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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A dive into the crystal-clear turquoise waters of the Caribbean provides the most breathtaking vertical wall terrains, world-famous mysterious wrecks, prolific sponge and coral composites, and a plethora of colorful marine life ranging from small tropical reef fish to larger pelagic fish, all mixed in with that legendary island vibe.

Moreover, Caribbean dives possess some of the most optimal scuba diving conditions on Earth with visibility being greater than 1200 feet. And as far as there are dive shops on almost all of the islands, it becomes easy to set up a dive trip when you are there. Dream about swimming amongst the colors of the sea? Head to the Caribbean!

Here are 3 dive spots you should not miss out in the Caribbean.

Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands, which include the famous Grand Cayman and its sister islands – Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, enjoy flawless year-round diving conditions, spectacularly beautiful reefs and over 140 wrecks, making it perfect spot for reef diving, wall diving and shore diving. Come face to face with exotic tropical fish. Discover the friendly stingrays, tarpons and manta rays that have made diving in Cayman legendary. Did I mention how warm the water is? Water temperatures hover between 80 and 85 degrees!!!

Turks and Caicos

Ranked as one of the premier diving locations in the world, the Turks and Caicos Islands warmly welcome divers to explore pristine reefs, abundant amazing flora and fauna and most of all great visibility reaching to 200 feet. The archipelago comprises over 40 islands, scattered at the southern tip of the Bahamas and is surrounded by one of the most extensive coral reef systems worldwide ideal for vertical wall diving. Popular dive sites include: Salt Cay, Pine Cay, North Caicos, Grand Turk and Providenciales Princess Alexandra National Park.

Photo credit to Stu Levine

Grenada

If you are less into marine life and more into wreck diving, then put Grenada on top of the list. This is another fine all year-round destination, which is regarded the ‘Wreck Diving Capital of the Caribbean,’ offering a wide variety for all experience levels from novice to advanced diver. Shallow coral gardens, fantastic range of unspoiled reefs and interesting wrecks and more… Make your scuba diving special…

Keep in mind that no matter which island you’ll choose, a Caribbean diving experience is one that you’ll never forget!

Photo credits to 1,2,3,4

Avid divers know what an amazing feeling it is to submerge into a world so different from our own. The underwater paradise is the only real frontier left to explore on the planet and even in frequently visited locations, like the Red Sea or Bunaken, you’ll have the opportunity to experience something unique, see fantastically colored fish and impossibly shaped coral reefs.

However, when you are scuba diving, you rely heavily on your sense of sight to take in all the beauty. This means that if live with a vision defect, such as nearsightedness or astigmatism, you will need prescription goggles or, if your wallet doesn’t stretch that far, a pair of contact lenses. So, there is no reason not to get the best experience every time you’re down in the water.

Using Contact Lenses when Diving

It is possible to wear glasses when scuba diving but it’s not the optimal choice when you’re also wearing a diving mask. What we would recommend is to wear contacts while diving. There are a couple of things to consider when you wear lenses underwater.

• If you experience mild discomfort, perhaps feel as if the lenses tighten a bit while you’re down, simply use lubricating eye drops before and after each session. This should relieve some of the irritation.
• Another thing to think about when diving with contact lenses is that you should blink as much as possible. In doing so you’ll prevent bubbles from forming underneath your lenses – these bubbles are in no way harmful to your eyes but they can cause minor discomfort and blur your vision.
• Also, when you clear your mask of water, remember to close your eyes so that you don’t lose your contact lenses!

Which Lenses to Wear

As most contact lens wearers know, there are two types of lenses; hard contacts and soft contacts. When diving, it is recommended to wear soft contacts, due to the fact that soft contacts contain a percentage of salt water which helps prevent them from floating off your eyes if they are open when you flood your mask. Hard contacts (gas-permeable) are more likely to simply disappear off your eye into the water, and it’s next to impossible to find a lost lens under water due to their inherent translucency. This is why you should always wear disposable lenses when doing water activities, since an eventual loss is not that great.

More to Think About

You shouldn’t worry about wearing contact lenses when scuba diving – it is perfectly safe. But, eye care experts suggest the following tips to keep in mind when using lenses

• When using contacts it’s important to ascend slower than normal.
• Wear soft contact lenses.
• Rinse lenses between dives to get the salt water out.
• Bring an extra pair if a problem should occur.
• Let your diving buddy know you’re wearing contacts so that he or she can retrieve your mask if you should lose it.

Other than this there is really nothing special to think about when hitting the water – simply dive right in!

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Exotic vacations are really popular these days and doing more adventurous activities with your off time can be really attractive. Not everyone likes the idea of just sitting around by a pool and you might want to spice up your trip with activities at Scuba Diving Resorts. It’s really easy to get the basics down if you have an instructor but most people don’t know that it takes a little more preparation than just strapping on a tank and going out and doing it.

First Thing’s First:

Many people aren’t aware that before you’re eligible to receive any training, you’ll need to first pass a medical exam performed by your doctor to ensure that you’re “swimming fit.” This is only a precaution so there are no issues that arise once you get in the water. So set up an appointment before you contact a trainer.

Contacting A Trainer

First you should look up any certified scuba instructors in the area. The resort or destination that you’re planning on visiting usually will offer these courses. Before you head out, see what kinds of classes and resources they have available for beginners.

Nailing The Basics

Getting down the basics is important and how much time you spend leaning obviously depends on your comfort level with water. You’ll need to learn how to use a oxygen tank and suit up but if you’re not that familiar with swimming then you defiantly need to go to a local gym or community center and refresh yourself on the basics of swimming.

Knowing Your Health:

People of almost any age are allowed to take scuba diving lessons. Age usually isn’t a problem but you should know that certain conditions preclude you from taking course. If you have a heart condition or asthma you might want to rethink doing this. First talk to a scuba diving professional to discuss any health concerns you may have. Usually it’s just a matter of being will and reasonably fit.

Seeking Professional Training:

As fun as scuba diving can be, it’s also dangerous. Under no circumstances should you get your training from a friend who isn’t professionally trained. Just because they took a couple classes or went diving on their last vacation does not mean that they’re qualified. Accidents aren’t common but they do occur and you want to be in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing and is trained for any eventuality, regardless of how remote the chance is.

Taking these basic steps and considerations is essential. Scuba diving is a awesome activity and an amazing experience but you should still take it seriously. Look for professional advice and make sure that you’re prepared. This will make for a better experience and safeguard yourself against anything going wrong.

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Generally scuba diving is not considered a dangerous sport. Of course, it’s a bit riskier than, for example, tennis or golf, but it’s far safer than zip lining or parachute jumping. Today you can easily find good modern scuba diving equipment that is reliable and will protect you from many dangers. Add the proper training, responsibility and sensibility – and you’ve almost nothing to be afraid of.

But of course, there are some dangers and risks involved in scuba diving. Some of those dangers lie within the diver, and the others lie the ocean and the environment. It’s very important to be informed about those risks and dangers and learn the ways to avoid them. Here are some tips that can help you:

1. Learn as much as you can about underwater, about the marine life in the area and about all possible dangers. Current info about weather forecast and the water conditions will also be very useful.

2. Diving alone isn’t quite a good idea, so it’s always better to dive with an experienced partner.

3. Always plan your dive ahead, and do everything according to your plan.

4. Check all your equipment before diving, make sure everything works properly. When everything is checked, recheck it.

5. Never drink alcohol before diving. It can cause many problems by affecting your blood pressure and your ability to think clearly.

6. If you have any health problems or are taking any medicine, consult your doctor before diving and dive only if the doctor says it’s safe for you.

7. Don’t hold your breath while diving. Try to breathe normally and descend slowly. Fast breathing can also harm you and your lungs.

8. Don’t panic under water. If any problem occurs, try to calm down and analyze everything. You can also ask your partner for help (that’s why I said it’s good to dive with a partner).

9. Many people think sharks are the main danger under water. It’s not really so, since shark attacks on divers are very, very rare, and if you dive in safe areas, you’ll probably be OK.

10. Never touch unknown plants, coral reefs or animals – they can be poisonous. If you get scratched or bitten by some animal or fish, return to the surface immediately and turn to a doctor.

11. If you’re not feeling well after diving, go to a doctor at once.

12. After diving, don’t fly for at least 12-24 hours.

There are many other dangers under water, so you should read as much as you can to keep your information up-to-date. Remember, most problems, injuries and deaths happen to those who were not well educated and were not ready to face the problems.

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There are some who say that all Open Water courses are basically the same. The fact is that they are not. There are major differences in a number of programs. You need to be honest with yourself and decide just how knowledgeable and skilled you wish to be at the end of your first class. If you want to be led around by a DM or Guide and not take responsibility for yourself there are a number of classes where you would be taught just enough to do this. These classes are quick, allow you to do mostly self study, or be taught by a program on a computer. You will have minimal face time with an instructor and receive just enough skills to survive under water. If you wish to do more than just be led around then you need to find a class that provides more than simple survival skills.

If you want to learn to dive my recommendation  is to find a class that will give you all the skills to safely plan, execute, and return from a dive with a buddy of equal skill and training and no professional in the water. You would be able to do this in conditions equal to or better than that in which you have been trained. It should give you the skills to assist another diver should something go wrong and help you develop your sense of responsibility to yourself and your buddy. Finally it should give you the confidence and judgment to know when a dive is beyond your skill, training, and experience and to call the dive should those conditions arise. The photo below shows conditions where the new OW diver would be better off calling the dive!

The class should contain all the elements that will fulfill these requirements. The class should begin with making sure you are comfortable in the water and most importantly can swim! This sounds obvious but there are some classes that allow divers to complete swim requirements wearing mask, snorkel, and fins. This is not swimming. Some say divers don’t need to know how to swim because they will have all that gear on. I find that a very dangerous attitude to take regarding swimming skills. Anyone who is going to be in, or for that matter, around water should know how to swim.

The class should include instruction in skin diving and snorkeling. It should cover kicks, mask clearing, snorkel clearing, and at least two types of skin dives. It should allow for practice time using these techniques. During this time it should also include instruction in and the use of proper buddy procedures. This is done by pairing students up and insisting they remain together during every exercise to reinforce the idea that when one is diving with a buddy they need to stay with them.

The classroom associated with this should introduce the student to basic diving history, the equipment used in snorkeling and skin diving, and a discussion about basic physics and physiology. Following this an introduction to the equipment of SCUBA should take place.

The next session in the pool is when they are introduced to SCUBA. It should start by first determining how much weight they need in whatever exposure suit they are wearing. The instructor should not be overweighting students for. Next the student should be introduced to breathing through the regulator on the surface. From this point on all skills are built upon each other. The pool session should focus on diver safety and comfort. This is done by taking basic skills and reinforcing them through practice and by adding to them. Increased task loading builds comfort and confidence while at the same time adding to the safety of the diver and of their buddy.

The classroom is where dive theory is passed on and explained. In my opinion this necessitates face to face discussion. Having a student take a book home, read it, and answer a few questions only to spend a few minutes reviewing them is not education. It is memorization and parroting what was in the book. The student may or may not get all the info but if not and they miss a detail that is not covered at a later time it could come back to hurt them later. When I have a student in front of me and am able to see their face and their eyes I get immediate feedback. I know if they are getting the material. I see the lights come and by the same token can see when they dim and I know that we need to slow down, stop, or review the material. Self study material should reinforce the material taught and prepare the student for the next session. It should not replace actual lectures and face to face discussions.

Many times students do not meet the instructor until the actual start of the class. Other classes may have more than one instructor teaching different portions of the course. If the instructors are not effectively communicating for any reason, content can be duplicated or even omitted. This is even more of an issue when it comes to pool training, especially during the first few sessions. Every instructor has their own style and methods for teaching the exact same skill. To start off one way and then have to switch to a different way is not a problem for students who are completely comfortable in the water and with the skill. For the student who has any kind of issue with basic skills this could prove to be a serious problem. My own experience tells me that the same successful approach to a skill for five people may not work with the sixth one. Often it has been necessary to modify the approach and even spend one on one time with a student in a private. In my classes one of the most important skills that I have seen students need this is in mask clearing.

Some OW instructors are satisfied when a student is able to perform this skill successfully one time. Not all new open water students are expected to perform the skill once and move on to something else. Some classes have students repeat skills over and over every session. They also add other tasks to be performed while doing the basic skill. This has the effect of getting a student comfortable with the skill in a number of different situations. My own class has students clearing and removing and replacing the mask at least 20 times before we get to open water. And this not the only skill this is done with. By the time students get to open water they should be able to perform all basic skills at any time during the checkout dives. And they should be able to do this while swimming, hovering, and not breaking trim.

This is the kind of training that makes SCUBA diving a much more enjoyable venture for everyone. When looking for a training course there should be a focus on courses that offer plenty of time to learn skills and time to practice them in the pool. A course that offers to get you through in four to six hours in the pool does not allow much time to just swim around and practice those new skills; especially if there are more than a couple people in the class because each skill takes time for each diver to perform. Class size is another factor to consider. Smaller classes insure that students have plenty of time to just swim and practice the new skills before moving on to something new and that’s the right way to learn to dive.

When selecting an initial certification class ask yourself what you plan to get out of it. Do you want to be able to dive with confidence and skill? Do you want to be able to plan a dive, dive that plan, and safely return from that dive on your own? Do you want to be able to go anywhere within the limits of your training and experience and not have to rely on someone else to keep you safe? Or is it enough that you receive the bare minimum necessary to survive underwater while under supervision? If so are you okay with hiring a private guide or Dive Master to watch over you? Because as we have seen earlier this is the only way you can insure that they will be looking after you and you alone. Are you also okay with the idea that if something happens to them that you may have to look after yourself and perhaps even rescue the guide? This is a very real possibility. And finally are you again okay with the idea that you are literally putting your life in the hands of a stranger? If you are ok with all of these things- I personally would never be- then by all means take the quick and easy course. However if you want to be responsible for yourself and perhaps your loved ones, determine how, when, where you will dive, and be assured in the knowledge that you can handle most any issue that comes up then I strongly suggest that you look into a comprehensive course that will contain all the knowledge and skills necessary to do those things. You may need to do some research to find them but they do exist and are readily available to those who wish to be safe, confident, and skilled divers who do not need to be watched over. I strongly encourage every diver- and diver to be – to do some research before signing up for an Open Water class. As I stated earlier not all training classes are the same. You will encounter other divers and even instructors who will tell you that the basic class of every agency has all the necessary information and training a new diver needs. And to an extent that is true. Where the truth takes a side road is when you start to determine what those entry level classes prepare you for. Do you want to be led or do you want to lead? I want to lead.

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Choosing an Instructor- They do work for you!

Many people choose an dive instructor with less thought than they give in choosing a new television. My question is why? A television does not hold your life in its hands. The instructor you choose in all reality does. Some do not even have a choice of who the instructor will be. They sign up with a large shop and the shop assigns the students to whoever has the next class. No pre-class interview, no quick personality check to see if they mesh well, and no opportunity for the dive instructor to assess the fitness and interests of the student. I, for the life of me, cannot fathom why anyone would accept this. When choosing an instructor you need to understand that what you are doing is hiring an employee. You are the employer not the shop, not the agency, not the dive resort. You are employing this person to teach you to survive in an environment that is hostile to human life. Why would you not put some serious thought into this? Why would you not interview this person and ask questions of him or her. Every agency has good instructors, great instructors, and some that are neither. So how do you find them? Here are a few things to consider. First of all how did you hear of them? Was it an ad in the phonebook, on line, or from a friend? All of which are good ways of finding an instructor but most times they don’t give a lot of information. Were you able to find reviews of the shop or its personnel? With the internet this is often possible. Are you able to talk to former students and get their impressions? An instructor who has nothing to hide or fear has no problem contacting former students and getting their permission to use them as references. If you go through a shop and they assign the instructor can you interview them first? If not, why not are you able to meet them before paying any money? If you can and they do not seem like a good fit can you change instructors? All of these should factor into your decision. Once you have satisfied yourself with these questions what should you ask of the instructor? Bearing on my own experience as a student and now as an instructor I can give you a list of questions. You may have others you wish to ask or there may be some on the list you may not wish to use. All of that is fine as long as you end up with an instructor who is a good fit, knows what they are doing, puts your interests first, and will give you the skills and knowledge necessary to dive safely and independently. So here are some questions to ask and why.

1. How long have you been teaching? A new instructor is not necessarily a bad thing. They may be up on the latest trends in teaching and have recent knowledge of new theories and science. An instructor who has been teaching a long time may be set in their ways and teaching out of routine. They do however bring many years of experience to the table. This leads to question 2.
2. How many places have you been diving? Why ask this? Simple really, divers – including instructors – are more likely to be better divers if they have a broad range of experience and are well versed in local diving. You would not want an instructor who has never been in cold water to teach you to dive in Minnesota in a drysuit! If you are going to dive in the Caribbean you would want someone who has experienced saltwater to teach you as opposed to one who has never been out of the lake or quarry.
3. When was the last time you were diving? I try to get into the water at least once a month. Year round. It does not always work that way but just like any diver an instructor needs to practice skills as much as anyone.
4. How often do you dive for fun? Several years ago I nearly gave up the professional route due to burn out. The only dives I was doing as a Divemaster were training dives for several months. No time to relax and just have fun. It became less and less enjoyable. I took a break. I stopped assisting with classes and just dove for fun. I took some classes of my own to expand my knowledge and skills in technical diving disciplines. I was recharged and realized that I did enjoy teaching and passing on my love of diving to others. BUT it had to be tempered with time for myself as well.
5. Do you dive with students after class has ended? The good instructor has no qualms diving with students they have trained and at no charge to the student. I want them to come on dives with me and other students. They set an example of divers who are actively diving and enjoying it.
6. Do you teach the panic cycle? Panic can kill a diver. It is brought on by stress. Stress is created by a diver being uncomfortable with a given situation. This feeling can be minimized by addressing the causes in confined water and in the classroom. In so doing the various stress triggers can be pointed out and ways of dealing with them passed on. This is called breaking or interrupting the panic cycle. Not every course offers this critical piece of education and it should be determined if the instructor does offer it.
7. Is your class schedule set or flexible? In some cases the schedule is set by the shop. This may work for some people. But I have found that many students require more flexibility due to work, school, kids, or all of the above. Many independent instructors can tailor classes around the students schedule at little or no extra cost.
8. What agency do you issue certifications through? While most all agencies are recognized around the world there are some that are better known. And not just because of size. Some agencies have a reputation for producing skilled divers who need little or no supervision. Others do not have the same reputation. In addition there are agencies that do not teach all that others do to open water students. Their courses are not as comprehensive and leave out what some consider to be essential skills and knowledge.
9. How much time is required for the course? A comprehensive course cannot and should not be taught in two weekends.
10. What equipment do you provide and what do I as the student need to supply? Some courses supply all gear while others require the students to supply things like mask, snorkel, fins and boots. The shop I work with allows students to try out those items in the pool before they buy them. There is no reason to spend money on gear that you soon find out does not fit or is not quite right for your style of diving. We have different fins, masks, snorkels, and boots all in the pool area for students to use and determine what is best for them.
11. Where do you do your checkout dives? Most instructors and shops have certain sites they use for checkouts. Some are free, others are not. You need to ask if you will be responsible for any entry or boat fees.
12. Do you have references – former students that I can talk to? More than one is preferable.
13. Can I sit in on a class or pool session? If the instructor has a class going on they should have no problem with you sitting in or observing a class.
14. What methods do you use to teach proper weighting? They should not be overweighting students
15. Do they teach skin diving skills? One of the most basic things for building comfort in the water is to teach students basic swimming and skin diving skills. In fact a good class will make sure that students are comfortable in the water by using the swimming and skin diving portion to gauge their comfort level.
16. How many people will be in the class? This is important because the more students in a class the less individual attention. Even if the instructor has certified assistants he or she is still responsible for your instruction. In addition a large class often leaves less time for students to just swim around and get comfortable with new skills.
17. Will I have time to just swim and practice the skills we learn? If the instructor goes through the skills, has the student do them, and then moves on to something else with no practice time it is often not sufficient to make the student fully comfortable and confident with what they are doing. Practice time is essential.
18. Do you teach skills kneeling or will we be doing them horizontal? This is another important point to clarify since divers do not dive in a vertical position. There is a small but growing trend to get divers out of the “praying I survive this” position as I call it. Basic skills are easier in a horizontal position and it does in fact create less stress on the diver if they are not falling over backwards. My own OW class and classes I assisted with before adopting the horizontal training methods invariably had students trying to kneel in the water with SCUBA gear on. Already nervous people were trying to kneel with gear on and some were flailing about trying to stay upright. This resulted is some getting upset enough to come close to bolting for the surface. I have found that if students on SCUBA are taught to descend horizontally from the beginning this stress trigger is much lessened or even eliminated.
19. Some other questions you need to ask can also include more in-depth question about what courses they offer, how they are taught, if classroom is involved or if you have to “teach yourself” the theory behind the dives and why they are done? Students who are paying for education should receive an education. From an instructor. They should not be at home teaching themselves the theory.
20. As you ask these question pay attention to the answers you get and more importantly how you get them. None of these questions are out of line. The instructor should be more than willing to answer all of them patiently and completely. He should also be willing to allow you to compare his course with others in the area. I have in my library the standards for 6 different agencies – any student or potential student is welcome to see them at any time and compare them with the instruction they are receiving from me.

Again, remember that what you are doing is indeed hiring an employee; an employee that is working for you. If you are interviewing an instructor to teach you and your children or just your children there may be even more questions. And there should be. Not everyone is good with kids. They can have special challenges – shorter attention spans, less tolerance to cold, they may tire more easily, and these all need to be considered. I actually plan on extra class and pool time when teaching kids just to address these issues. In short when choosing an instructor or class put the same effort into it that you would if you were hiring an employee. They really are working for you.

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When we think of Safe Diving Practices what comes to mind? Diving with a buddy at all times? Not going beyond your training and experience? Not diving in conditions that could be hazardous? Certainly these are some very good ones, but as we will see in this article safe diving practices start before we even get near the water. Perhaps long before when we have only just decided to take up the sport.

At some point you decided to take up scuba. Hopefully when you made this decision you considered whether you could afford the time and money that it required, and whether it’s something really want. Since you’re reading this, you most likely answered yes. Perhaps without realizing it, you already started using safe dive practices by getting the proper training from a qualified instructor or at least doing the research to find one.

Continuing to have this mindset will go a long way towards making sure your diving is safe and enjoyable for years to come, as you commit yourself to never going beyond your training and experience. Will you be ready to do any dive you wish after your first class? Of course not, but by continuing to get experience and seeking out qualified instruction the limitations as to where, when, and how you dive will be replaced by more options.

I also hope you have asked yourself if you are physically, emotionally, and mentally able to take on the challenges of scuba diving. Ideally you’ve had a physical within the last year or two, are in relatively good shape, use tobacco or alcohol only in moderation if at all, and try to get some type of exercise on a somewhat regular basis. This can be a demanding sport and being in good physical condition, although you don’t need to be a super athlete, can help you avoid injury, reduce the amount of stress symptoms, and insure you have fun as well as be safe.

Diving can be mentally demanding as well. You are about to undertake a sport where you will be using scuba gear to exist in what to most people is a hostile environment. Hostile, in that we cannot breathe water; we must rely on mechanical means to exist there. As such we need to realize that at some point something could- though it is rare- go wrong and we will need to be able to get out of the situation in order to avoid being injured. For some, this can be a little much. The equipment can seem complicated at first and to some, confining. The mask may bring uneasiness in those who tend to be claustrophobic. Poor visibility can do the same. Such people may need to make adjustments as to type of gear and when they will or will not dive, or even consider another sport.

You may also need to consider if any medications or treatments you are taking are not contraindicative to diving. Anything that makes you sleepy, have trouble staying focused or concentrating, or is used to control a condition that may be less than friendly to diving may cause you to reconsider this activity as well. At all times the use of recreational drugs and excessive alcohol consumption should be a clear indication that you and diving do not mix. The object of this is not to take away from your fun but to increase the enjoyment you will get from scuba. Even moderate use of alcohol at the wrong time can present a serious risk to your safety. In addition smoking increases your risk factors for a number of complications. I personally prefer to not train those who smoke but evaluate each person on a case by case basis. If a person cannot get through a 2 hour class or pool session without a cigarette it is best they find someone else to train them.

Once all of these factors have been considered, taken into account, and answered so that there is nothing to preclude you from pursuing this then we can go into the practices that relate directly to going into the water. We have already touched on training, but let’s go into it with a little more detail. In a beginner class you have learned or will learn many new skills, practices, and a lot of information. You should also have learned how to use the gear you’ll be wearing, how it functions, how to adjust and care for it and how to inspect it. You should have learned how to enter and exit the water safely whether from shore or a boat, and move through it efficiently and with seemingly little effort. You also learned how to plan your dive and know when it’s time to end it, or even not go into the water in the first place. There are times when the best plan involves saying no to diving that day.

Let’s take a typical open water dive as an example. As a new diver you’ll need several things. You’ll need gear, of course, water, a plan as to what you are going to do and most importantly a buddy or teammate. The last item mentioned is without a doubt the most important to a new and even experienced diver. Safe diving necessitates that we don’t take chances. Diving with a buddy insures that there is someone there to assist us with planning the dive, gearing up, perhaps entering and exiting the water, and being able to handle any unforeseen situations that may arise. We will get into more detail on buddies in a later chapter.

You will hear of or perhaps even see divers going it alone or diving “solo.” Many times this is not talked about and I’m not going to go into detail here or get in the fight as to whether it is right or wrong. Some consider it a form of technical diving in itself and it should only be undertaken by those with the proper experience, training, equipment, and mindset. As a new Open Water diver you have none of these. So while you may see it, make no mistake, it is not for you.

Back to the typical OW dive. Before you even consider going in you must first decide if the conditions are right for the dive. Do you have the training and experience for this dive? Does your buddy? If so then you need to start preparing for it. How? By going through a kind of checklist if you will. First of all you’ve decided the dive is within your limits as far as training and experience goes. Now, do you have the gear for the dive? You will need to determine if you need anything beyond the basics: A mask, fins, snorkel, boots, and proper exposure protection are a start. You’ll need a BCD, regulator with an alternate air source or octopus, necessary gauges or computer, weights, and of course, an air supply- your tank sometimes called a cylinder.

You’ll also need to be familiar with how these things function. Now, in order to do the dive safely do you need anything else? Will you need a reel or line? A light? Sometimes even on daylight dives a light is nice for looking under things and can be used for signaling. Do you need a compass? To my way of thinking, compass use should be a core skill of the competent diver. We’ll look at basic navigation skills later. Will you need some type of signaling device for under water or on the surface? Will you need a cutting tool? Here’s a hint, if you dive where people fish it’s a good idea to have a small knife or EMT shears with you.

Now that you’ve determined you have everything you need, before you go into the water, where are you? Is there help available on shore? Is there EMS service available should an accident occur, and do you know how to contact them? This is not to put a damper on your day of fun as these are things you should consider to make your diving safe. Now that all of these items are checked and okay, it’s time to get in the water! But wait…no it’s not! Now you have to decide what kind of dive you are going to do. Is there a purpose for the dive or is it just to have fun and relax, which in itself is a very good purpose for diving. Let’s say that it’s a fun dive from shore to just relax and maybe work on a few skills, which by the way you should try to do on every dive. You need to have a plan before you even think about getting in.

How long is the dive going to last? When will you end it? Where will you be going and how will you get there? How long the dive will last depends on a number of factors: How much air you have, how deep you will be going, the water temp, and how long you want the dive to last. Once you’ve answered these questions, the next step is to plan the dive. At this point you’ll start the formal planning by using either the dive tables you’ll learn (or have learned) to use in the class or by using your computer if predive planning is one of its functions. Even if you use your computer it’s a good idea to also plan the dive using tables as a backup in the event your computer batteries die, it floods, or for some other reason ceases to function. You and your buddy will also agree upon a course, what you’ll do in the event you get separated or one of you has a problem, and what signals you’ll use to communicate. You may also decide to do a surface swim to the area you wish to dive and then descend or just go the whole way under water. All of this is necessary to keep potential surprises to a minimum. Generally, the fewer surprises, the safer the dive is. Dives off of a boat will involve additional details that need to be checked into but that’s another topic.

Safe diving practices dictate that once you plan your dive, then you dive your plan. Major variations in the dive plan once you’re underwater should only occur in exceptional circumstances. Minor ones are to be expected perhaps due to changing currents, visibility being better or worse than expected, water colder or warmer, or perhaps a new feature has been added to the site and requires a little more time. As long as the overall plan is adhered to and the changes are agreed upon by all parties, these may be acceptable. However any questions or doubts as to the change negate that change. If your buddy does not want to change the plan then you have two choices. Continue on the original plan or end the dive. And remember any diver may end a dive at any time with no explanation necessary. Once the decision is made to end it, it ends. Period!

Now that you have a plan agreed upon by all, it’s time to gear up and enter the water. At this point you should have determined the safest entry and exit, agreed upon it, and be ready to go. Next thing is to gear up. Here is where your buddy comes in very handy! Gear can be heavy and having someone help you with putting it on makes it easier while avoiding unnecessary strain and injury. Have your buddy help lift and hold your tank/BC/regulator assembly while you put it on. Then do the same for him/her. Next, go over each other’s gear looking for loose hoses, clips, releases, and other things that may be dangling or not properly fastened or secured. In the event a problem occurs and you or your buddy needs to remove the others gear it is necessary that you each be familiar with the others set up. Check to be sure the air is fully on and that the power inflator is connected and works; your buddy will then do the same for you. The pre-dive or buddy check is perhaps one of the biggest safety precautions you can undertake. An extra set of eyes may prevent a problem from occurring that could result in serious consequences. You’ll then verify each others air supply, be sure it’s on, and that your regulators are functioning as they should. You’ll also check to be sure you each have your weight system on, properly placed, and fastened.

Being properly weighted goes along way towards diving safely. Too much weight can cause overexertion, while too little can leave you unable to control your ascent; the latter risk is also an issue if you lose weights while diving because they were not properly secured. Safe diving practices dictate that you determine the proper amount of weight you’ll be using either through experience or by doing a buoyancy or weight check at the beginning of your dive. It is also a good idea that once you’ve determined this that you make a record of it for future reference. We will look at how to adjust for proper weighting and trim later.

Now you should be ready to don your mask and fins and begin your dive. The first thing you’ll do when you enter the water is to do a bubble check to be sure there are no leaks in your air supply/regulator assembly and your BC. Satisfied that everything is a go, you’ll note the time, your air pressure, your buddy’s air pressure, and begin the dive. If everything goes according to plan you’ll enjoy a safe, fun, and perhaps even exciting experience.

This is just one example of a typical OW dive using safe diving practices. There are many others and the more you dive the more you will need to adjust to varying conditions, new gear, and even new buddies. But as long as the basic practices are adhered to, each dive should result in more enjoyment, a greater appreciation for the underwater world, and you becoming a better diver. Once again the basics are:

1. Determine that this is what you want to do
2. Make sure you are in good physical, mental, and emotional health. Be sure there are no reasons that would indicate you are not suited for diving
3. Be sure that you can devote the time necessary for proper training and instruction
4. Get your training from a quality Instructor
5. Once trained never dive beyond your training and experience
6. Should you wish to extend your dive range get the proper instruction and experience to do so
7. Plan your dives and dive your plan
8. Be sure you have the necessary gear and that it’s in good condition.
9. Avoid overhead environments until trained and equipped to enter.
10. Dive with a buddy or teammate at all times and be familiar with his/her gear and skills, check each other’s equipment while gearing up and make any fixes before you get in the water.

11 Don’t let anyone talk you into taking shortcuts in training or into doing dives you may have doubts about. This is a biggie, some dive operations have a reputation for taking open water divers deeper than they should go, into areas they are not trained for, and on dives that are beyond the skills and abilities of their divers. Don’t let peer pressure put you in a situation that you are not ready for. You mom told you this when she said “If Joey Smith jumped off a cliff would you do it too?”

12 Never forget that at any time, for any reason, you may end a dive without going into a long explanation as to why. A simple “It did not feel right to me,” is more than sufficient reason, but if you’re not confident in saying that try, “I couldn’t equalize,” or “My ears started bothering me.” These reasons are usually accepted by others without question.

These are the basics; as you progress in your diving you will need to add to them. Deeper dives, different environments, or an upgrade of equipment may require you to add more, but at no time should you do less. Your confidence will increase as you gain experience, get more certifications, and dive different places. Don’t let any of these things make you complacent, however. Getting so relaxed and confident that you start taking shortcuts or forgetting the basics altogether could have very serious, potentially lethal consequences. That’s a strong statement which is not meant to scare you, but to reinforce what was stated at the beginning of this article: Scuba is a fun, exciting, and safe activity as long as you follow the rules. The fact remains that you are entering an environment that is hostile to human life without life support gear . It is exciting, wonderful, enchanting, new, and different, but it’s been said that the sea is a harsh mistress. Respect her and treat her kindly and she’ll show you wonders you could previously only dream of. Lose that respect, ignore your training, or fail to practice Safe Diving Procedures, however, and she may turn and bite you. Perhaps even cost you your life.

It is essential for Open Water students to keep these ideas in mind so that they can conduct safe dives independently. The message to often is that scuba is all fun, excitement, and relaxation. To a large degree it is, but there are essential issues that need to be considered before we jump into that fun, exciting, and relaxing environment; we will look at a number of these issues in the following chapters. It is my sincere hope that this work will not only make you a safer diver but also one who is more informed. Safety cannot be overemphasized when it comes to scuba. Some of the ideas in the following pages may seem restrictive or even a bit over the top, based on some training programs and the way they are conducted today. The only intent here is to keep you from getting hurt or worse.

This work was inspired by a project in which I evaluated a number of accidents that resulted in fatalities among new and newer divers. The results were sobering. In each case, the cause of the incidents I investigated could be traced directly back to a lack of training or inadequate reinforcement of that training. During this process my late wife observed the disturbing effect these findings had on me. She made me promise to never let an unprepared diver in the water with my name on their certification card. I will keep that promise as long as I teach people to enter the world beneath the waves.

By James Lapenta

Scuba Educators International Instructor # 204

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Computer Vs. Tables

I tap my air gauge to indicate that I’d like to know my buddy’s air situation, he signals back that he’s still got over a hundred Bar, I look at my gauge and see that I’m also over a hundred, so I signal that we could head a little deeper to investigate the ship’s lower decks if he wanted to – they didn’t look that interesting on the dive map so we didn’t plan for them, but from down here they look very inviting – my buddy agrees with me and gives the “ok”, so we descend…

The situation described above is a fairly normal situation when diving a site you don’t know. You may have looked at maps of the site, but ultimately you won’t know where you want to go until you’re down there. The problem with this is that if you don’t know where and, more to the point, how deep you wish to go then your planning on the RDP (Recreational Dive Planner) counts for very little because it will constrict you to an inflexible dive profile that might not meet the type of dive you want to do. For the guys described in the passage above they would be diving beyond their scheduled dive plan which could cause them real problems once they surface.

The modern diver doesn’t interact much with the RDP these days. The closest most divers get to using the tables is during their open water course, or their nitrox course, and even this will come to an end soon (PADI will be phasing in the computer-only open water course in the next couple of years). And yet, for all that a novice diver will think he is not using the RDP, he will be using it every time he dives, because all dive computers use the tables for their basic model. In essence, the computer is just an electronic RDP calculator with a depth gauge, stopwatch and memory all combined into one unit. There is no ground breaking technology in it, yet it is the most researched and refined piece of gear you will find in your equipment bag.

Still Used In All Dives, The RDP Lives On In Computers Rather Than Slabs Of Plastic...

So Jamie, How Does It Work?

Em… ahem…you see…there’s a gauge right, and a…a…and it’s very complicated, you wouldn’t understand it!

Although it is very complicated (for the designers), it is also very simple (for us, the users). As the diver begins his descent the computer starts the stopwatch, this is the actual bottom time. It also begins to take readings of depth at frequent intervals (usually around twenty a second, though you can normally set it to be more or less often). For each reading it takes, it gets its tiny RDP out and does the calculation just as we do in our open water course. It then jots down the current nitrogen level in our body and also states how much more bottom time we have left at this depth. If we stay at this depth the computer will keep doing its RDP sums and count down our bottom time, if we descend further it will see that we are deeper and start doing maths to find out how much less time we have. So basically you have a little man inside your computer who is crazy fast on the ol’ RDP and he does constant and corrective calculations that give you an accurate statement of your current levels of nitrogen and how much longer you can stay at that depth…. Does that sound plausible?

You Feed The Little Man Through The Tube On The Left...

Which Computer’s Best?

Obviously everyone wants to know which model is best, to save them buying a duff product. The odd thing about dive computers is that, even though there are certainly “better” products, the actual dive computers are mostly all the same or similar. The real differences between them are how they display the information, how easy they are to use, how it looks, and what additional features the designers have managed to squeeze in. The computer’s ability to calculate remaining bottom time is generally fairly standard nowadays (with mild variations in accuracy, the mathematical model used and how conservative they are).

The answer then, is that none of the computers are better than the others, but there are plenty of reasons that you’d choose one computer over another. I’ll look into what those reasons might be throughout the rest of this article.

Take Your Pick...All Computers Ultimately Aim To Do The Same Thing!

What Does It Mean If My Computer Is Conservative?

It means your computer believes in marrying before having sex, and thinks knee length skirts are too short! Well, not really, most computers are actually very liberal and into free love and support progressive government propositions!

But in a diving sense (which is why we’re here after all), a conservative computer is one that will either give more warnings, give warnings earlier or read as though you have been deeper or have less bottom time. To put it simply, a conservative computer is a very nervous, safety conscious computer that would like to err on the safe side rather than take risks. This might sound like exactly the kind of computer you’d want, who wouldn’t like to be more safe on their dive? The answer here is that an overly conservative computer will likely drive you to insanity before you’re more than ten minutes into the dive. A twitchy computer will beep if you move your arm up too fast, it will make you do double the safety stops your fellow divers will do and you’ll end up loosing a big chunk out of your bottom time.

The key is to get a computer that has variable levels of conservatism so you can set it to a level that suits your circumstances (if you are very overweight, for instance, it might be prudent to put the computer on a more cautious setting).

Wrist Vs. Console

This is a less pressing debate now than it was ten or even five years ago because computers of today are much more compact, so there is less of an issue putting it on your wrist as it was before.  It is less a piece of gear, as a very functional piece of jewellery.

The question is, do you want the convenience of having your computer built into your regulator (usually in place of a SPG) so that you can’t forget or loose it, and you get the added benefit of having air readouts and calculations displayed on the same screen. Or, do you take the lighter, more easily read and more fashionable watch-style computer that now has the ability to take air readings too (in some cases)?

The question isn’t as pressing as it once was, but the customisation of gear is the mark of an experienced diver, and this is a personal choice that will make a tangible difference to the way you interact with your computer.

Which One? Doesn't Matter As Much As It Once Did...

Essential Features

This is a short list of the features that most modern dive computers come with as standard, you can use this as a glossary of terms so you know what you’re looking at when staring at the back of the box in the dive store.

• Clear Display – This is pretty much priority number one for me, if the screen is jumbled, illogical or too small then I will not be able to fully interact with the computer on a natural level. The computer must be able to plainly display all the information you need throughout the dive in a basic and concise format. Avoid busy screens, choose a large, simple display.
  

  As Screen Technology Gets Better, The Displays Can Show More - Colour Screens Are The Next Trend

• Intuitive Menu System – For similar reasons as I require a logical screen setup, I need to be able to select functions, view different data and adjust settings in a coherent and rational manner. Again, simple menu systems work better for this than ten button, IQ test, Rubix Cube puzzle systems.
• Alarms – When you’re diving you’re down there to experience the underwater world and see as much as you can, you certainly don’t want to be diving with your face attached to your computer screen. This is why alarms are useful, they will tell you if you are reaching maximum bottom time, your predefined time limit or ascending too fast. Alarms let you dive, not watch a screen underwater.
• Backlight – Simple, you want to see your computer on night dives and in bad viz? Get a good back light that will operate for long enough to let you fully read the display.
• Comfortable – You will be wearing this wrist-top computer for at least two hours on the day you dive, and if you’re like me you’ll leave it on between dives. Make sure you test how comfortable it is (some are really bulky and very uncomfortable).
• Thermometer – It might seem like a frivolous feature that is only for curiosity’s sake, but a thermometer is useful for lots more than just telling your friends how cold it was on your ice dive! A thermometer can help you work out your temperature tolerance (look in the log book, see that last time you dived in twenty degrees you wore a five millimetre and you were cold, now you know to take a seven millimetre suit) or it can give you an idea of what wildlife will be around, or not.
• Ascent Rate Indicator – One of the most used features on a computer, this monitors how fast you go up. If you go too fast it will warn you so you can slow down. This is great for letting you relax as you ascend, if the computer is reading green then you can just enjoy the last of your dive, not stress about the ascent.
• Safety Stop – Another important feature of a computer is to alert you to mandatory and non-mandatory stops, at what depth and for how long. It will give a countdown and an ideal depth for you to rest at. There will be another alarm if you ignore the safety stop and it will send you to bed with no dinner (a computer can be a real nag!)

Desirable Features

This is a list of things that you might be interested in looking out for when choosing your next computer. Some are more useful than others, there is a fine line between throwaway gimmick and essential tool.

• Air Integration – I briefly mentioned this earlier, essentially it allows your computer to monitor your air supply and not only display how much you have, but how much more time you have left breathing at the rate you are presently and the current depth. The accuracy of this is a little dubious and for most divers it is unnecessary because they can calculate their own air supply. If you are looking at using air integration with your wrist computer then you will need to buy a separate wireless transmitter that attaches onto your regulator first stage. These little devices can cost a fortune! The value of such an item is very subjective.
  

  Air Integration Can Add A Lot To Your Dive, And A Lot To Your Credit Card Bill...

• Compass – Compasses in dive computers are both potentially useful and generally pointless. The fact that you can house a digital compass in the computer is very exciting, and as a backup it’s great. But, the format that it is displayed in is so unnatural that I always end up reverting to my Suunto and working old-school. Once they manage to get the display of the digital compass to equal that of an analogue compass then this will be an excellent feature.
  

  The Digital Compass Is Currently Just a Backup, Hopefully They Can Make It A Replacement...

• Large and Useful Logbook – This isn’t so much a feature as a general requirement. All computers have a logbook but some are hard to use, hard to read and are too small. A logbook should be something you briefly look at, recall the data and put away, not spend an hour mining the information out piece by piece. It should also be big enough to store a two week dive holiday’s dives (at least forty hours worth in my opinion)
• Gas Switching and Nitrox Support – This feature is becoming more essential as time and the dive industry progresses. It is also becoming more prevalent in the average computer, it is almost a standard feature now. Because divers now dive breathing gas blends and more than one mix of gas there is a need for the computer to work using different parameters. If this gas switching and mix entering is easy then it makes a complicated thing very simple, which is a good thing when divers are concerned.
• Computer-to-PC Connectivity – This is another trend on the marketplace that will only become more common, not less. People are used to uploading and downloading their personal information onto the computer and internet (look at what we do with our personal digital pictures and what we write about ourselves online). This goes for dive logs too. A dive log program will display graphs of dive profiles and maps of dive destinations, and it will also allow you to post your dives online, for all the community to see!
  

  Plug It In And Post It To The Internet! That's The Modern Diver's Motto!

Final Thoughts

The dive computer has now been around for so long that it is no longer a luxury item that only wealthy and experienced divers used. Even divers on a budget can now buy high quality, feature-packed computers from well known brands – they’ve become that mainstream. This isn’t a random act of capitalism at work here, it’s a simple case of supply and demand – divers like having the freedom to adjust their dive profiles on the fly without having to worry about DCS creeping up on them. They also like having control over their data, and the computers that are coming onto the market are offering them new ways to manipulate, record and view their dive information. It’s the electronic age and diving is no exception!

Do you have a favourite dive computer? What features do you look for when choosing a new computer? Have you ever had one fail on you? Do you shun computers in favour of old fashioned tables? Please share your thoughts and experiences with us using the comment section below.

Happy (logged) Bubbles!

By Jamie Campbell

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Everybody Is An Expert…

There is a rule on every dive boat that is neither written nor spoken, yet every diver abides by it: if you perceive yourself to be a more experienced diver then you must thrust your advice onto the novice diver, whether it is sought or not. Usually this makes for either an enlightening discussion or, at least, a nice ice breaker…but sometimes you meet “that guy” who traps you at the coffee station on the boat and doesn’t let you go until he has imparted every single ounce of his hard earned wisdom onto you. The worst thing that can possibly happen to a fresh and eager Open Water student on his last day of the course is to get trapped into a lecture from two old divers who “have been in it since the beginning”. These guys will undermine instructors, give twisted advice and, worst of all, “teach” the kid how to breathe on SCUBA.

Many Of The "Old Guard" Would Have You Believe They Were Good Buddies With Cousteau Himself!

This is a problem because breathing is as personal and unique as a fingerprint. It is directly controlled by the most primitive section of the brain and it is one of the first things to respond when the body or mind get excited in any way. Regaining conscious control of this most primal of functions is a personal challenge that cannot be taught. The tricks and tips that most old salty divers give is often counterproductive because it is forcing an unnatural rhythm onto the body and mind.

What I’d like to do here is try to give advice that you can modify to meet your own personal needs. These are not gospel truths, but handy tips that can help you maximise your bottom time and relieve the some of the stress of worrying about being the diver that cuts the dive short for everyone else. Don’t worry about your air consumption, it can be improved – my air was a constant concern for me throughout my Divemaster Trainee course because I knew that I was expected to come up with more air than my divers, and I’d come up with the same as them. By the end of my DMT my air consumption was much better, purely by practicing and exploiting these tips.

This list is in reverse order, though you may find anyone of them is the key to vastly improving your air consumption.

10. Avoid Currents/Cold/Bad Viz

This is a difficult tip for some to follow, especially if you dive in Northern Europe regularly! Bad conditions are a part of diving, and they make diving in clear, warm water feel extra special. The problem is that for almost all divers it’s hard to stay calm and control their breathing if they can’t see their hand in front of their face or have to swim hard to get to where they are going against heavy current. Air consumption is always affected by the cold, and by that I mean how cold you are, not the sea. You could be diving an ice dive in near freezing water and be nice and toasty in your dry suit and three layers of thermal clothing, alternatively you could be diving in thirty degree Celsius water and get chilled to the bone in twenty minutes because you’ve had to sit still waiting for your student to finish his skills. If your body gets cold then your air consumption will suffer.

The moral here is to ensure you are prepared for bad conditions (and good ones) by being well versed in the techniques required to dive safely, and by having the appropriate equipment for the job. If you do this then your air is sure to improve.

9. Stay Shallow

Another tough trick to follow when you’re a deep freak. Many divers are scuba jockeys purely so they can get ridiculously deep and feel the buzz. The problem for some of these guys (especially the big ones) is they suck air down at a crazy rate. When you go deep the air compresses and you end up sucking much more air out of the tank than at the surface. The answer here is to ensure the diver stays shallow right? Wrong. If the diver wants to go deep but his air consumption is useless then the best thing he can do is ensure that on the travel dive (to and from the deep spot) he stays very shallow and then descends straight to the deep site (near vertical descent and steep ascent). This will allow him to maximise his deep bottom time and stop him from wasting it on a lengthy descent. Acquired cake and consumed it!

8.Maintain Your Gear

Dive equipment is a strange set of tools because it is extremely important that they all function seamlessly with one another and are in perfect condition, yet many people abuse their gear as though it were a pair of work boots i.e. little or no maintenance. If your gear is left to sit in a shed, garage or dive shop for a long time, or you use it regularly but don’t clean and service it often then you will eventually come across serious leaks. These leaks are often ignored because the diver has dived with them for a while, but they can have a grave impact on your rate of air depletion (especially if you go deep – leaks get bigger as you go down). It takes very little time to rinse your gear after a dive, ensure the O-rings are all fresh and to put your gear into a shop every six months or so for a full service.

Regular, Light Maintenance Of Seals And O-rings Will Save Air And Prevent Complications On A Dive.

7. Watertight Mask

This tip is close to my heart because it took me a full ten dives to realise that my air was going down so fast because I was constantly clearing my mask. My problem was that I had a short beard which was letting in a fair rate of water (about half a mask full every minute) and I was taking regular deep breaths and exhaling through my nose which meant I was loosing loads of breathing time. The solution was simple when I realised my problem and I shaved myself back to my boyish look. I could have used Vaseline to create a seal between my beard and mask, but I’m simply not that vain to worry about my looks – the designer stubble was sacrificed for the greater diving good. Novice divers also often don’t realise that there are many masks out there that are better or worse than their current mask because they’ve only ever owned one, these guys would be rewarded with more air for doing a little research and checking to see if they can find a better seal with another unit.

6. Refine Your Fin Technique

Most instructors are excellent at fully breaking down the various pieces of equipment in a scuba setup, yet they often forget that most people have never used a pair of fins. These newbies tend to get the hang of the fins quickly, but their techniques are usually fairly stilted and inefficient. For those divers that have got a bit of experience and are looking to get into diving as a serious pursuit then I urge you to begin practicing with new finning styles. The style that works for you depends on the diver’s body shape, their fitness, the type of fins they are using and the circumstances. In my case I was floundering with my new fins (Jetfins) until I forced myself to learn how to frog kick with fins. Now I am very efficient, fast, controlled and strong with my fins which has had a great effect on my air consumption. Try other fins and new finning techniques to find what works for you. The key is to be smooth with whatever style you choose, water moves well when it flows, but is like concrete when you try to jerk against it.

5. Good Buoyancy

Like refining your swimming style it is also important that you optimise your buoyancy control. The better you are able to manage your position in the water, the less effort you will require to compensate by swimming up or down. Most new divers swim at a forty-five degree angle with their head up or their feet up, this means that half of their swimming power is being used to keep them at their chosen depth (which means that a large quantity of their air is being wasted). If a diver can stay horizontal at the depth they require then they will use less energy and less air.

It is also important to think about weighting. If a diver is poorly weighted then they may float in a strange orientation (and waste their swim power again as above) or if they are too heavy then they will need to inflate their BCD to compensate for the added lead. This inflated BCD restricts your movements and creates excess drag. Perfect weighting means an almost empty BCD at the bottom and a streamlined profile, which means less effort, more air in the tank and longer dives…

Perfect Buoyancy Helps To Point Your Fins In The Right Direction, Which Is More Efficient And Thus Saves Air...

4. Fitness

Here’s a shocker: big, unhealthy guys and gals use more air than slim and healthy dudes (quick! Alert the press!) It’s no surprise, and I doubt many of you are unaware of the reasons – just watch a very overweight man run next to a fit man, they will be breathing at very different speeds. This is not to say that all heavy guys are big breathers and that all fitness freaks are fish, but it is fair to say that there is a strong correlation between fitness and air usage in diving. The solution: swim for an hour continuously (like you would on a dive) three times a week, this will vastly improve your breathing. It’s not easy, but it’s the only way an unfit but serious diver with bad air consumption is going to vastly improve.

3. Deep Breaths And Slow Steady Rhythm

Ok, so now we’re into the top three methods to ensure you don’t need to surface until at least sixty minutes have elapsed. These are also likely to be the ones you will hear bandied about on a boat’s deck. Often they are misguided or poorly formed versions of this next tip, and they can be productive or destructive advice. One of these terrible tips is to use skip breathing or other rapid breathing techniques, as you will read in the next paragraph, this is absolutely the worst thing to do if your air consumption is poor.

The key to healthy breathing is to ensure you get into a consistent rhythm of deep, slow breaths. The reason for this is that regulators have spaces in them, as do our bodies (lungs and windpipe). These air spaces, upon an exhalation of breath, will still have some of the air from the previous breath still in them, because we don’t completely collapse our lungs or windpipe when we breathe out. This “dead” air is the first thing we breathe as we inhale. This is not a problem as long as we also breathe in a large ratio of good air as well as the bad. If we breathe rapid short breaths then we constantly breathe in the bad air and don’t top it up with good air. This can lead to a shortness of breath, headaches and poor air consumption (because you need to breathe more to get the same benefit).

A good, steady rhythm will ensure that you keep a deep and slow breathing rate which will pay dividends in air consumption.

2. Relax

The best way to maintain a gentle, continous breathing rate is to relax your mind and body. In turn, breathing deeply and slowly will make you relax, which provides you with a positive cycle of calm. Relaxing might seem like the last thing you will be able to do to a rookie diver, they are always so tense, but with time the fears go and leave you with a sense of wonder at the environment you’re in and with a great feeling while you glide effortlessly through the water. Embrace the scenery, relax into a rhythmic trance, meditate on the sound of your breathing, enjoy the exercise and your air consumption will improve greatly.

There's No Need To Get All "New-Age Hippy", But A Bit Of Meditation Before And During A Dive Can Help Slow Your Breathing And Assist Your Buoyancy Control.

1. Air: It’s There To Be Used!

This is a peculiar tip to place in my number one spot, because it might seem to counter everything I’ve written so far. What I want you to realise, more than anything, is that the air in the tank is your air. You’ve paid for it and it’s there in that bottle for you to breathe – it has no other purpose. There are no benefits to handing back a tank with half the air still inside it. It’s there to be used. Make use of the air, breathe it and don’t ever try to starve yourself of air. This doesn’t mean you should waste it, but make sure that if you need to inhale, that you do so, deeply. It is fun to come back to the boat with a hundred bar or more for bragging rights, but if you then step onto the boat and suffer a headache for the rest of the day because of oxygen deprivation then you’ve only got yourself to blame. Aim to arrive at the boat with a little over the minimum air supply set by your DM or instructor. Pace your breathing, but enjoy it!

Final Thoughts

Breathing underwater is one of the main reasons that scuba diving exists, it is both a novelty and a great pleasure to do it. Make sure you make the most of this excellent feeling and don’t try to hold your breath the whole dive, if you could do that then you wouldn’t need scuba!

Do you have any tips or tricks that vastly help your breathing? Did you have bad habits that you’ve overcome (or are trying to)? Do you suck air like a vacuum cleaner or are you one of my arch-nemesis fish-people mutants? Please let us know your thoughts on the issue by using the comment section below!

Happy (plentiful) Bubbles!

By Jamie Campbell

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