new law in Cayman ?

[padiscubapro]

Er.... Uh... Hokay!

How bout those Redsox?

1918 :11:

You didn't think someone from the Bronx would let it go without a comment...

 

[scubapro50]

I haven't been diving 38 years but its nearing 20 (I had 500 dives in about 3 years)... I know I have performed cpr, and I have also had to do more than once is search for a diver lost inside a wreck and so far its never turned into a recovery. I have chased divers who got narced out of their mind on walls that the divemaster/instructors wouldn't chase (too deep)).. Around '92 I grabbed a diver at ~240 on a GC wall, The DM gave up around 160-180.... Luckily the DM realized what was necessary (once he saw me chasing) and sent some of the divers up to get additional tanks from the surface staff...

I agree there are alot of instructors who shouldn't be teaching but its a true fact the majority of instructors burn out within a few years and some agencies are making it as easy as possible to become an instructor.

My favorite tunnel in Gc is actually not a moored site.. the closest site is spanish anchor which is a shallower site, from the mooring you have to head out for the wall... you enter the tunnel around 65fsw and exit about 270! (and for alot of it you really cant turn around easily, so you are committed once you start)

Dived the Spanish Anchor sight this past summer. Have heard about that deep dive near it but never wanted to try it ... too deep for me. I am a "sport" diver and have taken a lot of critism from the "professional/hardcore" divers out there on this thread. I started digging out my old log books last night and started counting logged dives ........ 867 and about 1/3 of them made during my 1st 5 years. Recently i have been diving with my wife Norma for the past 20 years and that's where the majority of the other dives have been recorded. I was lucky to marry a woman that learned to enjoy diving as much as i did. We are both in our mid 50's and figure we have about 10 years of good diving left.

 

[padiscubapro]

Dived the Spanish Anchor sight this past summer. Have heard about that deep dive near it but never wanted to try it ... too deep for me. I am a "sport" diver and have taken a lot of critism from the "professional/hardcore" divers out there on this thread. I started digging out my old log books last night and started counting logged dives ........ 867 and about a 1/3 of them made during my 1st 5 years. Recently i have been diving with my wife Norma for the past 20 years and that's where the majority of the other dives have been recorded. I was lucky to marry a woman that learned to enjoy diving as much as i did. We are both in our mid 50's and figure we have about 10 years of good diving left.

If you stay in shape hopefully more.. I dove with an elderly couple a few years back in Bonaire, he was in his early eighties she was in here late 70s.. They had to have others carry the gear to the boat, and the lady walked with a cane, but once they were in the water they definately enjoyed themselves..

Tom M. (iantd) is 65 ish and he is still doing 300+ fsw dives and can teach some spring chickens a thing or two about moving in the water..

I wasn't trying to give you any heartache, its just that I have dove with one too many old salts who think all the years mean alot. Diving skills become rusty with lack of use and it takes some dives to get everything right again, the longer the layover the more your become rusty..

I know when my local dive season is over and I get just a month or 2 lawover between classes I feel the difference.. Sure I have no problems doing the dives its just the "edge" is dulled a bit for a dive or two..


The site near spanish anchor is probably not moored for exactly the reason you mention.. its opening is shallow enogh for a sport diver to find but can cause some real serious issues if they enter..

 

[Michael Schlink]

Hats off to SB and to SPRO50, it's nice to to see a thread's positive results ( SPR50's new octo's!) I also want to point out SPRO50's obvious maturity demonstrated by his willingness to hang onto the thread while he was taking a little beating LOL.
SPRO50 please be careful about your reference to age and how long you intend to be able to continue to dive, your going to have to deal with my wife. She became an instructor at an age close to where you are now- LOL. As far as age goes I regularly dive with a 60 year old lady, and these aren't little puddle dives, we're talking the real ocean with waves and currents and all that stuff!! Her husband dives all over the world and I mean all the time and he's 70, so I'm planning on diving until someone stops me!!

 

[scubapro50]

If you stay in shape hopefully more.. I dove with an elderly couple a few years back in Bonaire, he was in his early eighties she was in here late 70s.. They had to have others carry the gear to the boat, and the lady walked with a cane, but once they were in the water they definately enjoyed themselves..

Tom M. (iantd) is 65 ish and he is still doing 300+ fsw dives and can teach some spring chickens a thing or two about moving in the water..

I wasn't trying to give you any heartache, its just that I have dove with one too many old salts who think all the years mean alot. Diving skills become rusty with lack of use and it takes some dives to get everything right again, the longer the layover the more your become rusty..

I know when my local dive season is over and I get just a month or 2 lawover between classes I feel the difference.. Sure I have no problems doing the dives its just the "edge" is dulled a bit for a dive or two..


The site near spanish anchor is probably not moored for exactly the reason you mention.. its opening is shallow enogh for a sport diver to find but can cause some real serious issues if they enter..

Before our trip in June we dragged out all our equipment and tested it in the pool before taking it down to the dive shop for service. Surprising the dive shop screwed up my wife's Dacor 360 ... it was not free flowing before we took it but had a big problem after we got it back from the shop. I agree with you about some of the "old salts" that know everything about anything........ they can be as big of "asses" as the new "professional trained" divers that have a lot of book learning but never really got out there and dived what they are preaching. Like my favorite quote from Dallas Cowboy coach Jimmy Johnson : "if you're going to talk the talk you better know how to walk the walk".

 

[padiscubapro]

Before our trip in June we dragged out all our equipment and tested it in the pool before taking it down to the dive shop for service. Surprising the dive shop screwed up my wife's Dacor 360 ... it was not free flowing before we took it but had a big problem after we got it back from the shop. I agree with you about some of the "old salts" that know everything about anything........ they can be as big of "asses" as the new "professional trained" divers that have a lot of book learning but never really got out there and dived what they are preaching. Like my favorite quote from Dallas Cowboy coach Jimmy Johnson : "if you're going to talk the talk you better know how to walk the walk".

If you go a long time between dives, you might do the following, put something to hold the purge button in (on each second stage), this will remove pressure on the valve seat and keep the seal from deforming.
Also another thing I recommend is that every diverh spend a few $$ and get an intermediate pressure guage and periodically hook it up to their inflator hose.. IP creep can be spotted pretty early on and can prevent a disaster..

WHat you need to do is hook up the guage and turn on the valve, depending on the reg it should stabilize somewhere around 135psi, press the purge (or breathe off a reg) and see how fast it comes back.. you should see a properly tuned reg tabilize almost instantly and stay there, a leaky HP seat will have the ip creep up.. the reason most people never know about this is because they are constantly breathing off the reg so it never gets too high, when the gas is turned on if the pressure gets too high it will bleed out one of the second stages and start all over..

 

[zboss]

I inherited one of those from Dad... I LOVE it... it's a lot of fun. I wish I had a housing for it.

This past June I made 14 dives with Don Foster's Shop in Grand Cayman. I was using my Scubapro Mk10 and didn't have an octo attached. The divemaster on the boat started to lecture me on not having an octo on my rig. He stated that it would soon become a law in Grand Cayman that all divers would have to have a octopus if the wanted to dive in Cayman waters. I told him I never heard of that and I and my wife were both experience divers with over 500 logged dives without any serious problems. We have our equipment maintained yearly and have never had a major equipment malfuction while on a dive. He went on to say PADI no longer requires teaching buddy breathing because it was too difficulate and again stressed that was one of the reasons I needed an octo. I explained I did own an AIR2 but prefered not to dive with it using this jacket .... the AIR2 was hooked up to a vest that I seldom use these days. He didn't think hightly of AIR2's either.

 

[fookisan]

Most dive operations i have dove with require an octo. I personally would not dive without one and as an instructor would not lead a diver who didnt have one. I know i can buddy breath with my buddy, but what about the unkown diver who grabs your reg at depth? can you control him or her? Its much easier to go to your octo, take them to the surface and then "discuss" the incident. (ive never had to share air with a buddy, but ive brought several divers I had never met up)

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Yes, depth buddy breathing with an unknown quantity...can be dangerous. I always use a minimum 13 cf pony bottle and 2nd reg as a stand alone 2nd air source. This topic of the unknown steers some divers to getting solo certificate to avoid "buddy" disasters. I like backups and sometimes triple backups such as knives if I am diving in kelp forests.

 

[Kat]

Scubapro50

I'm glad you decided to get an AAS.

Just a little math for you.

867 dives in 38 years. With 1/3, approx. 300 (lets round up f/ arguments sake) done in the first 5 years. Approx. 60 dives a year, for the first 5 years. That leaves 600 dives in 33 years. That averages out to about 18 dives a year.

 

[Jim Baldwin]

This past June I made 14 dives with Don Foster's Shop in Grand Cayman. I was using my Scubapro Mk10 and didn't have an octo attached. The divemaster on the boat started to lecture me on not having an octo on my rig. He stated that it would soon become a law in Grand Cayman that all divers would have to have a octopus if the wanted to dive in Cayman waters. I told him I never heard of that and I and my wife were both experience divers with over 500 logged dives without any serious problems. We have our equipment maintained yearly and have never had a major equipment malfuction while on a dive. He went on to say PADI no longer requires teaching buddy breathing because it was too difficulate and again stressed that was one of the reasons I needed an octo. I explained I did own an AIR2 but prefered not to dive with it using this jacket .... the AIR2 was hooked up to a vest that I seldom use these days. He didn't think hightly of AIR2's either.

When I started diving in 1980 I had a regulator that did not even have a plug for to attach an octo. A Nemrod Snark II regulator, one second stage and one high pressure hose with a gauge. I didn't see my first BCD until 1982. All regulators now come with multiple ports so there is no reason not to have an AAS be it an octo or Air2.

Technology is a wonderful thing. The backplate and wing I dive with today looks a lot like some of the gear from the past. My regulators breath so much easier compared to my old gear and my split fins make moving much easier than the old Dacor Turbo II's.

I believe I'm right in that all dive operators in the US now require divers to have gear that is equipped with an AAS. Someone will certainly correct me if I'm wrong.

Jim
Louisiana