ERIC.K
Contributor
Most of you are apparently diving far more extreme than my wife and I, to each their own I say to pony bottles, however after 573 dives so far, we still keep a log, I cannot remember a time that I wished I had an extra bottle. I think the most extreme diving was at the Duane with a light current, we jumped in when the divemaster told us to and we ascended when he told us to, no penetrations, no sticking our noses where it didn't belong, the Captain was right on with his descriptions of the conditions and my wife made our decision based on that. Of the 572 or so dives with a hard bottom and depths in the range of 70-100 feet and never below, I have never felt fearful of my life without a pony bottle. I have at times jeered at someone strapping on a pony bottle while we were motoring out to a dive site in the Caymans with the max depth of 60 feet. so I think that pony bottles have their place and if you want one then wear it but it seems alittle extreme when conditions don't warrant it. It seems like alot of folks who post on this board seems to let alot of "What If's" get in the way of their enjoyment of the sport. Certainly there are alot of unforseens however my YMCA/PADI training seems to have prepared me for those circumstanses using basic scuba Equipment, Provided I stay within my limits. My concern for pony bottles are that folks use them much like overdraft protection in their checking accounts in that it gives them extra breathing gas watching that turtle alittle longer. Hopefully those of you who choose to bring the extra gear like pony bottles are at the very least familiar with them cause most gear junkies I've run across usually are the ones that have dropped something on my toe
