Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Spaced God
Feb 8, 2014

All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement
Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!



I remember a few pages ago someone asked how not to be the loving new guy on a dive, and I have a bit of a supplemental question to that. I'm doing my first actual facts (not in a lake or river) dive in January in Antigua, and then going on a week trip to Cozumel with friends. I've only been certified since May and chew through air (usually double what some people breathe!). Any exercises or anything I can do to make sure I'm not the rear end in a top hat who makes everyone turn back super early?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

GORDON
Jan 1, 2006

by Fluffdaddy
Hmmmmmmm.......... advice for how to not burn through air....

When I was training for 6 months before getting certified... I was no spring chicken, and wanted to make sure I was in pretty good shape... I did a lot of pool work, working on my lung efficiency with a lot of anaerobic exercises. I was swimming regular laps to build endurance, but I was also working in "no breathing" laps as far as I could go. Yeah, they hurt, but after a couple months I was doing 50 yards with a flip-turn in the middle without needing to take a breath. Applied to scuba diving, it turns out that I had trained myself to be calm and relaxed under water, confident in my ability to deal with air emergencies, and my breathing never got rapid and I was using about half the air in the pool the instructor thought I would use.

Every body and metabolism is different, but that worked for me.

Trivia
Feb 8, 2006

I'm an obtuse man,
so I'll try to be oblique.
I recently got my dry suit spec.

The not-peeing thing I was fine with, but the way-too-loving-tight neck and wrist seals really poo poo on the experience for me.

DeadlyMuffin
Jul 3, 2007


Trivia posted:

I recently got my dry suit spec.

The not-peeing thing I was fine with, but the way-too-loving-tight neck and wrist seals really poo poo on the experience for me.

There's a balance between too tight to be comfortable and too loose to not leak, and latex seals stretch out a bit over time.

All that being said, I my experience if you're noticing how tight the seals are during the dive they're too tight.

Trivia
Feb 8, 2006

I'm an obtuse man,
so I'll try to be oblique.
What if they were so tight your hands were getting really cold outside the water, and you were light headed everywhere you walked (never mind IN the water)?

(They were much too tight.)

In fact, my buddy was so uncomfortable from it he ended up vomiting upon surfacing.

DeadlyMuffin
Jul 3, 2007


Trivia posted:

What if they were so tight your hands were getting really cold outside the water, and you were light headed everywhere you walked (never mind IN the water)?

(They were much too tight.)

In fact, my buddy was so uncomfortable from it he ended up vomiting upon surfacing.

That's insane. You're going to put too much pressure on your carotid artery and could potentially end up unconscious underwater.

If you were doing this as part of a class then your instructor dropped the ball in a very dangerous way.

asur
Dec 28, 2012

Spaced God posted:

I remember a few pages ago someone asked how not to be the loving new guy on a dive, and I have a bit of a supplemental question to that. I'm doing my first actual facts (not in a lake or river) dive in January in Antigua, and then going on a week trip to Cozumel with friends. I've only been certified since May and chew through air (usually double what some people breathe!). Any exercises or anything I can do to make sure I'm not the rear end in a top hat who makes everyone turn back super early?

The key to air consumption is not making unnecessary movements and staying calm. Aside from staying calm, most beginners compensate for bad buoyancy control by moving which dramatically increases your air consumption. If you don't exercise or swim at all there is probably some benefit to be gained by doing so, but I would guess that it's minor compared just reducing your movement underwater. If you have trouble staying calm, it should help to focus on your breath and slow it down.

asur fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Dec 23, 2016

Spaced God
Feb 8, 2014

All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement
Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!



asur posted:

The key to air consumption is not making unnecessary movements and staying calm. Aside from staying calm, most beginners compensate for bad buoyancy control by moving which dramatically increases your air consumption. If you don't exercise or swim at all there is probably some benefit to be gained by doing so, but I would guess that it's minor compared just reducing your movement underwater. If you have trouble staying calm, it should help to focus on your breath and slow it down.

Yeah, in retrospect I've noticed I was doing most of my buoyancy control with my lungs (to the point of always having a decent amount of air in my lungs even during exhales) instead of just giving my BC a little air. I'll be trying to be a bit better with exercising and getting calmed down in the water so I can get as much out of my tank as I can :shobon:

Thanks for the good words!

Trivia
Feb 8, 2006

I'm an obtuse man,
so I'll try to be oblique.

DeadlyMuffin posted:

That's insane. You're going to put too much pressure on your carotid artery and could potentially end up unconscious underwater.

If you were doing this as part of a class then your instructor dropped the ball in a very dangerous way.

Yeah no poo poo. Good thing we never went more than 2 meters under (we had a fresh out-of-OW-with-6-dives woman).

Oh, guess who had to be her buddy :argh:

MrNemo
Aug 26, 2010

"I just love beeting off"

The not peeing thing isn't really an issue if you're not doing an hour plus of deco regularly. Most dives aren't more than an hour and you can go longer than that in everyday life without needing to pee. Convenience zip on a rear entry suit can be worth it for those times you're on the boat and really need to go though. Otherwise personally I think it's just another failure point or something to forget to close.

Tight seals are a bitch, neck ones are actually dangerous because of where they can put pressure. Do you have a chance to change them? I'm currently dreaming of getting dry gloves as they seem to give more dexterity than 5mm neoprene.

lord1234
Oct 1, 2008

MrNemo posted:

The not peeing thing isn't really an issue if you're not doing an hour plus of deco regularly. Most dives aren't more than an hour and you can go longer than that in everyday life without needing to pee. Convenience zip on a rear entry suit can be worth it for those times you're on the boat and really need to go though. Otherwise personally I think it's just another failure point or something to forget to close.

Tight seals are a bitch, neck ones are actually dangerous because of where they can put pressure. Do you have a chance to change them? I'm currently dreaming of getting dry gloves as they seem to give more dexterity than 5mm neoprene.

Balanced Pee Valve won't leak backwards into the suit, and there is nothing better then pissing under water.

GORDON
Jan 1, 2006

by Fluffdaddy
I heard "There are two types of divers, those who pee in their wetsuits, and those who lie about not doing it."

Call me a liar because I never have and i think it is REALLY gross.

Squashy Nipples
Aug 18, 2007

This is why I like just wearing bathing shorts on the bottom, I can pee and fart with impunity.

Do they make fart valves for dry suits?

lord1234
Oct 1, 2008

Squashy Nipples posted:

This is why I like just wearing bathing shorts on the bottom, I can pee and fart with impunity.

Do they make fart valves for dry suits?

Not fart valves, but they do make a takeadump valve. Check out info on it here: http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php/31937-800-minute-dives?highlight=takeadump

MrNemo
Aug 26, 2010

"I just love beeting off"

lord1234 posted:

Balanced Pee Valve won't leak backwards into the suit, and there is nothing better then pissing under water.

I was much more thinking of pee zips where it is quite possible to have a quick piss before kitting up and forget to close it. I have actually checked how balanced valves look to the outside world but I know they require a bit of setting up to be used involving catheters so I couldn't see myself bothering if I wasn't going on an extended dive.

Piss before you get in the water, I really don't understand the way people seem to look forward to doing it underwater. A bit like people who really enjoying peeing outdoors.

DeadlyMuffin
Jul 3, 2007


It's a bit harder for women. I've called a dive early because I had to pee. Now I'm religious about using the head before I get in the water, but it can be frustrating if I'm shore diving somewhere there isn't a public restroom.

SuitcasePimp
Feb 27, 2005

asur posted:

The key to air consumption is not making unnecessary movements and staying calm. Aside from staying calm, most beginners compensate for bad buoyancy control by moving which dramatically increases your air consumption. If you don't exercise or swim at all there is probably some benefit to be gained by doing so, but I would guess that it's minor compared just reducing your movement underwater. If you have trouble staying calm, it should help to focus on your breath and slow it down.

This 100%! From personal experience and what I see all the time the biggest factor of air consumption for most new/infrequent divers is they are way overweighted, so they subconsciously compensate with their fins/arm flailing to maintain position in the water. In Key Largo the diving is very accessible and cheap so we got a lot of people getting certified or going on their yearly dive trip from surrounding areas, which is awesome. What is not awesome is when the 140lb woman gets on the boat and asks for 18lbs of lead because "that's what they always use" and won't hear anything different, then rides the invisible unicycle all around the reef and runs out of air in 40 minutes. Any reputable dive operation will be cool with you doing a weight check before the dive so don't be afraid to ask. Once you get this dialed in you will really see your diving move to the next level.

Also like asur said, every movement effectively uses air so don't make any that you don't need to. Another thing that I see new divers doing is constant flutter kicking to propel themselves forward. We all did it at first, but what really helped me improve was to watch HOW my DMs were actually diving. What you will see (probably) is that they do one slow kick and then glide motionlessly for a bit. Once I got my weighting right this single thing probably improved my air consumption more than anything.

Squashy Nipples
Aug 18, 2007

lord1234 posted:

Not fart valves, but they do make a takeadump valve. Check out info on it here: http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php/31937-800-minute-dives?highlight=takeadump

Oh thank god, it's a joke. I was obviously joking about the fart valve, but I was afraid to click on that link. :haw:


Someone asked a while back about good boat manners, a guy I dove with in St.Thomas did a pretty good blog post about it:

http://aadivers.blogspot.com/

quote:

Emily Post’s Boat Diving Etiquette

Most experienced divers have been on a boat where the practices of naïve or less experienced divers detracted from the overall experience. While many of the topics I am going discuss would help alleviate some of this discomfort, I am really trying to project safe and practical concepts that will help prevent personal disappointments and safety concerns for all boat divers. In this blog I will suggest some standard boat diving procedures that will enhance your experience.

The two most important times on a boat are the briefings. A good crew will give you a safety briefing on the boats equipment itself and the dive. Good safety briefings are often entertaining. They should contain information on how to use the important safety equipment and what will be expected of you in common boating emergencies. The dive briefing will cover entry and exit procedures as well the depth, bottom time, underwater communication and hand signals, as well as points of interest and maybe a history of the site. Often times, passengers don’t pay attention to these briefings just like they tune them out on an airliner or worse yet talk through them preventing others from paying attention. Unlike an airliner almost all boats are different and have different procedures. The worst diving injuries occur when getting off the boat or getting back on the boat. I recently read an article in an Alert Diver magazine about a divemaster. Even though this was not his boat and he was on vacation he felt that being a divermaster meant those silly rules in the briefing didn’t apply to him. When it came his time to exit the water he held onto the swim platform to remove his fins. (This was not the procedure that was briefed.) The stern went up with a wave. He was sucked under the swim platform. When the boat came back down it crashed into his ribs breaking 2 of them and ended his vacation. Before you stand up to get in the water make sure you are ready. Your mask on your face and your regulator in your mouth. Don’t stand up until the crew is ready for you. It is too easy to fall over and knock out your dive buddy or fall off the back of the boat while making last minute adjustments. When you surface inflate your BCD then while reboarding a boat keep your regulator in your mouth and your mask on your face from the time you surface until you are sitting down. First you won’t drown and second, you are protected should you fall back into the water. LISTEN to the briefings. The crew who works the boat everyday knows better than anyone else how to have a safe and enjoyable experience on it.

While I have concluded my stand on briefings, I would like to emphasize what you should do if one is not presented or inadequate. You should know where the first aid equipment, oxygen, and the fire fighting equipment is. You should also ask about the radio. Remember channel 16 is the international hailing and distress channel. If the Captain and crew don’t want to provide you with adequate answers to these questions you should rethink your choice about boarding the boat.

Before you board a boat always ask permission from a crew member. Although they usually appreciate your willingness to move things along, you may be in the way of them completing important preparations. I am really thankful when divers offer to help. However, don’t be embarrassed if the crew declines. Especially when boating maneuvers are involved. The crew usually has its own way of doing things very efficiently and a helper, more often than not, throws a monkey wrench in a well oiled machine. If you have ever watched Riann or I do our ballet dance around the boat when we depart or return you will know what I am talking about. Furthermore, there may be a safety or liability issue involved that you are unaware of.

Last but not least, bring only what you need. Make sure your equipment is well marked. Do you know how many manufacturers make black BCD’s… ALL OF THEM. You don’t have to prove you are a great diver by bringing every piece of equipment you own. More often than not it gets spread out all over the deck and misplaced. I had a customer who spent his whole dive mad at his son for losing a $1000 dive computer and failed to enjoy his experience. Oh wait, did I forget to mention this guy chewed me out because I suggested he leave his technical equipment at home only to watch him unpack 2/3 of it on the boat? While he was diving I found it under a pile of his unneeded equipment. I’m not talking about things like sunglasses, cell phones, and sun tan lotion. Some of these are necessary for important reasons. Ask a crew member where you should put them to keep them dry and safe. My cell phone is always in the driest place on the boat. Neither sunglasses nor masks belong in a weight box. I should add up the cumulative value of such items I find in a weight box in 1 month. I’ll bet it’s in the thousands of dollars. WEIGHTS BREAK THINGS. They don’t belong where tanks are going to go either. Don’t leave sunglasses hanging from a bungy or a mask sitting on a bench or tank well. I like to attach my mask to the chest strap of my BCD. That way I know no one will sit on it or crush it with a tank. I never have trouble finding it when I am ready to get back in the water either. A weight left on a bench means a blackened toe nail. Keep all weights on the deck so they don’t wind up on your foot. Spray on sun tan lotions make a boat deck SLIPPERY. Put it on before you board the boat.

Camera buckets are for cameras. The most common reason for a camera to leak is a giant stride entry. The second most common cause is the improper use of a camera bucket. Camera owners, for the most part, are careful about placing not throwing their cameras in. Defogging agents can be very harsh on o-rings and gaskets. Make sure the bucket you are putting your mask into is not exclusively a camera bucket.

Be a courteous boat diver. Listen to the briefings. Be aware of your equipment and try not to invade the space of others. Follow common sense boat diving procedures and you will have a much more pleasurable boat diving experience.

Until next time always make your total number of ascents equal your total number of descents.

GORDON
Jan 1, 2006

by Fluffdaddy
"Ascents should equal descents" is very cute and clever advice. I would get a T-Shirt of that.

Icon Of Sin
Dec 26, 2008



GORDON posted:

"Ascents should equal descents" is very cute and clever advice. I would get a T-Shirt of that.

"Descents are optional, ascents aren't" is the other way I've heard this.

Haven't heard back from my buddy in St Croix. He never checks his fb anymore, and I've got no other way to get in touch with him.

let it mellow
Jun 1, 2000

Dinosaur Gum
To the goon asking how to not be the new guy with bad air consumption: sorry, there's no way around it. But every person you dive with was the new guy at one point so don't worry about it.

Eventually you will learn how to breathe slow while still constantly breathing and then you will learn how to break the "never stop breathing" rule. You shouldn't worry about either of those things now though. And once you've learned both of those things, you shouldn't poo poo on brand new divers who haven't learned either one yet.

e: that last point also means you shouldn't be worried about someone making GBS threads on you, unless you decided to do the blue hole or some poo poo like that right after getting OW

let it mellow fucked around with this message at 07:08 on Dec 26, 2016

Squashy Nipples
Aug 18, 2007

How do you evaluate liveaboards?

I've been fantasizing about the Red Sea, but the more I learn about it, the more a liveaboard makes sense, because of where the best dive sites are. I figure I'll take a two week vacation, and stay at a nice resort for a few days before and after a liveaboard trip.

It's hard to evaluate the different itineraries when they all describe things differently.
http://www.liveaboard.com/pages/Search.aspx?page=1&country=8&m=0&cid=7000

asur
Dec 28, 2012

Squashy Nipples posted:

How do you evaluate liveaboards?

I've been fantasizing about the Red Sea, but the more I learn about it, the more a liveaboard makes sense, because of where the best dive sites are. I figure I'll take a two week vacation, and stay at a nice resort for a few days before and after a liveaboard trip.

It's hard to evaluate the different itineraries when they all describe things differently.
http://www.liveaboard.com/pages/Search.aspx?page=1&country=8&m=0&cid=7000

I try to find reviews on Scubaboard for either the exact boat or the chain. Other than that, price, itinerary and size. I pretty much ignore the descriptions of their itineraries except as a rough guide and assume that if two liveaboards are going to roughly the same spot then they're roughly equivalent. I haven't done it, but the classic Red Sea itinerary is Brothers, Deadulas, and Elphinstone. The north consisting of Ras Mohammed, Tiran, and Thistlegrom can be done as day trips out of Sharm El Shiekh though there might be issues diving Thistlegrom since at least when I was there they wanted a full boat and tourism has tanked since then. If you can swing it and want to see everything, doing a long liveaboard to the south and then a short one in the north would be awesome.

Ropes4u
May 2, 2009

Forgive my analysis paralysis..

My wife and I are headed to Bonaire for a couple of weeks and she thinks we should buy a GoPro. We have enough dives, ~50, to be comfortable in the water with our gear.

I was thinking about buying a TG4 and lights but the cost isn't justifiable until we move to the coast. And I have OMD I use for hiking / family / dogs but a housing, lenses and lights out me back in the crazy money zone.

The GoPro can double as a shooting, hiking, time lapse camera but for now the question is could the GoPro, a filter, and a selfie stick take decent photos and video from 0-100 feet?

let it mellow
Jun 1, 2000

Dinosaur Gum

Ropes4u posted:

Forgive my analysis paralysis..

My wife and I are headed to Bonaire for a couple of weeks and she thinks we should buy a GoPro. We have enough dives, ~50, to be comfortable in the water with our gear.

I was thinking about buying a TG4 and lights but the cost isn't justifiable until we move to the coast. And I have OMD I use for hiking / family / dogs but a housing, lenses and lights out me back in the crazy money zone.

The GoPro can double as a shooting, hiking, time lapse camera but for now the question is could the GoPro, a filter, and a selfie stick take decent photos and video from 0-100 feet?

100' underwater? No. But if you're talking generically then yes it can, but you cannot change depth. That means no zoom, no macro, etc. however, it does a really good job at what it does. I bought a hero 4 for my wife last year and her second diving use was in Bonaire actually. She was able to take a bunch of good photos and videos using it for the first time underwater.

Also in Bonaire it was a hell of a lot simpler for her to just clip it to her BCD and walk in the rocky entries than it was for me with a big rear end rig with strobes and all. So that will be nice for you. I dunno about the selfie stick part, she just has a small hand grip that doesn't extend or anything. The red filter will be essential underwater

GORDON
Jan 1, 2006

by Fluffdaddy
I have a faux pro that records in 1080p and it can't fit a filter but I just add a little red in post processing and it's fine. Cost about fiddy bones and came with the underwater housing and stuff. Unless.money is no object I would personally not buy the brand name.

Ropes4u
May 2, 2009

GORDON posted:

I have a faux pro that records in 1080p and it can't fit a filter but I just add a little red in post processing and it's fine. Cost about fiddy bones and came with the underwater housing and stuff. Unless.money is no object I would personally not buy the brand name.

What brand fakie did you buy?

let it mellow posted:

100' underwater? No. But if you're talking generically then yes it can, but you cannot change depth. That means no zoom, no macro, etc. however, it does a really good job at what it does. I bought a hero 4 for my wife last year and her second diving use was in Bonaire actually. She was able to take a bunch of good photos and videos using it for the first time underwater.

Also in Bonaire it was a hell of a lot simpler for her to just clip it to her BCD and walk in the rocky entries than it was for me with a big rear end rig with strobes and all. So that will be nice for you. I dunno about the selfie stick part, she just has a small hand grip that doesn't extend or anything. The red filter will be essential underwater

Thank you that is the answer I hoped for, good enough.

let it mellow
Jun 1, 2000

Dinosaur Gum

Ropes4u posted:

What brand fakie did you buy?


Thank you that is the answer I hoped for, good enough.

Make sure you get a stainless steel carabiner if you're doing the BCD clip thing (and you should for some of those entries and exits) so it isn't immediately rusted to poo poo.

E. Also bring a device with storage. Your ipad, etc. I think we ended up emptying her GoPro every 4 or 6 dives to keep enough space. HD video chews up the storage.

let it mellow fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Dec 31, 2016

GORDON
Jan 1, 2006

by Fluffdaddy
The fakie I am using is a dbpower. While bringing storage is great advice for daily.video dumps, I find I need to replace the battery after every dive, they last about an hour when you go down 60 feet with water at 60 degrees. My storage card can handle about 5 hours on 1080p, though.

GORDON
Jan 1, 2006

by Fluffdaddy
Just did a "behind the scenes" tour at the local aquarium. Could not convince them to let us dive in the big tank.

Icon Of Sin
Dec 26, 2008



GORDON posted:

Just did a "behind the scenes" tour at the local aquarium. Could not convince them to let us dive in the big tank.

Boooo! Ours here is that way, though. We're a smaller aquarium, and I don't think the tank could handle the volume of visitors that would be interested. It's a shame too, because doing a Discover Scuba Diving class with rays, sharks, turtles, and other fish around would probably be the high point of someone's dive education and a near-guarantee of someone going on to become certified. We run a trip to the GA aquarium every year, and my school's scuba club is trying to start a tradition of going to the Baltimore aquarium every year, too.

GORDON
Jan 1, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

Icon Of Sin posted:

Boooo! Ours here is that way, though. We're a smaller aquarium, and I don't think the tank could handle the volume of visitors that would be interested. It's a shame too, because doing a Discover Scuba Diving class with rays, sharks, turtles, and other fish around would probably be the high point of someone's dive education and a near-guarantee of someone going on to become certified. We run a trip to the GA aquarium every year, and my school's scuba club is trying to start a tradition of going to the Baltimore aquarium every year, too.

We're planning on diving in Epcot's big aquarium in 2018. :-D

let it mellow
Jun 1, 2000

Dinosaur Gum
We dove the Denver aquarium a while back before going to a Broncos game, it was cool to do once but not sure I have any desire to ever dive another aquarium. Had to use their gear which made sense because they gotta keep the water chemistry right and they actually had communication systems which was cool as hell.

But knowing exactly what was there and being able to easily find it kinda made the dive less interesting. Also needing to go hide when the aquarium mermaids were doing their show was lol.

On the good side, air lasted forever and waving at little kids through the glass made their day so that was fun.

Red_Fred
Oct 21, 2010


Fallen Rib
I'm currently in Port Douglas and have been using a gopro for my dives. I'm using a Backscatter handle and filters and getting pretty good footage on my 4 silver. The only issues I'm having are some shakiness (which will be my technique) and not getting close enough.

Can see for sure that lights are in my future though. As soon as you're past 5m the light just goes.

Ropes4u
May 2, 2009

Red_Fred posted:

I'm currently in Port Douglas and have been using a gopro for my dives. I'm using a Backscatter handle and filters and getting pretty good footage on my 4 silver. The only issues I'm having are some shakiness (which will be my technique) and not getting close enough.

Can see for sure that lights are in my future though. As soon as you're past 5m the light just goes.

If you have the cash now backscatter has sola 2500s on sale at 40% off. Two of them and a tray are $700.

I ordered a hero 5 and a stick for our trip to Bonaire and am making my own tray to test which I like better. I have been debating the need for lights. I really want a camera so I'm holding out..

Ropes4u fucked around with this message at 13:59 on Jan 2, 2017

let it mellow
Jun 1, 2000

Dinosaur Gum
Be careful with combining a light and a red filter, it won't be good. Also you'll find that the light doesn't do a thing for you that the filter doesn't, except when you're trying to take photos or videos of a lobster or something like that in a crevice. Anyway, you'll figure it out pretty quick.

Icon Of Sin
Dec 26, 2008



Next trip, coming right up! Heading down to Crystal River to snorkel with manatees, getting a night/drift dive in Rainbow River, a day at Blue Grotto, and a half-day at Devil's Den! Skipping out on Ginnie this time, but there's a ton more people on this trip and the drift dive in Rainbow River was a favorite of mine from last time too. As we kicked up silt, little tiny fish would come eat whatever is in the silt that we kicked up...then some of the little fish would get hit by diving ducks (cormorants, I think?), who promptly screamed back to the surface to fly away with a fresh meal :)

lord1234
Oct 1, 2008

Icon Of Sin posted:

Next trip, coming right up! Heading down to Crystal River to snorkel with manatees, getting a night/drift dive in Rainbow River, a day at Blue Grotto, and a half-day at Devil's Den! Skipping out on Ginnie this time, but there's a ton more people on this trip and the drift dive in Rainbow River was a favorite of mine from last time too. As we kicked up silt, little tiny fish would come eat whatever is in the silt that we kicked up...then some of the little fish would get hit by diving ducks (cormorants, I think?), who promptly screamed back to the surface to fly away with a fresh meal :)

Why not grab a cave cert?

I LIKE COOKIE
Dec 12, 2010

whoa, what do you guys think of this?


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/minidive/minidive-the-first-mini-scuba-tank-for-everyone

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Ropes4u
May 2, 2009

let it mellow posted:

Be careful with combining a light and a red filter, it won't be good. Also you'll find that the light doesn't do a thing for you that the filter doesn't, except when you're trying to take photos or videos of a lobster or something like that in a crevice. Anyway, you'll figure it out pretty quick.

AP will make any planned changes take forever so there is no worry about lights showing up in two weeks.

Thanks for the help. Hopefully I can share something after the trip

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply