Somehow my BCD snorkel was broken off in Fiji. I simply removed my bladder and dove without it. They weren't happy with it, but I did fine. I even had a few comments of how my neutral buoyancy was better than most who had bladders.
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I guess it's like driving a stick. When that was your first car, you never forget how to do it. Unfortunately, I broke my leg that very next night and didn't get to dive any more on that trip.
![Frown :( :(](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
For those who think I am clumsy; I broke my leg standing up. I didn't stumble and fall!!! I don't know anyone else who has accomplished that feat.
Friends of mine in the Vintage Dive forums, those involved with the Kraken Argonaut enjoy diving as a group on Bonaire, with the old style, tank, hardpack, DH regulator, and no BCD. Correct weighting is required, and not needing thermal protection helps with weighting.
When i learned, and dived in New England waters, weighting was a little more complicated, with the old, thick neopreme we had in 1970, but we managed. We tended to start a touch light on the surface, as the neoprene crushed at depth, but that was what was needed, before buoyancy control changed the game.
My first encounter with a BCD was somewhat traumatic, and I was injured on a badly executed ascent, which led to my first "retraining", to adapt to entirely new gear coming into the sport.
I broke my left leg just standing at the rinse tank after my very last dive of the SB Coz Invasion, what, @ 2 years ago now?
I was rinsing my gear, and talking, and as i turned to the right, my left tibia snapped, and i dropped instantly. Apparently a hole drilled for the ankle fusion 2 months previous, had weakened that bone.
That was also the morning that my first signs of covid's arrival hit me.
The return trip was rough.
I did have a pair of crutches with me on that trip, as a result of my ankle fusion in early April, so I avoided visiting the Mexican medical system.