What jewelry do you wear while diving?

[cool_hardware52]

Depends on how you defined 'jewelry" I wear doubles, dry suit, 2-3 stage and deco bottles with regs, a can light, a couple back ups, various gauges, 6 to 10 bolt snap, and typically a Li-ion Scooter.

I feel pretty.

Tobin

 

[Sam Miller III]

[h=2]I recently posted the following in the California section


Red & white dive flag - a short history[/h]

Great meeting some of you but missing most of you at the SCUBA Show a little over two weeks ago in beautiful down town Long Beach.

One of my long term areas of expertise is the red and white dive flag. I made a seminar presentation on the little known and probably long forgotten history of the design development and subsequent acceptance of the dive flag at SCUBA Show.

I thought it appropriate to share with a few titbits of historical facts about the flag

The concept of a flag to identify diving activities was first introduced in 1957 via a single paragraph in Skin Diver Magazine (SDM). During the following years divers and dive clubs made recommendations via SDM until early 1960s when it's design, color, size and display procedures was "officially" adapted by the diving public in 1960.

In 1962 the flag was only a few years old when first accident involving a boat and a diver displaying the dive flag occurred at Long Point at Catalina Island .

Until that time the flag had been publicized by SDM and was was familiar with diving public and only slightly familiar to the boaters via posters placed in marinas and in launch areas but had never been tested in a court of law. During the geneses of the sport I was very active and considerably more visible in the diving community than I am today, therefore I was called as the only expert witness to defend the validity and proper use of the flag during diving activities. It was an awesome responsibility but we, the prosecution prevailed'

The red and white flag was saved! It was recognized as the flag of recreational diving!

This litigation which occurred over 50 years ago established the rights and privilege's of a diver displaying the flag and verified and established it as a "recognized flag" of diving activity. Displaying a red and white flag while diving is good assurance that in the event that you are in an accident involving a motor craft you have legal recourse in a California court of law.
Immediately after the trial I authored an 2 part 6 page article on the flag and the litigation which appeared in the now defunct LA County Underwater News, which I suspect a copy will be extremely difficult to locate.

A short time later I was also honored as the first Guest Editor of Skin Diver magazine - "Signpost to Safety" about the history of the flag and urging all divers to publicize and display the flag. ( I also authored articles for SDM and appeared on the cover of the magazine- the only person to have all three honors) This lead into writing the description of the flag for Chapman's Small Boat Handling and the US Coast Guard Auxiliary. My original submissions described the flag and cautioned boaters to give a boat displaying the flag courtesy of reduced speed and extra clearance. But any resemblance to what I submitted and what was published is purely coincidental .

Since that first defense I have been involved in numerous consultations and and litigations of the flag. One particular critical trial involved a east coast corporation who via legal maneuvering considered themselves as the sole proprietor of the flag and who's intent was to establish a license fee for the manufacture and use of the flag. After 18 long months of research and lengthy deliberation it was determined the flag was in the public domain.

Once again the red and white dive flag was saved.

All can use it- in advertising, on wearing apparel, on automobile windows and as jewerly

My wife Dr. Betty and I just returned from an 8000 mile 2 plus month trip around the southern part of the US. One thing I noted when we visited dive shops and dive operators was the discrepancy in the proportions of the flag. The closer we came to Florida the thinner the white stripe became.

The recommended and universally accepted proportions of a dive flag as proposed and agreed and established in the early 1960s by the diving public was to be in units. The flag should be five (5) units wide by four (4) units high with a one (1) unit white stripe. Now to accommodate production many flags are square; 4 units by 4 units but the stripe should be 1 unit

The background color was recommended to be "blaze" or " neon orange," a few were manufactured (I have an original one!) Those colors evidently were difficult to reproduce and almost immediately gave way to the familiar basic red background

Many years ago I was honored as the "Out standing LA County Underwater Instructor of the year." So I had a custom ring made with the LA Co UW instructor's logo on it .

I often remarked that because of my involvement in the red and white dive flag that I should some day have a dive flag ring custom made.

No need -I discovered a red and white dive flag ring at the dive show which was the correct proportions of 5X4X1 in a sterling silver mounting. It didn't take much for Roland St John who markets over 100 dive and ocean related products under the name of Big Blue to have my hard earned California dollars in his pocket and a shiny new dive flag ring on my finger.

After returning home my wife saw the ring and we determined a dive flag ring would be perfect as a conventional wedding band while traveling and diving. So we contacted Roland who honored the show price of $30.00.--rather than the advertised price of $75.00

Now we are a two dive flag ring family...very few can boast of being a two ring dive couple

If interested I would suggest that you might want to check out the rings at ~~ Big Blue Aquatic Gifts - Marine Life Jewelry, Art, Conservation - Categories ~~

Roland has indicated he will honor the show price of $30.00 to July 30th. You may order on line at ~~ SALES@BIGBLUEDIVE.COM or via telephone (401) 625 9758.

As I urged a half century ago in my SDM article "Sign post for Safety" that all divers to publicize and display the flag" you can publicize the ring 24X7 by wearing one of Roland's Dive flag rings.

SDM, 111


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*(My son Dr. Samuel Miler IV, who is a NAUI (LIFE) & PADI instructor, a SSI Pro 5000 diver as well as the only Scrip's trained hyperbaric doctor between Santa Barbara and San Francisco area gave a very informative and certainly timely presentation at the SCUBA Show on "Implants and SCUBA diving" )

We were the first father and son team to present seminars at the SCUBA Show.
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Dr. SDM,111
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We never travel with valuable jewelry on dive trips or during international travel.
For the last 40 -50 years we have been traveling with a very simple inexpensive wedding band which is showing wear so it will be replaced with the recently acquired dive flag ring.

I suspect if interested if you would contact Roland he will possibly honor the SCUBA show price of $30.00 hard earned Yankee dollars....

SDM,111
​

 

[Laurie S.]

I have one of those rings, but I bought it at DEMA last year.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Sam Miller, you may be happy to know that I own a number of Mr. St. John's pieces (not that the would wesr them diving of course). That said,I don't have the ring.

 

[hroark2112]

I wear my wedding ring. I wear half-finger gloves unless I'm somewhere that prohibits gloves, or when I need full gloves. I also don't take my wedding ring off when I play hockey, and I'm a goalie. I feel naked without it.

 

[Sam Miller III]

I recently went on a girls dive trip to Cozumel and I saw lots of jewelry during dives. One woman wore several rings - another wore dangly earrings - I was wearing a necklace that is completely hidden under my wetsuit, and also my wedding band. I was thinking about wearing a pair of silver earrings and my husband is giving me grief about them attracting barracuda or sharks. Partly he's pulling my leg, but I have read that shiny stuff can attract fish. But guess what? My D-rings are shiny too!

Opinions?

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In the genius of the sport a few moons ago the primary activity was consumption diving ...collecting shell fish and spearing finned fish.

It was discovered by examining the Jigs of the ole pole fisherman that certain fish such as the California Yellow tail and the Pacific and Atlantic yellow barracuda were /are attracted to large bright shinny objects (aka Jigs). In order to attract certain fish in range of a spear gun the spear fisherman would often attach bright shiny objects to the end of his gun.

The target fish would swim closer to examine the object and with in a nano second became dinner.

With the sudden increase of divers most who were /are land bound most of the year the attraction of Barracudas, to bring shinny objects has become the diving equivalent of a terrestrial urban legend.

But on very rare occasions a hungry fish will dart in on a shinny object for a look see or a bite.

No need to worry

SDM

 

[vinegarbiscuit]

I wear my wedding band. That is all. Earrings and high-profile rings are incompatible with the neck and wrist seals of drysuits, and even donning and doffing a wetsuit with earrings would probably result in losing one or more. I also consider the idea of a necklace under a wetsuit or drysuits to be a poor one. Again, all too easy to damage a delicate chain when donning or doffing. I am not diving to look pretty or decorative, and that's what jewelry is for. If you don't need it in the water, and indeed stand a decent chance of losing it or wrecking it, why take it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tkdgodess]

My wedding band under my drygloves. Sometimes my watch if i forget to take it off. I cant be bothered. Brushing my hair is even a stretch when diving. I'm a girly girl with a good amount of practical tomboy. Diving trumps fashion.

 

[BabyDuck]

i leave in one earring, which is a captive bead ring and not easy to get off & on. i leave on a toe ring. i leave on another piece covered by bathing suit. i take off the rest of the earrings, dangly shiny bracelet, and watch.

for me it's more what's easy to get on & off. it's all covered by neoprene or trilam.

 

[Skittl1321]

I do not wear any.

I actually leave my wedding rings at home when we go on dive vacations.