Search results

Propering weighting for neutral buoyancy is near empty tank, empty BCD, holding a full breath, you should float at eye level. Reasoning is that you will still have enough lead to maintain neutral buoyancy for a safety stop at the end of your dive and in an out of air emergency, you can establish...

Statistics and Scuba Diving ... Within the US, about 1% of the population participates in scuba diving. Probably more than 1/2 of all divers in the or from the US have put some type of camera in the water to take pictures. I'm a little "old-school" and don't really consider every diver who puts...

thanks Jack!

I've been diving for over 25 years, and been an instructor since 1990. Love it. For the past few years I've thought of writing a couple of books on diving. One is more of a "how to" type book and one is more about my experiences both as a diver and as a dive instructor - the good, the bad and...

If you are already warm in a 7mm suit in 15 - 17C, you are likely to be too warm in 24+ water temp in the same suit. Divers aclimate to their dive conditions. Instructors working the dive boat in Hawaii in the winter use the same wetsuit and get cold as a diver diving Monterey, CA in the summer...

Very true what ch28084 said. One suit really doesn't cover both ends of the range, unless you just don't get cold. I did a dive in the Bahamas in January where both the air and water temp were about 18'C. I was wearing a 1mm with a 2mm shorty and 7mm hood. I was trying crawl my whole body up in...

Drysuit - for an economy drysuit, hands down the Bare Nex-Gen is the best made economy drysuit. To compare suits, turn them inside out and look at how the suit is made. Most of the drysuits out of southern CA are made using a sewing machine to punch thousands of holes in the drysuit then coating...

Having used both neo and latex neck seals, I've found the neo neck seals are more comfortable and warmer, but a little more difficult to put on and take off. The neo neck seals also last a lot longer (about 5 years of heavy use 200+ dives per year compared to about 300 dives with a latex neck...

You might consider staying with your current set-up, just getting new wrist seals. The zip seals are great for quick replacement if you already have an extra pair of zip seals. In reality, unless it's a rental suit used by a different diver every weekend, the zip seals for the wrists are a bit...

Velocity price is in the middle, but typcially not much more than the Sport line. Elastek is more expensive. Also, check out what year the suit is. If a store is selling old stock, the price is typically cheaper than a current year suit. Remember neoprene breaks down over time as well as the...

Using 2 strobes will greatly reduce backscatter. Many U/W photographers will use 2 strobes to avoid backscatter and a 3rd light as a framing light. If you're shooting in Monterey, most of your shots will be macro. Depending on your camera, you will probably want diffusers over the strobes to...

Yelp - then call the business. Facebook is also a good tool. - both of these are particularly good in NorCal/Bay Area.

Longest OW dive was a shore dive with a swim out of just over 200 yrds to the dive site. Max depth was between 55 - 60 ft. Dive time was just over 2 hrs. We still have some gas left, but were in drysuits and wanted to keep them that way. With most of the effort for the dive in the hike between...

The AOW course only takes 2 days. If you're already in South Florida, you could take an afternoon charter and night dive and 2 tank morning charter the next day. You could also do the same on your honeymoon in T&C. When I teach AOW, my classroom is the beach,the boat or the resaurant where we're...