Search results

I did my first deep (105 ft.) dive back in October. I was pretty apprehensive, partly because my ears don't always clear so well, and partly because I'd never gone past 30 ft. before that trip. When I got down there, I remember thinking: "Is this it? It's too dark to see well, it's cold...

Wow! I had no idea my post would generate this much interest. Thanks for all the answers, especially the insights into the earlier days of scuba. From the responses I read, it seems that safety and reliability are pretty much a wash between two. The real driving factor is the...

My OW dives were all pretty short, ranging from 15 to 28 minutes. I didn't feel short changed, though. Conditions were awful, 58 F water, 5ft. visibility, nothing to see anyway. Some of the less cold tolerant divers were more than ready to surface after 10 minutes. Also, I saw my OW more...

Using a snorkel is not a problem with a back inflate BCD, at least not with mine. I recently lost a fight with current, and wound up on the surface, a couple hundred yards from the boat low on air. I decided to save what was left, and use the snorkel on the swim back. Not my favorite...

I'm a bigger guy too, and had a really hard time with my OW due to equipment. Here are some of the things I've learned: Avoid overloaded weight belts. At 22 lbs., I basically had more lead then belt, and it was a torture to keep in place. Especially if you are are a little soft and round in...

I've been diving for about a year now, and right now I am try to get a deeper understanding how my equipment works. I've been researching regulators, and I have a decent grasp on how they work, but one thing has always escaped me...why two stages? I know a SpareAir type systems use a...

I had this exact same quibble when I took my OW course. Air is air, and change in total buoyancy is the same if the tank is made of steel, aluminum, or Styrofoam. I wasn't happy with my instructor's hand waving explanation, but I was a newbie diver, so I figured I was missing something, and...