dive for different reasons, but ultimately everybody from the lay snorkeler through to the hardcore tec diver is in the water for one thing: to experience the aquatic environment. Some people want to explore the wrecks of great vessels from our past, whereas others enjoy looking at shallow coral reefs but in both cases they are enjoying new sensations. These sensation cannot be experienced naturally being as we are land animals, so we rely on equipment to mitigate our underwater adventures. The most basic piece of equipment a water enthusiast can own is a pair of goggles or a mask to allow them to see what is going on under the surface. Indeed a lucky individual with a mask and no other equipment might spot a whale shark off the bow of the boat and jump in, leaving the divers scrambling about changing tanks and grabbing weight belts – sometimes a mask is all you need, everything else is just there to make the experience last longer, or to get you there quicker.

The only Way We Can Really Appreciate The Sea's Beauty Is Through The Lens Of A Mask...

What I Look For In a Mask

This is one of those situations where the only way you can really tell what mask is right for you is by borrowing a friend’s mask and trying it out. So this is just about what features make my diving experience more pleasurable, either when I’ve got two thousand pounds worth of gear on my body, or when I’m just in shorts and fins – both situations need the same thing: to see!

My perfect mask has a few specific features that I find are either pleasantly surprising or absolutely necessary:

• Single Lens – This is a real opinion splitter in the dive community but I have solidly sided with the single lens camp despite the fact that a single lens mask tends to have a larger internal volume which requires extra nasal expulsions to clear. I chose a single lens design, rather than a mask with two independent lenses is because I find the extra glass in a single lets in more light which reduces the feeling of being detached from the environment – I find the less I can see the mask frame, the more natural the experience feels.
• Soft Skirt – This might sound like I’m being wimpy and choosing something that feels soft against my sensitive skin…but I assure you it’s not (not entirely anyway!). The softer the silicone skirt the more it will mould to the contours of your face, and thus becomes more watertight. The negative aspect of choosing an easy to mould silicone is that it will be much less resistant to tearing and loosing chunks when a piece of gear bashes against it. It’s a price I’m willing to pay to ensure all my air isn’t wasted on clearing my mask!
• Transparent Skirt – This is another one that may call my manliness into question…why should I care about the colour or design of my mask? Well, I find that a clear and transparent side skirt lets in a considerable amount of extra light which I find helps to fend off the tunnel vision that I often get with opaque black silicone masks. It can also allow your peripheral vision to function to an extent – you can sometimes make out the shape of your dive buddy out the corner of your eye which can be helpful if you’ve got students to look after!
• Wide and Deep Viewing Angle – This is an obvious choice, some might argue that it’s not really a preference when all masks strive for the same thing. The reason I included it on the list is because a large proportion of mask manufacturers concentrate on providing a wide field of vision, but not nearly enough of them go wide andlow. It’s obvious you need to see what’s next to you, but it’s also very useful to have an open vista of what’s below you. Without adequate bottom view it makes it a strain to properly look at your gauges, to look into your BCD pockets and to ensure that when you sit on your knees with a student you don’t drop them, or yourself, onto a stonefish or stingray!
  

  Some Mask Are Wide, But Not Tall - I Want Both!

• Frameless – This is a new one for me, up until my most recent mask I always used framed masks because I didn’t know any different. Now I’ve gone frameless, I’m unlikely to return to framed units. The mask is so much lighter on your face without the frame, and it packs up much more compactly being as everything except the glass is flexible. Whether it’s as durable as a framed mask, time will tell – but it’s had some serious abuse at my hands for around six months and it’s still in good shape.
• Neoprene Strap – This isn’t so much a feature of a mask, as an add-on that I wouldn’t ever give up. All it is is an oval of neoprene that has (usually) two Velcro straps that fit into your existing buckles. This replacement strap is much easier to adjust and is much more comfortable once you’ve adjusted it. The neoprene is stretchy, but won’t pull out your hair.

My Personal Choice: The Sherwood Scuba Rona

The two items of dive gear that split opinion the most are masks and fins. This is because they directly interact with our bodies, and being as everyone’s body is distinct and unique – it makes the design of universal gear tricky. That’s why the Sherwood Rona has everything I want in a mask and it fits me perfectly, yet several of my good friends have tried it and had constant leaks. It is a personal choice that, as I said before, can only be validated by trying gear on. If I wasn’t in a dive school I’d even consider joining a diving club purely so I could check out the other divers’ gear! But then, I’m a gear junkie…

Sherwood Scuba Rona - Close to, But Not Quite, My Perfect Mask...

Pros:

• Light Weight – The Rona is really comfortable to wear, primarily because it is very lightweight. It doesn’t pull down on your face, nor does it wobble when you turn your head rapidly. Because it’s lightweight, you don’t need your strap to be tight, which makes it even more pleasant to wear.
• Soft Skirt – This mask has the softest, most featherlike skirt material I’ve ever felt. It feels almost like a cloth, but is obviously much more water resistant.
• Large View Angle – The lens on this face mask is enormous! It gives a very wide and tall  viewing angle with extra dips on the bottom of the lens to help you look at your waist area. It’s not the widest lens ever made, but it’s wider than I’m used to.
• Low Volume Airspace – This is the magic part – not only is the mask a single lens and  offers a very wide view angle, but it has a tiny air volume. They manage this by positioning the lens close to the face, which also helps the feeling of immersion into the environment.
• Frameless – As I said above, this changed my mind about masks forever. It makes the mask look much less bulky, it reduces the weight dramatically and it squashes into a pocket with ease (which would make it ideal for tec divers who normally carry a spare mask). It also seems to make it less likely to crack, because the glass is protected by shock-absorbent silicone rather than rigid plastic, which means when you drop it just bounces – no cracked frames.
• Price – This was a real surprise to me, because I used the mask before I saw a price tag and initially thought it was an expensive, high-end affair. It turns out that it’s really very reasonably priced and so it’s excellent value for your hard earned dollar!

Cons

• Ugly – Alas, the Rona doesn’t fit my perfect mask description in its entirety – it has some flaws. One of my main concerns is that it’s really ugly! It’s quite a handsome and trendy looking piece of gear when it’s sitting on the shelf, but once you put it on it looks ridiculous – I’m yet to meet a man or woman who doesn’t look like an alien with it on! Luckily this isn’t really an issue for me being as I think scuba chic is a bit girly, I like my gear functional, safe and reliable – pretty comes in way down the list!
• Semi-Opaque Skirt – This is only a slight problem with the mask as it does offer a translucent skirt which does let some light in, but it has a frosted effect which makes it impossible to see through. There is also a black version which looks better but is completely opaque.
• Strap Is Silicone – Another minor concern, and something I had to remediate before use. The default strap is a standard issue silicone band which is fine for irregular use, but I much prefer my Velcro-neoprene solution for day-to-day diving.
• Possible Durability Issues – Although I said above that the mask was surprisingly robust, I do have issues with the integrity of the skirt after say six months in a wardrobe or shed. I do have a couple of little nicks in the material, but nothing that affects its performance. So this is a watch-and-see issue.

Final Thoughts

Masks are a personal item, just like glasses are on land. They both help you to see, they are both made in many shapes and colours and they both suit people differently. One pair of glasses may look sexy on one girl and dull on another, the same goes for masks (without the sexy part). All I can say is that I love my mask and hope, for your sake, that it fits you so you can enjoy it as much as I do!

Do you own a Rona, and if so what are your thoughts on it’s design and function? Do you prefer frameless masks? Single lens or double? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Happy (visible) bubbles!

By Jamie Campbell.

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What Did The Divers Ever Do For Us?

Update: Vacancies available @ DailyScubaDiving.com. Please refer to our announcement and contact us via the form given here.

There are millions of divers in the world, and most of them are sport divers, meaning they dive for fun. This is unsurprising because diving is one of the most thrilling and adventurous sports you can pursue. There are, however, a very large amount of divers who do not dive for fun, they dive because it is their job. You may think I am only referring to dive instructors here, but I am actually referring to a massive range of subaquatic careers that run from the most idyllic of livelihoods through to the most intolerable of occupations. Divers play a huge part in keeping the modern sea, and its industry, in working order. They play a significant part in almost every marine sector and we should be grateful for the diligent work they perform.

Divers Form The Backbone Of The Marine Industry.

What I’ve produced in this article is a ten minute guide to some of the vocations that are available in the diving industry. Please bear in mind that this list is in no way exhaustive of the possible career paths, nor is it particularly detailed – I’m sure that if you’re interested in a field you’ll seek out more information than I’m providing here (if you would like to request an article on a particular diving career then please leave a request in the comment section at the bottom of this page and I’ll try to oblige).

Commercial

Oil

Mention “commercial diving” to most people and they will probably think of oil rig diving. This is because it is one of the main employers of divers in the commercial sector. They are also usually the best paid, best trained divers and perform some of the most extreme dives. The most impressive of which is saturation diving. These men and women go down to very deep depths to construct or perform maintenance on oil lines and rig equipment. Because they are so deep for so long, their bodies saturate with nitrogen and require a massive length of time to desaturate. The way they get round this problem is by staying down on the dive site for around three weeks, living in a dive “bell” which is essentially a little underwater caravan which is fed air and electricity from the surface. Once their dive is over, they get into the bell and are very slowly decompressed over a period of up to a week. This takes its toll on the body, but it also pays a huge amount. They expect to make around three dives like this a year, the rest is a vacation.

There are other divers in the oil trade that use SCUBA to perform shallow tasks, these men and women are paid very well too, but the job is dirty, dangerous and costs a lot to be trained for.

Oil is Big Business, Which Means There Is Plenty Of Work, But It Isn't Easy!

Repair/Construction

This is a follow on from the oil section because these divers perform very similar tasks to the oil divers – they weld, construct, repair and generally build the marine industry. They may also use saturation diving to achieve their goals (think of the guys and gals that lay oceanic telecommunication cables), but they might just be using normal scuba to sit at five metres for two hours in order to fix a propeller on a boat. The range of tasks that the commercial diving sector does is immense, you can almost just imagine all the trade and labour jobs that exist on land and then add scuba, with the exception of conservatory builders – they don’t have a counterpart in the sea!

Search and Recovery

This is a specific branch of commercial diving, though it’s a fairly big industry in itself. These divers are charged with the task of salvaging and cleaning up all manner of wrecks and sunken structures. They will be called to find and float small wrecks like cars and crashed two-seater planes right the way through to big ships and even oil rigs! They will locate, assess and decide whether it can be salvaged whole or if it needs to be brought up in sections. They arrange winches, floats and other methods of surfacing valuables. Their job is dangerous, but the pay offs can be huge.

"Um, I Think I Found A Car..."

Police

Being a police diver doesn’t involve ensuring the fish are obedient and orderly, it is usually a progression on from the search and recovery field. Police divers are often working to a tight timeframe and an even more strict set of forensic rules because the environment they are working in might technically be a crime scene. The police divers are tasked with diving in often terrible conditions for hours searching for pieces of evidence or even people, which makes it a job for those with a strong stomach! The precision and thoroughness required is remarkable, but it has to be precise because they may be combing an entire lake for a small weapon or other piece of evidence.

Military

Engineering

As with all aspects of the military, the fighting side of things requires a strong engineering basis from which to cope with the tremendous logistical challenges they are faced with on a regular basis. This applies equally for the Navy (the military branch that requires the most divers) as they must maintain a fleet of vessels while on location, this requires divers who can repair floating craft (the other option is to put the ship in dry dock for repair, which is not always possible when the boat is on the offensive). The Navy divers also perform emergency salvage (think rapid response to sunken submarines, live warheads and other such situations).

Military Engineers Have To Deal With Bombs... Which Is A Bad Thing In My Book...

Armed

This is an area which many find attractive from a spectator standpoint, but is really a hideous job for the men and women employed to do it. This type of diving is done by trained (read: elite) soldiers who use diving for the stealth it offers. They will often use rebreathers to avoid producing bubbles and to allow them to stay under for hours. They may be required to swim a few miles at ten metres or so (imagine navigating that!) then plant bombs, sabotage vessels and other such subterfuge, then swim home again. I think I’ll keep my single tank and cozy dive site, and leave that kind of malarky to somebody else!

That Is The Kind Of Compass You Need When You Really Want To Ensure You Don't Go Off Course!

Parachute

These guys are just mad. They jump from low flying planes and helicopters, parachute (or just freefall) with SCUBA gear on, and then, once in the water, go and perform super-fast response to situations that require it e.g. NASA employ a few to respond extra fast to water landed spacecraft. Coolest. Job. Ever.

Recreational

For an in depth look into the careers available in recreational diving please see my article: “A Guide to…Going Pro” which can also be found on this site, under my name.

Other Careers

Photography

How many dive magazines have you opened only to gasp at the breathtaking images of fish and divers in amazing settings. There is a very large industry of marine photographers for whom their entire job is to take breathtaking pictures. This is not as easy as it sounds though; first you need impeccable command of photography theory and equipment. You then need to be an awesome diver (stable, silent, fast and able to dive one-handed). On top of that you need the patience of a saint because the fish may not have gotten the memo you sent requesting that they school in the appropriate place, sometimes the photographers have to make four very long dives a day for weeks, usually balancing air, heat and nitrogen on their limits, purely to get that one perfect shot.

He's Probably Waited For Two Hours For That Shot...

Marine Biology/Conservation

This is a very noble occupation, but not one for the diver who is only mildly interested in the field. If you wish to end up in the marine biology career path then its prudent to get a degree in the subject, and then sacrifice your personal life, your financial stability and every waking hour because newbie biologist divers work very hard, often living on a boat for months for very little money. This does improve with experience, but you’ll never be rich. What you will be however, is very proud of your ability to save and regrow coral, fish stocks and the general aquatic ecosystem. It is a job to be proud of, not to be wealthy from (with some exceptions).

Final Thoughts

I, personally, have taken one route down the diving career path and I will never regret it, though the massive amount of options for me to crossover to is a constant lure away from recreational diving and into other fields (how can the wage of the commercial divers not be a lure?). I hope this has opened your eyes to a few paths that you might not have known otherwise, and if you choose to take a step in a particular direction then I wish you the very best!

Are you a professional diver? Are you in one of the many diving jobs I didn’t mention e.g. dive center manager or even dive journalist??? Do you wish to change jobs from office to regulator? Please let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Happy (paid) Bubbles!

By Jamie Campbell

Join our facebook fan page and be part of our scuba community if you like our articles. Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/DailyScubaDiving

Exposure Protection

I love being a dive instructor, I love diving even more, and I absolutely adore diving in tropical water! Diving in a sea with an average temperature of around thirty-one degrees Celsius is the perfect way to enjoy an undersea safari! In Thailand, where I’m based, the water temperature doesn’t even change with depth, I can sit at thirty meters and the water feels just as warm as it does on the surface. It’s a wonderful experience, and yet, sometimes I get cold. This might seem a little strange to those who have had little experience being immersed in water for a long time, but if you stay in the water for long enough and move very little then it almost doesn’t matter what temperature it is, you’ll get chilly. Now, most people will keep moving when they are in the sea and this is more than sufficient to keep them warm in my neck of the woods. However if you are an instructor and you’re with an Open Water student who simply can’t manage to clear their mask, or struggles to complete a fin pivot then you could be sitting motionless for thirty minutes or more! If you’re only in swim shorts then you will begin to see goose bumps after half an hour and will be shivering in another fifteen minutes, and I don’t get cold easily!

If This Young Lady Doesn't Keep Moving She's Going To Get Awfully Chilly!

If you aren’t lucky enough to be diving in tropical water (but are still in a temperate or Mediterranean climate – water temperature twenty-eight to eighteen degrees) then you can slash the time above to a few minutes of inactivity causing serious shivering. As soon as you get to a sea temperature of about ten degrees then you will be lucky if you can reach more than a minute before you get seriously chilled.

Obviously if you are physically active in the sea then you can handle much lower temperatures for longer, but sometimes it’s simply not practical to keep moving, for instance drift divers will often remain motionless for nearly the whole dive with the exception of the odd kick. The other, much smarter, solution is to wear some form of exposure protection that can insulate you from the extremely conductive water (water conducts heat away from your body between twenty and twenty-five times faster than air does, which means even in thirty degree water your body has to try to keep your temperature seven degrees hotter while the water tries to quickly absorb it).

You have a few options for insulation, but the most popular option is the wetsuit.

How a Wetsuit Works

The reason a wetsuit is called a wetsuit is because, unlike a drysuit which has watertight seals at all the openings, a wetsuit allows water to leak in. This is not an intentional feature, it is simply a defining difference from a drysuit. The other major difference between a wetsuit and a drysuit is that a dry suit uses dry undergarments as well as the gas that inflates the suit to insulate them from the super conductive water, whereas wetsuits rely on the insulating properties of neoprene.

The objective that every wetsuit maker works toward is to restrict the flow of water within the suit (to prevent cold water from touching the skin and drawing heat away) and to ensure that the suit is highly insulated (to reduce the conduction of heat through the suit material). When these goals are achieved (or nearly achieved) then the wearer is highly protected from the elements.

There is a common misconception that suggests that a wetsuit works because it allows a small amount of water inside the suit and traps it in place. This trapped water then becomes warm from body heat and acts like an insulator. Although water does enter the suit and become warm, it is simply not true to say that this is what keeps the wearer protected from the cold. Water is a terrible insulator and all efforts must be made to reduce the flow of water in a suit (which is why wetsuits are so tight, and why you should ensure the suit isn’t too big for you). The insulation is performed by the suit material, not the water.

What Is a Wetsuit Made From?

A wetsuit, like a drysuit, also utilises gas as an insulator although it does so in a very different manner. Neoprene is used almost solely in wetsuit construction because it is waterproof, light, flexible, hard wearing, soft and has high thermal retention properties. The reason it is so warm is because it has closed-cell bubbles injected into it during the moulding process. These closed-cell bubbles are individual minuscule pockets of gas (usually nitrogen – a very stable and insulating gas) which retard the conduction of heat. The reason the suit is not water absorbent like a sponge is because the bubbles are all individual and closed, unlike a sponge where the bubbles are open. The neoprene can vary in thickness from two-and-a-half millimetres right up to around eight millimetres, any thicker than that and the suit becomes too inflexible and bulky which is why people use drysuits as the next step up on thermal protection.

Usually the suit has sewn or glued edges to prevent fraying, these also help to reduce water flow in the suit.

Wetsuit Weaknesses

There are some things to consider when wearing a gas-injected neoprene suit.

Buoyancy

Wetsuits, being constructed from a gas-injected material, are very positively buoyant. This means the wearer must take extra weight with them in order to attain neutral buoyancy. This isn’t much of an issue if you sink like a stone anyway, you might be lucky and only need a kilo or so, but if you are already a buoyant person, and big (a big guy needs a big suit, which means more neoprene, which means more buoyancy) then you may end up with ten kilos on your belt or more! This isn’t a problem as such, but it’s a pain having to make up that size of belt, carrying it is unpleasant and wearing it can be quite uncomfortable.

This Dog Hates Wearing A Weight Belt, But She Just Can't Dive Without One...

There is another buoyancy related issue at stake here too, and that is the fact that as a flexible container filled with gas is taken down underwater, it compresses. The bubbles inside the suit are no different and as you go deep, they get smaller. This effectively reduces both the insulating property of the suit, and it alters the buoyancy of the suit. These can both be problems when you plan your dive because you need to consider what insulation you will need (bear in mind that it is usually colder at deep depths than at the surface) and what weighting you require (as well as your suit changing buoyancy through the dive, your tanks will empty which changes your weight too!). An experienced diver will manage to find a good balance for temperature and he can easily compensate for a few kilos of weight change throughout the dive, but it makes life just a little more complicated!

Flexibility

Because you are wearing a big, elasticated, bubble-inflated suit you will find that your ability to manoeuvre your joints and limbs will be reduced slightly, especially when you get to seven millimetre thickness! The neoprene is stretchy and can compress, which does allow reasonably free movement, but there are high use joints (knee and elbow) that can be hampered by the constriction of the suit. The way wetsuit designers have overcome this is by either reducing the thickness of the suit at those sections, or by using chemically softened neoprene on those high use areas. Some suits have actually had their joints moulded into bends, to facilitate the movement of your legs and arms. I have also seen slashes in the neoprene to allow for easier bending motions.

All of these techniques help the diver move when he’s in his suit, though I have my concerns over what impact these concessions have on the durability of the suit.

Longevity

Talking of durability, it is important to mention that, unlike a regulator, a suit has a certain shelf life. Most long term divers will change their suits about every five years or so, though professional divers can get through a suit in less than two (or in my case ten months!). This isn’t a massive worry because suits aren’t that expensive as far as dive gear goes, but it can be a pain when you’re in that halfway point where the suit is getting worn out, leaking, not insulating as it should but it’s still got a few more months of diving left in it – this leaves you with a sub-par suit for a few months!

Suits fall prey to sun damage, oil contamination, rips, abrasion (especially on the knees and spine) and broken zips or seals. There is little you can do to stop the inevitable wear and tear apart from clean it regularly, avoid leaving it in the sun to dry and avoid sharp or rough objects.

Styles of Wetsuit

Wetsuits, being moulded from a flexible material, can be made into any shape or size the designer likes. Each shape has its own functions and features, and if you travel for your diving you will probably require more than one shape. There are thee styles that are predominant on the market, though they all aim to do the same thing – keep you warm in different conditions.

Shortie

The shortie (my preferred wetsuit of choice, being a tropical dude) is the equivalent of a tight-fitting pair of shorts with a t-shirt stitched on, made out of neoprene (sounds wild huh?). The suit will have a zipper on the back or the front (though the current trend is to have it at the back so that the tank helps to slow the flow of water through the zipper). This short suit has some benefits and a few negative points that go further than the temperature rating.

First off, a shortie is considerably easier to put on and take off. The leg and arm holes are wider (because they are designed to fit round a thigh, not an ankle), and there is less material to wriggle through. The shortie is also much easier to pack because there is much less material than in a long suit. However the shortie doesn’t offer much in the way of abrasion protection or knee pads for kneeling. This is a concern when diving in water that you know is infested with spiky sea urchins and stone fish, especially when you (like me) spend a lot of time kneeling on the bottom doing skills with students. Shorties are also usually poor at restricting the flow of water in the suit (because of those big holes again!). This is usually no big deal (you don’t wear a shortie in cold water) but if you are beginning to feel a little chilly towards the end of the dive and your suit takes a big gulp of fresh, cold sea water and swills it around your torso then it’s fair to say you may choose to mutter an expletive or two!

A Shortie Is Rarely Thicker Than Five Millimetres, And In This Case Is Only Three Millimetres Thick

Farmer John and Jacket

The farmer John suit is nothing more than a shortie with a set of long legs on the bottom. Often the short t-shirt style sleeves are chopped off too and you are left with something resembling a vest’s straps (the whole outfit looks like a pair of neoprene long johns..sexy!). The farmer John is normally married up with a neoprene jacket that has long sleeves and is designed to be worn over the top of the vest-trouser ensemble. Once they have been combined you will find that the suit is very warm because not only are your limbs fully protected, but you have a double layer of neoprene covering your torso (which requires the most thermal protection). If you find that the double covering is too much for your next dive (it’s common for a diver to misjudge the temperature on the first dive and then modify his exposure protection to suit his second dive), then the you can simply take the jacket off and go down with the long johns on.

I only have a few niggling issues with the farmer John setup; for one thing there is a lot of bulk carrying this much neoprene around (think of a double XL, seven millimetre suit – that’s a lot of material!). You also need to remember to bring both parts of the suit with you, which might be a little difficult if you’re as scatterbrained as I am! There might also be a problem for some divers with the restrictive nature of this much neoprene around your body, though this is being addressed in modern suits. To give it a final stab, I think it looks ridiculous…like a farmer at a fetish party!

Extremely Practical, Comfortable And... Ugly!

Long Suit

This is the most common format for wetsuits for a number of reasons, but the most important reason for its popularity is that it is a very warm, very sleek form of exposure protection. The long suit is a one-piece body stocking made from neoprene. You get into it the same way as you’d get into a shortie i.e. By using a back-zipper, the difference being that it takes about double the time to get into it!

The long suit provides the most water restriction of all the suits purely because there are only five points of entry into the suit (the farmer John sometimes leaks under the jacket, and the shortie leaks everywhere!). The modern long suit is more accurately described as semi-dry because of the fact that the diver will only get damp, not wet. This means that if you pee in your suit then there is almost no way to flush it out…just a thought for all those trigger-happy suit-sprayers!

If You Have To Get A T-Shirt Made To Back Your Story Up, I Don't Believe You!

The long suit provides great abrasion resistance, especially with the various thick pads and sections that are being incorporated into the modern suit. The diver in a long suit may find that his movement is a little restricted, but it is a mild feeling and one that passes with use. A final, added benefit of the long suit is that it can be worn on the boat or shore to keep you warm before the the dive, though if you wear it afterwards then it may contribute to evaporative cooling (you get cold because the water cools you down, dry things heat you better than wet things).

Super Space-Age Long Suit makes Normal People Look Like Robots...

Common Features

There are a full range of new and interesting things being done with wetsuit design, some of them are old technology, others are at the cutting edge of design and chemical manipulation. Here is a short rundown of common features and accessories for the modern wetsuit:

• Hoods – Even a long suit can’t protect all your body because ultimately you need your face exposed to see and to breathe, but you can wear a hood to cover the rest of your head (the head looses a lot of heat, so it’s important to cover it up in very cold water. Most hoods come in the same thicknesses as the suits, so you can match a seven millimetre suit with a seven millimetre hood. Some suits come with hoods attached which provides an extra seal around the neck and slows water flow substantially.
  

  To Further Complete The Robot Assassin From The Future Look, Get A Hood!

• Gloves and Boots – The other two parts of your body that are left exposed in a long suit are your hands and feet. These areas are important because, you need to be dexterous with your hands to perform delicate actions underwater (operate computers, open zips etc.) or, in your feet’s case, they need to be well cushioned to prevent blisters from fins. If they are cold or cut they cannot do this, but if they are too wrapped up in thick neoprene then they can’t function either. Take the thickness you need for the water temperature, don’t just use one pair for all climates.
• Skin-Tight Seals – This is a new approach to the old method of using zips to close the openings on a suit. With new and super stretchy materials, designers have managed to create cuffs that form to your wrist, neck and ankle which let in almost no water. They can be a little tough to fit through though.
• Semi-Dry Zippers – The large zipper on the back of a suit can be the cause for a fair quantity of water entering the suit. The new zippers that are appearing on suits today have neoprene and plastic flaps that cover them and the zips themselves are much tighter to prevent water from flushing through. They are nearly dry zippers.
• Linings – Many suits have different linings in them to either aid the donning and doffing of the suit, to keep the wearer warmer or to simply feel more comfortable. Designers use Lycra, plush linings and other soft materials to achieve this.
• Torso Panels – As I said before in the farmer John section, the torso is the primary section of the body to keep warm as this is where your vital organs are kept. Most new, top-end suits are being manufactured with a chest panel made from a different, more slippery material which is more thermally insular and also helps water to run off to prevent evaporative cooling on the surface after the dive.
• Knee, Elbow and Spine Pads – Modern suits are beginning to look more and more like futuristic body armour because of the addition of various tough pads on the knees, elbows and spine. The knees and elbows are obvious additions, it reduces the chances of getting a weak spot on the suit from too much kneeling down. The spine pad is designed to bare the brunt of the abrasion from tanks, BCDs and weigh belts that inevitably occurs, it is also more comfortable for the wearer.
• Tailored – This is not a new thing for wetsuits, but it is certainly a desirable feature. It has become relatively cheap to have a wetsuit custom made for your body which ensures a comfortable fit and a tight seal. You can also have pockets sewn onto the suit for added practicality.

Final Thoughts

Wetsuits are a strange item of dive gear because they are both simple and amazingly complex at the same time. A good suit is something you put on without thinking, yet the thought that has been put into it is quite astonishing. If you pay attention to getting the right suit for the conditions then you will certainly reap the benefits of a warmer and safer dive!. If you’ve decided to buy a new wetsuit , just click on banner and choose the one which you like.

Have you just bought a cool (or warm) new suit? What features does your suit have that you couldn’t live without? Who, in your opinion, is the best suit manufacturer? What style of suit do you use for your location? Please share your thoughts with us by using the comment section below!

Happy (cosy) bubbles!

By Jamie Campbell

Join our facebook fan page and be part of our scuba community if you like our articles. Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/DailyScubaDiving

“He’s Just Misunderstood Is All”

As a dive instructor in the tropics I am asked on a nearly daily basis: “Are there sharks in the water?” to which I reply: “Yes, but they are small and harmless”, which immediately invokes the response: “But what if they get angry, or are hungry, or I intrude on their territory, or they have just lost their winning lottery ticket and are angry and try to KILL MEEEEEEE??!!!”

It's Time To Get Over That Fear, Otherwise You Might End Up As Liability When You're Down There!

So, for all those super-duper nervous types out there I implore you to get better informed about this must misunderstood animal. Look at the facts and arm yourself with knowledge, because ignorance about a subject is what leads people to make malformed opinions about things. This is a very bad trait in SCUBA diving because you need to keep a cool head when your down there. The fastest way I know of blasting through your air is to simply focus on the wrong things and get yourself worked up over nothing, anxiety leads to stress which leads to elevated physiological responses such as adrenaline release and increased breathing. What I’m saying here is there is no point in ruining a great dive by imagining Jaws coming at you from all directions, learn the basics, understand sharks and you will loose the fear.

And because I’m such a nice guy, I’ve compiled a list of interesting, surprising and enlightening facts about sharks which I’ve split into topics. I’ve intentionally included a list of facts relating to shark attacks to assuage your irrational fears. I’ve also highlighted my favorite facts by italicising them, some of them are really amazing!

General Information, Facts And Odd Behavior

Sharks do cool stuff and have been around for ages, so I felt we should start our shark tour with a little familiarization with the species as a whole.

Sharks have been around for about 400 million years – long before dinosaurs even existed.

Sharks will often eat other sharks.

The Whale Shark is the worlds biggest Shark and fish. It can reach the same length as one and a half buses!

He Might Have A Big Gob, But He's A Softy When You Get To Know Him!

The Mako Shark is known to leap clear out of the water, and sometimes into boats.

A Mako Shark Is A Stunningly Powerful Creature That Literally Launches Out The Water!

In Germany and Japan, shark skin was used on sword handles for a non-slip grip. (A shark sword is gonna make you the baddest guy on the block for sure!)

There are 355 confirmed species of Shark ranging in length from 15cm to 15 meters.

A fossil of a “cladoelache” is determined to be the oldest known ancestor of the Sharks. It is 350 million years old.

The Swell Shark, found in New Zealand, barks like a dog.

The smallest shark is the spined pygmy shark that grows to around 15cm long, the same size as a chocolate bar.

The Size Of A Chocolate Bar, But I Have A Feeling This Bar Might Nip Back!

Tiger sharks have such a varied diet they have earned the nickname ‘garbage can sharks’. They will eat almost anything they encounter in the water: bony fish, sharks, seabirds, turtles, lobsters, cats, dogs, number plates and octopuses.

The biggest sharks in the sea, the whale shark and the basking shark, are completely harmless. They feed on small shrimps that they strain from the water using their gills while swimming along with their huge mouths open.

Anatomy

There is a reason that sharks are so widely revered, feared and studied – their anatomy is a marvel of natural engineering, they are truly magnificent creatures!

Sharks have the most powerful jaws on the planet.

Sharks never run out of teeth – when one is lost another spins forward from the rows of backup teeth.

A shark may use over 30,000 teeth during its life.

A Shark Can Use Up To 30,000 Teeth In Its Life, I Think This Shark Has All Of Them At Once!

Two-thirds of a Sharks brain is dedicated to the sense of smell. Sometimes a shark is called “a swimming nose”, for its great sense of smell. Sharks can easily detect prey that is in the sand, as well as at night.

A shark also has a remarkable sensitivity to vibrations in the water. It can feel the movements made by other animals that are hundreds of feet away.  They can hear sounds from thousands of feet away. Sharks can tell the direction from where the sound is coming from, too.

Most species of sharks can swim up to 20-40 miles per hour. A Mako Shark has been recorded at more than 60 miles per hour.

A shark has three types of fins. They have two dorsal fins on their back, one fin beneath their body, called the pectoral fin (not all species have it), and the caudal fin is the tail.

Sharks are fishes, but unlike most fish their skeletons are made of cartilage, which is lighter and more flexible than bone.

Having No Bones Makes Sharks Ideal For Cuddling! (Though You Could Actually Cause The Shark Harm By Touching It, The Bacteria On Our Hands Is Harmful To Marine Animals)

Although fishes are generally cold blooded, some fast-swimming sharks maintain a body temperature higher than the sea water around them.

Sharks cannot hover in the water like a goldfish and they must keep swimming forward to stop themselves sinking. Some sharks, however, habitually lie on the bottom of the sea.

Shark skins are covered in tiny teeth called denticles. This helps them swim more efficiently. Speedo worked with scientists at the Museum to develop a high performance swimsuit that copied this idea from sharks.

Sharks have very different types of teeth depending on their diet. The grinding pavement teeth of the Port Jackson shark are used to crush sea urchins, invertebrates and small fish and the pointed teeth of the kitefin shark help it to eat fish.

Reproduction

Sharks aren’t just normal fish, they have different styles of reproduction too. The final fact in this section literally had me gasping “wow” out loud!

Baby Sharks are called pups.

Sharks do not care for their babies after they are born.

Some sharks can’t reproduce until the age of 20 or above.

Most sharks have six to twelve babies at a time, but the Hammerhead and Tiger Shark can have as many as 40 babies at a time.

Some sharks produce live young while others lay special egg-cases on the sea bed.

The sand tiger shark pups developing inside the mother will eat each other until just one survives. This is called intra-uterine cannibalism. Survival of the fittest…in the womb!

Shark Attacks

Ok, so here’s the really important part; you’ve just read how sharks are the fiercest predators in the sea and how they are basically unstoppable forces of nature, now you should read why they are simply not that dangerous. Bear in mind, any wild animal is a danger, and that all animals should be treated with respect so don’t take this next section as an excuse to go abusing sharks…it simply means that you can go and dive with them, and enjoy their grace and power:

The most harmless sharks tend to be the largest, such as the Basking Shark, the Whale Shark and the Megamouth Shark.

There are more reported attacks on humans by Great White Sharks than any other type of shark.

Jaws Was A Little Over-Exaggerated, If A Great White Comes At You The Just Push It Away!

Great White Sharks can go up to three months without eating.

More people are killed each year by pigs than by Sharks.

Sharks attack around 50 people each year worldwide, with perhaps 8-12 fatalities, according to data compiled in the International Shark Attack File (ISAF). To put that into context; think how many people go swimming in the sea off of one busy beach in one day… it would be hundreds, maybe thousands. Now think of how many beaches there are in one country, again hundreds. Now think of how many countries have beaches…then include divers, surfers, fishermen along with those swimmers and you are looking at more than a hundred million people that use the sea a year and of those people, around fifty people are harmed a year?! It’s hardly likely is it? This is the occasion where you have to let logic prevail over Hollywood, you just aren’t that likely to get attacked by sharks.

Of the 460 different kinds of shark in the world, only three occasionally attack humans, most feed on shellfish and small fishes. Crocodiles, dogs and pigs kill more people each year than sharks do.

Almost any shark 1.8 m or longer is a potential danger, but three species have been identified repeatedly in attacks: the Great white, Tiger, and Bull sharks. All three are found worldwide, reach large sizes and eat large prey such as marine mammals or sea turtles.

More attacks on swimmers, free divers, scuba divers, surfers and boats have been reported for the great white shark than for any other species. However, some 80% of all shark attacks probably occur in the tropics and subtropics, where other shark species dominate and Great white sharks are relatively rare.

Humans kill up to a hundred million sharks every year through fishing activities.

Final Thoughts

I put that last one in bold at the end there because that’s the only fact that I feel you must take away with you, sharks kill around ten people a year out of self defence and we kill up to a hundred million of them, that hardly seems fair to me. So, when you are next getting anxiety pangs about whether you will be attacked by sharks or not, just remember the sad and depressing fact that there is but a fraction of the animals left in the wild, so you probably won’t be lucky enough to see one…

Do you have an amazing fact about sharks that you love to share with folks on the boat? Have you ever dived with sharks, and if so what was it like? Are you still afraid of sharks, why? Please share your thoughts and feeling on the subject by using the comment section bellow.

Happy (well-informed) Bubbles!

By Jamie Campbell

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