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  1. pwl

    Buddy Positioning

    my preference when not taking photos is to be slightly behind my buddy - mainly because with the regular buddies i've had i've been the stronger swimmer, so i know i won't accidentally outpace. my preference when taking photos is for my buddy to be "spotter" - basically shoulder to shoulder in...
  2. pwl

    Single fin swimming

    i kick with a single fin sometimes out of laziness :D flutter or scull both seem to work fine - you just don't go very fast (which is usually the reason why i'm only using one fin) (this is with split fins, btw)
  3. pwl

    NSW Central Coast

    "no proper wrecks" - i think he means "relatively intact" wrecks, and preferably something you can check out for more than 5 mins on air without deco or drysuits :P
  4. pwl

    PADI Bashers

    sorry to say, to my eyes a lot of the concerns about what new divers aren't taught comes across as elitist. i just thought i'd point that out. everyone has to start somewhere, and a lot of "good" diving techqnique is about practice rather than instruction :/
  5. pwl

    anyone has problem with UWTEC aladin prime wrist?

    YES! i had this problem with an aladin tec wrist: battery after battery showing low, i went through 3 in the course fo 4 months :angry2: my LDS got it replaced - the model that came back was aladin tec g2 (slightly newer model) & that seems more or less OK, although it's developed a bit of a...
  6. pwl

    Heres what $250 Million looks like in person

    aww man... i could get 3 of these for that: http://www.ussubs.com/submarines/phoenix_1000.php3
  7. pwl

    Shark Encounter

    shark encounters can be very cute :D port jackson & other horned sharks are really common around sydney - nice "safe" shark experience since they don't have "teeth" as such (rather, grinding plates)
  8. baby pj

    baby pj

    This baby Port Jackson shark was only about 10cm long. It's egg-case was still attached to a nearby weed. Inscription Pt, NSW - May 2006
  9. pwl

    Dive knife/cutters: needed or not needed?

    i went a couple of years without feeling the need for a knife, but when my buddy got caught up in some fishing line (snagged her tank neck, she didn't even realise until after i got her to stop) i figured it was probably worthwhile. i didn't like the idea of pointy things near my floaty BC...
  10. pwl

    Dive & Surf Kayak

    anyone got pics of their kayaks set-up for diving? most of the kayak manufacturer websites i've looked at mention diving as an aside, but it's not clear how things (loading gear, etc) should be set up...
  11. pwl

    Weight-integrated BCD or belt?

    yup this is what i do - just gives a lot of flexibility i feel: if i have to remove to BC for some reason, i have some weight on the belt to keep me down; if the belt gets snagged & accidentally drops, i have some on my BC to stop me shooting up.
  12. pwl

    weight belt under the waist belt?

    keep in mind it might not be you doing the ditching. i'd say keep it as easy as possible to get rid of *all* your weight: so many ways for things to go pear shaped otherwise. maybe an alternative is to put the weight you have on your (non-quick-release) belt somewhere else ?
  13. pwl

    Bad Buddy... no cookie!

    worst buddy action i've seen was while DM'ing for a (fairly big) OW class. two new students - boyfriend/girlfriend, the girl obviously not at all comfortable in the water, and really struggling on her first OW dive. the boyfriend had powered ahead, much stonger & more able, so i stayed back with...
  14. pwl

    predive safety check and missed details

    there's a zillion. many not for publication ;) i was taught "Beer Wine, Rum And Fun" - makes students laugh ;) ob useful: the trick/difficulty seems to be, once you're comfortable with diving & your buddy, maintaining the check and feeling like you've actually done it properly . sometimes...
  15. pwl

    I tied myself up underwater!!

    the worst i've gotten tangled is in my own reel line - metres and metres of nice thin cord, and those damned split fins to deal with too :P now that (reel handling) would be a handy thing to give instruction on early on. i dunno if there's any course which teaches the proper deployment of a...
  16. pwl

    best dive spots in Australia, and liveaboard q?

    very. HMAS brisbane was scuttled last year off the sunshine coast (about 1500km ~ 1000 miles - south of cairns ;) ) this is one of the latest in a long line of artifical reefs made from decommissioned navy nessels, and people are getting pretty good at making them. i haven't dived the...
  17. pwl

    any experience with reef encounters out of Cairns?

    spirit of freedom is excellent, high-quality, professional, good staff-to-diver ratio, dedicated dive staff (as opposed to, eg, hostess) are all instructor-level. food is excellent (1st dinner was rack-of-lamb ;) ), dive sites were all to ourselves. transit for short trips (mine was 4day) was...
  18. pwl

    sea & sea 8000 focussing

    just using the built-in flash. experimented with & without the diffuser. depths have been fairly shallow - 2-16m for the most part. vis has been variable, but i usually don't try to take pictures of anything more than 1-2m away anyway (and ideally try to get about 30cm or less) i'm fairly...
  19. pwl

    sea & sea 8000 focussing

    thanks vet. see - the interesting thing is that with the sony auto-focus i got some nice shots. could it be the sea&sea/ricoh is justa suckier atthe autofocus algortihm? i _did_ know about the manual focus option - i guess i was just being a bit lazy ;) fwiw i know my way around...
  20. pwl

    divemaster internships

    most dive operations are more likely to go with a dive instructor than a divemaster. case in point, a liveaboard i was on last month did not teach non-divers (they did advanced or nitrox courses) yet all of the dive crew were instructors. the only staff who weren't at least instructor-qualified...
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