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I am not sure how this is adding gear to a planning problem. This is planning that might require an additional piece of gear. This is stating, "Due to X (visibility, photography, spear fishing, naked mermaids) there is a chance we could be separated... what is our plan for this situation. When...

There are always going to be circumstances outside of our control that may cause a team to endure separation. Then the question becomes are we trained, equipped and mentally prepared to be alone. I do agree learning to dive properly as a team, creating a plan for separation and low visibility...

@PfcAJ, Most of your retorts are generalizations or ad absurdum type or arguments that work when diving in a quarry or something similar. Not advisable for ocean diving. Consider this scenario with my local diving. I am diving at 90' on a wreck in NJ. There is some current and visibility is...

@ TSandM, Not so sure I entirely agree with part of this statement. Sometimes remaining with your teammate is more than just "dive skill" and "planning". Any number of factors can result in unintentional separation from your teammate even if the divers are very skilled. At that point the...

Yes a pony bottle is a good idea for a number of reasons but I always think of two simple rules with a little story to back the second one up. 1) At any time you should be ready to finish your dive alone. A pony bottle offers a redundancy, is generally easy to carry and can be quite effective...

This is one of those things that I hear from time to time and the whole concept is quite confusing. There are many different pieces of technology that we use on a daily basis that help protect us where we don't understand some of the underlying physics or mathematics. Why does being able to...

1) Based on this we can conclude there was some weight ratio issue between her gear and the amount of weight she had donned. 2) This is a good point. A few lbs can make all the difference. So this calls into question preparation. If her wing wasn't sufficient to raise the extra 6 lbs of fluid...

I can hold my breath ALOT longer sitting doing nothing than I can actually working. I agree that I could probably last alot longer than 30 seconds but I would imagine that working to solve my problem and panic starting to set in would cause my oxygenated system to use that oxygen much quicker...

@ Scubapink, A buddy could have saved her, so could have a pony bottle but she didn't have either. I think it is worth mentioning that any dive can turn into a solo dive at any time for any number or reasons regardless of how zealous one is about maintaining the buddy system. A good example of...

@ buton, Not sure that lack of information on Scubaboard constitutes hard evidence. I would also counter that I can find plenty of instances where failure to ditch weight as part of an emergency protocol caused a diver's death. I don't think the issue here was the weight belt but rather the...

Failure to observe or properly follow the "buddy system" is never the cause of a diver's death in my eyes unless that teammate plays an active part (i.e. snatching a reg) in his teammates death. Our discipline requires we prepare for all possibilities and a very important part of that is that...

For my cold water technical diving with double 120s I can't imagine not diving my 94 lb wing.

When I read this I almost read it as hyperbole it was so off the wall. I have a few hundred dives logged on manifolded doubles, I can reach all my valves, can turn them all off and on in under 30 seconds and can use my mirror if I hear a leak. I also work at an LDS and have no trouble filling my...

Some people will buy a "travel" BC and use that everywhere they go even as their primary BC. I think as a concept the travel BC is great but keeping in my mind that a properly functioning BC that you are familiar with and comfortable with using is a critical piece of gear. I have always opted...

I personally own to VR Neo cpus and while they are great if I had it to do over again I would get the Shearwater.

I dive long and short hose on my doubles and sling a pony regardless of my gas needs. There will be those that will call it a needless redundancy but its value far outweighs its drawbacks in my opinion. Slung to the front and properly packaged it is easy to carry and adds an effective...

First and foremost if you are going to start diving doubles I suggest you seek out a mentor or an LDS to get some training on diving doubles. Most of the advice that you will get here, mine included, is insufficient to do what you are looking to do so find someone that can mentor and show you...

I wouldn't risk it. That snap crackle pop you are hearing is most likely caused by a little barotrauma that will go away on its own if you let your ear rest. Probably everyone on here that dives had it at one point or the other.

If this is simply a pony bottle being used for emergency you probably don't need a 30 cf bottle and could get away with 19 cf bottle. That being said a 30 or 40 cf becomes valuable if you ever plan on moving into more advanced diving. As for the packaging and use of the pony I suggest going to...

My opinion Manta are good reels. I have used other brands that don't have the line release mechanism that Manta offers and found the likely hood of fouling to be much higher. Here is the Northeast most of our diving is line diving so my Mantas get a bit of work and I have never had one foul on...