This article is the first of three that will address the differences in generations in the industry: Things divers born after 1985 will not understand. A presentation at DEMA titled Inside the Millennial Mind – How to connect with #Millennials to increase business, presented by Lauren Kieren (Millennial) and myself (old guy). Finally an article by Lauren titled, Things divers born before 1985 will never understand.
There are many factors that can help a diver at any level conserve breathing. The following are six basic suggestions that may help you reduce your gas consumption.
You must want to learn more, and take the time to become more proficient in order to remain safe, but you must always make the step into the technical world for the right reasons.
A diver should be able to move through the water using their fins as the exclusive means of propulsion to increase efficiency and minimize the impact to the environment.
Scuba diving is a sport that allows people to first learn about the sport, and then carry education and experience down various pathways of adventure.
Hobbies, sports, and things we do in our personal time are often outside the realm of typical expenditure and necessary daily activity. For this reason, any expense in regard to these activities may be viewed as excess or unneeded spending. Scuba diving is one of those sports or hobbies that individuals or groups take on because they love the water, crave something different, and desire to be below the surface. Despite this desire, income is often allocated for family needs, emergency funds, and long-term planning. Subsequently, divers all over the world often look for deals and ways to save money in order to remain in the sport. When any money is available to spend on scuba diving, that hopeful expenditure must be carefully planned and performed to ensure optimal value is obtained.
Many methods exist through which scuba divers can save money in an effective and sensible fashion. Ten of these methods are listed below.
No diver wants his or her financial resources entirely depleted because of the sport he or she loves. After all, you need to have funds available to keep traveling and trying new things. To be responsible as a scuba shopper try developing a relationship with your local dive shop, plan out how you can responsibly purchase the gear you want, and develop a long-term training plan that can keep you out diving and having a good time. Plan for the future and try to understand that on certain occasions, spending more now may mean you spend less in the long-run. Be financially responsible where appropriate but more than anything, remember to make sure diving remains fun. You are only willing to spend your hard-earned money in the first place because you enjoy the sport, and you should do what it takes to own the sport for your own enjoyment and the enjoyment of others.
– Dr. Thomas Powell
Owner/Instructor Trainer – Air Hogs Scuba, Garner, NC
Three topics will be covered that may assist a diver with mask leakage issues: hair, mask size, and mask quality.
by Rob Bradish:
Ahhh, the thought of buried treasure!! I would be willing to bet that if I were to interview a thousand divers, at least one or two became involved in diving because of some story they had once heard about finding buried treasure! I remember one such story being Peter Benchley’s, “The Deep,” in which they describe the famed “Three Lock Box.” Such a box was kept for only the most important items and required three separate keys, maintained by three separate individuals, to be opened. This insured that the property owner would receive the property to which he or she was entitled. In comparison, a “three lock box” can also be an effective metaphor for dive preparation.
So often when thinking of dive preparation, the diver may limit his or her self to pre-dive gear packing and the planning discussion that goes on during the ride to the dive site. However, if someone is to be truly prepared, there is much to do long before the day of the dive. In fact, when examining preparation, there seems to be three clear keys to Effective Preparation for Every Dive.
From a personal perspective, the first key has to be mental preparation. Preparation of this type extends far beyond using a computer to pre-plan your time at depth 50 minutes from now, and requires some steps to effectively get there. For example, the diver must recognize his or her own capabilities. Is the dive being considered within the realm of the diver’s training? Is the site a new site or one dove many times in the past? Does one have all of the appropriate skills, tools, and techniques to complete the dive safely? Participants in some activities are encouraged to visualize, a process of mentally walking through the event, attempting to identify possible challenges or areas where an incident may occur. The night before a dive, visualization can help one determine choices for gear while packing. On the ride to the site, visualization allows the diver to prepare more directly, while witnessing environmental issues that will likely affect the dive. Without this kind of mental preparation, a diver cannot just say they are ready to dive on any given day.
Few people look forward to loading and unloading heavy gear. Hauling tanks back and forth from a dive vessel, or climbing back on board a boat using a dive ladder can require a lot of effort, making physical preparation the second key. While much of that preparation should occur months and weeks before a dive, through exercise, skills practice, and healthy habits, it continues right up to the day of the dive. Frequently, a dive actually begins with a drive to the departure location, either the morning of or the night before. Eating a healthy meal, hydrating effectively, and arriving well-rested are all part of physical preparation. The fact is, staying up until 2 am the night before drinking beers with friends might seem like a great start to a weekend, but not to a weekend of diving. Knowing such activities lead to the increasing probability of DCS incidents, it just doesn’t make sense. Knowing there is another diver, who may depend on his or her buddy, makes it even more important to be able to perform at optimum levels.
Obviously, gear preparation is something that cannot be overlooked and it is our third key. Scuba diving is called a gear intensive sport for a reason. The fact is people do not have gills, and if we are to enjoy what the marine environment has to offer, then equipping ourselves to exist in that environment is important. Annual maintenance is vital to safe diving, if only to insure the life support equipment is performing to standard. Trying to verify gear functionality on the way to a dive site however, is not preparation. Many find it effective to “flat diver” the gear before packing. Essentially, one would lay everything out and make sure that everything needed for the day’s dive is ready. In contrast, the only way to verify regulator and buoyancy compensator functionality is to assemble and test each delivery and exhaust point. Batteries and bulbs need to be fresh in lights and computers. Surface marker buoys and lift bags should be clean and ready to deploy. Finally, is the “Save-a-Dive” kit adequate to actually save the dive? Will the spare mask and fin straps work properly with the gear being packed?
While “plan the dive, dive the plan” has been a part of the diver mantra since the early days, it is important to note that such planning begins long before the day of the dive. Effective mental preparation, through training, research, and visualization are all key components. Physical preparation with effective exercise and living habits are also key. Finally, equipment preparation, not only in maintenance of equipment but in its proper selection for its anticipated use, is the final key. Only with all three keys, can we effectively unlock the “three lock box” of dive planning. Only at this point can the diver effectively determine the goals, depth, and duration for the dive. Even the seemingly simple tasks of entry and exit need to be planned.
Finally, never forget the post dive plan! It would be a shame to go through all of that preparation and planning, failing to include a stop at the local tiki hut for a meal, libations, the telling of lies, and sharing of discoveries!!
Safe Diving!
Rob Bradish, who refers to himself as “a recreational diver with technical Interests”, has been diving since 1981, crossing over to “the Dark Side” as an instructor with SDI/TDI. He works as an independent contractor through Air Hogs Scuba, of Garner, North Carolina and Blackbeard Scuba of Southport, North Carolina.
by Joe Stellini:
You just finished your Open Water Scuba Diver Course and your head is spinning with all the knowledge and skills you have learned. At the top of your list is purchasing what your instructor may have said was the most important piece of dive gear you could own – a dive computer. Your question is, “Why? What is so important about a personal dive computer (PDC) that I should own one?” Most likely that question was answered for you, but here is a little reinforcement to what your instructor may have told you.
First, not everyone wants a fancy, all the bells and whistles PDC, and there are a lot of options out there. Sometimes simplicity means more enjoyment on your dive instead of trying to figure out exactly what you are supposed to be paying attention to on the screen. So getting down to the basics means that there are three things you absolutely need to know during your dive and how to access them on your PDC. They are: Where are you now? How long have you been there? How much longer can you safely stay? This translates into depth, elapsed dive time (EDT), and no decompression limit (NDL). All dive computers have these features, but it’s ease of use and readability that are most important. Everything else is just extra.
To break it down even further, here is why these things are important. Depth obviously comes first because when we plan a dive, depth is one of the first things we set a limit on. Diving within the agreed upon depth limit, whether it be with the Divemaster, your dive buddy, or with yourself on a solo dive, will keep things organized. Not sticking to your planned depth can be confusing and dangerous to all involved. The easiest way to monitor your depth is to learn how to process that information with a quick glance at your computer, often, throughout your dive. If the PDC happens to have an alarm to remind you, even better.
Second on the list, is elapsed dive time. You ask, “Won’t the Divemaster be leading us in and out of the water?” The answer is, “In a perfect world, yes. However in the slightly imperfect world we live in, that does not always work out.” What happens if the group doesn’t want to see what you and your buddy want to see? Or what if you get separated? Or even more common, what if you become too experienced to hang out with a bunch of newbies? You will have to monitor your own time during the dives. Again, an audible alarm for this feature helps. Most dive operations set a maximum dive time and part of being a good diver is following the dive plan whether you or the dive operation set it.
Finally, we have our no decompression limit; last, but far from least. Some computers have audible alarms for this feature as well. When it comes down to it, not following a good dive plan with regard to our two previous features, depth and EDT, could result in decompression illness. Going too deep, coming up too fast, and staying too long, will eventually and most certainly catch up with you. Yes, DCS has been drilled into your head during your open water class and will be addressed even further during any advanced or continued education courses you may take.
So why is NDL important? Because it takes your depths and times during each dive or repetitive dives and calculates how much longer you can safely stay at your current depth. Breaking these rules could cause the loading of too much nitrogen resulting in a mandatory decompression stop. As a new diver, we want to avoid a deco stop at all costs. Your PDC can tell you when to move to a shallower depth, will recalculate your NDL for the new depth, and will do this every single time. Not only does this keep you safely within your nitrogen limit, but it will significantly extend your dive times allowing you to multi-level dive. You can’t get that with dive tables.
The personal dive computer you used in your SDI course was probably attached to the regulator system. If you are not interested in the whole package then consider a wrist-mounted computer. This makes traveling with a PDC lightweight and easy.
On a final note, always remember to monitor your air. Although some PDC’s may be air integrated, divers that do not use one will have to check their pressure gauge every few minutes.
For more answers on personal dive computers please consult with your local SDI Dive Center. They are there to help and provide you with the best customer service possible and should be able to answer all of your questions on personal dive computers.
These items are the basic tools that help a diver get started, but they are also critically important with regard to comfort and happiness.
