Discover Scuba Diving - For Free!

OK, all my friends out there, I need your help. I need scuba students for my training class next Monday.

Curious about scuba diving? Ever wondered what it’s like to breathe underwater? Well next Monday, you get to find out. Discover Scuba Diving will let you try scuba to see if you like it.

Come and learn the scuba basics under the direct supervision of a PADI Professional. Learn that you really can breathe underwater!

You have to be 10 or older to try Discover Scuba Diving, so by all means, bring a family member. Kids love to scuba, just ask Ben.

Ben Scuba Diving

During the Discover Scuba Diving experience you’ll learn how to use scuba equipment in the pool and get a quick and easy introduction to what it takes to explore the underwater world.

Email me if your interested: ukdiveboy@yahoo.com

More info: PADI Discover Scuba Diving

MEMS sensors: When GPS is not enough

Hmm, wonder if I could use MEMS technology to invent an underwater navigation device?

MEMS sensors: When GPS is not enough

There are many existing approaches to derive location, direction and movement as they relate to pointing, steering and guiding equipment. In fact, it has become common for many applications to rely on GPS. But when it comes to navigating indoors and addressing more complex and environmentally challenging scenarios, GPS alone is insufficient...

Great Dive Site Description for Breakwater

I thought Breakwater, in Monterey, was just sand and novice divers!  Turns out there's more to it than that:  
   Breakwater Grand Tour Description


If you're a Bay Area diver, that Yahoo! Group has some great info on it:

All we are saying, is give sharks a chance!

If SCUBA divers can sign a petition to save the sharks, then people who don't hang out in 60 foot of water should have no qualms about signing too.

http://www.projectaware.org/givesharksachance

The only other thing we ask, is that you stop eating shark fin soup.  Have a nice bowl of minestrone.

Save the Sea Otters

Our sea otters are in trouble -- and there's a simple thing we can do to help them survive: support the California Sea Otter Fund when we pay our taxes this year.

In past years, the California Sea Otter Fund has helped to fund programs to assist in protecting countless sea otters in the state. But 2011 is your last chance to make this life-saving gift on your tax return.

The Franchise Tax Board will expire the Fund after this year, unless it both reaches this year's target amount of $260,890 and legislation, just introduced by Assemblyman Bill Monning (D-Carmel), passes to extend the Fund starting in 2012. 

Learn how you can help save sea otters.

Donating is easy! We can donate as little as $1 (just look for line 410 on your 540 tax form), so it won't break our banks to give our sea otters a new lease on life.

The California Sea Otter Fund supports researchers doing important work to recover threatened sea otters in California.

The tax check-off funds raised since 2006 are helping to support a long-term study of the threatened southern sea otter population. The goal of this research is to determine how sea otters are affected by high levels of chemical and pathogen pollution that occurs along developed areas of the California coast.

Great 100th Dive

Two awesome dives in Monterey at the weekend. 

First one was at the breakwater, with a friend who's getting back into the water after a break. 

Great diving.  Visibility is the best it's been in a long time this month in Monterey.  Almost like being in a swimming pool.  We could see the anchor (*1) as we swam past it, a good 20 feet away.  Played around on the sandy bottom doing mask exchanges in 25ft.  Hardly felt the cold, got sea water in my eyes, didn't hurt in the least (*2).  Played around in the shallows, rocks and reef, towards the center of San Carlos beach, on the swim back to the beach.

After a short surface interval we were heading back out, to play some more on that same reef, when we had a mask problem, so I bailed on that dive.  It would have been my 100th dive (*3).  Disappointed I had to skip it, but I was happy to see my buddies make the dive.

Did an internship in a rescue class after that.  Rescue classes are fun.  Especially when you're the one being rescued!  That kept me busy from about 10am to 2pm.

After a few hours of being rescued I managed a dive out to the Metridium Fields.  Yeah!  100th dive!  Metridiums were not the best, but the views of Mola-Mola, Jellies, rock fish was wonderful. 

I learned after we returned to the beach that there are two fields of metridiums, and we've been diving the wrong ones!  Oh well, I look forward to find the the right ones sometime soon :)

First dives using Nitrox too this weekend.

Awesome.


(*1) There's an anchor in the sand just off the breakwater in about 15ft-20ft of water.  Not going to tell you how to find it :)

(*2) I'm sure someone will point out that getting sea water in your eyes is a bad idea as you could get some kind of aquatic infection.  I seem to remember someone saying that in the past!

(*3) I've already exceeded the 100, but I didn't have 100 logged.


Breakwater/San Carlos Beach, Monterey

View Larger Map

Nautilus Lifeline

Introduced at DEMA 2010, this Nautilus lifeline radio will revolutionize diving safety.

-The LED display shows your actual Latitude and Longitude to an incredible 1/10000th of a second (or about 20 feet)

- Chat button allows you to chat with the boat on a regular transmission channel

- The Boat button connects you to channel 16 to allow you to hail the boats in the area

- Depress the Distress button for three seconds and your coordinates and an emergency message are transmitted to every commercial vessel within 8 miles

- When closed the unit is water resistant to depth of 425ft allowing most divers to opportunity to take it on every dive

- When open the unit is resistant to a depth of  3 - 5 ft making it usable at the surface of the water

- The unit is charged via a USB port that also allows the user to interface with a laptop and download coordinates and change settings.

- These units are currently in production and will ship to stores in March of 2011




More - Nautilus Lifeline

Adaptive Diving

Moving stuff. More info at http://www.hsascuba.com/

Chapter 5 was a bitch!

Encyclopedia Of Recreational Diving

Finally finished reading the lengthy chapter 5, which allowed me to finish the remaining chapter in the Dive Master Manual.

All my knowledge reviews are now done! Inching my way closer to DM!

Started the Dive Master Mapping Project

Started the mapping project last weekend. Decided to do McAbee beach, as I like diving there.

Didn't go a smoothly as we had hoped, but actually I was satisfied overall. I think we made a reasonable start. Going to take a lot of trips to Monterey to get it finished though (IMHO).

As far as I can tell (using compass navigation and fin kicks), we actually mapped the area under water indicated by the smaller red dots on the image below.


Click image for larger view

Shopping for Dive Gear

Mako Shark Knife from Amazon.com

I didn't realize just how much dive gear you can get via amazon.com!


There's a lot of stuff I would still want to buy from my local dive shop, to try for fit and check-out how it works, etc. But things like reels, floats, flags, etc., I'm sure is OK to buy online and save a few bucks.

Shop for Dive Gear on amazon.com

Heavily Modified Equipment

We learned that diving with "heavily modified" or "improvised" equipment could be dangerous. We should be cautious of people who use heavily modified equipment and we shouldn't encourage people to use it. But I think my adapted gloves are probably OK.

I tried these out in Monterey at the weekend (McAbee Beach, 50F/10C). Didn't feel any colder than normal - not after the first few minutes. It was great to have to dexterity to actually operate clips and camera buttons.

The one thing I might do different next time is limit the modification to thumb and first two fingers. I was very nervous whenever I touched the bottom, or any rocks, that I might get stung, envenomed, grazed, etc.

Blue World TV -- "Hey Kids, SCUBA is Great!"

This guy got a mention in the PADI magazine.

http://blueworldtv.com/

It's targeted at kids - to get them excited about "The Underwater World". I enjoyed watching the webisodes!

Both seasons are available to buy on DVD. Get them from the blueworldtv.com or from Amazon

Can you eat a banana underwater?

http://www.dailycommercial.com/localnews/story/092810dive

I was reading this article about someone attempting to stay underwater for 5 days, which got me wondering how you eat underwater!

I suppose you can survive on smoothies and other 'suckable' food-stuffs. You know, things that will go through a straw. But would it be possible to eat real food?

Then as I read further through the article, it sounds like the lake he's in isn't the type of fluid you'd want your food stuffs to come in contact with! Maybe sticking to a liquid lunch is the right way to go.

Then there is the issue of "waste disposal". Does he plan to wear a diaper for five days? Surely he would need to change it once a day to avoid nappy-rash, which presents a floater risk. I'm not sure he's sufficiently thought this thing through.

I applaud his efforts to promote environmental stewardship though. Good luck Allen!

Giant Manta Ray swipes camera, shoots some video!

Take a tablet people!

I have to admit, I'm crap when it comes to boats! I get sick at the slightest bit of choppiness.

So it was a guity pleasure on that recent boat dive when I managed to not hurl during the dive. I didn't even feel slightly queasy! I was even able to pig out on the food provided on the boat!

What was really satisfying was seeing so many of the other divers having such a rough time and chumming the water ;)

At one point there were so many divers hanging lifelessly off the back of the boat, I felt like I was in a scene from some 'lost at sea' movie. I wondered how many weeks we'd been out there and who I would need to eat first.

All props to the Dramamine. One 'Less Drowsey Formula' tablet an hour before getting on the boat. I have to assume this is what saved me.

Take a Tablet People!

SCUBA Radio!

I really like SCUBA radio
 - lots of great dive site information
 - great interviews at resorts and dive operators
 - reasonably funny banter while they're in studio

However, I have noticed that every time they're at a dive resort they always describe it as the best diving they've ever done.  Now, either [a] they've got really bad memories (due to the amount they drink when they're on the road, or narcosis!?) or [b] you have to take what they say with a pinch of salt!

I realize they can't really say "this is the best diving I've ever done, at least since we were in Domilica last week", it would be a little unkind to the resort owner they're talking to at that time, but they can't simply say every new location they go to is the best ever!

Visit http://scubaradio.com, or subscribe to the podcast through MediaFly, or your other favorite feed-reader.  It's probably on iTunes too, but I don't use that Apple crap!

Wreck Diving in San Diego

This time last year I didn't even know we had wreck dives in California, but now I know there are four wrecks within 15mins boat ride of the shore.

I believe "wreck dive" was the PADI specialty of the month this month, which explains why the shop was running a trip to SD to dive off the Yukon.

I didn't bother doing the specialty class, but I did go on the dive. Of course, this limited me to the outside of the wreck, but as I'm more into diving for the fish than anything else, that wasn't much of a limitation.

The Yukon is a great wreck to dive. 366ft long and still intact, you get to 'fly around the boat', although the affect is slightly wrong as the boat is on it's side, not upright.

For me the best thing to do was 'fly' over the top of the bridge, past the crows nesty thing and to the smoke stacks, which you can peer into (but can't see far).

The crows nest was great as it's covered in little white anemones, making it look like a snowy winter's day.

From the crows nest you really get to see the whole layout of the ship. Wish I'd done this profile for the first dive, not the third.

Next best area, probably, was my close inspection of the life boat booms, and their covering of strawberry anemones.

Anemones seem to be the main inhabitant, there are many Metridium, Sheephead and Sinorita fish. I also think I saw a leopard shark, though it may have been a big Lingcod! Thinking about it, it was stationary in the shadows of the hull, which doesn't sound very shark like. Either way, it was a really big fish. At the end of the fourth dive we saw a very big bizarre jelly, just ahead of the bow, in about 90ft of water.

Greenling on Anemone

larger

Finally it was nice to swim up to the top and the radio mast and see the stars and stripes next to the jolly roger. Wish I'd got a picture of that.

Besides the Yukon, we also did a dive on a smaller boat called the 'Ruby E', and a dive on a sunken radio tower. Tower was a bit of a jumble. I'm told it's also a nice site for looking for lobsters and eels. The Ruby was a nice little boat and totally covered in various shades of Anenome.



Photos
Photos are at http://sagar.org/slideshow

Bloosee Map

BlooSee - HMCS Yukon

Started Dive Master Training

Well, a few months earlier than I originally wanted to do it, but I've signed-up as a DMC, over at Diver Dans.

Supposedly I need to get finished within a year! Hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew!

First on my to do list:
- complete knowledge reviews for chapters (1) and (2) of the DM manual
- DEMP training - technically not a DMC prerequisite, but Tom wants me to do it

Oceanic Personal Safety Device (P.S.D.)

Diving is definitely a hobby that falls in the "expensive" category. Seems every time I go to the dive shop for an air fill I spend a hundred bucks.

But there's one accessory that I bought recently that is a no brainer!

The Oceanic Personal Safety Device (P.S.D.), otherwise referred to as a "Signalling Tube".


Buy Online

I was encouraged to buy a few month back, while doing my Rescue Diver training. You're supposed to have one incase you get stuck out in the water and you need to make yourself more visible for rescue services.

Sure you can get other emergency signaling tubes for about $10, where as this one costs about $40. But I was recently lucky enough to be snorkeling up at Lake Tahoe (not a dive trip at all) and I took my PSD with me. It worked great when my son and I were floating around in the water. We could use it to rest on, we hung our masks on it, I even used it as a lift bag at one point! I was snorkeling around and I saw a 5lb dive belt weight on the lake bed and I used my PSD to carry it back to shore, hence doing a bit of lake clean-up.

It's great that it rolls-up to the size of a coffee can, and it only takes two or three breaths to inflate, but it's buoyant enough to support 250plus pounds (based on our experience).

While a lot of your dive gear will costs you hundreds of dollars, this is something that costs just $40. It's a "safety" product, so it's not immediately sexy, but that fact that I could also use it to make a fun snorkeling trip safer and more stress free means it's one safety product that you can buy without thinking "This is something I don't want to buy, I'll never use it and I don't want to buy it, but I have to".