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Trivia posted:The av is Principal Blackman from Strangers with Candy, along with one of his more memorable lines. Of the many running jokes in the series, his picture being in the background of almost every school scene is by far the best. I don't know how useful the dolphin kick is to divers but that's something I'm working on probably just as a fitness activity too. That's Aquaman's stroke! Many thanks for the infos!
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Jun 2, 2015 17:34
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SnakePlissken posted:Can anybody recommend me a pair of fins that are very supportive of my ankles? I have joint problems and my playing around in the water with fins has got me feeling I'm going to have ankle issues. Try split fins, I've heard a few people say they might help with problems like that. I've only used Split myself so not too sure.
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Jun 3, 2015 04:15
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So I found a snorkel + mask last week out in the ocean. It had some stuff growing on it, so they must have been out there for a long time. There's some sand embedded deep in the snorkel and in the crevices in the mask. What's the best way to give a deep cleaning to this thing? Soak it in baking soda for a few days?
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Jun 6, 2015 02:08
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Anyone ever been diving in Japan or South Korea? Any recommendations? I'm going to Japan in a month or so and maybe South Korea too. I've got my Padi Open water and done 20ish dives, the last at the great barrier reef in September last year.
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Jun 6, 2015 15:11
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I live in Japan and have dived here a few times, but my experiences weren't that great. They are however not indicative of what I hear is possible, and if you're going to do any diving at all you should definitely do it in Okinawa.
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Jun 6, 2015 15:47
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QuarkJets posted:So I found a snorkel + mask last week out in the ocean. It had some stuff growing on it, so they must have been out there for a long time. There's some sand embedded deep in the snorkel and in the crevices in the mask. You can remove the glasses from the mask frame and then clean the glass and the frame separately. Usually the frame is made of silicone. It's also a good way to clean your main mask when you first purchase it, but you can't do it with every mask easily.
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Jun 7, 2015 11:44
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Cippalippus posted:You can remove the glasses from the mask frame and then clean the glass and the frame separately. Usually the frame is made of silicone. It's also a good way to clean your main mask when you first purchase it, but you can't do it with every mask easily. Awesome, I will try this. It'll be a good opportunity to figure out how to do this, on a mask that I don't care about! Thanks
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Jun 7, 2015 17:29
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Cippalippus posted:You can remove the glasses from the mask frame and then clean the glass and the frame separately. Usually the frame is made of silicone. It's also a good way to clean your main mask when you first purchase it, but you can't do it with every mask easily. I have always used the burning method, and it has worked well for me. It has worked well for 4 out of 5 of my wife's masks. I would be worried about tearing the silicone or otherwise mucking up the seal when dis/reassembling it.
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Jun 8, 2015 02:06
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fletcher posted:I went spearfishing recently for the first time and managed to get bit by a sea lion a couple hours into it. Came out of nowhere and clamped down on my upper leg. Didn't break the skin much but tore up my wetsuit a bit and left a massive bruise. It was just startling more than anything, I was still able to stay out there and enjoy the rest of the day spearfishing (and had a blast). From a few pages back, but someone sent me a link to this story. This guy wasn't diving, he was standing on a dock holding a fish, but it clamped down on his hand and dragged him under water in what looks like attempted murder.  I was nearly drowned by a sea lion
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Jun 9, 2015 11:37
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Anyone got good pointers on drysuits? I've done some diving with neoprene suits earlier, and I feel like a stuffed hotdog in them, so I'm probably going for a trilaminate suit. I've been looking at the Santi EMotion, Artic Diving's ONE Performance, Waterproof D7 Pro and Bare XCS2 suits so far. I'm a fat gently caress from Norway (185cm/.1 metric ton) if that matters.
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Jun 10, 2015 20:18
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Been a few years since I've done any drysuit diving but I had good experiences with my DUI suit, that was crushed neoprene (iirc) which was fairly nice feeling with similar thermal properties to tri-lam. Since you're in the EU, Otter made good made to measure stuff in the UK for Tri-Lam. If there are any manufacturers in Norway it might be worth seeing what they offer as you've got the opportunity to get something made to measure. Also look into undersuit stuff, Weezle (again a UK bias from my experience) make some really nice stuff.
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Jun 10, 2015 21:21
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CaptainZalo posted:Anyone got good pointers on drysuits? I've done some diving with neoprene suits earlier, and I feel like a stuffed hotdog in them, so I'm probably going for a trilaminate suit. I have a Santi eMotion dry suit and a BZ400X undersuit. The eMotion is the best suit I could find that met my needs. It doesn't have the DUI zip seals for dry gloves, which are very slick, but I've got a set of KUBI rings on order to address that situation. I really like the thigh pockets (GUE diver -pockets required), and it's really easy to put on and take off. The suit has no insulating properties, so buy an undersuit. The BZ400X is great for cold water diving, short of adding suit heaters. It also looks pretty sharp relative to other suits. I chose an Apeks inflate valve and a SiTech exhaust valve - apparently the SiTech inflate valves are prone to failure. I also went made-to-measure on both the dry suit and undersuit, which paid off with nicely fitting suits that allow me to reach my tank valve knobs. One tip I found was to inflate my drysuit to loft my undersuit and get my legs stretched out all the way into the drysuit. Helped with managing air expansion in my feet at shallow depths. Any questions, ask away!
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Jun 10, 2015 22:12
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I bought a used Waterproof D7 pro the other day. It's currently getting checked over by my LDS and I haven't actually dived in it yet. Hoping to use it this weekend so I could let you know after that. So far though I really like it. Oh also note undergarments can be surprisingly pricey and you may need new fins too.
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Jun 11, 2015 03:19
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CaptainZalo posted:Anyone got good pointers on drysuits? I've done some diving with neoprene suits earlier, and I feel like a stuffed hotdog in them, so I'm probably going for a trilaminate suit. The correct answer is always "Waterproof". They're awesome.
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Jun 11, 2015 07:27
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Red_Fred posted:I bought a used Waterproof D7 pro the other day. It's currently getting checked over by my LDS and I haven't actually dived in it yet. Hoping to use it this weekend so I could let you know after that. So far though I really like it. I've got a pair of well used (55 dives) Atomic splitfins that I use with a pair of 7 mm wetsocks when I'm not in a rented drysuit. I'll stick to them as I'm quite comfortable in them. Been thinking of a pair of jetfins, but I'll wait until I'm comfy in the drysuit and/or the splitfins die horribly in a freak strap-accident. sofullofhate posted:The correct answer is always "Waterproof". They're awesome. So I hear. That's why I'm checking out the D7. Mandibular Fiasco posted:I have a Santi eMotion dry suit and a BZ400X undersuit. The eMotion is the best suit I could find that met my needs. It doesn't have the DUI zip seals for dry gloves, which are very slick, but I've got a set of KUBI rings on order to address that situation. I really like the thigh pockets (GUE diver -pockets required), and it's really easy to put on and take off. The suit has no insulating properties, so buy an undersuit. The BZ400X is great for cold water diving, short of adding suit heaters. It also looks pretty sharp relative to other suits. Some of the guys that recommend the Santi suits are tech CCR, ice and cave divers, and they praise the snugness and custom fittings as well as comfy zippers and telescope torso. I believe a couple of the lads have some pointers on undersuits as well. I'm expecting an undersuit cost of about 1/4 of the total drysuit budget with wool garnments under the undersuit for those deep and dark dives in the fall season. The times I've been in a rented drysuit in Norway (about a dozen times), I've done a suit deflation squat just before puuting the hood on and getting in the water to get everything snug and fit. I've never tried actual dry gloves, as the school suits I've rented had silicone cuffs and 5mm pinch-gloves. Got any tips whether I should go for silicone or neoprene neck-seal?
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Jun 11, 2015 08:10
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CaptainZalo posted:I've got a pair of well used (55 dives) Atomic splitfins that I use with a pair of 7 mm wetsocks when I'm not in a rented drysuit. I'll stick to them as I'm quite comfortable in them. Been thinking of a pair of jetfins, but I'll wait until I'm comfy in the drysuit and/or the splitfins die horribly in a freak strap-accident. My point was more that you current fins might not fit unless you get a drysuit with soft socks rather than boots. I have to buy new fins to fit my D7 but this isn't so bad as heavier fins will help my trim anyway.
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Jun 11, 2015 08:26
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Waterproof drysuits and Hollis F1 fins. A winning combination.
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Jun 11, 2015 10:45
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Tomberforce posted:Waterproof drysuits and Hollis F1 fins. A winning combination. +1
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Jun 12, 2015 05:38
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CaptainZalo posted:Some of the guys that recommend the Santi suits are tech CCR, ice and cave divers, and they praise the snugness and custom fittings as well as comfy zippers and telescope torso. I believe a couple of the lads have some pointers on undersuits as well. I'm expecting an undersuit cost of about 1/4 of the total drysuit budget with wool garnments under the undersuit for those deep and dark dives in the fall season. I went with the stock silicone neck seal, as opposed to neoprene or a SiTech replaceable seal. I've found that if you maintain the standard silicone seal and don't do stupid things to it, it works just fine. The SiTech replaceable seal has a big ring around it, which is more of a nuisance than anything else. The TiZip works really well - the thing is virtually indestructible and requires very little maintenance. A couple of minutes with some silicon lubricant every other dive day or so and you're good to go. The telescoping suit is essential to being able to get the thing on yourself, and it clips back in very nicely. I dive in the pacific northwest, and it's definitely cold water diving year round - probably not too different from what you are doing in Norway. Winter temperatures at recreational depths are around 6 C, so it's cold. For a 50 minute dive, I find the BZ400X plus a merino wool base layer is an amazing combination. During the winter, I'll dive dry gloves with a fleece glove underneath, and find temperature is not an issue. My hands stay nice and warm, as does the rest of me. Summer I switch to a merino wool underglove. I also have the Santi 200g thinsulate booties that keep my feet warm. My current dry glove set up are simple - a pair of SiTech rings, and industrial gloves inverted. Pretty simple and works well enough, though I look forward to my KUBI rings and gloves, whenever the hell they get here! The turbo soles are also great - no more messing around with overboots or rock shoes. Balanced with a pair of Hollis F1 fins, and diving becomes a hell of a lot of fun. Totally agreed with Tomberforce and sofullofhate on that one. Some of my team members dive Jet fins with Halcyon straps, but I find I can do everything I need to (frog kicks, back kicks, helicopter turns) with the F1s. I would dump your split fins in favour of a solid fin like a Jet or F1, and learn to do some of the different kicks. Especially with a dry suit, you'll want the negative buoyancy of the fin to counterbalance the floatiness of your feet. I found that the turbosoles plus the F1s, plus the Santi booties made me very balanced. The DUI suit I used to rent, on the other hand, didn't have soles and I had all sorts of problems with my feet getting too much gas into them. You don't need to be a tech diver, CCR diver, or ice diver to appreciate or get the best out of the Santi product. I'm a GUE recreational diver, and find the suits are incredibly well designed and perfect for the GUE style of diving. The best feature for me - the thigh pockets. So useful for storing useful gear and staying streamlined (bungees leave a little to be desired, but I'll get to fixing that eventually). I can't imagine trying to carry a spool+SMB, a backup mask, and wetnotes, while not having the pockets to put it all in. Oh, and you get a really cool drysuit bag with some other swag odds and ends (I got a Santi ball cap, which comes in really handy when I'm just out of the water and look somewhat dishevelled). Hope this helps!
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Jun 12, 2015 06:26
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On the neck seal, Silicone seals work fine though I find they have a greater tendency to be tight, don't provide insulation (which isn't actually too much of an issue for most people) and can rip more easily if you're not careful or are very, very unlucky. My first dry suit had one and there wasn't any problem but I much preferred the neoprene neck seal. That said neoprene do have a tendency for many people to let in a little bit of water, not an issue I personally found though. If you're comfortable with silicone than a DUIZip type system is probably the best one since ripping a neck seal isn't an immediate day of diving gone, or longer if you consider having to spend time letting the suit dry out and then removing everything and letting the glue fully dry. I've had a suit with attached boots and soft socks with rockboots and personally I much preferred the rockboots. They felt much more comfortable walking around on the surface and are definitely worth considering if you do a fair bit of shore diving. I haven't tried turbosoles though, they may be just as good or even better. I'd say best advice would be to see if there are any manufacturers or shops that will let you test a few different suits. And plusplus for the telescoping torso on suits, it makes it actually possible to get the suit on and off by yourself which sounds minor but when there's two or three of you coming up from a long dive and you all need the bathroom it definitely makes a difference!
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Jun 12, 2015 15:47
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Found some videos from my trip to Komodo in April that I forgot to copy off my GoPro, and since this thread is pretty dead I figured I'd post them. Enjoy! Banded sea krait https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_HpBQcUIpA Reef manta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suuFZLa1liw Octopus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UahPOYwc7jE Bonus encore of the flamboyant cuttlefish video I posted a few months ago from Borneo --- I think it's pretty neat in case you didn't see it the first time around, watch they way it feeds around 1:30. Make sure to watch this one in HD! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5NoVpsqeP4 Oakland Martini fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Jun 25, 2015 |
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Jun 25, 2015 16:48
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Did you use any color correction software on those before you posted them? Or were you relatively shallow? The color is really nice.
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Jun 25, 2015 22:28
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Trivia posted:Did you use any color correction software on those before you posted them? Or were you relatively shallow? The color is really nice. Nope, don't know how to. I'd like to learn though! I think it was pretty shallow for sure, we never went deeper than 80ft or so in Komodo, and most of these were probably 40ft or less. The cuttlefish was 15ft or so, although it was getting pretty dark.
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Jun 26, 2015 00:23
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Oakland Martini posted:Nope, don't know how to. I'd like to learn though! I think it was pretty shallow for sure, we never went deeper than 80ft or so in Komodo, and most of these were probably 40ft or less. The cuttlefish was 15ft or so, although it was getting pretty dark. red or magenta filter/ lens cover? I use my Hero3 and even at shallow depths in the Caribbean the colors need to be corrected. Love the octopus
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Jun 26, 2015 02:31
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BarqueCat posted:red or magenta filter/ lens cover? I use my Hero3 and even at shallow depths in the Caribbean the colors need to be corrected. Love the octopus Red filter.
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Jun 26, 2015 12:15
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poo poo - my girlfriend is on a dive trip to Bali at the moment and looks like one of her party got a reasonably severe bend today. Limb paralysis and vomiting presenting about 10 minutes after surfacing - dive was to 30 metres and the profile was conservative and within limits apparently. He responded to O2 but apparently the chamber there isn't open on Sundays! DAN are trying to get them to open it apparently. Food for thought....
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Jun 28, 2015 13:21
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Tomberforce posted:poo poo - my girlfriend is on a dive trip to Bali at the moment and looks like one of her party got a reasonably severe bend today. Limb paralysis and vomiting presenting about 10 minutes after surfacing - dive was to 30 metres and the profile was conservative and within limits apparently. He responded to O2 but apparently the chamber there isn't open on Sundays! DAN are trying to get them to open it apparently.
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Jun 29, 2015 02:36
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Was DAN able to get it open? Also how many days have they been diving so far?
Gindack fucked around with this message at 14:05 on Jun 29, 2015 |
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Jun 29, 2015 14:03
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Random conjecture, but maybe some people are more susceptible to the bends, just like some people are more susceptible to concussions?
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Jun 29, 2015 14:36
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He didn't get treated till the following morning apparently. He had a five hour session this morning and has to stay there an extra week for follow up treatments before he can fly back to Australia. I just hope the delay doesn't end up causing any permanent damage. Apparently there's going to be some fuss kicked up about it all by the dive medics over here (quite rightly). I don't know exactly, but they'd been doing probably 2 dives a day for maybe 4 days. Generally in the 25 - 30 metre range with a couple of rebreather divers doing deep dives to around 60-65 (but I don't think it was one of them) Yeah some people are certainly more susceptible to DCS than others and recreational dive tables are purposefully conservative to try to compensate for that. He could also have a PFO, or have been dehydrated, but sometimes it's just bad luck. Certainly makes me think twice about doing deep dives on a Sunday in Bali.
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Jun 29, 2015 15:03
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I wonder if the place that runs the chamber could be held liable if he ends up worse off. Did any of the other divers take a look at his computer?
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Jun 29, 2015 16:37
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Any recommendations for good dive operators in St. Thomas? Heading down in October, and after this thread knocked it out of the park with the Cozumel recommendation, I figured I'd ask.
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Jun 30, 2015 00:06
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Is there an effortpost on BCD recommendations around? I'm in the market for a new one as my old suunto jacket is showing its 13 years and also 200 dives without integrated weights is enough. I want a smallish one, as 'clean' as possible. Room for a single 10L/300 bar tank and integrated weights are the only must haves, but I don't dive enough to justify a pricy tech-wing. OTOH I'm also a Norwegian cold-water dry suit diver, so the bladder must have a certain capacity to deal with the tank and 10-12kg weight. Something like a Tech Side Smart 20 looks like it would be ideal, but it doesn't look like it has integrated weights, and I can't find a single review of the thing anywhere. I'm currently leaning towards a Seacsub Sherpa as a relatively clean cheap-ish jacket/wing hybrid, anyone have any experience with it? Edit: Disregard, I found the Oceanic Excursion 2, fell in love, and bought it. 
Caconym fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Jul 1, 2015 |
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Jul 1, 2015 17:30
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So I'm a very newbie diver, only did two dives one in a lake around where I live and the other time was in the Maldives. I have no cert at all and we are going on holidays to Madeira with a couple of friends in august. Both of them are open water certified and they are going to do their advanced during our stay. I doubt we'll be able to dive with our friends but my GF and I would like to do one/couple dives. I discovered that for some reason I have a really hard time clearing my ears in the two dives I did. Went to see my doctor about it and apparently one of my ear canal is very hard to clear for some reason, I think its shape is hosed or something. My doctor asked me to do the Valsalva technique while looking inside my ear and noticed that one of my eustachian tube does not clear properly. Now, I don't really know what the gently caress to do about it? My doctor suggested that maybe it was linked to my pollen allergy. So my question is, anyone knows what I could do about it? Are there other clearing methods that could help me? It really sucks because it takes the enjoyment of diving out of it because it hurts and also the instructor I had in the Maldives was not really understanding what the gently caress was going on and though I didn't know how to do the Valsalva technique properly.
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Jul 2, 2015 10:38
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Practice daily and hopefully your tubes grow used to it. If you never clear your ears on the surface, then suddenly try underwater, they may get inflamed due to stress. Just my guess I'm no doctor. The other thing is using a decongestant, but lots of ppl recommend against that for fear of a reverse block (I use decongestants just in case with no troubles). edit: I also recommend constantly equalizing while descending, as opposed to doing it when you feel pressure. I often just exhale through my nose as I descend, which clears my mask and ears simultaneously. Trivia fucked around with this message at 05:55 on Jul 3, 2015 |
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Jul 2, 2015 11:41
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I also dive on decongestants and have yet to have a problem, only thing I recommend is that you use a 12 hour Sudafed to make decrease the chance of it wearing off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw9UNcp9lxM is an interesting lecture on ears while diving and he goes over some things you can do to help clear your ears.
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Jul 3, 2015 05:01
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My girlfriend got narced at 110ft (on Nitrox) when she took a decongestant immediately prior to descending. Never happened to her in any other circumstance, although we had been doing multiple 100ft+ dives per day for a couple days by that point (we were on a liveaboard). Gonna be careful with decongestants regardless.
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Jul 3, 2015 14:29
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Possible she also descended too quickly. I've never been narced but I heard that going down too fast can cause it.
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Jul 3, 2015 15:08
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Oakland Martini posted:My girlfriend got narced at 110ft (on Nitrox) when she took a decongestant immediately prior to descending. Never happened to her in any other circumstance, although we had been doing multiple 100ft+ dives per day for a couple days by that point (we were on a liveaboard). Gonna be careful with decongestants regardless. Um. Considering that any nitrox mixture greater than 30% has a PPO2 of > 1.4 at 110 fsw - it might not have been the nitrogen. Ed: n.b. also nitrox has by its nature less nitrogen in it than air, so nitrogen narcosis would tend to present at a greater depth than oxygen toxicity on most mixtures. YMMV of course.  I concur about being careful with decongestants, of course. FWIW I have also been diving on them with no ill effects aside from feeling a little speedy after a three-tank day. 
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Jul 4, 2015 01:08
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SnakePlissken posted:Can anybody recommend me a pair of fins that are very supportive of my ankles? I have joint problems and my playing around in the water with fins has got me feeling I'm going to have ankle issues. Here's something to know: Almost everyone has ankle pain starting out, because they tend to slap the surface on surface swims, and they tend to spend too much time at the surface which makes it all more difficult. Instructors don't help things by wasting class time at the surface, and not teaching how to properly swim at the surface. Diving is about diving, not splashing about at the surface, whether it is with scuba or free diving, and the goal is to never really be at the surface. If you must move at the surface on scuba, roll over on your back so that you can develop some thrust with a full stride kick, and keep track of the boats around you. But really, don't be at the surface. New divers also tend to wiggle their toes with their ankles, rather than use the big muscles of the legs to bend the fins to provide propulsion. The best way to think about fins is that they are big stabilizing wings that keep left/right and front/back pitch and yaw from happening for the most part. WIth a slight dash of fin bending sometimes to move forward When you see truly comfortable skilled divers in the water it seems like they are simply not even moving their bodies, and yet gliding forward. This is because perfect trim means that the huge amount of momentum that a 100-200 pound body has is what keeps the diver moving forward, not whaling about with the ankles. If you ever get a chance to swim near a manta or a shark, you will see just little energy they are expending while they outrun any diver they want to. I would never say the old ways of teaching scuba, where one had to master free-diving first before breathing underwater , are best. But the grace of breath-holding free-divers, who have to be as still as possible to not use up the oxygen in a single breath while diving to to 100 ft for five minutes is a goal to shoot for. I stress all this because split fins are easier on the ankles, and so many new divers get them instead of learning how to properly behave in the water. I have used split fins when I was doing distance training in the water that was too shallow to free dive in, so they have their place in the water. But they are often used as a band-aid approach to (as the GUE people say) solve a training issue with equipment. I simply hated how little stability and power they provided when I was actually underwater.
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Jul 4, 2015 11:13
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