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Around here the bluegills are typically called "brim" and of that species there are "shell crackers" which are large enough to crack freshwater clams and easily weight a pound or more. The others called "red ears" are just as big but wider and you can filet them and not deal with the bones. Just...

Airfare costs are the trigger for me too. We have used up all the air miles my wife and I have earned with all the business travel we did. When you are not used to paying for something that used to be "free"t takes some getting used to.

The best, unhurried way to improve your skill is to have some friends who do have the skills you can learn from. Not only is it more fun, but you are not on a schedule of events which get in the way and everyone can move at their comfort pace without all the under the breath mutterings. I often...

They split it up for the same reasons they split up all the simple stuff... to sell you more courses for what should have been taught from the get-go. It is responding to the timid and fearful, which seems like the last couple of generations gravitate toward.

I took the course. The card lets you buy NITROX for most banked mixes up to 40%. The 40% limitation is kinda, sorta imposed by the seller of the gases where 40% and below does not absolutely, positively have an O2 clean tank or regulator since it is banked. The physics of the dive with enriched...

I dive tanspac and doubles do move around way more than I like. The straps though a hard plate pull the plate into your back without having a tight fit and the way the straps spread across your shoulders and around the waist keeps the plate from swinging. A single does not move much, even with...

I'm going to preface my recommendation with this comment, which some may find objectionable... I have been diving GC 1977. All of which was centered on the West end. In the 80's I discovered the East end, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Over the years of comparing the quality of the water, dives...

Hose weight accounts for just a fraction of the overall equipment weight.... The difference between a 5' hose and a 3' hose is just 2.3 ounces on a cheap hose and less on a the better ones... you could save more weight simply by changing fins. Any length hose can be constrained and easily...

The switches are magnetic or hall effect. The switch is mounted in a recess (not drilled though) over a coil on a circuit board. Pressing the switch pushes a magnet closer to the coil and causes it to shift through the modes and if the light won't come on the board is bad.

UV for night dive florescent for some fish and most coral.

Hey guys... go to ebay and look for used Miniox 3000 oxygen monitors. I bought one new for under $200. These self calibrate and are accurate. They are used in mines and are approved for same. It works better than the Analox EII and you don't have to fuss with potentiometers. The replacement...

By the time you buy a OXARC (4500psi - 504cu.ft. Oxygen) cylinder and make the trips - yes.

For a single tank dive, it is fine. Just carry a backup mask and you are good to go if you have a reg failure with the FFM. Let it be known that you will need a surface valve that you can open to breath through rather than your regulator on the surface and that is usually a must have option...

A few years ago I took a chance on a TS swap to the East end of Grand Cayman. There are only 2 properties there and is serviced by a good dive operator. It is some of the best diving I have ever found. Mid point on the South side near the light house, the wall is RIGHT there at 100 yards or...

Ever since the backup batteries on an aircraft caught fire, which were lithium, the airlines prohibit transporting same in checked baggage. Carry on with regs and computer. I have been through international flights 3 times in the last year with the batteries in the lights with the spares and...

I have made a nice addition to the SCUBA contraption. To eliminate chasing around for Oxygen, I just make my own. Cost me 450 which will pay for itself in 3 "T' tanks of Oxygen. Oxygen concentrators bought surplus and de-saturated. Oil-less compressors that were used with same, all mounted on...

There are a lot of jobs and hobbies where a person can get outside their skill level or just not have the right equipment, and as a result kill themselves. They most always die alone without endangering anyone else. That is a decision they have made, but is theirs. I am not going to try and...

I have never been overweight, but I like everyone else has to struggle with the gear weight. The only thing I know is that when you get more experienced with your gear, buoyancy and trim you will feel MUCH less huge and cumbersome under the waves. In fact you will wish it could be like that all...

I have a routine That is second nature to me... It comes out of the gear bag in a certain order and is assembled or attached without me ever having to think about it. When someone is fussing around me and or asking me questions, that autopilot gets disrupted and I'm having to check and recheck...

I mounted everything needed to control and fill on a sheet of plywood bolted to a uni-strut frame on the front of the compressor. A flexible hose with a high pressure dis-connect at the high pressure manifold valve, connects me to the cascade line. That way I can dis-connect from the cascade and...