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I think that's the issue: Our transport time difference is pretty small where I do most of my diving. Where the DCS hit happened, it might have been 10 minutes longer to the chamber and while 10 minutes may be the difference between life and death with an MI, the hospital with the chamber is...

Thanks for the response! Initial pain was severe and in her left elbow. At that point, DCS seemed like a low probability so we all walked up the beach, doffed gear, and I asked her about the elbow which still hurt. Then I asked if the other elbow hurt, or just the one and she said it did...

Totally a side track, but this reminded me of the student of mine that got bent on the 100' dive of AOW. Very much an "undeserved" hit. We'd been diving several days in a row, but no more than 2 dives per day to less than 60' and this was the only dive of the last day. She was diagnosed...

My bad: I didn't run the numbers and was relying on memory from what I was told 40 years ago. Maybe the instructor was getting at 1.5 in the 200' limit, and was separately mentioning ox tox at ppO2 of 2.0 atm. I'd filed those numbers in the back of my head and never checked them. . Seems...

All else aside, if you are diving at 1.2 on a wall or other "no bottom" situation and your buddy for whatever reason runs into trouble and starts to sink, it'd be nice to know you can go after them without undue risk. On the other hand, if you push to 1.6 it's another matter.... That's a tree...

Beautiful coastline. I haven't seriously looked, but when vacationing in that area (usually Manzanita) I found no easy options to get tanks filled, etc.. Good luck! I'm eager to here what people suggest. Edit to add: I'm not sure the area near the border would be ideal. The outflow from...

Everybody has their own motivation. I dive a lot more because I teach than I would just for fun. With "fun," my Calvinist upbringing would say there's something else I SHOULD be doing rather than diving. When it comes to motivation to dive, to each their own.

I think others above have given you most likely causes: 1. The reg was inverted while you were finning. Some regs breathe a little wet if you're upside down. Maybe in all the crazy finning you ended up that way? 2. Sand in the valve is another likely culprit. I'm a little surprised you...

I'm intrigued by the NAUI course. Does it still include planned deco, as mentioned in an earlier post? If so, I'd be surprised but impressed. Back in the dark ages we were taught deco tables during open water in the event we wanted to do deco diving, and nobody told us not to. With a...

Interesting. Will shops fill a tank that doesn't have a nitrox label on it? My own nitrox training and how I teach it now say that tanks have to be labelled. You could quibble about whether the VIP sticker should be different, though.

I'm guessing the idea here is that you have no more weight total than would make you neutral with an empty cylinder. If your ditchable weight is just the weight of the air in the full cylinder, then throughout the dive you could become immediately neutral or positive by dropping that weight...

Welcome to the neighborhood! I'm not sure it's reliable to say that nitrox is always banked. Sure, at most shops it is. But once a shop certifies the tank for nitrox, you might take it to your old buddy weird Harold for his home-brewed nitrox and who knows what he's doing. To my...

I think the main point here is that there is no hard-and-fast rule. Conditions dictate what you do. Lots of chop argues for reg in. Diving from a small boat (as pointed out earlier) requires de-kitting in the water. A lot of the research diving I've done has been from a small boat. Gear...

That's interesting: I guess I associated that kind of fast plastic "decay" to sunlight. Was it exposed to hydrocarbon fumes in the shed? E.g., stored with lawnmowers and gas tanks for same? Or paint thinner? I'm not sure this would cause brittleness like you saw, but maybe? As for...

I didn't inspect them, so can't say for sure. But here are a couple of possibilities: 1. Diesel exhaust could be an issue. Having the exhaust too close to the air intake could be a problem. Or the exhaust getting around a hole in the intake line somewhere. 2. For electric, the bigger...

Best guess is carbon monoxide. It's odorless, colorless, and tasteless and headaches are consistent with exposure. Of course, I'm assuming the "old compressor" line isn't just a coincidence. Lots of other things might give you a one-off headache, like clogged sinuses. Not that you should try...

I have a backplate and wing setup for diving at home, with a stainless steel plate. I also have a standard BCD (back inflate) that was designed for travel. If it ever dies, I'll just get an aluminum back plate and swap the wing over when travelling with it. But for now, the easier path is...

Keep in mind that you may be bitten or scratched by an animal that is NOT rabid. I'm curious, are rabies vaccines paid for by the government in Germany? Rabies vaccines aren't recommended for US residents travelling overseas unless intending to handle animals that may carry rabies. It is...

I think the best answer, stated earlier, is "it depends on you." I tend to be able to go a long time between meals. I've had classes I taught go slightly sideways (e.g., think 3 or 4 different equipment fixes needed on the beach, students that needed more time, etc.) where I ate a really...

Marie, do you expect a lot of the shipping will be routed to west coast ports? During the pandemic, one of our most popular training dive sites looked out on to the main Port of Seattle facilities. It was crazy how many ships were stacked up, waiting to be unloaded.