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Gushing Granny posted:Is anyone here big into TecRec? I want to learn to dive on trimix eventually, but I know really deep diving requires mastery of your recreational SCUBA equipment first. First, are you drat comfortable underwater? Second, what type of diving are you trying to do? Lots of things qualify as tech diving but they aren't all the same. Next, mastering your rec rig is a good indication of underwater comfort, but a tech rig is a lot different. When I first started getting into it I had trouble using bolt-snaps, now I can do it in my sleep. I even keep a bolt snap on my key ring so I can practice with it while waiting in line at the grocery or wherever. If you know somebody with a proper backplate/wing, get them to lend it to you and mess around in a pool for a while. As far as diving trimix goes, once you learn what the deal is it's not that difficult as long as you can properly do gas switching. Personally I think it's not a big deal at all. You set up your rig (everything is a DIN style first stage instead of a yoke so get ready to spend money), then you pressurize everything and turn the tanks back off. The pressure is still in the hoses and stages so if there is a leak it will be pretty obvious by looking at the gauge. Trimix is really expensive because of the cost of helium. If you have more than one deco bottle make sure you switch to the right one. I have two deco regulator setups and they are both different colors... that way it provides another way for me to realize that I'm switching to the wrong gas. Also always analyze your own tanks and mark them. Label them with a piece of duct tape or something with what their O2 content is because toxxing is not a good thing.
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Sep 27, 2013 16:48
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Trivia posted:It appears I won't be going to Vietnam after all. I think instead I'll be making my way to the Philippines. Any advice there (except stay out of the south)?
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Sep 28, 2013 21:41
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I've been looking into all that diving, but I'll only be there for two weeks, and six of those days will be hanging out topside with friends. I'm also interested in taking the Rescue Diver / Emergency First Responder course. Anybody care to weigh in on opinions there? The total price for the course will be about 600 bucks, which seems pretty standard from other sites I've looked at. Debating whether it's worth using up 4 days of time to do the certification, or to take that time and do more varied dives at different locales. TOO MANY CHOICES.
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Sep 30, 2013 02:45
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It's a great course! But not something I'd want to do while on vacation...
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Sep 30, 2013 03:36
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True that, but the problem is the only time I can really do it is WHILE I'm on vacation. I live in Japan, so there's not just language barriers but also a marked increase in price as well.
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Sep 30, 2013 03:43
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Ah, that's a good point. Well, at least you won't have to do it in a quarter-inch wetsuit, in Seattle, in winter, like I did...  (Uphill and in the snow. Both ways.)
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Sep 30, 2013 06:19
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eriktown posted:Ah, that's a good point. Well, at least you won't have to do it in a quarter-inch wetsuit, in Seattle, in winter, like I did... They make drysuits for a reason
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Sep 30, 2013 06:38
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I'm gonna be diving for a month or so out on Koh Tao, where diving equipment is ridiculously expensive, so I think I might as well bring my own gear, use it for a month, and then sell it there for only a little less than I bought it for. I'm really not fussy about my equipment - I had my own stuff for a while but shop (rental) equipment was just fine by me as well. Any advice about where to buy my gear? I looked at Leisurepro but a $200 reg would cost $60 in shipping, and a $500 bcd+reg set would cost $130 in shipping because I currently live in Germany. I need a regulator (yoke), BCD (don't care about weights - I wear very little weight and I don't mind wearing a weight belt anyway), and fins (don't care if they're open or closed heeled).
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Sep 30, 2013 09:31
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I've been diving for about two years now (really on and off though), and I've always noticed that I'm a total air pig. Anyone got some tips on how to minimize air consumption?
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Sep 30, 2013 12:07
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Crunkjuice posted:They make drysuits for a reason There were no drysuits available for rental in King County big enough to fit me, and I couldn't afford a custom one. :P
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Sep 30, 2013 14:26
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Trivia posted:I've been looking into all that diving, but I'll only be there for two weeks, and six of those days will be hanging out topside with friends. awesome. What kind of marine life do you want to see? If you'll be with non-diving friends, then for two weeks I'd recommend seeing two places: Puerto Galera and Coron (anymore than two locales then the travel just feels stressful). Plenty of good non-diving things to do in both places. Diving in PG is all around good (tons of macro) but be prepared for currents. For pelagics head over to Verde Island. Diving in Coron is all WWII wrecks (awesome), barracuda lake, and the marine sanctuary. For the Rescue/EFR course: in Puerto Galera - Plenty of places but Sea Rider is my go to. In Coron - Coron Divers is my go to. Another place I'd recommend is Bohol for the diving and topside activities. I'd recommend Malapascua, but there's not a lot for topside people to see. Although there's no where else you'll see Thresher sharks consistently and the diving is great. Seeing the whalesharks is only from Feb - May, so anytime outside of that, you're SOL. Bangkero fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Sep 30, 2013 |
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Sep 30, 2013 15:11
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The tentative plan as it stands is to fly in to Manila, fart around a little to see some local sights (maybe 2 or 3 days tops), then fly over to Palawan. Not sure where we'll be in Palawan, still in the research phase. I hear nothing but good things about Coron. There'll be a group of 3 non-divers, but whom are also curious and may do a Discover Diving thing. After the trio leave (they'll leave before me and the gf), I think I may try for the Rescue / EFR course, while the gf does AOW. After the courses are complete, maybe dive a day for Coron wrecks then head to see threshers and the sardine shoal. We were thinking of going to Moal Boal or Malapascua, or both, depending on time of course. PG sounds cool, and I'm not afraid of currents, but I worry about my gf. She's not the most fit, and more importantly, a new diver. Not sure if she'd feel comfortable doing that. As for the whale sharks, such is life. I've seen one in the Maldives so if I don't get around to it it's not the end of the world.
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Sep 30, 2013 15:38
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Trivia posted:As for the whale sharks, such is life. I've seen one in the Maldives so if I don't get around to it it's not the end of the world. Lucky! I was there in the right season, but didn't see any.
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Sep 30, 2013 16:50
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LegatusP posted:I've been diving for about two years now (really on and off though), and I've always noticed that I'm a total air pig. Anyone got some tips on how to minimize air consumption? Hows your bouyancy? I'm 6'3" and initially dismissed by bad air consumption as due to to having 7 litre lungs but i did my advanced open water with a fantastic instructor and i went from doing 45minutes on a 15litre to an hour on a 12 in a handful of dives once properly weighted and having massively improved my bouyancy (still rubbish though).
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Sep 30, 2013 20:16
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Loving Africa Chaps posted:Hows your bouyancy? My buoyancy is fairly all over the place, I need to work on it some more. Thanks for the advice though, didn't think it made that much difference.
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Oct 1, 2013 05:06
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Make sure you're not overweighted. If you have too much, you'll be wasting a lot of air not just on buoyancy, but effort as well. The more comfortable you get in the water, the less weight you tend to need to use. Steel tanks also make a difference.
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Oct 1, 2013 06:33
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LegatusP posted:I've been diving for about two years now (really on and off though), and I've always noticed that I'm a total air pig. Anyone got some tips on how to minimize air consumption? Yeah, the number one rule in diving you learned was what? Never stop breathing, right? That's true, never stop breathing. But that rule says nothing at all about breath cycles. Pay attention to how you are breathing now; edit: now like while you read this post. Stop and think about it for a moment. You're probably breathing veto shallow - 2-3 seconds in, 2-3 out a and not much air is being exchanged, right? Now, how do you breathe with a tank and a reg? If you're like me early on, you are exaggerating every inhale and exhale. Time to start slowing it all down. You aren't working hard underwater since you've established neutral buoyancy, so why breathe fast and shallow? Breathe slowly and carefully; the first solves consumption while the latter helps with buoyancy. Monitor your breath cycles and watch both your consumption and buoyancy improve.
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Oct 3, 2013 04:54
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jackyl posted:Yeah, the number one rule in diving you learned was what? Never stop breathing, right? That's true, never stop breathing. But that rule says nothing at all about breath cycles. I'm pretty sure the golden rule of scuba is never embarrass your divemaster. The whole, "never hold your breath" is also a pretty good idea i guess.
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Oct 3, 2013 06:39
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Trivia posted:The tentative plan as it stands is to fly in to Manila, fart around a little to see some local sights (maybe 2 or 3 days tops), then fly over to Palawan. Not sure where we'll be in Palawan, still in the research phase. I hear nothing but good things about Coron. There'll be a group of 3 non-divers, but whom are also curious and may do a Discover Diving thing. After the trio leave (they'll leave before me and the gf), I think I may try for the Rescue / EFR course, while the gf does AOW. Both Malapascua and Moalboal are part of Cebu. There are flights to and from Coron <-> Cebu which is better than having to go back through Manila. If you go to Malapascua, hook up with my buddies over at Evolution Diving, especially if you'll be taking Rescue/EFR and AOW. They have the most qualified instructors on the island. Purple Snapper Divers is also a good dive shop, but their accommodations are 2 min walk to the beach front (albeit nice). Both dive shops cost 100-200 pesos more per dive than Thresher Shark Divers and Exotic, but Evo and PSD have given a lot more back to the community than they ever have. The diving in Malapascua is a lot better than Moalboal, imo. However, Moalboal is a lot easier to get to. Moalboal is a bit too generic for me (like diving Mactan) but they do have the sardine shoal. I'd probably only spend a day diving there then going back to Cebu to fly out the next day. Best be posting pictures when you get back. 
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Oct 3, 2013 18:26
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Holy poo poo that is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. My time budget is pretty short so that helps narrow down choices. Did some searching last night, and flights from Coron to Cebu seemed either in short supply, or difficult to find. I'll look again, but I have a feeling I'll be losing one day just in traveling. I might have to make a stop in Manila to get to Cebu. 
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Oct 3, 2013 22:22
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jackyl posted:Yeah, the number one rule in diving you learned was what? Never stop breathing, right? That's true, never stop breathing. But that rule says nothing at all about breath cycles. I disagree with this statement. Low air consumption is more related to how you dive than controlled breathing. Good buoyancy control and efficient swimming are the best way to reduce air consumption, not controlled breathing. If you have to think about the way you're breathing you're already doing something wrong. The only time you should be thinking about breathing are for fine-tuned buoyancy manoeuvres, such as just lifting yourself over a slightly protruding thing that's in your path.
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Oct 4, 2013 01:25
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Bangkero posted:In Coron the non-diving stuff is amazing. Probably my most favourite place to go in the Philippines. As for the wrecks, just keep in mind that the viz isn't as great as other places in the PI. But it's a surreal place to dive and worth a trip. Coron Divers is my go to, but Sea Dive Resortis also very popular. I've heard nothing but good things about Rock Steady, but their shop is not located by the shore. Is there a problem with dynamite fishing in either Moal Boal or Malapascua? I'm probably going to have to choose one over the other, and I'm torn between the sardines and threshers.
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Oct 4, 2013 01:52
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This just hit my inbox from DAN: http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/?a=events&eventNo=1167 Demo event Lake Rawlings, VA 19-20 October It looks like something I should do considering I am about 3 hours away, but I have no idea how these things work. I just bought my own drysuit and have yet to break it in; can I bring my own equipment to this and use it? Will I be encouraged/required to use the gear they are demoing? Should I be excited about attending one of these?
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Oct 4, 2013 02:48
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Crunkjuice posted:I'm pretty sure the golden rule of scuba is never embarrass your divemaster. The whole, "never hold your breath" is also a pretty good idea i guess. Yeah, good point! DMs own and I wish you guys nothing but the best. Sorry if I said a thing that is wrong since I'm a total rookie with only like 50 dives that are all Caribbean vacation dives. I was just trying to get across the light bulb moment for us that changed our consumption completely.
let it mellow fucked around with this message at 04:39 on Oct 4, 2013 |
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Oct 4, 2013 03:58
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Bangkero posted:In Coron the non-diving stuff is amazing. Probably my most favourite place to go in the Philippines. As for the wrecks, just keep in mind that the viz isn't as great as other places in the PI. But it's a surreal place to dive and worth a trip. Coron Divers is my go to, but Sea Dive Resortis also very popular. I've heard nothing but good things about Rock Steady, but their shop is not located by the shore. This man knows what he's talking about. Never been to Coron, but I've done Malapascua and I spent 3 months doing my divemaster/technical diving/loving around in Moalboal. Moalboal is quiet and small but I had a lot of fun there. The sardines were gone when I was there but they appear to have returned. Threshers are easy to catch in Malapascua but unless you find a decent shop that will get up rear end early to be first at the site (Purple Snapper does! I've stayed there and they're decent) it's crowded as gently caress. Don't underestimate how much of a bitch it is to get to/from Malapascua, if I had a very limited time budget I'm not sure I'd do it. You can catch a white taxi at the Cebu airport that'll take you directly to moalboal for 1500-2000 pesos depending on your negotiating skills and their mood (it's a 2-3+ hour journey depending on traffic). The resorts there can arrange a ride back to the airport from there but expect it to be a bit more pricey. No problem with dynamite fishing in Moalboal, heard it once or twice in Malapascua. If you go to Moalboal dive with Savedra! Asymmetric POSTer fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Oct 4, 2013 |
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Oct 4, 2013 05:01
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helpy posted:This just hit my inbox from DAN: Dui dog days are loving fun. Don't bring your own suit, no need. Try all their stuff. Electric undergarments/weight stuff/dry gloves. I had Susan long(CEO) personally measure me for a drysuit while I was there. I own a dui cf200 and I go every year just to play with their new stuff. Its a good time. If you want to punish yourself and dive something ridiculous, dive their vulcanized rubber public safety suit. That fucker is insane
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Oct 4, 2013 05:17
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Crunkjuice posted:Dui dog days are loving fun. Don't bring your own suit, no need. Try all their stuff. Electric undergarments/weight stuff/dry gloves. I had Susan long(CEO) personally measure me for a drysuit while I was there. I own a dui cf200 and I go every year just to play with their new stuff. Its a good time. Cool, thanks for the feedback. I am going, but I have a dilemma: I kind of want / need to bring my own (brand new, it showed up about a week ago) suit, I am headed out to Vancouver at the end of October for a liveaboard trip and I have yet to use my new suit so I have no idea what my weight needs to be, do a gear check dive to make sure everything works, etc. I really want to play with my new toy before I go to Canada with it and this DUI demo looks like a great place to get it wet. But it is probably bad form to show up with a White's drysuit at a DUI event right?
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Oct 4, 2013 14:06
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helpy posted:Cool, thanks for the feedback. I am going, but I have a dilemma: I kind of want / need to bring my own (brand new, it showed up about a week ago) suit, I am headed out to Vancouver at the end of October for a liveaboard trip and I have yet to use my new suit so I have no idea what my weight needs to be, do a gear check dive to make sure everything works, etc. I really want to play with my new toy before I go to Canada with it and this DUI demo looks like a great place to get it wet. But it is probably bad form to show up with a White's drysuit at a DUI event right? Bring it with you but i wouldn't walk up to the event with it. Play with the DUI stuff for a while (they aren't long dives), then find someone who wants to do a fun dive and then bust out your own suit.
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Oct 4, 2013 20:02
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Trivia posted:Holy poo poo that is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. My time budget is pretty short so that helps narrow down choices. Pretty much everywhere in the Philippines has dynamite fishing in proximity...it just depends on how well policed the area is. I never heard it when I visited Moalboal or Malapascua. For Malapascua - the locals don't dynamite fish but it's hard to stop non-locals coming in to dynamite since the whole peninsula is prime fishing ground and it's more remote so not as well policed. It's rare but you may hear a blast. I'd go for Malapascua. Thresher sharks were amazing and there are manta rays in the afternoon. Malapascua has amazing macro life too. But as mishaq mentions, it will take half a day to get to. I'd say it's closer to 3-4 hours if you take the bus. I arrived Cebu airport 6am, and I made it to Malapascua around noon in time for the 1:30pm dive. See if you can fly back to Japan via Cebu. So for two weeks, spend at least 5 days in Coron and 5 days in Malapascua. The rest of your days should be used for travel. I'd forgo visiting Manila unless you want to do some shopping. Even then, I'd only spend one day (fly out the evening). It's not as impressive as Singapore or HK. If you decide Moalboal, Savedra is one of the more well known dive shops over there and are known to have a top notch operation. I dove with Cebu Dive Center and Nelson Dive Shop, both good dive centers. )mishaq posted:Threshers are easy to catch in Malapascua but unless you find a decent shop that will get up rear end early to be first at the site (Purple Snapper does! I've stayed there and they're decent) it's crowded as gently caress.  So yeah, Trivia - definitely dive nitrox with the threshers. We had some awesome fly bys, some as close as 3 meters. 
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Oct 4, 2013 21:32
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Goddamn Malapascua sounds like a right bitch to get to. I'll be with my gf for diving, and she only has about 30 dives total. She may get her AOW in Coron (if we do Coron then Malapascua). She won't have nitrox though; I do. When all is said and done, out of the nearly two weeks there, we will probably only have about 6 days total diving (remember I'll with non-divers for the first leg). We chose Coron since it looks like there's a lot to do for divers and non-divers alike. After the non-divers gently caress off my gf will do her AOW, and I'll do some sweet sweet wrecks. Then I guess we'll head to Malapascua. Thanks for all the great advice!
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Oct 4, 2013 22:25
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Bangkero posted:I'd forgo visiting Manila unless you want to do some shopping. Even then, I'd only spend one day (fly out the evening). It's not as impressive as Singapore or HK. Please don't spend any time in Manila, it's a shithole that deserves no tourist dollars. Bangkero posted:Holy gently caress that's one thing that pissed the poo poo out of me diving monad shoal - having to deal with the cattle boats and lovely divers. Evo was great - no more than 3,4 of us and we all dove nitrox. All the lovely divers and air hogs will go up after 20 mins so by the 40 min mark it's only us nitrox divers and the DM enjoying the threshers by ourselves: Diving with purple snapper was great when I did monad shoal because we were literally the first boat at the site. As we finished the dive with my small group we saw the hoards of idiots crowding the decent line, I couldn't imagine being part of one of those cattle boats and going down then.
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Oct 4, 2013 23:28
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Well poo poo, as it is I'll be in Manila for at least one day (our crew has staggered arrivals). We were thinking some of the outlying attractions, and maybe Intramuros. Not sure exactly what to do there (other than consult Lonely Planet). I'll do my best to dissuade my peeps from staying in Manila. What specifically is so terrible btw? Trivia fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Oct 5, 2013 |
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Oct 5, 2013 00:12
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Trivia posted:Well poo poo, as it is I'll be in Manila for at least one day (our crew has staggered arrivals). We were thinking some of the outlying attractions, and maybe Intramuros. Not sure exactly what to do there (other than consult Lonely Planet). Edit: If you do stay in the city what's the itinerary? (one full day as in fly in the morning, spend the night, head out next morning?) I could throw out some recos. Bangkero fucked around with this message at 13:57 on Oct 5, 2013 |
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Oct 5, 2013 13:51
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It's official! I'll be diving in the Florida Keys this Christmas! 
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Oct 6, 2013 02:31
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Curious to get people's opinions on this - so we all know the universal hand signals for 'how much air do you have?' but has anyone encountered a universal hand signal for 'how much no deco time do you have left?'. PADI certainly don't teach it as far as I'm aware. Most of the diving around where I am is fairly shallow so it doesn't really come up much for me, but when it was an issue when we were doing deeper dives in Indo recently.
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Oct 7, 2013 00:08
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Tomberforce posted:Curious to get people's opinions on this - so we all know the universal hand signals for 'how much air do you have?' but has anyone encountered a universal hand signal for 'how much no deco time do you have left?'. PADI certainly don't teach it as far as I'm aware. Most of the diving around where I am is fairly shallow so it doesn't really come up much for me, but when it was an issue when we were doing deeper dives in Indo recently. Tapping on my wrist computer usually gets the idea across.
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Oct 7, 2013 00:19
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Tomberforce posted:Curious to get people's opinions on this - so we all know the universal hand signals for 'how much air do you have?' but has anyone encountered a universal hand signal for 'how much no deco time do you have left?'. PADI certainly don't teach it as far as I'm aware. Most of the diving around where I am is fairly shallow so it doesn't really come up much for me, but when it was an issue when we were doing deeper dives in Indo recently. I feel like that falls under your predive safety check to a degree. You discuss your dive plan and how long you plan to spend at x depth. If that doesn't happen just ask them to show you their dive computer. Tap your computer/gauge console or physically grab theirs and look at it and check for yourself. If its a repetitive dive, you should be planning your dives based off of tables or your dive computers, and make the dive profile off the most conservative dive plan. The first dive you guys will dive by your computers and be safe, but the dives after is where you need to communicate your profiles to each other and plan accordingly.
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Oct 7, 2013 01:56
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Tomberforce posted:Curious to get people's opinions on this - so we all know the universal hand signals for 'how much air do you have?' but has anyone encountered a universal hand signal for 'how much no deco time do you have left?'. It's always a good idea to go over hand signals if you are with an insta-buddy. Even the basic ones, but a lot of people misinterpret some of the more intermediate ones. Just be on the same page. If your're heading out on a boat you've got some time to kill while schmoozing and such anyways. Bishop fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Oct 8, 2013 |
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Oct 8, 2013 01:30
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Bishop posted:That's actually a good question. There's a "how much deco time do you have left?" signal, which is holding up your pinky finger with the rest of the hand in a closed fist but that's obviously only used in deco time. Crunkjuice covers most of how to deal with your question but I think there is a fair amount of personal responsibility here as well. If you don't know what your no deco time is you have no business approaching it. If you're approaching your limits and can't express that to your buddy and don't have a slate/wetnotes to write on, just thumb it and explain the situation once you surface. Of course there's always variation in usage of hand signals, but from my training pinky up has meant "deco" usually in the context of asking your teammate to verify the dive plan and then begin deco procedures on a technical dive, not so much "how much deco time do you have left?" I've never seen or heard of it being used in a recreational context anywhere, is it common?
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Oct 8, 2013 08:32
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I used it when I DMed. We didn't have a standard hand signal for it and a few of our instructors who did tech diving on the side adopted it, so we just took it. In recreational (no-deco) diving, it's clear what it means, even though we're using it differently from the original intention/context.
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Oct 8, 2013 12:04
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