diving skills

New Scuba Instructors

It was a cold stormy night; the air was as thick as a rubber duck. The team was stuck inside wondering when the weather would break so they could go submerge in the tropical waters. It was at this point that the duo decided that they needed to expand their horizons, look beyond the Caribbean to the once blue waters of Beautiful Blue Lagoon in Pine Prairie Texas. They made the fatal phone call to Dive Mom and the dead was done… they were now on their way to becoming a certified Open Water Instructor!
The program was a lot of time listening to Eric espouse the virtues of Scuba Instruction while demonstrating their diving prowess and techniques to a variety of enlightened individuals. Through it all they maintained kept their eyes on the goal of joining the few proud souls who are privileged to impart scuba knowledge to the uninitiated.
This past Sunday, they realized their goal; they became Open Water Scuba Instructors! Congratulations Charles Alvarez and Zach Gay for becoming new Scuba Schools International Open Water Scuba Instructors!

Wade's Excellent Scuba Diver Specialty Weekend

Wade in Truck with Snorkel — Let’s Go Diving!

Wade is hosting a Specialty Diver Weekend! Now, before you tune it out, it isn’t until May so the water will be warm and the weather will be stunning (ok, the water will be warmer, we can’t guarantee the weather). This is the perfect opportunity to improve your diving skills, become more confident in your diving and learn some valuable diving skills while having fun!

If it is in May, why mention it now?

I can hear you asking, “if it is not until May, why should I sign-up now?” Because “now” is the perfect time to start reading the material; it is cold outside! One of the requirements for a Specialty Diver Weekend is that you must complete all of the educational materials before you show up. By enrolling now, you

Have time to complete your reading;
Guarantee your space;
Have time to make sure you have the required equipment for the program;
Have time to purchase what you are missing; and
Plan your contribution to the “Pot Luck Dinner” (remember as Eric says, Texas Diving is a BarBQ interrupted by diving).

What specialties can I take?

You can participate in a number of specialty programs this weekend including,

How Do I sign-up?

Enrolling in a class is “as easy as squeezy” as they say in Trinidad. You can either call Dive Mom to sign-up or simply, click a button below, which will take you to the product to purchase it. Either way, we will open up the training materials so you can get started and be ready for diving in May.

Dealing With Accidental Decompression

There is nothing to fear about accidentally going into deco as long as you know what to do when it happens.

Simon is the best-selling author of Scuba Confidential – An Insider’s Guide to Becoming a Better Diver and Scuba Professional – Insights into Scuba Diver Training & Operations. Both books are available from Oceanic Ventures. Simon has also just published a new book for divers-to-be and absolute beginners called Scuba Fundamental – Start Diving the Right Way.
There is a very good reason why instructors tell their students not to go into deco and why dive computer manuals repeat the warning time after time.
Chances are that the cylinder on your back is usually your only air source when you dive. If you run very low on air or if you suffer a rapid loss of air supply, perhaps because of a regulator free flow or a split hose, then the best option you have is to make a slow controlled ascent directly to the surface.
Yes, an alternative option is to share air with an alert, calm and capable diver around who is carrying more air than they need and is both equipped and willing to share it. But you can’t depend that someone like that will be nearby when you need them.
If you stay calm and you are not in deco, that is to say, if your computer is not showing required decompression stops, you will make it safely to the surface. You will probably not be able to make a safety stop on the way up but that is not going to be health threatening. After all, a safety stop on a no-decompression-stops dive is a luxury rather than a necessity.
On the other hand, if you do have required decompression stops, then going straight to the surface and missing those stops is definitely a health risk! That is the main reason why divers are told, “don’t go into deco!”

But Divers Do It All The Time

You may not be surprised to hear that divers accidentally go into deco every day. This is because they are only human, they have fun diving and they tend to get distracted. If it has not yet happened to you, it certainly will, so it is useful to know what to do when it does!
Because they have heard the warning so often, divers tend to panic when they find themselves accidentally in deco. There is no need for anxiety. Going into deco will not hurt you. Going to the surface when you are in deco, however, may well hurt you.
Know how your computer works and what it looks like when you go into deco. Do not be the diver who gets back into the boat moaning about a “broken” computer that is actually functioning perfectly. It is just telling the diver that they should still be underwater waiting until their deco stops clear.
The first thing you notice when you go into deco is that your computer screen suddenly looks different. A new depth reading appears, usually 10ft or 20ft, and a new time display. The depth is your new ceiling; you must not go shallower than this. The time is either your decompression stop time at the ceiling or an indicator of the minimum time it will now take you to reach the surface taking into account both your ascent time and the decompression stop time.
Every brand of computer is different. There is no industry standard. You must know how yours works. I know the manual looks boring but take the time to study it. Trust me, if you see your computer’s deco screen for the first time deep down at 100ft with your brain befuddled by narcosis, you will have no idea what it is saying to you.

Run The Clock Down

So what do you do next? First, look at your pressure gauge. If you still have plenty of air left, relax; you have nothing to be concerned about. Start ascending gradually, keeping an eye on your computer until the deco/ascent time figure stops growing. When the figure starts to drop, continue your dive at that depth but do not go deeper again. Eventually, the deco will clear and you will see your usual no decompression screen display again with plenty of minutes remaining.
Finally, end the dive a little earlier than originally planned to make sure you have plenty of air left to do an extended safety stop of eight or ten minutes before you surface.

Remember

1. Going into deco is nothing to panic about.
2. Know what your computer screen will look like when it happens.
3. Do a long safety stop at the end of every dive where you accidentally go into deco.

Ten Tips for Reducing Your Air Consumption While Scuba Diving

A note about the author – Simon is the best-selling author of Scuba Confidential – An Insider’s Guide to Becoming a Better Diver and Scuba Professional – Insights into Scuba Diver Training & Operations. Both books are available now from Oceanic Ventures.

Once you have completed your first Scuba course and begin diving with more experienced divers, one of the first things you may notice is how much longer their air seems to last in comparison to yours. You are always running low before the rest of the group and having to cut short your buddy’s dive.

The people who scuba dive with you will not mind at all. They know you are a new diver and it was not so long ago that they were in a similar situation. However, you probably will mind and you will be looking for ways to breathe more efficiently and make your dives last longer.

Here are 10 tips guaranteed to improve your air consumption and also make you a better scuba diver in many other respects at the same time. Notice that none of these involves using a bigger cylinder!

Eric Relaxing before Scuba Diving in Grand Cayman — Eric Relaxing in Grand Cayman

Tip One – Get in the Mood

Take some quiet time on your own before each dive to relax and focus on what lies ahead. Breathe deeply and find a nice peaceful place in your mind. Put away any negative thoughts concerning other aspects of your life. You are going diving; there is nothing you can do about anything else while you are underwater.

Tip Two – Breathe Properly

Learn to breathe like a scuba diver. Breathe from the diaphragm; push your stomach out to allow your lungs to expand and draw in as much air as possible. Then breathe out long and slow, bringing your stomach in to reduce your lung volume to a minimum. Practice this long, deep, slow breathing cycle until it becomes instinctive. Not only will this help you to use less air, it will help you stay calm and think clearly.

Tip Three – Get Fit

Diving is a sport and the fitter you are, the better you will dive and the less air you will use. Start a programme of aerobic training and increase the level of your training as a dive trip approaches.

Tip Four – Don’t Move

When you are underwater, only move your fins when you need to go somewhere. If you are not going anywhere, keep them still. Tuck your arms in, only use your hands if you need to signal and incline your body like a motorcyclist if you want to change direction or regain your equilibrium.

Tip Five – Remove Weight

Like many new divers, there is a good chance that you are wearing too much weight. A reliable indicator of this is if, after your initial descent, you have to add quite a lot of air to your BCD to keep you off the bottom. What happens next is that, when you start you swim, the air in your BCD lifts your upper torso and the weight around your middle drags your butt and legs down. This gives you the head up, tail down posture of a seahorse. Look at other new divers or ask a friend to take a short video of you, to see what I mean. Moving through water in this position requires much more effort and causes you to use up much more air than if you are horizontal, as you should be.

The trick is to reduce the amount of weight you are carrying. Start by removing one piece and, if you can still make a comfortable initial descent by exhaling fully as you leave the surface, remove another. If, at the end of a dive, you can hang at a depth of 10 to 20 ft. with 750 psi in your cylinder and an empty BCD, you are correctly weighted. Another little thing to remember: if you are wearing a weight-belt and a wetsuit, the belt will loosen and slip down onto your hips a little as the water pressure compresses your suit. So, once you are at depth, take a moment to hitch your weight-belt higher on your waist and tighten it a little. This will lift your legs up and give you a more horizontal posture in the water.

Tip Six – Do an In-Water Check

The whole gearing up, entry and descent process can be awkward and strenuous. For instance, you may be wearing a thick suit on a hot sunny day, there may be a lot of other divers around or the sea might be choppy. A whole host of factors can conspire to undo the positive effects of your pre-dive relaxation and the consequent stress can cause you to go through your air more quickly. So, once you are underwater and the confusion on the surface is behind you, make it a habit to pause briefly and go through a quick in-water check. Take a few seconds to compose yourself, get your slow, deep breathing cycle going, inspect your gear for problems and verify your cylinder pressure (Tip Eight) before heading off to the depths.

Tip Seven – Kick Differently

There are a number of easier ways to fin than the classic wide, full-legged scissor kick you used when you started diving. Learn about alternative techniques like frog kicks and modified flutter kicks. Ask your instructors to show you how or just watch and copy what they do. Using energy-saving fin techniques will reduce your air consumption considerably.

Tip Eight – Know your True Starting Pressure

The cylinder pressure you see when you check your gauge on a sunny boat deck is misleading, as the reading changes with the drop in temperature when you enter the relatively cool water. The underwater reading is your true starting pressure. If you are aware of this you can calculate your airtime (Tip Nine) and this will help you relax. A relaxed diver uses less air.

Tip Nine – Always Know How Much Air You Have

Always know how much air you have left and also have at least a rough idea in your mind of how long it is going to last. This is how you do it.

As you descend, make a mental note of your air pressure, say 2900 psi
After five minutes at depth, look again. Maybe you now have 2700 psi.
This means you have used 200 psi.
Assuming you are diving the deepest part of your dive first, you now know that you will use a maximum of 200 psi every five minutes.
If you want to surface with 500 psi, you have 2200 psi left to use.
So a simple calculation ((2200 / 200) x 5 minutes) tells you that you have AT LEAST 55 minutes of airtime left.

Tip Ten – Keep Calm

If you ever find yourself becoming anxious underwater, the chances are that the reason for this is that you have lost your deep, slow breathing cycle without noticing it. Maybe you have been fighting a current or trying to keep up with a buddy who is swimming at a pace that you are uncomfortable with. As soon as you are aware of your increasing anxiety, stop finning. Calm yourself down by inhaling fully and, most importantly, exhaling fully for a couple of minutes. As you take deeper and gradually less frequent breaths your mind will clear. Check your contents gauge. If you still have plenty of air left, continue with your dive. If your air supply is lower than you expected, ascend to a shallower depth. Remember, the shallower you are the less air you use.

New Scuba Diving Instructors

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Let it be known that Oceanic Ventures Has Four New Scuba Diving Instructors!

After a lot of time listening to lectures, working through a mound of homework, having special sessions, apprenticing with the staff and a great deal of stressful studying, John Davis, Joe Henry, Joel Hershey and Scuba Steve Soulen completed their Instructor Evaluation Clinic, IEC, this past weekend and are now officially Open Water Scuba Diving Instructors — well ok, once the paperwork is processed at SSI headquarters. Their journey to this point has been a long winding road. There were a lot of classroom sessions with me as well as pool classes and open water sessions. During the process, they all became Dry Suit divers so they could stand the winter and early spring waters at the lake and they learned to work with troublesome students (thank you Alex Witschey and Madison Lee.) They worked with new students and divers wanting to join Neptune again (i.e. Scuba Skills Updates). They plowed through standards and textbooks looking for the gems that they would be tested over as well as their Science of Diving materials (the physics and physiology of diving.)
Throughout the process they maintained a positive attitude and stepped-in to help where ever they could. Along the way, they, along with Dive Coordinator, Susan Long, came up with some awesome marketing ideas and some ways to improve the diving programs at Oceanic Ventures. All the while, Dive Mom had to remain out of their training and could not help them through the training process. However, I think the preparation program was just as hard for Dive Mom, because she could not participate in the program nor assist them in any way. She had to maintain her distance since she was the Instructor Certifier for the IEC.
In the end they all shined! They completed the testing and evaluation with most of their finger nails intact and with hair on their head — well, Joel excluded. AT about 4:30 Sunday afternoon they all knew — They passed and were now finished with their Instructor program!

Rebreather Scuba Diving – The Advantages of Silent Scuba Diving

I am often asked why I prefer to dive a rebreather over open-circuit scuba. My reasons are mixed and sometimes maybe a little hard to quantify. But the simple answer is, for me, it has a number of advantages over traditional scuba.

Key Advantages of Rebreather Scuba Diving

While a rebreather isn’t the best choice for every diver or every diver, it is the best choice for many dives and many divers. Poseidon, a rebreather manufacturer says the key advantages are, a rebreather system is less noisy than an open-circuit system, making the interaction with marine life more intense and up close, as wildlife will approach you rather than swim away from you. The duration of a dive on a rebreather system is generally much longer which means that you can either stay down longer in one dive or do several repetitive dives without the need to re-fill your cylinders. The reason for this is that you will not use up your gas as fast as on a normal scuba system, because you are re-using gas the whole time, making the rebreather 96% efficient in comparison to 4% efficiency during an open-circuit dive. Your gas costs will be reduced, especially when you venture into technical diving. No decompression time is far greater on the rebreather system as it makes sure you have the optimal gas mix at every depth, therefore minimizing the intake of nitrogen. If you are a certified Nitrox diver, you can compare it to having a nitrox blender on your back that makes sure that you have the best mix at every depth.
An open-circuit system gives you cold and dry gas, but on a rebreather you will get moist and warm gas, which is much more comfortable to breathe while diving. There is no need for deep breaths because the loop is an extension of your lungs. You only need to make sure that you continually breath normal breaths. Your buoyancy will not be altered by the way you breathe; it will only be changed when you add gas to your buoyancy device.

Rebreather Divers in Grand Cayman During the First Innerspace CCR Event (Eric is in the Photograph)

Noise – a Rebreather Dive is Quiet

When I first started diving, I loved the silence that the underwater world brought. The sounds of traffic, phones, engines and other people faded away and the only thing you heard was the sound of your own breathing in the bubbles as they raced past your ears. Switching to a rebrerather brought new sensations. The surface sounds faded away just like on open-circuit scuba but so did the noise created by the bubbles. Suddenly it was really quiet — at least until I swam near a reef. Then I heard it — the sound of millions of small shrimp clicking away on the reef. Yes, as the sound of my bubbles faded, I was suddenly able to hear the sounds of nature and the reef and it was so cool!
When you get used to the relative quiet of the rebreather, you can really tell when open-circuit divers are approaching. The bubbles are so noisy and the fish begin to hide!
I know this is a politically incorrect statement but it is true. This is one of the reasons some rebreather divers do not want to dive with the “bubblers.” Of course there is another side to this; many open-circuit divers do not want to dive with rebreather divers because they take longer to get ready to go diving.

Eric On a Rebreather Dive in Grand Cayman — Eric Scuba Diving Using a Rebreather in Grand Cayman

Time – a Factor In and Out Of the Water

This is true, especially when compared to single cylinder, recreational diving. A rebreather diver has a checklist for the assembly and preparation of the unit for use underwater. Working through this checklist is a thirty minute to an hour process depending on the unit and the experience of the diver. Most times the divers get up a little earlier to complete the diving but there are times that gas is delayed or other logistical factors do not align and the open-circuit divers are stuck waiting for the rebreather divers.
But, once the divers are in the water, the rebreather shines. Having a “custom gas blender” on your back means that you get the optimal breathing mix throughout the dive. As we noted above, this translated into longer no-decompression times or shorter decompression profiles when compared to most open-circuit profiles. My first rebreather dives were amazing. I was in Grand Cayman swimming along the wall at 80 fsw to 100 fsw for an hour and then up along the top of the wall for the second hour and by the time I reached the mooring line there was no decompression time and I could go straight up. Of course, like all good divers, I did a safety stop but you can imagine my delight at doing a two-hour dive with no decompression required. Of course that changed later that year when I discovered the sponge belt in Grand Cayman at about 180 fsw. Now a limited amount of decompression was required.
On another occasion, when I was diving with mixed teams (open-circuit and closed circuit rebreather divers) in Florida a few years ago, we found that the rebreather divers could stay on the bottom, exploring the wrecks ten to fifteen minutes longer than the open-circuit divers and still exit the water at about the same time. In other words, we spent more time exploring wrecks like the Hydro Atlantic, and less time hanging in the water column decompressing.

Cave Scuba Diving using Twin Cylinders in Peacock Springs , Florida — Eric Keibler Cave Diving using Twin Cylinders in Peacock Springs , Florida

Weight – Lighter is Better

My diving has changed a lot over the years. I started in single cylinders, and then moved up to twin cylinders or double cylinders when I started cave diving and wreck diving. As my cave diving progressed, I found that I wanted more air so heavier cylinders were needed. At some point, Cliff Simeneau talked to Ann about the newest trend sweeping diving in the US and the importance of offering training on this new technology. We had already been diving and teaching the Drager Dolphin Semi-Closed rebreather systems but this was the time when the Inspiration was beginning to be seen in the US.
One of the advantages of a rebreather is that it gives you the same or more duration as the twin cylinders without the weight of the cylinders. So, I was overjoyed at trying the unit and diving it more. It is funny, one of my instructors, Tom Mount, liked to comment that the difference between new rebreather divers and more experienced rebreather divers was that at some point, experienced divers started making comments about how heavy their rebreathers are. This means they have now forgotten the shift from the much heavier cylinders to the lighter rebreather and now the CCR unit is the focus of the weight in their mind.
So, yes, a CCR unit is lighter than a set of twin cylinders – even the Sentinel weighs less than a twin-set of cylinders. Over the years, CCR units have become lighter and more compact. Several of the newer models, like the Pathfinder from Inner Space Systems, weigh closer to a single cylinder set-up which makes them ideal for travel. This reduced weight is also easier on your back as a diver which is important as the diving population ages.

Interaction – The Marine Animals Play More with Scuba Divers in a Rebreather

While weight and time are important factors for a rebreather diver, one of the most exciting things is the interaction with marine animals. Let’s face it, bubbles are noisy and the fish react differently when there are bubbles. The small fish move into the coral with each release (i.e. with each exhalation) and other animals just move away.
One of the first things i noticed a rebreather were those small fish moving in and out of a coral head. I had spent countless hours photographing coral heads, trying to get the timing right so I could photograph of the fish suspended above the coral. On my first Inspiration CCR reef dive, I noticed the fish remained suspended above the coral head; they did not disappear into the coral with my breathing! I also found the lobsters remained out on the reef rather than backed up into a hole. Perhaps the most amazing thing was coming face to face with a spotted eagle ray over a wall. It was so cool!
The life under the sea is so different without the noise of open-circuit scuba. As a rebreather diver you get to experience the world like a free diver but you get to stay and keep enjoying it while the free divers head back to the surface. Imagine coming face to face with a large turtle or a ray or watching squid mate or even being surrounded by large tarpon or schools of fish. This is rebreather diving on a reef!

Cool – You just look really cool Scuba Diving in a Rebreather

What can I say, you just look like James Bond! Because they are still rare at a lot of dive sites, when you dive a rebreather you will attract attention and people will stop and ask you questions. This may not be the ideal situation if you are a c overt operative but it does lead to some interesting conversations. It is also fun to surprise other divers underwater when you swim by — remember they did not hear you coming. But let’s face it, diving is pretty cool and rebreather diving is definitely cool!
So, why isn’t everyone diving a rebreather? I ask myself that all of the time. People will tell you it is the cost, or the time or the commitment which are all good reasons but when you try one, you will see why rebreather divers are hooked. They have found the money, time and made the commitment to experiencing the underwater world to its fullest.
Isn’t it time you joined the new rebreather diving generation?