Search results

If this is your first time diving in the ocean, I will just take the opportunity to remind you to watch out for the sun (protect your skin and sunglasses for the eyes) and for dehydration. Especially over a period of a few days, they can mess you up and make you tired and careless. There are...

That's the right area, and I remember thinking that late May and early June was the best time to see them schooling around San Pedro Island (but also up around Tiburon Island and at other seamounts). I remember when I first learned about this phenomenon I was told that it related to a mating...

I think that was the point - sharks do attack their regular prey that way, but it appears that most of the time they *don't* attack people that way. Instead, they approach more carefully and take a bite, as if to test whether the person is edible or not. From what I have read, that...

I would be more inclined to get the computer last, and keep diving with the tables until you have your own regulator, BC, and exposure suit. The computer is the only one that has a much cheaper and perfectly suitable alternative available (the tables). Plus, diving with the tables may...

I was just thinking exactly what Divenut added - if Buddy #1 went into the cave with only one light, I would hang out at the entrance and keep my light shining where he might use it to find his way back out if his light failed. Otherwise, just wait for him to return as long as you can, and...

I have a Henderson belt with pouches, and soft weights. I don't like the idea of wearing the weight belt under the crotch strap (or any other harness strap), maybe just because I was trained not to do it that way. I can understand wearing a harness or crotch strap over the weight belt in...

There is plenty of light under water during the day. Poor visibility from stirred up sand or silt or other debris, especially close to shore, is a separate problem and generally isn't helped very much by carrying a light - all you will do is light up all the debris in the water and you still...

Shouldn't everybody be looking at their SPG or computer to check their air pressure while breathing off their regulator just before stepping or rolling into the water? (Not only on the surface just before descending, but before entering the water.) I think it has been noted earlier in this...

I agree with that; if I were in a situation where my remaining air supply was very marginal but my buddy had plenty of air, I would want to conserve the little bit of air remaining in my tank and breathe off my buddy's air all the way to the surface, if possible. You don't really know how much...

Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. I am still wondering if there will ever be an answer to the question why somebody who reached the surface and was apparently holding on to a buoy ended up on the bottom after trying to swim to the boat. If the BC was functioning properly, the biggest question in...

Yes, you can move multiple large objects around inside a carabiner, but that isn't the problem. The problem is that one big object. I agree that the biggest thing that can get in through the gate is also the biggest thing that can get back out through the same gate. But, in fact, that is also...

When it's your turn to demonstrate this skill, just relax and take your time; it's not a race, and you don't have to clear the mask in one breath, or two. If it takes you three breaths to clear your mask properly, that's okay. You may want to let the instructor know that you would like an...

The reason that climbing carabiners are rarely jammed up with more than you can easily unclip is that they are designed to be used with climbing ropes, which are rarely more than 11mm in diameter (and most carabiner gate openings are twice that size). If you take a carabiner into the ocean and...

Oasis Divers is a NAUI shop in North Phoenix (Bell Road & 40th Street). http://www.azdivers.com/ Tres Aquas is also on Bell Road, just west of the 51 - I know that they are tied in to some people who dive the lakes, because Dale Noe has invited me to join them for some lake cleanup dives (so...

I think the first is a seagrass filefish, although I don't know exactly what variety lives in the Red Sea. The second looks like some kind of pipefish, but I can't make it out clearly to help with a better identification. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/hcs3/index.htm

They are not currently listed on PADI's site for Puerto Vallarta, and this excerpt is from an archived Quality Management Report from PADI (unfortunately, this was undated): "Members EXPELLED from PADI Arnold Schmitt, Muelheim/Ruhr, Germany Chico's Dive Shop, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco...

There are a lot of excellent manufacturers of diving equipment, and there is no "best" for everything. There is some basic gear you should have for your classes - mask, fins, boots, and snorkel - and the rest of it can probably wait for a little while, at least. You don't need to spend a ton...

I have an Oceanic Sonora "dry" snorkel with a flapper contraption to keep water out. In more than 30 years, it is one of the very few things that I almost immediately regretted buying. I admit the dry contraption works very well when snorkeling, but it is too bulky and caused a lot of drag...

You haven't provided much information about where you will be going, or staying nights, etc. In any case, hydration is always critical, and I would carry a collapsible reservoir with a drinking tube in my backpack, and be careful about what you put in it. (Something like a Platypus or...

I wear disposable contacts for diving, the kind you wear for one day and throw away, for about $1/pair. I haven't lost one yet, even while deliberately flooding or removing my mask. I squint to keep my eyes partly closed to reduce the risk of one of them floating away. They're cheap enough...