Random Adventures and Musings of a Scuba Instructor

Another perspective on Healthcare Costs

2009-08-03T09:37:00.006-05:00

In my opinion the true issues regarding the costs associated with health care in the USA are not being addressed. As is usual in these politically charged debates, the true issues are not being addressed. Issues that fit ideological biases, or which seem to be populist are pursued without really taking the time to dig down to the root issues. It is almost like the old joke about "don't confuse me with the facts".

The crux of the current debate about health care seems to be about the large number of people in the USA who do not have health insurance. Some might argue that the uninsured to not have access to health care. Obviously everyone have access to primary health care. The emergency rooms treat anyone who walks in. The issue is not whether you can get treatment, but whether you can pay for it.

Unfortunately, emergency rooms are being abused by many people who do not have legitimate emergencies. Often, the patients in the ER are there for routine treatment because they do not have a insurance or are illegal aliens etc. In many situations, the ER has become a health care clinic.

An anecdote: A friend who is a nurse at a local ER told me of a situation where a patient used the emergency services (ambulance etc), to have a pregnancy test done. The person did not have the money to get a pregnancy test done elsewhere, but since she declared an emergency, the ambulance was used and the test was done. The cost for this incident was probably around $2000. This kind of abuse or the ER (in my view) is not an isolated case. People will find loopholes in every system.

Often hospitals treat uninsured patients in the ER at a loss. The loss is usually borne out by paying patients. As I mentioned in a previous post - altruism and the profit motive do not make good bedfellows.

The solution to the problem of uninsured patients is not giving everyone insurance and creating a huge (and expensive) bureaucracy to administer the insurance system.

A starting point for thinking about a solution must involve providing affordable primary health care (free in some cases) to those who cannot afford their own insurance. Primary health care should be easily available. People should not have to abuse the emergency system to get primary health care.

In a next post I will write about the cost of training doctors. After 11 years of medical training, the student loans could reach $300,000 in some cases.

universal health care?

2009-07-24T07:19:00.012-05:00

The debate keeps raging about universal health care in the USA.

The problem with the debate is how the questions are framed.

No right thinking person would assert that anyone should be kept from primary health care. Obviously nobody should be turned away from an emergency room because of the inability to pay.

In the USA at least, there is no shortage of emergency rooms and primary health care facilities. One could not honestly say that most of the population is not within easy reach of primary emergency treatment.

However, the ability to pay for treatment has become the crux of the issue (in my understanding).

People who do not have health insurance in the USA faces some real financial issues if they need any kind of definitive health care. Any serious medical care will cost more than the average person could afford.

Let's say for example that you step on a rusty nail and go to the ER for treatment. According to the figures released by a Consumer Health Organization the average cost for the treatment will be $1081. If I did not have health insurance, I would most likely NOT go to the emergency room for treatment. I would probably have elected to treat the issue at home until I probably developed a serious infection and then would have had some really serious financial issues. For the average person, spending $1000 on an unplanned issue is a huge problem.

In my opinion, the issue of universal health care is more complex than making sure everyone has access to affordable insurance.

In the USA, health care is a huge business. As long as health care is a profit driven business there will be no end to the ever escalating costs. It is a self fulfilling prophecy in a way. Costs will increase in relation to the need to show a profit. Altruism and the profit motive do not make good bedfellows.

Off Topic - movie review

2009-07-12T15:54:00.004-05:00

Last night I watched a movie called Breach.
The movie is based on the true story of the Robert Hanson who according to the movie was the highest placed Russian spy ever in the history of the USA.

I had a vague memory of the Hanson affair from the press reports at the time. All I could remember was that he was a rather intense person with a penchant for a stripper who he supported. I also remember that he tried to lecture the Russians about OODA loops.

The movie portrayed Hanson as a driven man who eluded capture and exposure for many years. The movie portrays him as one of the best to elude detection. Perhaps his quirky personality and intense interest in religion and family kept him off the RADAR.

The movie is not a blockbuster but was interesting to watch and to know that a lot of what was portrayed in the movie actually happened.

It seems that Hanson was part driven to prove that he was smarter than his colleagues and part a flawed man with an inner conflict to prove that he was right.

51 Weeks

2009-02-15T14:58:00.004-06:00

Last week I spent a glorious week of diving and enjoying life. The week consisted of diving eating and sleeping (in that order). Everything was right with the world.

I was not ready for the return to the real world.

It has been a week back at work and I still cannot get back into the regular routine. I feel an emptiness and find my mind drifting back to the carefree days diving and laying in the sun during the surface intervals.

The diagnosis: a bad case of post-vacations blues.

Usually I find it easy to get back into work and the routine of life. For some reason, on this vacation, I almost feel like I left a part of my heart in the ocean. I know this will sound odd - but I feel a similar emptiness to when I got dumped by my previous girl friend.

A thought occurred to me today. Taking one week off to do what I live for seems like I have to endure 51 weeks of tedium for one week of bliss. Not only that, but I spend about 200 hours a year doing a part-time job just to pay for my SCUBA trips. Every minute of that is worth it for the sublime bliss of descending over the wall in the crystal clear water Roatan.

Only 50 weeks to go...

All up in knots

2008-07-03T22:31:00.004-05:00

In some classes we teach the fine art of knot tying. Unfortunately, I have not been blessed with the knot tying gene, so I have to work at my knot tying skills. Tonight, whilst scanning around the net (mainly via Stumble Upon) I found some excellent videos in YouTube that demonstrate the knot tying very clearly and simply.

Here is a quick example of the bowline.

Here is a longer video with a longer demonstration and slightly different technique.

Here is an example of the double sheet bend

Diving the Spiegel Grove

2008-05-15T19:27:00.010-05:00

Recently, I had the privilege to dive the Spiegel Grove. The wreck is located approximately 6 miles from Key Largo. We were fortunate to dive on the wreck 4 times during the week that we were in Key Largo. We did not plan to dive on the wreck so many times, but the alternate (the Duane) was not safe to dive in the opinion of the boat captain (due to strong currents on the day).

At first I was disappointed that we did not get to dive the Duane, but after diving the Spiegel Grove 4 times, I realized that we had so much to see that 4 dives were barely enough to just do one lap around the top deck of the ship. Because I take lots of photos, we tended to stay in one area longer and tried to take in as much as possible. On each dive we covered approximately a quarter of the ship. I would recommend that if you want to cover the ship from stem to stern then 4 dives would be the minimum. We did not do any deep dives (deeper than 100feet), or do any penetration dives. There are issues with both types of diving, that would have affected our photo taking activities.

I guess I was not really prepared for how large the ship is. I had read that the ship was large, and people told me that the ship was large, but actually diving the wreck, one gets to take in the expanse of the ship firsthand. The most impressive to me were the size of the cranes, and the gigantic dock in the stern of the ship.

The Spiegel Grove should be on any diver's to-do list. Highly recommended.

IDC teaching presentation: introduction

2008-04-09T14:52:00.009-05:00

There are two kinds of presentations that you will need to give during the IDC. This post will deal with "micro teaching" presentations. The other type is called a prescriptive teaching presentation. The next series of post will deal with how to develop knowledge presentations. Knowledge presentations consists of the following three sections:

Introduction – introduce the topic by saying what you will be talking about.

Body – explain the topic

Summary – restate the main points to emphasize learning.

This post will focus on developing the INTRODUCTION section of the IDC teaching presentation. The introduction creates a readiness to learn and informs the listener about where the presentation is headed and motivates the learner to pay attention and tells the listener how to interact.

The introduction consists of 4 sections:

Contact
Value
Key points
Contact

1. Contact – gain attention the attention of your audience by relating the topic to an experience the students may have had.

2. Value – The value statement gives the student a reason why they want to listen and learn. Create a need to know.

3. Key points – Give a brief overview of what you will be covering in the main body. Hint: use the key points listed in your instructor manual.

4. Conduct – Tell the students to turn in their books to a specific page, take notes etc.

PADI IDC - classroom presentations

2008-04-07T13:55:00.000-05:00

A few days ago I posted an entry about my initials thoughts about how to make the IDC (instructor development course) more relevant to the real world. In this continuing series, I would like to make some more observations on the IDC and give some suggestions for improvement.

The IDC curriculum is intended to expose the candidate instructor to a lot of information and hopefully he/she will come away with enough to make them good instructors. At times it seems like you are drinking information from a fire hose. There is a lot to absorb and for those who do the intense seven to ten day course will be able to identify with the fire hose analogy.

The main focus for the IDC is to develop and sharpen the candidates presentation skills. There are classroom, pool and open water presentations. Each type of presentation has its own set of challenges. For the most part, the pool and open water presentation training is good and equips the candidates well for the real world teaching situation.

The classroom presentation development however leaves a lot to be desired. The way that PADI teaches its instructors is to develop presentations following a set outline. The candidates are then judged (by course directors and sometimes staff instructors) on how closely they follow the outline. The problem is that the outline does not translate well to the real world teaching situation. I could go into details here, but the key point is that there is too much redundant information required in the various sections of the presentations that really to not add to the value of the information conveyed.

However, having said all that, in the next post, I will detail a method that you can follow that will ensure that you will consistently score 4.5 or better on your presentations. Unfortunately, the method feels a little rigid, but with practice you should be able to knock out one of these presentations in 10 minutes or less.

IDC - training inadequate?

2008-04-04T12:54:00.006-05:00

The Instructor Development Course (IDC) is something that every instructor has to endure. The course is fairly demanding and tries to cover many different areas, ranging from legal to marketing to presentation skills. Generally, I think that the PADI curriculum works well and prepares instructors adequately.

However, I have some suggestions and thoughts of how to make the IDC more relevant and appropriate to what we will be doing as instructors.

Some background: for the last three years or so I have been a staff instructor assisting in teaching IDC's at our local dive store. So my experience is from both sides of the IDC - first as a candidate instructor and later as a staff instructor.

My major problem with the IDC is that it does not seem to equip the candidates adequately on how to conduct classes. By the time I completed my IDC I knew how to prepare and deliver a skill presentation and how to teach a topic in the class. The thing is that we do not equip the candidates to conduct a class as it is going to be delivered in the real world situation.

When I started teaching classes, I really did not feel ready to teach the class. Technically I was ready and able to deliver the information, but did not feel confident about presenting a class from start to the end on my own. For example, I did not even know how to complete the student folders (instructor's portion).

Obviously we all learn on the job, and get through the initial jitters. However we can make the IDC's a little more practical and ensure that the instructor candidates are ready for the real world teaching situation.

Oxygen kits

2008-04-03T10:29:00.004-05:00

My Local Dive Store (LDS) has a number of the Divers Alert Network (DAN) oxygen kits that are available to the instructors for use during classes. We make a point of taking the kits with us every time we use the pool or the lake for teaching and sometimes even for fun dives. The kits comes in large watertight green cases and are easy to transport. Personally I appreciate the LDS having so many kits available to us to use. I think it speaks highly of the store owner that he has invested in having the kits available to us.

I wrote recently about attending a Emergency First Responder (EFR) instructor update class and a DAN diving emergency management provider class. The DAN class focused on treating divers whereas the EFR class was a general first responder and first aid class. A part of the DAN class was training in using the oxygen kits. I have taken the training a number of times before, but this class covered some new territory. We learned to use the bag valve inflators that can be used instead of doing mouth to mouth resuscitation.

One of the instructors, who seems to be fairly flush with cash, indicated that he personally owns a number of oxygen kits. I guess I have not really thought about owning my own kit since the LDS kits are always available to me when I teach classes. However the instructor made the point that he carries one in his car and has a few others for family emergencies. My question to instructors is "do you own your own oxygen kit and what is your opinion on having your own kit?"

I think that it is a really good idea to have your own oxygen kit, and I will be investing in one in future. Of course there are some issues to consider with owning your kit. The first is that pure oxygen is regarded as a prescription medicine in some states and should be treated as such. The second is that the tanks need the same inspection as regular SCUBA tanks (annual visuals and hydrostatic testing every five years).

One of our instructors is also an EMT (emergency medical technician) at a local fire department. He has said on many occasions that we do not use oxygen enough. He feels (and I think he is correct), that we should use oxygen as a first recourse instead of a last recourse. Because of my training, I guess I always considered oxygen to be used only in the case of heart attacks, near drowning, and the like. He suggested that we should be more liberal with the use of the oxygen and that it is probably a good idea to use it even then the person is not feeling too well and you not sure of the exact symptoms. For example the student might be very fatigued after the 200 yard swim and has some risk factors (smokes, over weight etc), then the prudent thing might be provide oxygen.

Being well prepared (trained and equipped) for the emergency that you hope will never occur is something we need to strive for as instructors.

Shock me once, shock me twice

2008-04-01T10:10:00.006-05:00

Over the past few days I have taken some refresher classes to maintain my emergency first response (EFR) instructor rating. At the same time I thought it would be a good idea to take the new DAN diving emergency management provide (DEMP). Both courses spend a lot of time on how to perform CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation) and how to use the AED (automated external defibrillator).

To those of you who have taken the new CPR training that includes AED use, you will probably be familiar with how easy it is to use the AED. It is really very easy and intuitive. AED's are being installed just about everywhere you go now. In the building that I work in, they have one on every second floor. In the city that I live in, I understand that every police squad car is equipped with an AED. I also heard that there is a city in Colorado that has equipped every single city owned vehicle with AED's.

This morning I read an article in our local newspaper that the latest guidelines from the AHA is that mouth to mouth rescue breaths are falling out of favor. Instead the focus is on chest compressions to keep blood moving to vital organs. The article mentioned that doing rescue breaths takes up around 16 seconds that could have been used for doing chest compressions. I guess it is a balancing act, but I think that if it a question of someone being freaked out by the idea of doing rescue breaths then the new guideline is a good change.

A thought occurred to me while we were playing around with the AED. We are so focused on Ventricular Fibrillation (V-Fib) and getting an AED to the victim that we might miss other problems that might be going on with the victim. The problem that I have with the extreme focus on AED's is probably summed up by the old adage "when you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail". Obviously I am totally in favor of using AED's and would like to see even more available in public places. I am just concerned that an over emphasis on the technology will make for poor first responders.

Shark attack fatality - Bahamas, part II

2008-02-27T17:49:00.012-06:00

I purposefully waited before writing my opinion on the matter of fatality in the Bahamas. I think it is disrespectful rushing to judgment and spouting knee-jerk reactions before the facts are in. I am sad for the loss of Markus Groh and no amount of finger pointing and pontificating will change what happened.

What I would like to do is write more about some general feelings that I have about some aspects of shark tourism. I have written about this a number of times. For example here is a link to my latest entry on the subject.

Personally, I am not in favor of creating an artificial situation (chumming) to attract sharks to a dive site. It is entirely possible that what happened in the Bahamas was an unfortunate accident of mistaken identity. If the bull shark (as is reported) wanted to, it could done much more damage to the diver (Markus Groh). However, we need remember that we are dealing with wild animals, in their environment. We as humans are visiting their domain and have to act accordingly.

The most important aspect of diving with dangerous animals is to know their behavior and not create a situation that could lead to an accident. For example, bull sharks are known to be very aggressive hunters that attack without fear - mostly in murky water. With bull sharks, an attack of mistaken identity is a real danger and possibility. The more you know about the species, the better equipped you will be to dive with them, AND truly appreciate their grace and beauty. In my opinion, sharks are some of the most beautiful animals on earth.

An article on the National Geographic website has the following information about the Bull Shark. Note the last sentence of the quote below (italics mine).

They are found cruising the shallow, warm waters of all the world’s oceans. Fast, agile predators, they will eat almost anything they see, including fish, dolphins, and even other sharks. Humans are not, per se, on their menus. However, they frequent the turbid waters of estuaries and bays, and often attack people inadvertently or out of curiosity. (http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/bull-shark.html)

The point is obviously that shark diving should not be a hunt after adrenaline without respecting the apex predator of the ocean. I believe it is not respectful to the animals to treat them as a carnival ride at a theme park. Perhaps I have a minority opinion in the matter, but I trust that we will thoughtfully consider how we interact with the marine animals.

Resources

Link to one of my previous posts on chumming.
Link to a fact sheet on the Bull Shark.
Wikipedia page on the Bull Shark

Shark attack fatality - Bahamas.

2008-02-27T02:17:00.005-06:00

Sadly, an Austrian diver, Markus Groh, died after a shark diving in the the Bahamas. (See the article in the Wiener Zeitung)

The details are still unclear, but it appears that Markus was mistakenly bitten on the leg (probably calf), and either died from loss of blood, or died as the result of lung overexpansion injury (alternatively called arterial gas embolism. Wikipedia article on AGE). The exact cause will probably become known in the days to come, but my sincere condolences go out to Markus's family - especially his daughter. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Link to my follow-up post on "shark tourism"

Baby, it's cold outside

2008-02-18T10:04:00.018-06:00

The annual insanity hosted by my local dive store (LDS) took place over the last weekend. Every year around this time of the year (early to mid February), the LDS holds an Ice Diving class. The spring fed lake that we use is ideal for the class since the water is fairly clear and within easy reach of store.

This year, the ice was the thickest that I have seen. The crystal clear ice was around two foot thick. The way that the holes are made is interesting. Ice augers are used to drill six inch diameter holes into the ice. The holes are drilled in the shape of a equilateral triangle. Chain saws are then used to cut the ice between the holes. The end result is a hole in the shape of a triangle.

The way we conduct the ice diving is to tether three divers to a safety line. On each dive we have an instructor and two students. The class consists of various activities, but to get the certification, students have to complete three ice dives. On the second and third dives, each student gets the opportunity to be the lead diver. On the first dive, the instructor is the lead diver.

This year we had an eclectic mix of divers participating in our ice diving event from all over the country. It is always fun to have visitors from other states visit us - especially from those that come from the warm weather states. For some reason when you tell some folks that it is cold here they do not totally grasp the idea of how cold zero Fahrenheit is (before wind chill etc.). Fortunately, most of the people who were here we adequately dressed.

The weekend before, we had temperatures below zero with wicked wind chills. Fortunately for the ice diving event the temperatures were moderate. Some years we luck out. I remember one year when the actual air temperature was minus five. When I completed my dive, my hair and face were still a little wet from the water, and when I left the tent to get changed, my hair froze. That made for an excellent photo.

One of the minor annoyances of the weather forecasters and newspapers here is that they like to dramatize the weather. I suppose it is good for ratings. They never fail to accentuate the wind chills. "It is going to be minus 30 to 40 tomorrow so bundle up" they would proclaim on the evening news. But then they would say that would be the wind chill temperature, and the actual temperature will be say minus 15. Ok, I know I am splitting hairs, but can't the weather people treat us like adults and just tell us the actual temperature?

Living here everyone, and I mean everyone, knows how to dress for the weather and wind. For example, it is around zero Fahrenheit today, and here at the coffee shop where I am writing this post, there are people here with light coats and even one person with shorts on (however, I think he might need some therapy). The secret to keeping warm is layering. Everyone here wears at least three layers of clothes on the really cold days. The other thing is that the human body is wonderful at adapting to the conditions. I guess we just get used to the cold living here. You just learn to deal with it. Today I am just wearing a light fleece jacket and jeans. I am just so tired of the heavy coats, gloves and hats. However over the weekend I was completely bundled up with many layers or clothes (fleece and down jackets), since I knew that I was going to be outdoors all day.

One of the interesting features of the water temperature is that at the surface the temperature is around 33 or so. At the bottom of the lake the temperature was around 36 to 37 over the weekend. The unexpected thing is that the water is warmer at depth than at the surface. Of course this makes sense when you think about it in terms of the air temperature, but things that people are surprised by is that the water temperature is warmer than the air temperature by a fair margin. So theoretically if they are comfortable in zero degree Fahrenheit then they should be ok in 37 degree water. This idea seems to calm the students a little.

Thinking back to my first ice dive, I am reminded about how happy and surprised I was that the equipment (dry suit, thermal underwear etc.), actually kept me warm and safe. I think the most
important lesson for me was to trust in the equipment.

Resources
There is an entry on Wikipedia about ice diving for those who would like to learn more about it.

For some more pictures take a look at this site. Note the picture with the radials that point to the hole.

There is a 484 page book on Google Books called Ice Diving Operations with more information that you probably need.

Link to the PADI ice diving specialty class information.

Shark Tourism

2008-02-10T11:54:00.000-06:00

Shark tourism seems to be gaining popularity all the time. I think it might have something to do with people having a sense of adventure and wanting to meet face to face with the apex predator of the ocean. An article in the Daily Telegraph in the UK mentions that approximately 50,000 people visit Gansbaai South Africa to participate in some form of shark tourism. The article does not make it clear how many of the 50,000 actually go out on cage dives, but there is no doubt that the impact on the local economy of Gansbaai is huge.

Every year about 50,000 people travel to Gansbaai for a close encounter with the area's great whites, drawn in by the presence of a huge colony of Cape fur seals, and each day boats set out to sea to give tourists a closer look. Dangling bags of "chum" - usually mashed fish - a scent trail is created, and pieces of tuna on a line are used to draw the sharks towards divers in a cage on the side of the boat. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/09/wsharks109.xml)

The article's focus is that there is fear among locals that the chumming to attract the great whites could cause the animals to start associating humans with their natural food (tuna in this case). As far as I know there has not been any scientific evidence that chumming might influence the sharks to associate humans with a food choice. However, it is my opinion that it is truly a sad reflection on our society we would play this dangerous game with an endangered species.

Lets say for example that there is some truth in the idea that the chumming could condition the great whites to start associating humans with food. And lets say that humans (as is claimed by most experts) do not "taste" well to great whites (in other words, great whites do not like how humans taste). The problem is still that sharks will take bites out of humans to be sure that nothing has changed.

I don't know if it is fair to make this comparison, but as most know, there is a bit of a parallel with the behavior of the apex predator of the bush - the lion. Lions do not typically see humans as part of their food, but once a lion has crossed the line and attacked and perhaps killed a human they then learn a new behavior that humans are a food source. These lions are most often killed because of their "man hunting" behavior.

I know that I am speculating a lot in this post. The hypothetical question that I am posing is what if cage diving and chumming causes some great whites to change their behavior and start attacking humans on a larger scale? I think that the natural reaction from humans will probably be to hunt the great whites out of existence.

I have done my share of diving with sharks (not great whites). It is my opinion that it is best to observe marine animals in their natural environment. If that means waiting a little longer for an awesome photograph then so be it.

Go free little turtle

2008-02-08T15:47:00.000-06:00

One of the unexpected highlights of my visit to Roatan last September occurred while staying at The Reef House Resort. The owner , Larry, participates in a program to rehabilitate injured turtles. Injured turtles are nursed back to health in a rock pool adjacent to the resort. The rock pool is quite large. So large in fact that I was able to conduct confined water training in the pool on a previous visit.

Larry told me that the turtles are often accidentally caught by fishermen. The turtles are tagged and when they are judged to be healthy enough are released back into the ocean. Larry invited me to be part of a trip to release two turtles and it was the first time that I had the honor to be part of something like this.

We gently loaded the two turtles into tubs with water, got them on the boat and headed south - way away from the regular spots where people dive. My job was to get into the water ahead of the turtles and capture the moment of release. The picture at the top is the moment after the first turtle was released. I was surprised by how fast he moved.

The second turtle was smaller and moved a little slower and I was able to follow him for about 10 minutes or so. In the photo below you can see the tag on the bottom of the right front fin.

If you are interesting in helping the Turtle Awareness Program (TAPS) that these turtles benefited from, you can find more information at the TAPS page of the Loma Linda University. Below is a description of the program from the TAPS page

Our TAPS seek to increase awareness and understanding of juvenile hawksbill and green sea turtles in Honduran waters initially by documenting the movements, habitat usage, and migratory onset of a cohort of turtles 'reclaimed' from local area fishermen by tagging then mapping their locations as they move through the water column and across the sea surface.

Utila Hyperbaric Chamber and hydration

2008-02-06T20:08:00.000-06:00

One of the interesting surprises that I had on Utila was visiting the hyperbaric chamber facility. The chamber is located in the same complex as the Bay Islands College of Diving. The chamber seems very well equipped and the staff seem very knowledgeable and current on diving medicine. The chamber staff graciously spent about an hour with my friend and I explaining all the various facets of their operations.

From what I understood, the chamber is funded, at least in part, by a small fee that is levied on each dive. I believe it is called a reef fee, but I am not sure. The chamber is run as a non-profit under the direction of a local doctor.

One of the interesting tidbits that I learned while talking to the chamber techs was that they have had a number of divers who presented with symptoms of decompression sickness, that were dehydrated. It seems that in the very hot and humid climate like Utila divers have a difficult time staying properly hydrated. To me, this again underscored the importance of hydration before and after diving. Interestingly, Dr Campbell describes some factors that contribute to diver fluid loss (http://scuba-doc.com/dehyd.htm)

1. Scuba tanks have extremely dry air inside. As this air is taken into the lungs and saturated--nearly twice the normal amount of water is lost from the body.
2. Negative pressure breathing causes divers to lose about 350 cc/hour from their circulating blood volume, a phenomenon called immersion diuresis and seen also in snorkelers and swimmers.

3. Cold inhibits anti diuretic hormone, causes peripheral vasoconstriction, driving fluid back into the core and stimulating diuresis resulting in losses of plasma volume.

Consequently it is easy to see how one can become dehydrated during a dive.

Personally, I like to drink at least a glass of water before each dive. It is different for everyone of course, but as divers we sometimes forget about how important hydration is.

The following excerpt from Dr Ernest S. Campbell, M.D., FACS (http://scuba-doc.com/dehyd.htm) eloquently describes the importance of proper hydradation.

The importance of entering a dive well-hydrated cannot be over-stated. Prehydration of divers should include regular ingestion of fluids several hours before, 15-20 minutes before and between dives, particularly if multiple dives are to be made each day. The urine should be "clear and copious", the urine test for divers proposed by Dr. Jeff Davis

Say it with pride - say it like you mean it.

2008-02-03T14:38:00.000-06:00

This morning we had three IDC (instructor development course) candidates in the pool who were doing teaching presentations. Some of the candidates presented their topics with great skill and confidence. However, as in most of these courses we had one candidate that just did not present his topic with any confidence.

I understand that it is difficult presenting to a group of instructors and your peers, but consider what it will be like presenting to a group of new students. What we need to remember as instructors that a lot of what students learn is from the non-verbal communication as much as from the verbal communication. Some people say that a lot more is "caught rather than taught". How true this is I do not know, but I do know that when we teach a class we should convey the information with confidence and enthusiasm.

If the instructor is half-hearted then the students will tune him/her out and I bet that you will have a lot more problems/challenges with the students. If the instructor is not enthusiastic/passionate about the class, how can we expect the students to be? I believe it is up to the instructor to set the pace and lead by example.

Another pet-peeve of mine is when candidates perform skill demonstrations half-heartedly. No matter how many times we tell some candidates that the skills should be demonstrated at presentation quality level, it seems that they just perform the skill to get it done. For example, in the mask remove and replace skill, I look for the candidate to first flood the mask and pause a second before removing the mask from his/her face. It is a subtle thing, but I feel that if they make the skill look easy then the students will be able follow what the instructor is doing and perform the skill correctly.

Instructor Candidates should remember that you need to model good skill demonstration abilities to your future students. Say it with pride, say it like you mean it and perform your skill demonstrations with style and exaggeration.

Reflection on Utila

2008-01-28T23:05:00.000-06:00

It has been a few months since I visited Utila and Roatan. I purposefully waited to make note of my impression of Utila. I want to be objective and hopefully the passage of time will help keep things in perspective.

I spent about one week on the island and came away with very mixed feelings. The weather, mosquitoes and roads were much like one would expect from the region. The weather was consistently hot and humid. Walking even short distances resulted in profuse perspiration. The mosquitoes and sand flies were everywhere and it was hard to keep enough Deet/repellant on your body at all times. Being a diver, means that anointing yourself with toxic chemicals multiple times a day (after every dive/shower etc). I got so tired of the itching and scratching that by the end of my vacation I could not wait for the sweet relief of going home to no mosquitoes. Luckily this time I did not come away with malaria, but apparently they have not had much malaria on the island so at least that is a good thing.

The diving was interesting, but as I mentioned in my previous post there was not much marine life. It seems like most of the marine life has been caught by the locals. There was only one dive site that had descent marine life. That dive was really pleasant and I came away with lots of great photos. Some of the other interesting dives were the wrecks and swim throughs at the old airport. Don't misunderstand - the diving was good, but don't expect to see much marine life.

The food and accommodation on the island vary a lot. There is a wide variety of really inexpensive accommodation that is very basic, and cater to backpackers and student divemasters etc. The accommodation rates are really a great bargain compared to other places. Food is also fairly inexpensive and you can pick up fried meat filled pastries along the main street at a very affordable price. Filling, cheap and really good. There are a few good restaurants that range in price and style of dining. My favorite in terms of price and quality is seafood place on the main street called Evelyn's. For the equivalent of $5 I had a wonderful meal including beverages. The food was really fresh and they grilled the food right on the street in front of us.

There are few grocery stores around and if you want to keep to a low budget you could probably get by for a few dollars a day. However, the street food is cheap and good. It will probably cost more or less the same in the end.

The overall impression I have of Utila is that it is an interesting place to visit, but if you are looking for a quiet peaceful vacation with awesome diving then this is not the place you. If on the other hand you want to party and meet people from all over the world, then you will probably have a great time on the island.

Here is a link to a post with reviews of the various restaurants and night life venues.

A new adventure on the Bay Islands Honduras.

2007-09-25T22:16:00.000-05:00

Recently I had the good fortune to visit Utila and Roatan. My initial plan was to spend my entire vacation on Utila, but after about four or five days I decided to move over to Roatan for the rest of my two week vacation. The coral reefs on Utila are in very good condition, but unfortunately there is not much sea life left at most of the dive sites. I am sure there are some dive sites that I didn't visit that have good marine life, but I only saw one site that had reasonable marine life on Utila.

On Roatan I stayed at a dive resort that took us to sites that were not used much by the other resorts, which made for good diving. The marine life on Roatan (at least the sites I visited) was abundant and varied.

I will write a lot more about my trip to the Bay Islands over the next few days. In the meantime, I am going to post a few pictures I took on my trip.

Clear Springs Scuba Park

2006-12-30T08:54:00.000-06:00

A while ago I had the opportunity to do a couple of open water certifications in the Clear Water Scuba Park near Terrell Texas. This was my first time at the scuba park and I did not know what to expect. Getting there was an adventure, but I will leave that adventure for another post. We got to the park around 11am or so and there were already about 100 people at the park. DUI was having one of its dry suit days there and it was quite "festive".

Of course being from the Midwest we were fairly used to diving in cold water so we dove in our regular 7mm wetsuits and did not wear gloves or hoods. The water temperature was aound 65f which was really quite comfortable for a regular Midwest diver. However as we were preparing to enter the water, at least two of the local divers asked us where our gloves and hoods were and offered up their own (thinking that we had forgotten ours).

The one impression I came away with was how absolutely helpful and friendly the local folks were. All in all we had excellent dives and enjoyed our time there. Hopefully we will be able to visit Terrell someday soon.

Interesting book.

2006-11-05T23:21:00.000-06:00

On Friday afternoon, I spent a few hours with the owner of the local dive store (LDS). I dabble in some web based software and developed a prototype storefront for the LDS so that people can sign up for classes via the Internet. After I spent time at the LDS I decided to go to the local Barnes and Noble to read a few magazines and relax for a while until the rush hour traffic died down.

After I had a great cup of coffee and chocolate cheesecake, I decided to check out some of the new books that are on sale. I picked up a book to scan through, and could literally not put it down. The book had me totally captivated. The author is Eric L Haney and it is called Inside Delta Force. The book is very well written and provides a first person account of Haney's experience inside Delta Force. There was one scene in the book that had me laughing till I had tears in my eyes. Haney's description of his selection interview with the famous Col Beckwith had me in the room there with them almost hearing and seeing the reactions of Haney and Beckwith.

Interestingly enough, I found that I learned a valuable lesson from the book that I applied to my divemaster class today. It was time for us to work on the rescue skills today and I remembered Haney's description of how they were taught to perform a hostage rescue. At first the students were walked through (in slow motion) the steps of clearing a room. Gradually the tempo was increased until the students could do a room clearing at full running speed.

The rescue skill is not all that hard to do, but a lot of students have trouble do a rescue to demonstration level. So what I did was start the candidate divemasters on the shallow end of the pool by talking through the rescue. We broke down the rescue into a number of phases and practiced each phase until the candidates mastered the sub skill. We then ramped up the tempo slowly until the candidates performed the full blown rescue by putting together all the steps. This approach seemed to work well for the candidates and they appeared much more confident in their ability than I have observed with candidates in previous classes.

We will be practicing the rescue skill until the candidates can perform the skill almost by second nature. As I wrote above, the rescue skill is not all that hard to do, but there are a number of things that can (and often do) trip you up.

Reflection

2006-10-28T14:40:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I had one of those deep and soul searching conversations with a very good friend. We were talking about work, the meaning of life and so on. In the course of the conversation we spoke about what brought us to diving.

In my case, I happened to get into diving by a series of unplanned but fortunate events. I signed up to do the open water class with a number of colleagues at work and just kept on doing classes. For one thing, I really enjoyed being in the water. I feel very comfortable and at home in the water. I think that the reason is that when I was a kid I spent many summer days at the local community pool trying to see how far I could swim underwater. I don't know why I had this desire to swim underwater, but I got fairly good at swimming underwater. However, the idea of SCUBA didn't cross my mind in the least. The closest I got to SCUBA was the fact that there was a small room in the pool complex with the sign "SUB AQUA CLUB" on the door. SCUBA just seemed so far out of reach.

The other factor that caused me to continue the classes was that I found the learning aspect challenging and opened up a whole new world to me. I have always enjoyed science and technology, so when I had to start learning about physiology and physics for diving, I was hooked.

In trying to explain what exactly it was that made me enjoy diving as much as I do, caused me to think about the my motivation and reasons for liking diving. The way I tried to explain it to my friend was to describe a man who walks down the street and unexpectedly finds very valuable article that changes his life. He didn't know the valuable article was there and was not looking for it, but having found it, caused him to experience many new things. I know it is an awkward word picture, but there are elements that are true for me.

My friend's experience was a little different to mine in that she got into diving in a more planned and organized way. She felt that she was not spontaneous enough in her approach to diving. Personally, I don't see her as being all that concrete and structured, but I guess she knows herself best. Everyone is different of course, so I am sure every diver has his or her own story about why they love diving.

The point of this post is that for the first time, I really sat down to think about why I am so passionate about diving and what keeps me so interested in the field.

Squeeze the gas

2006-10-27T00:36:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: more dive master physics to follow. May not be suitable for the easily bored ;)

Today, we are going to take a brief look at what happens to a gas when you apply pressure to it.

The first thing to remember is that as the pressure on the gas increases, the volume of the gas will decrease in relation. In SCUBA diving we are very familiar with this from our very first open water classes. Most classes start off by talking about what happens when you take a flexible container of air down to 100 feet or so. Of course as every one probably knows, the air in the container will compress and the container will look like most of the air has been sucked out of it. Of course the air is still there, it is just that is has been compressed (squeezed by the pressure of the water).

Remember that the pressure multiplied by the volume is the same for a given container at any depth.

P1 x V1 = P2 x V2

The pressure multiplied by the volume at the surface will be the same answer as the pressure times volume at depth (for the obvious reason that as the pressure increases, the volume decreases).

Lets do a simple example to demonstrate the relationship and how it is used in dive master physics.

You take a container with the volume of 2 cubic feet (at the surface) to a depth of 66 feet. What will the new volume be.

Remember that 66 feet is equal to 3 atmospheres. So the 2 cubic feet at 66 feet will be compressed by the water pressure so that the gas inside the container will one third of that at the surface - 2 cubic feet divided by 3 (0.67 cu ft)

However, for the dive master exams the examiners try to be a little tricky so you have to read the questions very carefully. For example they might throw in the words "fresh water" into the question, which means you need to use 34 feet instead of 33 feet per atmosphere etc. Be sure to read the questions very carefully.

To make these pressure calculations more challenging, the examiners will ask you to determine what happens to a given volume of gas when you take it from one depth to another. It is not that the work is much harder, it is just that they seem to try to see if you are paying attention.

Lets do an example of a potentially trickier question. Note that we are now starting at depth and not the surface.

You need to take a volume of 20 cu ft from 99 feet to 66 feet in sea water.

First we need to calculate the original pressure at 99 feet - which calculate as 4 ata (p1).
Next we need to calculate the pressure at 66 feet - which is 3 ata (p2).

Remember the formula: p1 x v1 = p2 x v2
We have p1, v1, p2 but not v2. What we need to do is find out what v2 is. So to calculate the new pressure we use a ratio calculation

v2 = p1 / p2 x v1 (the slash is shorthand for divided by)

4 ata / 3 ata x 20 cu ft = 26.67 cu feet.

Of course in the dive master exams they will not give you easy numbers like these, but the principle is the same. Lets do a more realistic example.

15 cubic feet at 105 feet to 41 feet in fresh water.
v1= 15 cu ft
p1 = 105 ft / 34 (3.09 + 1 ata = 4.09 ata)
p2 = 41 ft / 34 (1.2 + 1 ata = 2.2 ata)

So lets plug the numbers into the ratio we used above

v2 = p1 / p2 x v1

v2 = 4.09 ata / 2.2 ata x 15 cu ft = 27.88 cu ft

The calculations are not difficult, but do remember the following key things

Make sure you know whether you are working with fresh water or salt water.
Make sure that you add in the surface atmosphere to get the ata pressure at depth.

A little off topic

2006-10-24T23:34:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I listened to an interesting podcast on grammar (that statement sounds like a contradiction). What makes the podcast interesting is the way that it is presented. The podcast is called "Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing". For transcripts and more information take a look at her website. Grammar Girl has a fun and upbeat way of presenting her podcast. She has the wonderful ability to take what could be a dry and boring subject and actually make it interesting and memorable.

I have been listening to the grammar pod casts for a while and have picked up some good ways for remembering some grammar rules. For example, grammar girl gave a very memorable way of how to remember when to use whom (as opposed to who).

I am not sure how other blog writers go about writing their blogs, but as for me I try to make my blog entries interesting and informative, without being too dry. When I started writing this blog, I had a number of funny anecdotes that I wanted share. At first, I thought that the blog would be a good vehicle to sharpen my writing skills and be a place where I could write some of the interesting, and perhaps off-beat things that I notice in my little part of the world.

However, what I found was that I ran out of funny anecdotes and sometimes found it hard to come up with fresh and interesting topics. Last winter I went through a dry patch and had no desire to write blog entries. For one thing, I did not do any open water diving, and for another, just had no inspiration.

One lesson that I learned was that I need to pace myself. Too many blog entries in a short period of time has the effect of causing me to get burned out from writing. Although I really enjoy writing the blog, I find that if this becomes like a job or obligation, then it takes the fun and enjoyment out of it. I want to keep my entries fresh and interesting (at least to me).

So all this rambling brings me back to grammar girl. She mentioned something on her last pod cast about proofreading that actually gave me a fair amount of comfort and relief. Grammar girl wrote "So, given my long history with typos, it has become my belief that it's nearly impossible for someone to accurately proofread their own writing and be consistently successful." I have spent hours reading and re-reading my blog entries to try to catch the dumb typos that I know I make. I often forget to write your and write you etc. What grammar girl wrote helped me understand that I am not alone in the proofreading battle.

The thing is that I don't want to produce a perfect blog entry. That is not my intent at all. My intent is to make sure that I communicate clearly and don't have typos in my post that confuse the meaning of what I am trying to convey. My intention is to have fun with the blog and try to help other divers wherever I can. Hopefully the information I convey from time to time is useful and helpful. I try to walk a fine line between being informative, without giving so much information that it becomes boring.

can you handle the pressure?

2006-10-23T18:44:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: these posts might not be suitable for people who have physica-o-phobia ;)

This is the next installment in the series on dive master physics. Today, I am going to write about how calculate pressure per at specific depths. There are some important things to remember when working with pressure. There are two types of pressure that is referred. There is absolute (ATA) and gauge pressure. The two very similar and it is very easy to confuse. Be very careful when reading the question to ensure that you know whether you are working with ATA or gauge.

The easiest way to remember the difference between the two is to think about what a gauge is. The gauge pressure is what you see on the pressure gauge. The other takes ambient (surrounding pressure) into account. So when the question asks you to determine ATA remember to always add in the ambient air pressure at sea level. Lets do a simple example to demonstrate the difference.

How much ata pressure is at 90 feet/30 meters?

90 feet divided by 33 = 2.73 atm + 1 atm = 3.73 ata
30 meters divided by 10 = 3 atm + 1 atm = 4 ata

Note that you always add the ambient pressure of 1 atm to the answer to calculate the ata pressure. So when you see "ata" think "add 1 atmosphere".

Gauge pressure is the same except that you don't add the 1 atm. The answer is what you see on the gauge. So when you see gauge - think what I see on the gauge.

Some other things to remember:

33 feet / 10 meters of sea water = 1 atm
34 feet / 10.3 meters of fresh water = 1 atm

Lets do another example.

What are the gauge and absolute pressures 67 feet / 22 meters in fresh water?

First calculate the atmospheres at depth

67 feet / 34 = 1.97 ata
22 meters / 10.3 = 2.14 ata

Remember that gauge pressure is what you see on the gauge so therefore the gauge pressures those we have just calculated.

To calculate the absolute pressure (ata) remember to add 1 atmosphere (the effect of the air column on the water). There the absolute pressures are

1.97 + 1 atm = 2.97 ata
2.14 + 1 atm = 3.14 ata

To add a little complication to the matter, the questions sometimes ask you to determine the psi or kg/cm2.

To do that you need to remember that 1 atm is equal to 14.7 psi (pounds per square inch) and 1.03 kg/cm2.

Imperial: 2.97 ata x 14.7 psi = 43.66 psia (pounds per square inch atmosphere)
Metric: 3.14 ata x 1.03 kg/cm2 = 3.23 kg/cm2

Water weighs how much?

2006-10-21T10:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I bumped into one of the dive master candidates who recently completed his dive master classes. He was having all kinds of problems with the physics portion of the course and was lamenting his travails in trying to pass the exams. We will be getting together next week sometime to work on his physics and try to get him over the hurdle.

In the interim, I am going to review some of the most salient points in the physics for dive masters. What I would like to do is boil the issues down to the most critical ones. My intention is not to cover the entire physics portion, but to go over the parts that most students seem to have problems with. If anyone is interested in learning more about dive physics, physiology, equipment, I would highly recommend the PADI encyclopedia of recreational diving. There is a printed version and a version that you can install on your computer that includes videos etc. Again, the ERD is highly recommended.

So, why do we need to know how much water weighs? After all we are not going to haul water around.

Just about everyone knows that things seem to weigh less when submerged in water. So what is the reason and why is this important.

Water has the odd effect that it "pushes things up" to the extent that you are "pushing" water away for an object. For example if you put a SCUBA tank weighing approximately 40 pounds in the water it may feel like it only weighs a fraction of the actual weight. The reason is that the SCUBA tank displaces (pushes water away) to make place for the object.

So to determine how much the SCUBA tank weighs (or seems to weigh) in water, you have to know how much water has been displaced (pushed away). The amount is called the displacement volume. For example if the object we are putting in the water is one foot by one foot by one foot (a cube) then we know that the displacement volume is 1 cubic foot.

Next we need to know how much a cubic foot of water weighs. For example one cubic foot of sea water weighs 64 lbs and one cubic foot of fresh water weighs 62.4 lbs.

Now that we know how much the water "pushes back" we can determine what the effect of the push back is on the object we are putting in the water. Lets say the 1 cubic foot object weighs 100 lbs on the surface, we can find out how much the object will appear to weigh in the water. So the apparent weight is 100 lbs - 64 lbs = 36lbs.

This means that the effect of the sea water "pushing back" on the object will make it seem to only weigh 36 lbs.

Does this make sense?

Say for example you were asked by a friend to recover this 1 cubic foot object from the local quarry that you dive in. To do this, you will need to know how much lift you need to use to lift the object (how large a lift bag to use).

Right now the object is negatively buoyant by 36 lbs. Therefore we need to add extra lift to the object of at least 36 lbs to make it neutrally buoyant. To lift the object we will have to use a little more lift to make it positively buoyant to make it rise to the surface.

So we must again ask ourselves how much does water weigh to find out how much water we must displace (push away) to cause lift of 36 lbs. We know that 1 cubic foot of sea water weighs 64 lbs, so to displace 36 lbs we have to displace 36 divided by 64 which is approximately 0.56 cubic feet. So to make the object neutrally buoyant, we need a lift bag that can be inflated with at least 0.56 cubic feet of air. In other words we need to displace at least 0.56 cubic feet of sea water to provide enough lift to make the object neutrally buoyant.

I hope that this is fairly straight forward. I tried to boil the issues down to the most essential in calculating displacement and how much lift is needed.

Lets do another example for practice.

Lets say you need to recover a motorboat engine that weighs 400 lbs. The engine displaces 3 cubic foot of water.

So lets see what we know. The engine displaces 3 cubic feet of water and the weight of the displaced water is: 3 cubic feet x 64 lbs = 192 lbs. To find out what the apparent weight is we subtract the weight of the displaced water from the weight of the engine: 400 lbs - 192 lbs = 208 lbs. In other words the object appears to only weigh 208 in the water (or: it is negatively buoyant by 208 lbs).

Next we need to determine what size lift bag we need to lift the engine. Since we need to provide at least 208 lbs lift we need to displace 208 lbs of sea water: 208 lbs divided by 64 lbs = 3.25 cubic feet.

Contemplation

2006-10-15T14:14:00.000-05:00

As I write this post, I am sitting at the local lake that we do all our dive training in. A kind soul as left a wireless port open for us to use and fortunately I able to get Internet access here.The weather turned out to be fairly nice for this time of the year and right now it is sunny with a light cool breeze. The air temp is probably around 50f or so, and that is the best it has been all week. I didnt plan on coming out to the lake today, but was talked into it by a dive buddy who has an out of town friend visiting.

The out-of-towner have never used a drysuit and and has also not experienced our bracing temperatures at this time of the year. So I duly brought out my drysuit, thermal underwear etc. and help my dive buddy and her friend get set up etc. I think the out-of-towner will either love the cold water or hate it. I guess there is no real way to prepare someone for the cold bracing water. So far they seem be having a good time. They came back for extra weight, since the out-of-towner could not descend. I think it might be a case of the breathing too hard, but, but I got him squared away with an additional 6lb.

It is so serene out here. I lit a large fire and we are going to grill some meat when they come out of the lake. Even though the conditions are not ideal by a long shot, it is still good for the soul be out here, enjoying a late fall day.

The lake is placid surrounded by trees on all sides. The leaves have started to change color and there is an explosion of color all around us. In the lake there are three dive flags reflecting the warm afternoon glow and a few pontoons around with some fisherman trying to coax a few fish to take their bait.

What an excellent day this has turned out to be.

Stingray City

2006-10-10T16:37:00.000-05:00

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that tourism to the world famous Stingray City has dropped by at least 40%.

"Watersport operators on the Grand Cayman Island in the Caribbean, are
reporting a drop in tourist numbers of up to 40 per cent with many locals
attributing the decline to the death of Steve Irwin (Sydney
Morning Herald)"

In August of this year (2006), I was fortunate enough to visit Stingray City. I was able to be the first one off the boat and got to spend at least 10 minutes with the Stingrays on my own while waiting for the rest of the divers. It was one of the most memorable experiences of all my dives. The Stingrays were so graceful and gentle and the visibility was excellent since no-one had kicked up any sand as yet.

As the dive progressed, the dive master started to hand feed the Stingrays and the other divers started to touch and pet the Stingrays. Personally, I do not like to touch the marine life so I just observed spellbound.

Like all things in this world, perception is almost as important as fact. The fact is that one is more likely to be injured by all kinds of things than being injured by a Stingray. What happened to Steve Irwin was a complete freak accident. However, I do understand the apprehension of casual divers and snorkelers toward Stingrays.

On the one hand, I am opposed to hand feeding the Stingrays, but on the other hand, Stingray City was one of my most memorable dives. I am a little conflicted about the interaction with the Stingrays in Grand Cayman, but since they have been doing Stingray City dives, there has been an excellent safety record.

The bottom line: lets continue to dive safely and responsibly, taking all reasonable precautions, but let us not stop enjoying the wonders of the sea because of one isolated incident.

Last open water class for the season

2006-10-08T20:55:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, I conducted two open water classes at the local spring-fed lake. The visibility was the best that I have seen all year and the water temp was on the cool side, but not too bad. I actually managed to enjoy the dives. Once you get used to the cooler water (let's say south of 60f) its not all that bad. I know that folks who are used to the 80f plus temps of the warmer climates will probably think that I have lost my mind, but I find the colder water oddly comforting. I cannot explain it, but I actually enjoy the sensation of the cold water against my skin. I suppose it is a matter of mind over matter.

The students did exceptionally well. I was one happy instructor. Even though the water was cold for the students, and the weather not too great, they did not complain and completed the certification dives and I believe had some fun along the way.

Today, as we came out of the water after the fourth certification dive, I noticed that the wind had picked up significantly and it looked like it might rain. So I asked the students if they would be willing to go over to a local Perkins restaurant to have some hot chocolate and complete the paper work. Everyone thought that it would be a good idea to go, so after packing up all the gear we headed over to the Perkins in a long convoy of vehicles.

What I did not consider was that the after-church lunch-time crowd would be there too. The manager was quite grumpy and was rather unfriendly and brisk. I did not really care for his attitude. No matter what I asked him, he would shake his head and come up with with a reason why what I was asking for would be a major inconvenience for him. Too bad, since I have taken a number of groups there before.

However, for the future, I have found a much better option. One of the students suggested that we go down to the local Target store and sit in the cafeteria to do the paper work. I was disappointed since I wanted to drink something hot (like hot chocolate) and wanted to buy everyone a round of hot drinks. In any event, we convoyed to the local Target and I was very happy and surprised to see a Starbucks inside the store, co-located with the cafeteria. I could not have been happier. We got to have a round of lovely hot drinks while I signed logbooks etc. We had a great time chatting, drinking our hot drinks and getting to know each other a little better.

What a wonderful way to end the open water diving season!

Divemaster fun

2006-10-03T23:42:00.000-05:00

There are two students in my current divemaster class. They are naturals in the pools and it has been a lot of fun working with them on the various skills that we have cover. Last night, I sprang a surprise on them. I have a non-diving friend who was visiting me and I suggested to him that he accompanies me to class and be a discover scuba student for the evening.

The two candidate divemasters had to walk my friend though all the steps of setting up the gear. He didn't have to set up any of the gear himself, but just had to watch and learn. The candidates did a fantastic job. One of the candidates has a great way of explaining concepts in every day terms and makes even seemingly complex things seem easy and understandable. They seemed to really enjoy the unexpected challenge.

The advantage that I could see was that they had an actual person to demonstrate the skill to which probably made it more realistic for them. In any event, they will make excellent instructors one day.

Caught rather than taught?

2006-09-29T19:07:00.000-05:00

There are two course directors that teach at the same store as I do. The senior of the two course directors has been teaching for many years and has encyclopedic knowledge of dive theory, local dive sites, people in the industry etc. He is really one of a kind. However, the senior course director (SCD) has not taught confined water skills in any of the classes that I have attended so far. The two course directors divided up the work and each chose to teach a different component of the IDC (instructor development course).

The course director that taught me most of what I know about instructing is excellent and I have written previously about how I still feel like a student around him. However with SCD, I have not really built up that kind of relationship and was a little curious about what his teaching skills would be like in the pool.

In the current IDC that is being held, SCD is the only course director since the other CD has work commitments that prevented him from attending. So last week, I got to work with SCD in the pool and I must say I enjoyed the experience. His style is unique to him of course (like everyone), but I both found that I learned some new ways of explaining the same skills and also found that I found his style familiar. By being familiar, I mean that I could identify with how he was conducting the class and found that even though we were taught by different people in different generations, there were enough similarities that I felt that we were on the same page every step of the way.

The casual observer might say that since we are both certified by the same agency one could suspect or expect that we would be on the same page. But I would counter that although we are expected to perform up to the same minimum certification, there is a huge component of "stuff" that is only "caught" rather than "taught". This intangible quality could variously be referred to as culture, oral learning, affective behavior, etc. I am not a trained educator, but I know that in any organization there are written and unwritten rules, procedures and methods. The same could be said of how one conducts SCUBA instruction.

Sometimes as instructors we convey just as much by our behavior, dress, demeanor, enthusiasm, professionalism, patience, etc. as we do by the actual content of the lectures. This is obvious stuff really, but as instructors we need to always pay attention to the intangible aspects of working with students - for example by trying to get them to be as passionate as we are about diving. (ok - I made a big assumption about passion here, but I sincerely hope that each and every instructor is passionate about diving and has not lost the fire and passion for diving.)

The small things matter too

2006-09-15T18:55:00.000-05:00

This coming weekend, my diving buddy and I are going to be teaching an advanced open water class. The class consists of some classroom presentations, and two days of diving. There are two required components - navigation and deep. The other three components are up to the discretion of the instructor. However at the local dive store (LDS) that I teach at, we all teach the same optional components for the advanced class. The advantage is that everyone is on the same page and it makes logistics etc. easier.

One of the modules that we will be teaching this weekend is naturalist. The aim of this component is to expose the students to the various types of animals and plants they might encounter in the various types of diving they will be doing in the future. From my own perspective, I can attest to the fact that I have enjoyed my diving a lot more since I have started to pay a lot more attention to the various species of plants and animals on dives.

My diving buddy, the navigating phenom (NP) is an avid photographer and videographer. He has a keen eye for detail and manages to get spectacular shots on just about every dive. The secret is that he knows the habitat and habits of the various species. This knowledge enables him to find the various animals in areas that most other divers just swim over. A lot of divers just zoom over a dive site and mainly want to see all the big animals. On a lot of dives, these "speedy" divers will miss the most beautiful and interesting animals right under their noses.

In our class room session last night, we tried to encourage the students to spend the time to learn what the various species look like in the places where they will be diving. We showed them some of the video that NP shot on one of our dive trips and I think we managed to get the point across that it is not always the whale shark or giant grouper that makes for an interesting dive.

Forever friends

2006-09-11T15:53:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I took a dive trip to a neighboring state to attend an annual event that is organized by one of the long-time instructors at the local dive store (LDS) that I teach at. I have been aware of the trip for a number of years now, but until this last weekend, I have not been able to make it. Every year something came up and I could not go.

This year, I decided at the very last moment to go to the annual event and the weekend turned out to be a lot of fun. The weather was so-so, a little on the cold side and rainy off and on. The water temperature was actually warmer than the air temperature so it was comfortable and easy diving.

The event was basically a treasure hunt. We had to hunt for specially marked objects. The numbers on the objects were entered into a prize drawing. The prize drawing was held on Saturday evening, and some people actually came away with some very nice items.

I am reminded of something a one of the candidate dive masters mentioned a few weeks ago. He was reflecting on the fact that on his last dive trip, the people he met were from many different walks of life, yet he found it easy to relate to all the participants. The folks I met over the weekend were from many different walks of life, but we had a wonderful time recounting old dive stories, and watching videos from various dive trips. To me, it was almost like visiting family.

On every dive trip that I have gone, I have met some very nice people (without exception). On these trips I have met retired people, young couples, professional people, etc. No matter what walk of life people came from, I immediately felt at home talking to people about their favorite dives, the new piece of camera equipment and so on. In some cases I believe that I have made life-long friends.

Equipment challenge

2006-09-07T23:06:00.000-05:00

One of the "intangible" type skills we try to impart to the candidate divemasters is to be ready to deal with situations that are unusual or that they have not encountered before. The thinking is that there will be times that you have to deal with unusual challenges - both in-water and on the surface. We try to prepare the candidates to be ready to think on their feet to be able to deal with a wide variety of equipment problems, and problems that divers might have etc.

One of the candidate divemasters was faced with an equipment problem that took me by surprise. We were in the deep end of the pool and the candidates were being evaluated on the various skills that they have to perform (up to demonstration quality), The particular skill that the candidates were working on was the scuba unit remove and replace.

The last candidate went through the paces to remove his scuba unit, and when he had the scuba unit in front of him, I noticed that something looked strange and I could not quite understand what I was seeing. He had the mouthpiece of the second stage in his mouth, but the second stage was laying on the floor of the pool. Somehow the mouthpiece became detached from the second stage. The thing was that I was so focused on evaluating his performance of the skill that I could not immediately figure out what the heck was going on with the black thing in his mouth!

The most surprising thing was that he sat there totally calm and confident going through the paces of starting to replace his scuba unit. Almost at the same moment the course director (CD) and I realized what was happening and raced over to the candidate to assist him in case he panicked and shot to the surface. Incidentally we teach our students to solve problems underwater and not to bolt to the surface immediately when faced with challenges. The candidate was remarkably calm under the circumstances and did not panic or bolt to the surface. He calmly spat out the mouthpiece, took CD's alternate airsource and completed the skill.

CD and I were very impressed!

Once the candidate had repaired his equipment, he performed the skill again and scored very well. CD said that he had seen this kind of thing before, but I must admit I have never seen a mouthpiece detach from the the second stage underwater.

Rest in peace Steve Irwin

2006-09-04T02:13:00.000-05:00

Steve, you will be missed mate.

Link to news article

Podcasts

2006-09-03T16:02:00.000-05:00

Podcasts have been around for a while now and I have been listening to a number of SCUBA related podcasts. The client that I use to search for and play podcasts is Apple's iTunes. I really like using iTunes even though my personal computer is not an Apple and I don't have an iPod.

Recently I ran a search on iTunes to see how many SCUBA related podcasts were available and was surprised to see that there were 24 different SCUBA related podcasts that were found in the search. I cannot vouch for the content or quality of many of the podcasts, but I will be researching the various podcasts in the months to come. I do however regularly listen to Bottom Time Radio and Pod Diver Radio. Willy Volk from Divester contributed to some of the early Bottom Time Radio and it was great to be able to hear Willy's voice, after reading so much of what he writes.

Hal Watts was interviewed on Bottom Time Radio show number 15. Hal is one of the icons and fathers of the SCUBA diving industry. An interesting tidbit from the podcast is that Hal is the originator of the very well known phrase "Plan your dive, dive your plan".

As I wrote previously, I feel it is important to stay current with new information and developments in the industry. There are many avenues that the information is available - magazines, books, trade events etc. Podcasts are a new and very exciting avenue that one can catch up on new developments. The great thing about podcasting is that regular guys who love the sport decide to put their own time and talent into making the podcasts.

A heartfelt thanks to the folks who do such a great job of putting so many great shows together.

Right hand release?

2006-08-30T09:38:00.000-05:00

Last night, I had to buddy up with one of the candidate dive masters so that she could do her skills for evaluation. The first skill that the dive masters were being evaluated on is the buddy check. The course director (CD) wanted me to get my gear setup so that there were a number of things wrong with the gear. The idea is that the dive masters must become accustomed to what new divers can do to mess up their gear (and hopefully they will catch those things before the divers enter the water).

What CD wanted me to do was cross over the shoulder harnesses, and reverse my weight belt so that I had a left hand release on the buckle.

Unfortunately my candidate dive master buddy did not follow the slate and tried to do the buddy check from memory using the method I described in a previous post. If she had used the slate she probably would have caught the weight belt problem.

The problem with divers (myself included) is that we become complacent and do things almost automatically - especially when we set up our gear. The issue that we try to get across to the candidate dive masters is that the divers that they will be working with might be new divers who can and will do things to their gear that an experienced diver will not do. For example in just about every class that I teach to new divers, one student will set up the first stage backwards on the tank valve and when they open the tank valve the escaping air makes an impressive hissing sound that often intimidates the new diver.

No matter how carefully you brief the new divers beforehand they can and do forget details. Sometimes it is information overload, sometimes it is anxiety, sometimes it might even be some physical challenge like being hard of hearing. Whatever the reason, we have to prepare the candidate dive masters to be ready to catch these kind of problems.

What exactly is BWRAF?

2006-08-27T18:21:00.000-05:00

Firstly, I think I should start with an admission. When I created this blog, I was hard pressed to come up with a suitable name. I wanted to use something that I could easily remember and that was SCUBA related. Eventually I decided to use the term "BWRAF". I guess I did not think about it too much since I assumed that BWRAF is only a user name and no one would really care too much about what user name I selected.

However, I have noticed a pattern in my blog tracking statistics that a fair percentage of the searches that find my blog are related to what "BWRAF" is. So I think it might be a good idea to define what BWRAF stands for and how to use BWRAF to do a good buddy check.

There are many ways to remember what the order of letters etc. The one that we use where I teach is "Begin With Review And Friend". Whatever method you use is fine as long as you don't forget one of the steps. Below, is a method of training students to use BWRAF to do a buddy check (source: PADI divemaster slate).

B (BCD)

BCD secure and functioning properly?
Low pressure inflator attached?
Appropriately filled for entry?
Buddy familiar with operation?
Tank secure?

W (Weights)

Amount of weight appropriate?
System free and clear for emergency release?

R (Releases)

All buckles and releases functional?
Locate releases without looking?
Buddy familiar with operation?

A (Air)

Sufficient for dive?
Valve turned on all the way? (remember to turn a quarter turn back from all open)
Alternate air source properly located?
Familiar with buddy's alternate air source?
Air pressure on which to turn dive? (when to return back)

F (Final check - OK)

General check of buddy - nothing odd or out of place?
Prepare to enter water

Disclaimer: The information above is for educational purposes only. Please do not undertake any SCUBA related activities without the proper training and certification.

Cameras

2006-08-26T00:07:00.000-05:00

Its been about eight months since I acquired my first underwater camera. The camera that I purchased is the Sealife DC500. For my experience level (novice) I think that the camera was a good choice. The camera does everything I need it to do and is fairly easy to use. I have had some problems with the camera, but the company that sells the camera in the USA was very responsive and helpful with my camera trouble.

The problem is that now I am starting to look at more advanced cameras with more features. On the one hand I like the simplicity and easy of use of my DC500. On the other hand, I found that my DC500 tends to take pictures that seem to be a little on the cold side (more blue than necessary). So far I have not had problems with pictures since I use photo editing software and can correct most of the blue problems. I don't really like doing too much editing on the photos. As long as I can bring out the colors and brightness of the scene as naturally as possible, then I am quite content. I don't like going to the extreme of making the scene something it never was (for example introducing subjects that were not there etc.). If I can correct for some of the camera and lens issue with the software, then I think it is worth the effort.

My diving buddy, the Navigating Phenom who is a very good photographer (mostly video), but he had a very nice digital still camera as well. His camera is a little older than mine, but it seems that his camera takes more lifelike pictures than mine does. Of course NP would say that it is all in the hands of the operator, and I think that might be partly true, but I do think that his camera captures more colors.

So now I have started looking at other cameras. A while ago I created a blogroll link to Kona Hawaii Scuba Diver's Blog. The pics on his blog are gorgeous. Steve uses an Olympus SP-350. I know that the photographer's skill makes a huge difference and I fully acknowledge that he has a great eye for composition etc. But I do think that the colors and clarity of the shots are just great. The price of the camera is also quite reasonable compared to other cameras that I have looked at.

Another example of excellent pictures is Dany Weiberg's gallery on Pbase. His images are breathtaking. On his personal website he mentions that he uses a Fuji S2 pro camera.

The choices are overwhelming. I guess one should not chase features, but work on developing technique etc. It still is nice to look at what other people are doing and try to get better at photography.

I think I have been bitten by the photography bug!

Diving with the candidate divemasters

2006-08-22T16:00:00.000-05:00

Last week, the instructor who really taught me most of what I know about diving and instructing called me and asked if I would be interested in helping with the pool sessions for the divemaster class. Of course, I jumped at the chance.

It is an interesting experience working with my instructor (who is also our course director) as a colleague and not as a student. For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to my instructor as CD for the rest of this entry. I still feel like a student when I am around CD and I guess that will be so for some time to come. The great thing about working with CD is that he is so good at what he does and I find myself always learning when I dive with him.

The one area that CD excels in is paying attention to detail. I tend to be a big picture kind of person and find that I don't always drill down to the nitty-gritty detail of things. However in working with CD, I have learned to pay very close attention to every skill and subskill that the students perform. It is part of the training to have the students flub on a specific skill to see if the candidates pick up on the mistake, but he is a stickler for detail which makes his students stickler for detail too.

Previously I wrote about how I felt that my training was more intense when I did my divemaster class. Having worked with the new batch of divemaster candidates, I guess I still feel that way. I remember how picky CD was about the most minute aspect of every skill. I am glad that he set such a high standard for us. The current class is much smaller than the class I attended so I am sure that the smaller class size allows for a more informal class situation.

Did you check your air pressure?

2006-08-16T10:33:00.000-05:00

Recently, I had the occasion to be diving with a very professional dive shop in Grand Cayman. The dive masters were first class and the diving was superb. The dive that I was almost ecstatic about was Trinity Caves. I guess it was just one of the those days where everything coincides and you have a wonderful dive. Trinity caves was just one of those places that I fell in love with. The fish were large and plentiful, the views were phenomenal, the viz was great etc., etc.

It was interesting to be diving with no responsibilities and under the guidance of the dive master. The dive masters, as I wrote previously were top notch. However, the problem for me was that I had a hard time switching gears from the usual instructor mode that I am in to the happy holiday maker mode. At one point the dive masters went around check people's gear, and asking if we had checked our air pressures etc. It was an interesting experience being on the other side of the table so to speak.

The dive masters impressed me with their attention to detail. The dive briefings were thorough and the dive plans were followed to the letter. The emphasis is on safety and I was impressed that they insisted that everyone do a 5 minute safety stop after every dive, since some of our dives were a little on the deep side (nothing over 100 though),

Good on you folks at Divetech.

Supersized

2006-06-24T23:16:00.001-05:00

One day this week I received a phone call from my friend the Navigating Phenom (NP) with news that he received a coupon for discount at a local sporting goods store that is now selling SCUBA gear. So today NP , Mrs NP and I duly paid a visit to the sporting goods super store.

I was very surprised by the large selection of high quality SCUBA gear on display. The staff were very knowledgeable and most helpful. I realize that today was their "launch party", but I think they are doing everything right.

In the metro area that I live in there are at least twelve SCUBA stores. So far the SCUBA stores were spread out throughout the metro area with each store basically servicing a region of the metro. With the advent of the superstore selling a large range of SCUBA gear I think there is bound to be a shakeup in the status quo. One could probably compare it to the way Walmart, Target etc. changed the retail landscape from mom and pop stores to superstores.

I am all for supporting the local dive stores (LDS), since I derive some income from instructing from the one of the local dive stores in my area. At the same time I think that competition is good for the local SCUBA scene. In the SCUBA business relationships are very important. The superstores are good at selling on price, but I think that the LDS can handily beat the superstores on building relationships with customers.

For us to survive and thrive we will have to adapt to change and get better at what we do.

It's back

2006-06-21T16:10:00.000-05:00

About a month ago, my new camera started acting up. Apparently this specific model has had some teething problems and after a few emails, the manufacturer suggested that I send back the camera for repairs. So I duly sent the camera back the manufacturer via Fedex. After about four weeks a UPS note appeared on my door that I had a parcel from the manufacturer. I was very pleased, except that I missed the UPS guy. I tried rescheduling and after much going back and forth I was able to schedule the delivery for a day when I knew I would be at home.

So today, the camera was delivered by UPS (I remain in awe of UPS and Fedex in terms of efficiency, but will leave that for another post). I realized once again (not that I needed confirmation) that I am a complete gadget geek. I could not wait to open the parcel and get the camera out and start playing with it. Obviously I had to see whether the problem that I had was resolved. Fortunately it was, but strangely I could find no note from the manufacturer about the resolution to the problem. Too bad - I would have liked to know what happened.

I can't wait to go diving to try out the camera again. It is almost as much fun as when I first bought the camera.

Apparently, there is a medical term for what afflicts me and so many of my friends. It is called neophilla. I first learned of this term in an excellent podcast that I regularly watch called Geek Brief. According to an article that Cali from GeekBrief referenced "Neophiliacs are people who love everything new or novel". The article goes on to say

And now a team of researchers have provided these consumers with just about the greatest excuse ever for justifying their expensive compulsion to buy the newest and coolest. They can't help themselves. It turns out some people may, in fact, be more genetically predisposed than others to wanting the newest toys, gadgets and fashions.

In scientific mumbo jumbo, it seems that genetic differences mean that people produce different variations of a mitochondrial enzyme called monoamine oxidase A. That’s according to research from the Yamagata University School of Medicine in Japan, which was recently published in the scientific journal Psychiatric Genetics and mentioned in the New Scientist magazine. (source: http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_5439.asp)

This is all a little tongue in cheek, but I must admit that I do enjoy new technology. I don't think that I am a total first adoptor or pursue technology for the sake of technology, but I sure am grateful to be alive in a time of great technological developments.

Reflection

2006-06-19T16:09:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I wrote about a staff instructor class that I was taking. The class eventually ended a few weeks ago and I thought that I would like to write some of my reflections and thoughts on the class. Just to fill in those who might not be familiar with what a staff instructor is, please click on this link to a description.

The first thought that springs to mind about the class is how different it was to be an evaluator of presentations. When I completed my instructor training, I remember the presentations to have been judged very strictly. I suppose most will have the same feeling of things being more difficult in "their day".

The second reflection is how much I enjoyed watching the instructor candidates develop and grow in their confidence and ability.

The third reflection is how my own instruction has improved. Every time you teach something you learn it again. It is commonly believed that to really learn something you should teach it.

If one wants to be good at anything one should keep growing and developing. To be a good instructor takes more than just great personality and people skills. I think it takes work, preparation and dedication. In my opinion, a good instructor makes the material come alive and makes the difficult material look easy. A good instructor will find a way of unpacking the theory so that the students not only learn it, but understand why it is important and are able to apply it. I am not a trained educator, but I believe that the better prepared and trained I am, the easier it is for me to present the class and the more the students enjoy the class.

Even though I am glad that the course is over, I feel a little empty at the same time. My dive buddy (the Navigating Phenom) completed the staff instructor class with me. NP suggested that we staff the next IDC (Instructor Development Course) so that we can apply what we learned and keep developing our skills. Perhaps focusing only on the students success and not being concerned about passing the SI course will make the IDC a lot of fun. I dove with the dive master candidates a few weeks ago (they are the ones who will be doing the next IDC) and found them to be a great bunch of people. I will write more on my adventures with the next IDC as things get started in few month's time.

Thanks to our course directors for a good class.

Go free little fishy

2006-06-18T20:57:00.000-05:00

Its been a while since I did open water certification dives. Last weekend I was able to work with another instructor and we had two groups of eight students to run through the certification dives.

We had a great time at the lake, except that the visibility was really poor this year. The visibility has been going down every year for a number of years. I think there are a number of factors that influence the visibility in our lake, but two of the contenders are - fertilizer and apparently the stocking of trout in the lake. The trout, I am told, eat the organisms that keep the algae in check. Who know what the actual cause is of the algae - I just know that at this rate we will not be able to use that particular lake for certification dives much longer.

One of the students in the morning class had an interesting surprise for us. He is a marine biology expert and decided that he wanted to release a sunfish that he had raised from a tiny newborn. He received the tiny sunfish from the local Department of Natural Resources in 1999 and kept the fish as an experiment. I am not sure what the experiment entailed, but he told us that he did not want to name the fish since he did not want to become too attached to the fish.

The marine biology expert brought the fish to the lake in a large plastic bucket and when it was time to release the fish we all gathered around the expert in the water (all of us in our full scuba gear). He tilted the bucket so that some of the lake water entered the bucket and held the bucket at an angle so that the fish could swim out if it wanted to. However the fish seemed confused and did not rush out. In fact it backed up a little and it seemed like he just wanted to stay with what was familiar. Eventually he swam a little forward and then back again. He did this a number of times (all the divers were loudly cheering the fish on by this time). Eventually the little fish swam off lazily to the loud cheers of all the students.

The release of the little sun fish was a unique experience for all of us. What a nice way to end a class.

You want me to do what?

2006-03-14T16:41:00.000-06:00

As many know, SCUBA divers have their own unique way of communicating while submerged. We use various hand signals to communicate with one another. In every open water class that I teach we review the various hand signals that I will be using in the pool to make sure that everyone knows what I am trying to convey. Usually everyone is very well prepared by the time they attend class from watching the video or DVD and reading the course work.

Recently, I noticed that the WRSTC (World Recreational Scuba Training Council) has issued guidelines on standardized hand signals. Most major training organizations are represented on the council which means that the hand signal standard will probably become the “gold standard”. Having a united council deciding on common hand signals is a very positive step in my opinion.

The council has put together a very good document in a PDF format that describes the signal and includes pictures of the various signals.

Descending into Greatness

2005-12-02T15:00:00.000-06:00

One of the most memorable dives so far for me was yesterday. The dive started at around 30 feet or so and within 5 minutes we were at edge of a wall. I was following directly behind the dive master and like two fighter jets we sailed effortlessly over the edge of the wall and descended head first for another 20 or 30 feet just drinking in the beauty and serene surroundings. I was positively awestruck with the beauty and magnificence of the reef and the wall, as we descended into the great beauty of the reef. I do not think I can adequately describe in words how spectacular the dive was. It was just one of those moments where you feel like time stands still and the moment is just too marvelous for words to describe. Oh, how I love to be in the water!

The sound of music

2005-11-21T18:37:00.000-06:00

Some people like SCUBA diving because they can escape to a world where there are no phones, emails, televisions and countless interruptions. I have heard people say that when they are diving they feel so free from the world and all of its craziness. One diver I know says that SCUBA diving is her “zen”.

On the other hand, there are people, like my daughter who cannot stand a single second of silence. Every second of the day is filled with some kind of sound. There is a certain comfort in listening to music when working out, running or doing some kind of physical work. The music tends to elevate your mood and help you “forget” about the “pain” of the workout.

Recently, I noticed that a H2O Audio from San Diego has brought out a MP3 player housing that has a depth rating of 200 feet. I guess it was only a matter of time until a waterproof MP3 player housing became available for SCUBA divers. I do not know what the sound quality will be like, but I am guessing it will be fairly good.

There are some interesting possibilities that could come as offshoots having a waterproof MP3 player available on dives. For example one could design a guided tour of an interesting dive site with all kinds of information on the MP3 player.

There are the cynical amongst us who will treat the new device with scorn. Then there are the technophiles among us who will love the new device just because it is cool and new. To each his own I guess. If the MP3 player will help you have a more enjoyable, relaxing dive then I say party on.

Back in the classroom again

2005-11-07T18:36:00.000-06:00

A while ago I wrote about continuing education and how important it is to keep learning, especially when it comes to SCUBA diving. Last weekend, I found myself in class again, this time learning to be an instructor to student instructors. As I wrote previously, I like learning new things and part of the reason why I signed up for the staff instructor course was to learn more and to refine my skills. It has often been said that to really learn something you need to teach it.

There is a great deal of material that is covered in the instructor development course and we are expected to have mastered the material way beyond what is necessary for the student instructors. This of course is obvious since we will have to teach the material sometime in the future. The last time I studied the material it was all new and exciting, yet overwhelming. This time the material is not quite so overwhelming, yet there is a great deal to cover. Believe it or not, we actually enjoy the physics, physiology and theory parts. The part that is least fun is doing presentations to a group of your peers who find great joy and pleasure in pulling apart your presentations. It is all in good fun though. The pressure makes us work harder and makes us better instructors.

An observation that one of my fellow students made was how different it is "to be on the other side of the table". By this he meant how different it felt to sit in on presentations and skill demonstrations and do the evaluating. On the one hand one tends to be very lenient because you know how stressful it is to do the skill demonstrations to a group of evaluators, but on the other hand I remember how tough my instructors were on me when I was doing the same thing (at least that is how it felt). The term "splitting hair" comes to mind when thinking back on some of the comments I heard about my presentations. However, the tough learning environment more than prepared me for the actual classroom environment where I had to deliver the material to a group of eager student divers.

Diver Comfort

2005-10-31T17:36:00.000-06:00

Being comfortable while diving is a relative term. For some, being comfortable means diving in warm water with great visibility and no current. For others it might mean having equipment that functions well and that fits well. Sometimes it is hard to control the environmental factors. However you can do a lot to make your dive more comfortable by making your equipment as comfortable as possible.

One of my students had all kinds of problems with the mouthpiece of the regulator she was using during the certification dives. The equipment problem almost prevented her from completing the certification. Eventually we were able to get a better fitting mouthpiece and she had no further equipment problems.

Recently I got an email from her letting me know that she is going to purchase a mouthpiece that she knows is comfortable and will be taking the mouthpiece on her upcoming dive vacation. She will use her own mouthpiece on the rental gear at the resort. I like the idea of being proactive in dealing with gear issues.

There are many things that one can do to make your gear more comfortable. For example, making sure that you have adequate exposure protection (to prevent sunburn, abrasions and stings). Another example is making sure that you can operate all the various releases, inflators etc. on your BCD. This is especially important when you are using a rental BCD. On your checkout dive at the resort, it is good idea to practice inflating, deflating, etc. without looking. You should be able to locate the low pressure hose, find the correct button and inflate/deflate without looking. You should be able to find and use any air releases on the lower back of the BCD (if so equipped).

Being familiar with your gear, and making sure that everything fits and feels good on you will go a long way to making you more comfortable in the water.

Equalize early and often

2005-10-28T22:55:00.000-05:00

As most divers know, equalizing early and often will prevent problems and "squeezes". If you wait to equalize until you experience discomfort, then you have waited too long. You should be equalizing - gently - as often as possible on your descent. Some agencies teach that one should equalize every meter / 3 feet or so. Personally I think that one should equalize a lot more often than that.

The key issue is that the pressure change is huge in the first 10 meters / 33 feet of the dive (I will not delve into the theory now, but will do so in a later post). Therefore the pressure difference in the inner and outer can be substantial, even at relatively shallow depths. It is critical that you equalize the pressures before injury occurs to the delicate structures in your ear.

Please see this excellent tutorial by Edmond Kay, M.D. for more indepth information on equalization techniques and theory.

Keep sharpening the saw

2005-10-25T17:53:00.000-05:00

A few years ago I read a great book by author Stephen Covey called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Many people are probably familiar with Covey and this book. The habit of “Sharpening the Saw” is particularly applicable to SCUBA diving. In terms of sharpening the Saw the author makes the case that to be effective in your field you should keep your skills current and keep developing your knowledge base and abilities. In other words, never rest on your laurels.

Unlike many other hobbies and pastime activities, SCUBA diving requires one to keep up with new developments and equipment. As an instructor, you might have guessed that I would be beating the drum of continuing education. At the end of every open water class that we teach we always mention continuing education and encourage the students to sign up for more classes. We do this for a number of reasons (no, it is not just a money making ploy). The reason I do it is because I want people to become passionate about diving and derive as much pleasure from diving as I do.

There is research that indicates that people who complete continuing education classes and own their own equipment keep diving longer and are safer divers - a very obvious but important conclusion.

In my case, I continued to take classes after my open water class because that kept me diving and because I actually enjoy learning new things. Sometimes, taking a class was the only way I was able to dive in winter (ok, so it was only in a pool, but I still got wet).

From my observation, it would seem to me that less than twenty percent of the divers that I encounter end up taking the advanced open water classes. Even a smaller percentage goes on to take the rescue class. From my personal experience, I would say that every diver should complete at least the advanced and rescue classes. The rescue class was one of those classes that proved pivotal in my dive training. Once I completed the rescue class I felt much more comfortable in the water and knew that I could help myself and others if I got into trouble. The great thing about the rescue class is that you practice various scenarios for rescuing others.

In some of my previous posts I wrote about safety stops and that I like to practice various skills on the safety stop, like mask clears, hovering, regulator recovery etc. A responsible diver will always keep sharpening the saw of their skills and knowledge.

Is that a shark in the water?

2005-10-24T19:42:00.000-05:00

One of the blogs that I like to read on a regular basis is DiveSouthAfrica. For the last few days there have been many posts in the Dive South Africa blog that mentioned shark attacks of various types. It might just be co-incidence, but it seems that there is an up tick in the number of attacks. As many might know, South Africa has a long coastline with a very rich diversity of marine life.

A while ago I wrote about how I dislike the practice of chumming to lure sharks to dive cages for the purposes of photography. Cage diving is very popular in South Africa and generates a good income for the various operators who gear their dives to tourists and thrill seekers. These operators cater to divers and non-divers alike since many of them will not require SCUBA certification for the cage dives. One of the shark attacks mentioned in the Dive South Africa blog happened close to where cage diving and chumming occur.

As I wrote previously, I do not think that chumming can have a good outcome. Personally, I believe that if we are to enjoy marine life we should interfere as little as possible with the way the animals behave naturally. If that means that we have to wait a little longer for a shark to appear then so be it.

Recently, there was an interesting documentary on television about Shark Mountain in the Cocos Islands. This particular site has rich diversity of marine life with an abundance of various shark species. It was fascinating to see the documentary makers prepare for their dives, and how they dove amongst literally hundreds of hammerheads.

One very interesting scene in the documentary showed the mating behavior of white tipped sharks. According to the narrator, it was the first time in twenty years of diving that he was able to see the mating ritual from start to finish. It was very violent and the female was left bleeding and exhausted. For a while, I was concerned that the males would kill the female in the mating ritual. Apparently, these sharks have the most violent mating behavior of the shark family. It is surprising that the species manages to survive such violent social behavior. Most interesting though was the documentary maker was not in a cage and was probably within 20 yards/meters or so from the sharks.

I guess the point of this post is to contrast various ways in which we can interact with the top predator in the sea. It might mean that we have to travel further, spend more time researching and waiting, but in my opinion it is safer to observe the sharks in their natural environment without introducing any external influences like chumming. However, having said all that, I would not like to encounter a great white face to face without the security of a cage. I guess most other species I would not have too much trouble with, but the great whites still get my adrenaline pumping!

PS: 10/26/05 noticed an interesting link on Divester about a shark video in South Africa. Worth watching. Thanks Bill.

There must be a better way

2005-10-19T06:18:00.000-05:00

It is hard to understand why it is still necessary and permissible to pump vast quantities of sewage (raw and treated) into the world's oceans. Yes, I know that the amount of sewage pumped into the sea is very small compared to the total volume of sea water, that there have been studies that claim that it is a safe practice, that it is economically necessary, blah, blah, blah. Yes, I know and understand the arguments in favor of dumping sewage into our oceans.

However, I must say I find the thought of diving in sewage (no matter how diluted or treated) to be repulsive. Yes, I know that the fish do their thing in the sea. I am ok with that. I am not ok, however, with introducing our waste into the oceans, when there are better ways of treating and processing sewage.

The following appeared in an article on CDNN (http://www.cdnn.info/news/eco/e051017.html) - originally from the Bradenton Herald.

BOYNTON BEACH, Florida (17 Oct 2005) -- State environmental regulators are investigating a pump that's dumping treated sewage into the Atlantic Ocean after recreational scuba divers said it was killing a coral reef.
The group, Palm Beach County Reef Rescue, says a pipe from the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant is spewing nitrogen-rich sewage that's fueling algae blooms. The algae are fouling the Gulf Stream Reef, a popular diving spot off Boynton Beach a mile and a half away from the pipe, the divers say.

"It's clear-cut," said Reef Rescue Director Ed Tichenor, a former New Jersey environmental consultant for private industry. "There are areas of (the reef) that look like a parking lot now."

I am not a scientist, marine biologist or an activist. I am just an average guy who loves to dive and help other people dive. It bothers me that we still need to dump sewage into the oceans when there are so many other options available. Why must we harm the oceans just because it is cheaper to do it that way?

As a society, we should display the moral integrity and courage to make the difficult decisions necessary to be good stewards of the natural resources that have been entrusted to us.

Equipment - lights, camera, action

2005-10-18T17:35:00.000-05:00

A while ago I wrote about my friend the Navigating Phenom (NP) who is an avid underwater videographer. NP has gathered quite the impressive collection of video equipment. Not only has he become a good photographer, he has also learned a great deal about marine life. What NP does is produce very nice looking short movies of the various dives that he does. When he is editing the footage he will make annotations about what the various species of marine animals are that he happens to be filming.

NP says that the key to capturing great footage and pictures is to be very patient and to know and understand the species that you are filming. If you know their behavior you will know where to look and what to expect. Many divers invest in fish identification books/slates that will help identify the various species you might encounter.

To get started in underwater photography, it might be a good idea to take an underwater photography class. You will learn many skills that will be useful in capturing excellent shots. The other class that might be useful is to take a buoyancy control class. This will help you develop pinpoint buoyancy control.

A good camera, housing, good lights and patience will make a huge difference to your enjoyment of the marine world.

After reading Willy's post in Divester.com I was reminded that a good site that you might find interesting for indepth camera information and reviews is Wetpixel.

Equipment - Fins

2005-10-14T12:35:00.000-05:00

There are many different types of fins on the market. The choice that you make will be influenced by a number of factors including, the type of diving that you will be doing, how much you want to spend and whether you have any physical limitations.

Type of diving: if you will be diving in warm tropical waters then you would probably want to select a full foot fin. Cold water divers prefer to wear booties to keep their feet warm and generally use open heeled fins with the booties. If you are going to be doing both cold and warm water diving, then a good compromise would be to select an open heeled pair of fins since you use can them in both cold and warm water.

Cost: generally there is a relationship between the cost of the fins and how well they perform. The newer technology fins have undergone some very interesting changes. For example Scubapro markets split fins that look like they should not work, but work very well. Most manufacturers have a line of fins that include some kind of split fin/channel technology. The idea is that the split in the fins (or channels) help reduce the water pressure and resistance, yet allow you to kick efficiently. I do not want to delve too much into the theory of how they work, suffice to say that split fins have my hearty recommendation.

Physical limitations: If your knees have been injured due to a sports injury or some kind of accident etc. you certainly want to be careful in selecting the type of fins that you dive with. Fins make a huge difference to your comfort in the water. The newer, more efficient fins put less stress on your knees and allow you to kick more efficiently.

Consult your local dive store (LDS) about your specific fin choice, especially if you have some kind of physical limitation. Finding a good fit is important so that you can prevent or reduce cramping and excessive fatigue. Your LDS will be able to help you find a well fitting pair of fins.

Willy Volk from http://www.divester.com/ wrote an interesting post on open heeled fins versus full foot fins that include many links to excellent articles for more indepth research. See Willie's article here. Thanks Willie.

Equipment - Regulators

2005-10-12T17:55:00.000-05:00

This is not going to be an exhaustive discussion of regulators. Suffice to say that there are many excellent models on the market from great manufacturers that work really well. However for the beginning diver there are important questions to answer before you decide on a specific make and model.

The first criterion that I would look at is the type of diving you will be doing. If you will be diving in warm tropical water, then you would most likely be selecting a different regulator from the person who will be diving in mostly cold water. In regard to cold water, one should select a regulator that is environmentally sealed. What this means is that very cold water will not (should not) cause a free flow.

The second criterion that I would evaluate is the mass (weight) of the actual second stage. If you are prone to jaw fatigue you would want to select a second stage that is as light as possible. Many of the newer second stages are made from a durable lightweight plastic material that performs very well.

Another factor to consider is whether there are additional ports available on the first stage. Additional ports will allow you add more hoses later on if you need. For example you might want to dive with a drysuit etc.

Alternate air sources (octopus) have to be clearly visible and are normally yellow. Most divers usually select an octopus that is compact and can be used in the up or down position. This will become clear to you when you start practicing donating an air source to your buddy. When you hand the octopus to your buddy, you don't want to waste time making sure that it is in the upright position. It should work in any position. If you will be diving with an integrated air source on your BCD, please see my previous post about BCD’s.

If you are a large framed person or tend to breathe very hard, you might want to determine if the regulator will be able to supply you the amount of air that you need. The higher performing regulators are very hard to "over breathe". This means that even if you do a strenuous and/or deep dive, the regulator will still be able to supply you all air that you need.

With regulators, you typically get what you pay for. The higher priced regulators generally perform to higher standards and allow one to do more advanced types of diving. However, most current regulators from reputable manufacturers perform very well for the recreational diver.

I am not going to make a specific recommendation about a manufacturer or model. I think it is best that you determine what works best for you with the help of your local dive store (LDS). In fact I think it is important that you have some kind of relationship with the store, since you need to have your regulator serviced every year. Additionally, most good stores will allow you to try out various models in the pool if you are not sure of what works best for you. Don't feel you need to make a decision and there is no going back. Make sure that the regulator you select is comfortable, performs beyond the level of diving that you will be doing and that you have it serviced regularly (I know I have said that twice now - but you know how it is with instructors...)

Equipment - useful items to carry

2005-10-09T07:23:00.000-05:00

This post is a continuation of the previous discussions on BCD's in the sense that I will be discussing items that you could carry in the BCD pockets.

Signaling devices: It is a good idea for every diver to carry at least one signaling device. Some signaling devices that divers carry are whistles, mirrors, "safety sausage", lights, air horns, tank bangers and so on. Signaling devices can used to alert a boat at the surface to pick you up if you happen to drift away from the boat or surface a distance away from where the boat is. A safety sausage is an inflatable device that you can inflate using a regulator. They are typically around 4 to 6 feet tall and are either bright yellow, red or a marmalade color. At night you use your dive light and illuminate the inside of the safety sausage.

Knives, EMT shears: There are many different kinds of dive knives available. The type that I would recommend are made from titanium and do not corrode due to salt water immersion. Knives come in various styles. Some have rounded blade tips and some have sharp blade tips. It is a personal choice, but most people recommend a rounded tip on the blade to prevent accidental punctures of your gear etc. Some people have the mistaken idea that a knife can be used to fend off an attack by a marine animal and therefore choose a sharp tipped blade. The primary purpose of a dive knife is to be able to free yourself from underwater entanglements like fishing line, rope, etc. An alternative style of knife is a small knife that is sold with the BCD. The knife fits into a sheath in the shoulder harness. The advantage of these BCD included knives is that they are small, easy to carry and out of the way.

Some divers (myself included) like to carry a knife and a pair of EMT shears. The shears work differently to a knife in that you can easily cut through something using only one hand. Personally I like to carry my knife in my BCD pocket and my shears on the front of my BCD close to my left shoulder. The advantage of carrying two cutting devices in different places is that you can always reach one of them if you become stuck somewhere.

Some divers like to carry their knives on their left or right calves. I don't have a problem with this except that dive knives are the one article that is most often lost by divers, because if you are not careful, the blade can easily detach itself from the sheath and you will have to stop in at the local dive store to purchase a brand new shiny knife.

Equipment - BCD part III

2005-10-08T09:08:00.000-05:00

This will probably be the final segment on the continuing discussion on selecting of BCD's for the beginning diver.

Cummberbund / Cumberbund: Most current BCD's on the market have a sash like waistband that generally goes around the stomach of the diver and has velcro fasteners to secure it in place. The purpose of the cummerbund/cumberund is to keep the BCD in place and to prevent lateral movement.

It is important to remember that as you descent in the water, the water pressure will cause your wetsuit material to compress and you might find that the cumberbund might be not as tight at depth as at the surface. Do not overtighten the cumberbund fit when donning your gear. The cumberbund should fit snug around your stomach, but should not be so tight that you have trouble breathing or moving.

There are some designs that rely on buckles instead of velcro fasteners. I have both system on various BCD's that I own. I don't have a strong preference for either system, but if I had to make a choice, then I guess the buckle system feels a little more secure to me. However for the beginning diver, a velcro system works very well and it easy to use.

Releases: There are various styles of releases on BCD's. The primary purpose of the releases is to enable the diver to doff (take off) the equipment quickly and safely. Releases will be found on stomach belt, sternum belts and on the shoulder harnesses. The purpose of the various belts is to keep the BCD securely fitted to the diver. When choosing a BCD, try to select one that has a sternum belt as well (some don't).

There are differences in the way the releases operate (between the different manufacturers). Select a style that you find easy to operate. If you will be using gloves with the type of diving that you do, use the gloves in the store to see if you can operate the releases with gloves on.

Safety tip: always make sure you know where the releases are on your buddy's gear and that you know how they operate. You might have to assist your buddy in the case of an emergency and it is vital to know how to quickly locate and use the releases on his/her gear.

Equipment - BCD part II

2005-10-07T14:21:00.000-05:00

This is a continuation of the previous post on some pointers to selecting a BCD for the beginning diver.

Integrated Air: Some of the newer BCD's have an innovative feature that incorporates the alternate air source into the low pressure inflator hose system. The major advantage of this system is that you have one less hose in your regulator setup and don't need a separate alternate air source (also called an octopus). The one thing to remember about the integrated air systems is that if you have to donate an air source to a buddy, you would donate your primary regulator to the buddy and you would then breathe from the integrated air regulator. This is different from the traditional systems where you would keep the primary regulator and donate the alternate regulator (octopus) to the buddy needing air. For a beginning diver, either system has both pros and cons, but if you can afford the additional expense of an integrated system, it probably is beneficial since you have one less hose to worry about.

Pockets: Personally I like to have adequate pockets on BCD's. Sometimes I feel that I don't have enough pocket space for all the things that I like to carry (instructors are required to carry additional equipment when working with students). When selecting a BCD's look for one that has adequate pocket space and that the pockets are easy to get to and to open. Some pockets have velcro strips, others have clips or even zips. The actual choice depends on what your preference is. Personally I like the velcro systems because I find it easier to open when wearing thick gloves. However, I would recommend trying various pocket systems with gloves on (wear the gloves that you might typically wear with the diving that you do).

D-Rings: Most current BCD's come with clips and D-rings. There are various types of D-rings, but typically they are either made from a tough plastic or metal. The metal ones are preferable since they are more durable. Initially you might not need to use the D-rings, but as you accumulate more gear, you might wish you had just one more D-ring. If your BCD did not come with D-rings or you want to add some, you could always buy additional d-rings from your local dive store (LDS). Select a BCD that has at least two or three d-rings attached in easy to access locations.

Clips: If you will be using an alternate air source system (octopus) you would want to have a method to attach the alternate regulator to your BCD. The system that you choose must allow you to be able to detach and donate the alternate air source quickly, yet be secure enough so that the alternate regulator will not come loose on its own. Some other types of clips allow you to attach miscellaneous items such as your console to. If your BCD does not come with enough clips (most don't) you can always buy them from the LDS. I would recommend at least two clips. One for the alternate air source and one for the console. Buy an additional two or three as spares for your dive kit.

Tomorrow I will write more about the various releases and cumberbunds found on BCD's.

Equipment - BCD part I

2005-10-06T17:30:00.000-05:00

I am assuming that most divers who will be buying their first BCD want to get something that they can use for a number years, that they will not outgrow in terms of functionality and use, and of course reasonably priced.

We are not going to discuss the history and use of BCD's in SCUBA diving. There are many very good articles published that can be used as a good reference. However, what I would like to do is try to give the first time buyer some considerations that might be useful when you make that all important selection.

Type: BCD's come in various styles and suit various functions. For the beginning SCUBA divers a stablizer jacket is probably the best way to go. A backplate system is an alternative for the serious technical or wreck diver.

Integrated weights: Some BCD's come with integrated weight pockets that allow weight to be carried in the BCD as opposed to a weight belt. I do not have a strong feeling about either option and arguments can be made for each type of weight system. Some divers like the concept of an integrated system for convenience and simplicty. The integrated systems have the benefit that dumping weights in an emergency is very easy since the weight pockets are easy to get to. On the other hand, weight belts are sometimes covered by a cumberband or other pieces of equipment and dumping the weight belt might take a little longer than the integrated weight pockets. I am sure there are those who might disagree on this point, but that has been my observation. The downside to having the integrated weight pockets on the BCD is that sometimes the weights can move around on you causing unwanted movement in the water.

Personally, I have a slight preference for a weight belt, especially when I am wearing a lot of weight. Bottom line: try both systems and see which works better for you. With an integrated system you have more flexibility since you have the benefit of still being able to wear a weight belt if you want to in the future.

Tomorrow I will write more about integrated air systems, dump valves, pockets and a few other essential things to look for in BCD's.

Buy or Rent

2005-10-04T19:19:00.000-05:00

The age old question "should I buy equipment or rent?" comes up from time to time in classes. For the person who will be diving once a year, then I suppose renting could be a way to go. For the person who will be diving more than once a year, then without doubt, owning your own equipment is a much better way to go.

The advantages of owning your own equipment include the following:

Safety: Becoming familiar with the operation of varous pieces of equipment
Convenience: Able to dive at a moment's notice and don't have to be concerned with making a trip to the Local Diving Store (LDS) to pick rental gear
Cost effective: Owners of equipment tend dive more regularly (thus making the initial investment in training more cost effective)

So the next question that often comes up is "What should I buy first?" The new SCUBA divers are often faced with making the difficult choice of whether to buy a BCD or regulator first. Both pieces of equipment are relatively expensive and range from gear aimed at casual recreational divers to specialized gear aimed at technical divers.

There is not really a good answer to which piece of gear to buy first. One could argue in favor of either a BCD or regulator. It really is a personal choice. The key thing to bear in mind when buying gear is buying something that will enable you to dive safely and that you will not outgrow within the next 3 to 5 years.

A work colleague is a brand junkie. He ONLY uses Scubapro equipment. Fins, wetsuit, BCD, regulator etc. Not only does he insist on using only Scubapro he also insists that everything has to be color matched as well. Although I appreciate his brand loyality, I think one should be selective about the gear you buy based on the kind of diving that you will be doing.

I know of an instructor who shall remain nameless who went online and bought the cheapest possible BCD that he could find. His reasoning was that it would get ruined in the pool anyway so why use a decent BCD in the pool? He has used the cheap BCD on all kinds of training, wreck diving and so on. I noticed that he in fact does own a very nice OMS setup, but he never uses it. I guess he is keeping the OMS BCD for a "special dive". As far as I know, his OMS BCD has never been in the pool. Now that I think about it, it is probably huge overkill using an OMS BCD in the pool.

This is a topic that I will be writing about for the next few days since there is much to talk about.

Just a thought

2005-10-03T17:42:00.000-05:00

Getting to teach beginning SCUBA classes is something that I look forward to. The Local Dive Store (LDS) that I work for is fairly large and we have many part-timers like me who teach on a fairly consistent basis.

However, I do have one pet peeve. The senior instructor (full-timer) who schedules the instructors for the classes seems to have scheduling and time management issues. The problem apparently is that his “system” of scheduling is (to put it kindly) by the seat of the pants.

More often than not, it takes at least three phone calls and a few personal reminders to get the schedule for the next three to six months. Sometimes I feel guilty about asking so many times, but it seems to be the only way to get the senior instructor (SI) going on setting up the schedule.

Perhaps it is that SI is getting along in years and forgets that he needs to get the schedule done. Alternatively, it could be that he is genuinely disorganized and has a difficult time on getting administrative tasks done (judging from his desk, I think that this might be true). I don’t really know, but I sure wish we had a better system.

Having a person that has time management issues set up a schedule seems to be a contradiction. In the case of SI, I think the old saying “a stitch in time saves nine” could be more accurately stated as “a schedule in time saves many phone calls!”

Ascent Rates

2005-09-29T17:06:00.000-05:00

Recently I wrote about a fellow instructor who is considering becoming a commercial diver. He mentioned that the ascent rate that they had to keep to during commercial diver training was 30 feet per minute or less. Some training agencies teach recreational divers to ascend at a rate no faster than 60 feet a minute.

With commercial diving, making a slow ascent after every dive is critical, since diving is one's source of income and you would not want to run the risk of decompression illness. The advantage that commercial divers have over recreational divers is that they are usually supplied with air from the surface. Slow ascents and elongated safety stop are therefore not influenced by remaining air supply as with recreational divers.

All this talk of various ascent rates might seem a little esoteric and theoretical. However, I would contend that safety should always be in the mind of the recreational diver. Even though we are not required to do safety stops for certain dives, a responsible diver will make a safety stop as a matter of habit. The same could be said for a slower ascent rate.

The real issue with ascent rates is the amount of nitrogen dissolved in the diver's blood. A slow ascent rate will give the diver's body the time necessary to "off gas". As the ambient water pressure decreases, so the excess dissolved nitrogen will be breathed out by the diver. The advantage of a slow ascent rate (and a safety stop) is that you are giving your body enough time to get rid of the excess nitrogen safely.

Divers have come up with all kinds of techniques to ensure a proper ascent rate. For example one technique that I read about is breaking the dive up into 10 foot segments. If your ascent rate is 30 feet per minute, then you should take at least 20 seconds to ascend 10 feet. If you exceed your set rate, stop at the 10 foot mark and wait until the time "catches up" to you. Another technique is obvious - counting slowly in your mind as you watch the depth gauge. Each foot increment should take 2 seconds (one thousand and one, one thousand and two). With practice one should be able to keep to a fairly consistent and safe ascent rate.

However, most divers, myself included, use their dive computers as a rate guide. My dive computer starts beeping loudly if I ascend too fast and I find this a useful feature when working with students, since I cannot watch the student and my computer at the same time. Additionally most computers will also give you a visual warning if the ascent rate is fast.

Ascents do not have to be boring. Since I am one of those people who really enjoy being in the water, I love every part of the dive. The ascents give me the time to practice buoyancy skills by releasing just the right amount of air from the BCD to slow down the ascent rate. The ascent also gives me time to do a little more sightseeing and take stock of what I saw on the dive.

A slow ascent is vital to safe diving and should not be rushed (unless you are running out of air or have some kind of medical emergency). Learn to enjoy every part of the dive and you will never find slow ascents and safety stops boring.

Thanks to those who led the way

2005-09-27T22:18:00.000-05:00

One of the instructors that I regularly work with, has decided to add new skills to his resume’ and recently completed a commercial diving course. It was interesting to listen his perspectives on the training and different insights that he gleaned from his course.

The course that he took was very demanding with long days of classroom, pool and open water training. The equipment that commercial divers use is quite a bit different to what we use in recreational diving.

Some of the greatest differences were that they were supplied with air from the surface and used helmets as opposed to masks. He explained the various techniques that they learned to clear the fogging on the inside the helmet and what they did to equalize their ears.

It was fascinating to listen to his tales of how they learned how to weld underwater, how to recover cars etc. with lift bags and how to survey underwater structures. As one would imagine, commercial divers perform their work under exacting rules and procedures. The team concept is vital to safety for commercial divers.

Recreational diving is a very different animal to commercial diving. However, both recreational and commercial diving share a common ancestry.  We owe a huge amount of gratitude to the great inventors, scientists and explorers who blazed the way – Haldane, Cousteau, Buhlman and others.  These pioneers paved the way for us to be able to conduct safe recreational and commercial dives. The decompression theories formulated by Haldane and the decompression algorithm devised by Buhlman et al, have enabled generations of divers to dive safely. The equipment originally invented and refined by Cousteau and others have enable millions of recreational divers to explore the vast and wonderful marine world all around us.

Soap Box

2005-09-24T09:06:00.000-05:00

Sadly a student on a night diving course disappeared in Hout Bay South Africa (see report on CDNN). It would seem that diver and buddy felt that the seas were too choppy and aborted the dive and made their way back to the boat. The one buddy made it back onto the boat, but the other buddy apparently drifted away from the boat. An intensive search was launched, but as of the time of writing, the diver has not been found.

Please read the rest of my comments in the light of the fact that I do not know exactly what happened on the dive, do not know the instructor or anyone related to the incident etc.

One aspect of the report on CDNN that bothered me was that there was a indication that the diver was lost in "another" PADI course. I know that there is friendly rivalry amongst instructors from the various training agencies and we like to gently rib each other about each other's agencies.

However, there is also a group of people who are malicious and do not like to see anyone or anything be successful. I call this the crab effect. The crab effect is explained by this story. There was an old man catching crabs and he put them in an open basket. A kid walked by and asked the old man if he was not afraid that the crabs might climb out of the basket and escape. The old man replied that as long as there was more than one crab in the basket, the other crabs would drag down any crab that tried to escape. I think that as humans we sometimes try to drag down anything that is more successful than we are.

It is well known that PADI trains more divers than the other agencies combined (in the USA). It is also well known that PADI does a lot of marketing and has changed the diving training to make diving more accessible to the general public. However, it would not be correct in my view to say that PADI had dumbed down diving to the point of saying that PADI divers are "unsafe at any depth".

The key difference to any course is how the instructor conducts the class. Think of how teachers are trained. School teachers receive generally the same training to be licensed yet there is a vast difference of the teachers who you remember and who made an impact to your life and the teachers who were just going through the paces. I think it is fair to say that SCUBA instructors could be seen in the same category. Some instructors are passionate, caring and very competent, and some are just going through the paces.

At the same time one could argue that it is up to every instructor to ensure that he or she conducts safe diving courses. I cannot believe that the average instructor trained by PADI would be less concerned about student safety than the average instructor trained by agency X. The training agencies can only do so much to prepare and train instructors.

Sometimes I have conducted courses and felt that I was herding cats. Even in highly structured military environments, you cannot completely control how people react. In recreational diving, we do not treat people like military recruits. We cannot completely control how people think, react and respond to conditions. You can brief people till you are blue in the face and you will find that some will do whatever they want no matter what you say. Under stress, people forget what you say, or remember only a part. Some people treat dive briefings like airline passengers listening to the preflight safety briefing.

I am aware of a volunteer firefighter who unfortunately died during a night diving class this year. It so happened that the course was a PADI course, but the person had a medical condition and his death had nothing to do with PADI. I cannot believe that PADI should be responsible for sudden unexpected health emergencies.

Before every course, students have to complete a medical questionnaire. However, I know that there are people who are macho enough to answer the questions with ignorant bravado just to get the "paper work out of the way". I am not saying that this was the case with the unfortunate firefighter at all. I am just relating my observations of students that I have worked with.

Saying that someone died or was injured on another PADI course (as opposed to another agency) is like saying that traveling by bus is safer than driving a motor car since MORE people are injured in car accidents than in bus accidents. Obviously this statement is not valid since many more people drive in motor cars. In the same way, since more people are trained by PADI than the other agencies combined, it is inevitable that on average PADI will be mentioned more than the other agencies when there is an incident.

What I am aiming for with this post is a call for objectivity. If there are concrete things PADI and the other training organizations can do to improve safety we should and must talk about those things and incorporate them into our training courses. Lets drop the rhetoric and pointless blame game and work together to make diving safer for the divers we train.

The new mask

2005-09-22T13:33:00.000-05:00

Recently I changed masks. The mask that I had was getting really old and the silicon had started to discolor from being in pool chlorine too long. Buying a new mask is one of the parts of buying new equipment I do not enjoy. Normally, I get excited about a new piece of equipment and usually cannot wait to try it out.

Masks and buying masks have been challenging. It would seem that I have a face that is not a standard shape. As many people know who have purchased masks at their local diving store (LDS), there is a fairly standard way of fitting masks for seal and comfort. I will not go into the various methods here, except to say that the stores do as much as possible under the circumstances to find well fitting masks for divers.

Fundamentally, I think that there must be better way to find well fitting masks. Perhaps the manufactures can try wider skirts around the outside of the mask. Perhaps the answer lays in the design of the masks. Perhaps manufacturers should rethink how masks are designed and sold.

For example, some clothing manufacturers have started experimenting with taking full body scans of people and then custom manufacturing garments based on the specific body of the client. Would it be complete over-kill if we could come up with something similar for making masks?

Alternatively, how about if the manufacturers came up with standard sizing templates that could be fitted to one’s face that will indicate which mask would be a better fit?

Having a comfortable, well fitting mask makes a huge difference to one’s dive. There are few things that annoy me as much as a leaking mask.

Twenty Questions

2005-09-20T20:26:00.000-05:00

While this blog is meant to be a forum where I ramble on about whatever happens to pop into my mind concerning my SCUBA obsession, I thought it would be interesting to find out if there are regular readers who would like me to cover any specific subjects.

To that end I created a special email account where you could send in your suggestions for topics or general questions about SCUBA diving. I will do my best to answer any SCUBA related questions.

So send in your questions and suggestions to bwraf.comment at gmail.com

The adventure continues

2005-09-19T21:07:00.000-05:00

Occasionally I run into students who were in one of my classroom and pool sessions. This weekend, two students who were in the first class that I taught were diving in the same area that I was. It was fun to catch up on their various diving adventures.

In the classes that I teach, I try to convey my passion for diving to the students. When we teach students we never really know how much diving the future divers will be doing. People get into SCUBA diving for various reasons. Adventure, travel, making new friends and so on are just a few of the reasons that people start SCUBA diving.

A fair number of my students are middle-aged people who are trying new adventures. Some of these folks have a list of things to accomplish – for example, sky diving, bungee jumping, SCUBA etc. I guess of these, SCUBA has the most rigorous training before one can participate. SCUBA is also the one sport that you can do in many exotic locations around the world.

Some divers become very passionate about diving and they arrange their vacation times around diving. The couple I mentioned earlier have spent every vacation diving all over the Caribbean. Sometimes I speak to divers who have been on three or four diving trips on one year!

Although this post might sound a little like an advertisement for diving, it really is not. Personally, it is wonderful to see how my students have progressed. I felt like a proud father watching my ex-students conduct their dives safely and skillfully. At least I had a small effect on their lives and hope that they will have many, many safe and adventurous dives ahead of them.

Reality check

2005-09-17T18:28:00.000-05:00

My dives today did not turn out be so much fun after all. The problem was that I was using all kinds of new equipment and it took the entire first dive to get the problems taken care of. In a way I am glad that I had a difficult time. It made me realize how the new students must feel on their first dive. It is not that I forgot how my first dive went. For me, my very first open water dive went well with no real problems. However, today I experienced a number of problems that I have noticed that some of my students have.

This situation had me thinking of a documentary program that I saw about how some new doctors are trained. Somewhere in their process of becoming doctors, the students were "admitted" as patients and had all kinds of procedures performed on them. Not only that, they were subjected to many of the mundane hospital routine type things, like being waken at 4 am for a sponge bath and to have the sheets changed. The purpose of this immersion into the world of patients was to help the fledgling doctors understand what it feels like to be a patient - and obviously to try to get them to treat their patients with respect and understanding. I do not know how widespread this type of immersive training is in medical school, but it seems like a novel idea that might have a good effect.

New divers, have a lot of task loading going on. New equipment, unfamiliar surroundings and trying to remember everything that was learned in class and pool. Sometimes it is good for an instructor to have a bit of reality check to be able to better identify the stresses that new students experience.

My turn to have fun

2005-09-16T00:28:00.000-05:00

For a change I will be diving just for my own pleasure this weekend. On a whim, I decided to take a SCUBA class that I have been meaning to take for a while and we will be diving this weekend as part of the class requirements. It might seem strange to some that taking a class could be fun diving.

When I am teaching a class I can never really relax and enjoy the dive. Like many of my friends, I really enjoy being in the water. However in a class situation where I am responsible for students, my focus is on the students and their safety.

J. one of my first instructors is teaching the class. He is an awesome instructor and I am still learning from him. For example, I was very impressed with the way he conducts the class and even how he handles the mundane stuff like doing the paper work (liability releases, medical statements etc.). In future classes that I teach, I am going to copy his method of handling the paper work.

Carrying on the theme that I recently wrote about that an instructor should always strive to be a good role model; it is good to sit in on a class once in a while to keep your skills current and to learn from other instructors. Every time I work with another instructor or sit in on a class, I try to learn at least one or two things from him or her.

For example last year, I worked with an instructor who gave an awesome briefing on how to use a compass for navigation. With his permission, I shamelessly copied his method of teaching the compass to rave reviews. Thanks J.

Being a role model

2005-09-15T06:59:00.000-05:00

In my view, it is important to cultivate good habits in divers early on. Instructors use various techniques such as multiple repetitions of key concepts so that we cement certain behaviors and concepts in the students’ minds.

Part of being a good instructor is being a good role model. Often more is caught than taught in instructing students. Students carefully observe the instructor and will subconsciously adopt certain behaviors and habits from their entry level instructors. I remember thinking about how gracefully my entry level instructor moved through the water and it was my goal early on in my SCUBA diving to move as gracefully as he did. I can clearly remember how he instructed my class on how to set up the SCUBA gear. I still use the same method and teach it to my students.

Even though the most important rule in SCUBA is never hold your breath, for instructors, the most important rules could be to always be a good role model and help instill good habits in your students.

Most important rule - part II

2005-09-13T17:59:00.000-05:00

The most important rule in SCUBA is never hold your breath.

In the classroom and pool sessions that I teach, I always tell the students that by the end of time we have together they will have heard me talk about the most important rule in SCUBA more than twenty times. I do this so that they will focus on what the words mean. By the end of the second pool session they recite the answer to the question loud and proud.

During the past weekend, I had to work with students who were trained by other instructors. When I asked what the most important rule in SCUBA is, some answered that "you should always breathe".

The problem was that at the time we were talking about regulator recoveries. Of course I made light of that answer since it is very inadvisable to breathe underwater while the regulator is out of your mouth (just so you know, I meant this as humor).

Some people might feel that there is a distinction without a difference between “never hold your breath” and “always breathe”. In other words, some people think that the two terms mean the same thing. I do not agree.

Always breathe implies that you will always have a source of air available. However never hold your breath indicates to the students that they should always keep their airway open. The concern is that a diver could suffer lung overexpansion injuries when holding their breath upon ascent.

Can you see me?

2005-09-11T18:38:00.000-05:00

An article on CDNN sadly reported that a diver was accidentally killed in Hollywood Florida by a hit and run boat accident. Police thought that it was possible that the people in the boat did not realize that they had hit a diver. The divers did have a dive flag (diver down flag) with them.

This past weekend, Navigating Phenom, I and another instructor were doing open water certifications in a local body of water that allows all manner of small boat traffic.

We witnessed a Jet Ski pass right over a group of recreational divers (we knew this from watching where the air bubbles were coming up). Fortunately nobody was injured in this incident. However, the divers did NOT have a dive flag with them as required by local regulations. Clearly the divers were not taking their own safety seriously.

These two events had me thinking about boat traffic and diver safety.

My initial reaction is that divers must be proactive about their safety. I do not know what happened in the tragic event with the diver in Florida and do not even want to start to speculate about the cause. However, in the case of the divers that I witnessed, it was clear that the divers did not take boat traffic into account when they started their dive (not to mention local regulations).

My second reaction is a question as to whether boaters are sufficiently made aware of what dive flags mean. Locally boat traffic is required to stay at least 150 feet (50 m) from dive flags. I am not familiar with what licensing is required to be able to operate a boat or a Jet Ski. From what I have heard it would seem that just about anyone can hop onto a Jet Ski and tear up the water.

Jet Skis are fun and I have absolutely no issue with people enjoying their boats and Jet Skis. My concern is that boaters and Jet Ski operators are not aware of what our dive flags mean, or give sufficient clearance to the area where a dive flag is.

Locally we are required to have a dive flag for every four divers. The dive flags that we use here in the USA are red with a diagonal white stripe (some other countries the dive flags are a different color and design).

Perhaps it is time for a dive flag education campaign by dive training organizations, SCUBA equipment manufacturers and other interested parties aimed at small recreational craft operators.

Please follow your local regulations concerning dive flag usage. Even if you do not have local regulations that require dive flag usage, take a proactive approach and use a dive flag or other signaling device that will make boat traffic aware of your position. For example if you will be surfacing or diving shallower than say 15 feet (5 m) in an area that is prone to boat traffic, take extra precautions.

Do not take any unnecessary risks or assume that boaters will see your dive flag and avoid the area that you are in. The question is not whether you can see the boat traffic, but whether the boat traffic can see you and know that you are in the water. Take your own safety very seriously.

An example of local dive flag regulations:

Scuba divers must display a warning flag when
diving.
The diver’s flag must measure at least 15 inches horizontally and 12 inches vertically. Both sides must have a red-colored background bisected diagonally by a three-inch wide white
stripe. There is also a blue and white diver’s flag authorized under the federal rules of the
road.
No more than four divers shall dive under one flag.
Divers must remain within 50 feet (measured horizontally) of the warning flag.
If a group of divers is using a contained area, the perimeter of the area must be marked. The area must be outside the normal area of navigation. These markings must consist of the official diver’s flag and must be placed around the perimeter of the diving area at intervals of not more than 150 feet.
Do not place a diver’s flag where it will obstruct navigation.
The diver’s flag may be displayed on a watercraft or float or be anchored to the bottom. The top of the flag must be at least 30 inches above the surface, however.
Boats not involved with the diving operation must remain 150 feet away from a flag. Persons who dive at any time from sunset to sunrise must carry a diver’s light visible when above the water for a distance of 150 feet.

Heavy breather?

2005-09-08T18:23:00.000-05:00

Most dive training organizations have some kind of swimming and water treading requirement for certification. Often students will ask why it is that they need to be able to swim 200 meters to be certified to do SCUBA diving. The reasoning goes that since we will be submerged while SCUBA diving what is the point of doing a 200 meter surface swim?

As some of the veteran divers will remember, the entry requirements and training for SCUBA were much more stringent in the “early days”. Recreational SCUBA diving training was largely based on Navy training methods. Navy diver candidates should be able to swim, tread water and do many other very challenging things to be Diver qualified.

Anyone who has seen TV programs on how Navy Divers are selected and trained will probably remember seeing student divers doing many physically demanding and challenging drills and exercises that might not seem to be directly related to SCUBA diving. The physical training is partly due to the candidates are being physically conditioned and partly due a weeding out process.

Recreational diving has changed substantially since the “early days”. Diving is becoming more and more popular as people are spending more on leisure and adventure travel. The training regime and entry requirement for CERTIFICATION has changed with the times. The certification requirements now more closely mirror what a recreational diver needs as opposed to what a combat or salvage diver needs.

Often students will think that the swimming requirement and water treading is a hold-over from the military heritage of SCUBA diving. Personally I do not think that this is an accurate view.

Most divers will compare air consumption after a dive and sometimes students will ask why their air consumption is so high compared to their buddy’s. The answer is of course that there are many factors that affect air consumption, but one of that factors that is easy to change is the diver’s fitness level. The fitter divers tend to use less air than those who are not. Think about a fit and a non fit person walking up a set of stairs. The out of shape person will be most likely breathing heavier than the fit person. The website divefitness contains many great articles and tips on how to improve your air usage and fitness for diving.

SCUBA diving is inherently a physically challenging activity. The tanks, weight belts and other equipment are heavy and just getting to the water and setting up your gear can be a mini workout all by itself.

The swimming requirement is not a weeding out process, but is a measure to determine whether the student is up to the physical challenges of recreational diving. Some people are better swimmers than other, but generally there is a good correlation between the people who are comfortable in the water (swimming, snorkeling, water treading etc.) and being comfortable underwater.

Your fitness level directly impacts your potential enjoyment of SCUBA diving. The fitter you are the easier and more enjoyable the dive.

By their signs shall you know them

2005-09-06T17:58:00.000-05:00

I have been noticing a trend on some of the vehicles of divers and instructors. A number of divers have a dive flag sticker somewhere on the rear of the vehicle. A few have a license back plate that has some kind of dive flag design. A few probably have personalized license plates that advertise their love for SCUBA. I don’t remember seeing any creative and fun personalized license plates recently that refer to SCUBA but I am sure there must be a few around. For example SCUBA1, SCUBADVR etc.

Then there are some folks who tend to be over-achievers in life. These folks have just about every SCUBA sticker known to man on their vehicles. Not only do they advertise their love for SCUBA, but will tell of their preference of equipment manufacturer, and for good measure the fact that they are an instructor.

As I derive a modest source of revenue from my SCUBA obsession, I am all for making diving as popular as possible. So I say, advertise away, just remember not to drive as if you were suffering from nitrogen narcosis!

How deep is deep enough?

2005-09-03T21:23:00.000-05:00

“What is the deepest that you have dived to?” This question comes up from time to time in my classes. Of course, I give a carefully qualified and truthful answer. The point really is, how deep is deep enough.

Open water divers should not be diving to deeper than 60 feet (20 meters) unless they are diving with a professional. With additional training (for example advanced open water) the diver could venture to 100 feet (30 meters). The absolute depth limit for recreational diving specified by most training organizations is 130 feet (40 meters).

Someone once said that there is nothing in the water that is worth to die for. His point is very well taken. So many times, we hear of divers who are injured or worse, due to deep dives that lead to complications. Often there is an equipment malfunction or a diver error that leads to tragedy.

On the other hand, there are divers who are very experienced, trained and equipped who venture to depths well below the recreational limit of 130 feet (40 meters). These divers are in a very different category than the divers that I train and the type of diving that I do. For the purposes of this post, let’s exclude these divers from my comments below.

The depth of a specific dive should be carefully considered based on the individual’s health, experience, training and of course the prevailing conditions. Some of the factors that should be taken into account are:

How well can you see at depth? (colors appear different at depth)

What will your bottom time be to explore? (the deeper you are the shorter the bottom time)

What are the conditions like? (current, marine animals, possible entanglements)

An article on DAN’s website cautions related to deciding on how deep to dive, “As with many things in life, one must balance the risks against the benefits and make a decision. However, it is essential to have a real understanding and appreciation of the risks.”

The DAN article goes on to caution:

It becomes obvious that there is no safe depth limit that applies to all divers all of the time. A diver’s ability to cope with depth depends on a number of highly variable factors. The depth of the onset of the effects of the exotic cocktail of elevated pressures of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen, coupled with the sensory deprivation and stress associated with diving, are not always predictable. A dive to 80 feet in cold, dirty water can be far more hazardous than a dive to twice the depth in warm, clear waters. Factors such as visibility, water temperature and diver experience and preparedness greatly affect a diver’s comfort and safety, rather than depth alone.

There is no single answer to the question of how deep is deep enough. However, in recreational diving, one should always dive to well within your training and ability while taking the prevailing conditions into account.

A great gift idea

2005-09-01T17:58:00.000-05:00

In every open water class that I teach there will be at least one couple who are about to get married and are planning to go diving on their honeymoon. The idea of Scuba diving on your honeymoon is wonderful.

Sometimes we get students who received the training as a gift from their parents or other loved ones. Once we even had students who received the training as part of their company’s program on promoting fitness and education.

If you are hard pressed for a gift to give to someone special in your life, perhaps giving him or her a gift that will lead to a lifetime enjoyment from the wonders of Scuba diving will be best thing you can do. This is truly one of those gifts that keep on giving.

Did you just spit into your mask?

2005-08-31T18:03:00.000-05:00

Anyone familiar with masks will know that the first thing you do after buying a mask is to rub non-gel toothpaste on the inside and outside of the lenses. The reason is that the manufacturers apply a coating to the lenses to protect them and make them look clean and bright. Somehow, the toothpaste treatment does not always do a good job of getting the protective coatings off.

Before every dive, one should treat your mask in some way to prevent fogging. Commercial defog products like 500 PSI are probably the most popular with divers. The defog products work well and are easy to use and apply. Some divers use baby shampoo as a defog agent. The baby shampoo seems to work just as well. Yet another group of divers use plain old saliva. Some of the veteran divers say that nothing works as well as saliva.

Recently I read an interesting article about a nanotech coating that will permanently prevent fogging on glass surfaces. A scientist at M.I.T. who helped develop the coating, said in the article that the coating will be inexpensive and will never have to be reapplied.

If this technology ever becomes commercially available, you might never see people spitting into their masks again.

Do we really need fin pivots?

2005-08-28T21:15:00.000-05:00

The open water adventure went fairly well this weekend. Navigating Phenom (NP) and I had two groups of divers to take through their certification dives. The weather was great, but the visibility was poor. The two groups of divers performed their skills and most did quite fine.

There were the inevitable equipment challenges to deal with. Wetsuits that did not fit, lost masks, underweighted, overweight, regulator free flows and so on. NP and I managed to work through the problems and get everyone squared away. We had to make many trips back to the van to get larger BCD’s, smaller weight belt, more weights and all kinds of odds and ends. Some of the students would wait until just before we were about to enter the water before telling us of some equipment issue. Of course we had to then take off the BCD, weight belt etc, make our way back to the van, retrieve the equipment and help the student.

The worst of the equipment issues were related to adequate weighting. When we give out the weight belts initially, we make an educated guess as to how much weight each person would need. The weighting depends on the build of the person, the thickness of the wetsuit and whether they are wearing hood and gloves. Mostly, we were fairly close with the weight guesses. The problem turned out to be that some students did not know or understand how to do a good buoyancy check. For example, some people told us that they sank too fast, so we removed a little weight. However once we started the first dive, they could not descend and we had to add more weight. I think that some instructors rush through the buoyancy check in the pool and it shows when we get to work with the students in the open water environment.

When it came time to perform the fin pivots, this instructor was not a happy man. Somehow a few of the students thought that a good way to start the fin pivot was to do a good push up off the bottom. The reason was that they forgot to become neutrally buoyant by adding air to their BCD’s. One student refused to lay face down on the platform to start the pivot. The student wanted to do the pivot in mid water. I had a difficult time getting him to start the pivot from the platform floor.

When we had our post-dive briefing, I told the students that the pivots were terrible and we would have to do them correctly the next day or else. Before the next set of dives, I explained in detail what my expectation was of what a correct fin pivot should look like. Fortunately, there was a dramatic improvement in the quality of the fin pivots and everyone did a much better job on the second day.

From my perspective, I do not fully understand why fin pivots are part of the certification process. I think that we can teach and test buoyancy control in many different ways. The teaching process should represent what an open water diver might encounter. That is why we teach mask flood and clears, regulator recovery and so on.

I have never, or seen anyone use a fin pivot in recreational diving. For example, NP is a good videographer and has awesome buoyancy control due to his long periods of pointing his camera at small marine animals. He might come close to doing a fin pivot while photographing, but mostly he keeps off the bottom. In fact, we stress to student divers that they should always keep off the bottom so as not to damage aquatic life. So again, I do not see the place for a fin pivot.

To teach buoyancy control we could concentrate more on hovering skills and some other exercises that more closely mimic what a diver could encounter in the open water environment.

Navigating Phenom's adventure

2005-08-26T19:27:00.000-05:00

My diving buddy who I wrote about a few days ago will be referred to as the Navigating Phenom (NP) just to make things easier. A while ago NP and I were talking about his first open water experience. He had the great fortune to be able to do his certification dives on a very scenic island that has abundant marine life. On the first dive, which is really just a tour, he and the instructor were swimming along admiring the bountiful life around them. Suddenly, the instructor became very excited, pointed very excitedly, and started swimming away from NP. At this point NP was very confused, but followed along and suddenly right there in front of them appeared a huge humpback whale.

NP said he was impressed but did not understand at the time why the instructor was so excited. He told me later that he thought that he would be seeing whales on most dives. Of course, he later realized that he was very fortunate to see a whale at all, not to mention that it was his first open water dive! Talk about beginners luck.

Tomorrow, NP and I will be taking two groups of students through their certification dives for open water certification. The weather should be great and perhaps the visibility too. Unfortunately, we are doing our certification dives in a fresh water environment, so the chances of seeing a humpback whale or any significant marine life are out of the question. Perhaps I should take a toy whale along and produce it when NP least expects it!

Taking the first breath

2005-08-25T18:53:00.000-05:00

Recently I was thinking of the very first time I was able to experience the joy and thrills of SCUBA. In a way, being able to breathe underwater was almost anti-climactic. I am not sure what I expected, but breathing turned out to be natural and normal, yet very memorable.

One thing I remember from my first pool session was having a dry mouth at the end. Recently a student asked me about why her mouth was so dry after the pool session. The reason I gave was that the air is filtered and moisture reduced before being added to the tanks. So the next question was “what can we do to prevent this?” Unfortunately, I did not have a good answer. I know there are products available on the market to alleviate the dry mouth sensation, but I personally do not know anyone who uses any of these products.

In my case, I do not even notice the dry mouth sensation anymore. I am not sure why that is. Before I dive, I make sure that I am adequately hydrated. By that, I mean I do not drink a huge amount of water, but make sure that have at least the equivalent of two or so glasses of water before the dive. I am sure this is different for everybody, but that seems to work for me. Another personal rule that I have is that I will not have any coffee or carbonated soft drink before a dive. The reason is that I find that coffee, Coke or Pepsi act as a diuretic to me.

One of the instructors that I sometimes teach with has a phrase that he likes to use. He says that there are only two kinds of divers - those who pee in their wetsuits and those who lie about it. However, I do not subscribe that school of thought. I think that if you manage your fluid intake you should be able to manage the bladder situation. I know that everyone is different, so I guess if you have to go, then you have to go. Personally, I find the thought of diving in a “suit of pee” not attractive at all.

Experienced divers probably do not think too much about the act of breathing from the regulator. However, the memory of my first nervous and excited breaths from the regulator will always be with me.

Update: 09/07/05: Article by a doc on the effects of pressure on bloodflow and the bladder.

Technology and diving

2005-08-24T06:42:00.000-05:00

Getting lost underwater can be a very scary experience. Some people, like my diving buddy is just a natural at navigation. I always tease him about his heritage because I tell him that being able to navigate is just in his blood. He has an uncanny ability to find his way back to the dive boat every time.

On the other hand, I do not have the navigation gene. For me, it takes a lot of effort and concentration to find my way around. Fortunately, I am quite observant so I often dive using natural navigation (for example, by following natural markers, or using the sun when possible). In lakes, sometimes I would follow a weed line or a contour.

Using a compass did not come easily for me. I had to really work on my compass navigation skill. As the old say goes – practice makes perfect. The more you use the compass, the better you get at it. On dives I sometimes force myself to follow a compass heading, even if I know the area perfectly well and don’t need the compass. It is important to keep compass skills fresh.

Recently, I was talking to fellow instructor about using GPS to mark some of our regular diving spots. As most people know, GPS does not currently have a strong enough signal to penetrate into water (beyond say a few inches). So what my fellow instructor was going to do was attach a GPS unit to the dive flag and circle around the spots of interest. Later the instructor would be able to get a fairly good GPS location by using the circles on the GPS screen.

There is no doubt that technology is making diving safer and more enjoyable. I guess the day will come when divers will have some kind of unit that will work like GPS systems in cars. However as in most things, it pays to be able to navigate using the compass and natural navigation. The same can be said for tables and dive computers. A good diver will always be able to plan a dive without a computer. The computer should be used as an extra safety factor, but a responsible diver, should be able to plan the dive by using tables. It is vital to understand the relationship between depth, time and nitrogen loading.

By far, the best piece of technology that a diver has is his or her brain.

Night Dive - fear or fascination

2005-08-21T23:02:00.000-05:00

Diving at night seems to be one of those things that people either love or hate. I know of divers who absolutely love diving at night and I know of other divers who would have a serious panic attack if they had to go into the water after dark.

A good way to get students accustomed to being in the water at night is to schedule the night dive for when there is a full moon and to start the dive at dusk. The students enter the water and can see fairly well with the available light. Once submerged, the divers become comfortable with the familiar feelings of being underwater. Eventually it becomes dark and most students do not even realize the gradual change from dusk to darkness. Often students are surprised by how well they can see underwater after dark.

A comprehensive dive briefing and orientation helps to calm the more nervous students. Post dive debriefs also helps students process the night dive and enables you to clear up any uncertainties.

Cold water

2005-08-18T23:11:00.000-05:00

I heard an interesting interview on a local radio station. The host of the radio show interviewed one of the survivors of a plane crash in the Bering Sea in 1993. The story has many interesting facets to it. Below is a direct quote from the website http://www.therescuestory.com/ Additionally this newspaper article gives a very good account of the rescue.

"In August 1993 on an ordinary day, a small plane ran out of fuel 45 minutes into a 75 minute flight and had to make a crash landing. The fact that everyone on board survived may seem like a small miracle or maybe no miracle at all, just pilot skill. But consider this: the plane ditched in the Bering Sea, off of Alaska, 2 1/2 miles from the nearest land and 22 miles from their destination. The plane did not carry a life raft or life vests; the water temperature was in the 30's."

The survivors managed to survive in near arctic waters for almost 70 minutes. Typically the expected survival time in such frigid water (-1 degree Celsius) is probably around 10 to 15 minutes

Having experienced very cold water myself, I can only imagine the agony these people must have endured. At least I had thermal underwear, full drysuit, hood and gloves on when I did my cold water diving. The water, in my case was bracing, yet bearable (except for the brief "ice cream headache"). However, without exposure protection, enduring ice cold water can be very painful and possibly fatal. As many people know, water conducts heat away from the body four times faster than air does, since water is a much better conductor than air is.

Hypothermia is an insidious enemy. Hypothermia occurs when the core body temperature is less than 35 degrees Celsius. Loss of consciousness or decreased consciousness occurs when the core body temperature drops to 30 to 32 degrees Celsius. Heart failure is the usual cause of death when the core body temperature drops below 30 degrees Celsius. The key to survival is therefore to try to preserve body heat. See this webpage for more information on how to improve your chances of surviving hypothermia in water.

What a freeloader.

2005-08-17T06:57:00.000-05:00

The last few posts have been a little on the serious and technical side, so I thought a change a pace might be a good idea.

Last year I met a very friendly and happy fellow diver who has one of the keenest senses of humor that I have encountered. However, he is a confirmed bachelor and is perhaps on the side of the fence that feels that marriage and relationships are much better left well alone (something about a messy divorce and being taken for a ride etc).

One day there were three of us diving together in a group and toward the end of the dive, our friend decided that he needed to get back to the boat. So we directed toward where the boat was and continued on with dive. In case you were wondering, the boat was close and our friend is a very experienced diver.

After the dive we changed out of gear and proceeded up to the deck to see why our friend had to abort the dive so early. It turned out that he needed to get back to the boat because of some biological issue (don't ask).

But this was not the real cause for great laughter and much teasing that day. It turned out that as soon as our friend left us, a Remora (slender sucker fish), wanted to attach itself to our friend's leg. The problem was that nothing he did, could persuade the troublesome freeloader from leaving our friend alone. He tried to frighten it away with a blast of air from his regulator, tried to swat at it and even tried to stab it with his diving knife. According to our friend, the fish was entirely convinced that its life depended on attaching itself to his leg. Apparently the Remora followed him all the way up to the boat and I am sure if it could it would have followed him onto the boat too.

Of course this juicy piece of information became widely known on the boat and thereafter the Remoras were known as his girlfriends. So it seems that even the female fish of this world wanted to take our friend for a ride!

For more information on the Remora see http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/enaucrates.htm

http://www.gma.org/fogm/Remora_remora.htm

Deep safety stops

2005-08-16T01:15:00.000-05:00

Last year while diving with some divers from all over the country, we discussed various safety stop strategies. Of course we were very strict in keeping to our three minute safety stops at 15 feet.

Personally, I do not view the safety stop as a waste of time. It is a time of reflection on the dive, and also a time when I can practice buoyancy control and various other skills. I need to keep sharp on my skills and use this time as extra practice time (for example mask clears etc).

One technique we discussed and which I have became very interested in, is making additional deep safety stops. There are a number of ways to do the deep safety stops. One method is to make one minute safety stops at 50% of the depth, then 25% and finally three minutes at 15 feet. For example if your dive to 100 feet, then you will do a safety stop at 50 feet, 25 feet, and the usual 15 feet. Some people even will do a further short safety stop at 7.5 feet.

Another method would be to make a deep safety stop at 50% depth for 1 minute and then a 2 minute stop at 15 feet. However, I think that a 2 minute safety stop at 15 feet is too short, but there is a research project underway to test this theory (see website mentioned below).

There is an interesting article about deep safety stops at the DAN website The authors delve into a fair amount of history and theory but it is worth reading.

Interestingly, the 60 feet per minute ascent rate seems to be on the high side. It would seem that the more prudent ascent rate would be less than 30 feet a minute. From the DAN article, it seems that 60 feet a minute was decided without too much scientific evidence and research.

In case anyone might misunderstand - please ascend NO FASTER than 60 feet per minute (the slower the better) and ALWAYS make a 3 minute safety stop at 15 feet (air supply permitted of course).

What is the most important rule in SCUBA?

2005-08-15T17:54:00.000-05:00

What is the most important rule in SCUBA? The answer to this question is drilled into our students, "Never hold your breath". However, I would like to add a second and third rule. The second rule is dive within your limits and the third rule (perhaps a little facetiously) is always read the fine print.

Recently an article appeared on Divernet.com that a British diver is faced with a huge bill of £40,000 for medical treatment due to decompression illness (see http://www.divernet.com/news/stories/130805bill.shtml). It appears that he violated the conditions of the insurance by diving deeper than the30m (90feet) limit of the policy. According to the article, his maximum depth was 49.5m (approximately 150feet).

Please don't misunderstand my comments below as directed toward the unfortunate gentleman mentioned in the article. I merely want to draw some general conclusions from the article and in no way am I saying anything about the diver, his skill or the treatment he received.

There are two immediate conclusions to draw from the article. The first is that one should know what the conditions of the insurance policy are before diving. Some insurance policies are very strict about depth limits etc. When it comes to diver insurance, cheaper is not the way to go.

The second is a general observation about safe diving practices. Recreational divers are certified to dive to a depth of 40m (130 feet). However, most training organizations recommend that dives are limited to 100 feet or shallower. The problem with deep diving and physiology is that each person is affected differently. Two divers of similar age and experience can do exactly identical dives and one could be affected by decompression illness and the other one not.

There are many factors that affect and influence one's risk factors. In this specific case dehydration could have played a major role. The key point though is that one should dive well within one's training and ability. Discretion is always the better part of valor when it comes to recreational diving. The dive insurance that most divers use that I am familiar with is Divers Alert Network.

The insurance that DAN offers is sold in three tiers. At the most basic level the insurance covers dives up to 130 feet.(http://www.diversalertnetwork.com/insurance/plans.asp) The more expensive options cover dives to any depth. From anecdotal evidence it is clear that DAN is very supportive of divers. Sarah M let me know via a comment that DAN insurance is available in Europe – the head office is in Italy.

One can never be totally sure that you will not be "hit" by decompression illness. Therefore one should always dive to safe and established guidelines and remember rule number 3: always read the fine print of the insurance policies!

But aren't there sharks in the sea?

2005-08-13T11:05:00.000-05:00

One of the most frequent questions I get while teaching the entry level classes is about sharks. We do spend a little time talking about what to do if you encounter a marine animal that could pose a danger to you. The thing to remember of course is not to provoke the animal or corner it. Mostly, the larger marine animals are curious about divers and do not view divers as a source of food.

However, sharks evoke a great deal of emotion from divers. Even experienced divers become very nervous at the sight of a great white. These majestic animals can grow to huge lengths and have jaws and teeth to match their awesome reputation. Recently I read a very interesting post about three divers who encountered a huge great white off the coast of South Africa. The story is written from the perspective of the dive master. The divers survived, but I am sure they had an experience that they will never forget.

From my perspective, I have grown fairly interested in sharks in the past year or so. At first I would have nothing to do with sharks and would go to great lengths to avoid them. I guess the problem was that I was influenced (like just about everyone else) by movies like Jaws and other misinformation in the popular media.

Sharks are not the mindless killers that they are sometimes portrayed to be. Sharks like every other animal have instincts that guide them and conform to behavior that is common to their specific species. For example there are really only approximately 39 out of 368 recognized species that are known to have attacked humans, but most attacks are thought to be accidents (probably cases of mistaken identity). There are many factors that contribute to shark attacks, but if you are faced with fending off an overly curious or aggressive shark, you could take a look at the information at this site (link included for information purposes only).

The great white (carcharodon carcharias), bull shark (carcharhinus leucas) and tiger shark (galeocerdo cuvier) are thought to be the most dangerous of the shark family. Each of these sharks is called by different names in different parts of the world. Of these, the great white sharks are the most fearsome and predatory of the group.

From my personal experience, I can honestly say that my irrational fear for sharks has changed to respect and admiration for these perfect "hunting machines". Having been in the water with nurse and many reef sharks, my conclusion is that these animals are graceful, beautiful and nimble. They are something to behold in their natural environment.

I would not like to encounter a huge great white without the security of a cage, and will not participate in chumming. Chumming to my mind sets a dangerous stage where the sharks are artificially lured to where the humans are with fish blood, fish parts and so on. The problem is that eventually, the sharks are conditioned to associate humans with the regular feeding activities. This is not a natural part of the shark's life and the concern is that eventually sharks might associate humans with food. I am not a shark expert by any means, and defer to my friends who are marine biology experts, but the constant feeding and chumming cannot have a good outcome.

Times are changing

2005-08-12T06:35:00.000-05:00

In a recent training bulletin from PADI a quotation from DAN (Divers Alert Network) appeared with regard to nasal decongestant use with diving.

Nasal decongestants such as oxymetazoline (Afrin and generic) can temporarily reduce the swelling of nasal mucosa and may facilitate middle ear and sinus equalization during diving. Some degree of 'rebound' (increased mucosal swelling) can occur after the effects of the drug wear off. However, the effects of oxymetazoline usually last for up to 12 hours, thus it is unlikely that the effects will wear off during a dive unless the previous dose was administered several hours before the dive start. Some nasal decongestants (e.g. phenylephrine, Neosynephrine) have a shorter duration of action than oxymetazoline, and are associated with greater rebound. Prolonged use of any nasal decongestant can be associated with severe rebound nasal swelling; prolonged use is discouraged beyond what is necessary to provide short term relief of symptoms or to promote middle ear or sinus pressure equilibration. For oxymetazoline nasal spray, once daily use for up to 5 days is unlikely to be associated with significant rebound effect after it is stopped.

It is interesting to follow the developments with regard to nasal decongestant use and diving. There seems to be a change in the way that decongestants are viewed from a diving perspective. The use of decongestants has been a source of many debates in the diving community. The one camp (mostly dive training organizations etc.) laid down strict guidelines that decongestants should not be used before diving. The other group felt that there was a place for decongestant use, especially long acting ones.

The main issue appears to be the problem of reverse squeezes. In a reverse squeeze situation, the effect of the decongestant wears off during the dive and upon ascent, the pressure in the inner cannot equalize to the ambient pressure of the water around the diver (in the ear canal - outer ear). This is a very painful situation that can lead to serious medical problems. The real problem is that a diver could be faced with making a decision of either rupturing an ear drum or running out of air. Not a good choice.

Disclaimer: please consult your physician about taking any medication before diving - especially decongestants. The safe and prudent thing to do is of course to consult a physician. If you can find a physician who is a diver or is experienced with diving medicine all the better.

What was that gesture you made?

2005-08-10T17:33:00.000-05:00

One evening, I was eating at one of the regular dining establishments that I frequent. I was reading the latest edition of the Undersea Journal and eating a hearty meal, totally engrossed in my own little world. Just as took a mouthful of food, I heard a voice asking if everything ok (with my meal), but I didn't really think about it too much and just proceeded to give the server the universal "OK" hand gesture. I suppose I am such a creature of habit that a simple nod or thumbs-up didn't seem obvious at the time.

This event had me thinking about how my life has changed (in many subtle ways) since I have been diving. Often I find myself using a "thumbs-up" gesture to indicate "up" and "thumbs-down" for "down". I found myself using the "thumbs-up" gesture a few weeks ago when I was trying to explain to my non-diving friends how the price of something had just shot up recently.

None of this is really a big deal in the greater scheme of things I know. However it is interesting to me how even simple hand gestures in my regular conversations have been influenced by diving. I guess you can spot a diver anywhere by asking him or her which way up is!

Tables, tables and more tables

2005-08-10T12:19:00.000-05:00

One of the more challenging parts of teaching the entry level classes is to convey the theory and practice of the recreational dive planner (RDP). The RDP that we use consists of three tables. Each table has its own purpose and reason for being. I suppose to the students learning and applying the RDP to diving profile planning is much like going to the dentist - painful, but necessary.

For most of the classes that I teach we manage to get through the RDP without too much trouble. However, recently I had one of those classes that seem to be a little more challenging. It seemed that I had more than my fair share of RDP challenged students in one class (not that there is much mathematics involved, just logic and being careful to apply the correct method).

I decided to teach the RDP at the most elementary level that I have ever presented the material. I assumed nothing and explained every obscure and obvious element. I had one student that was absolutely brilliant. She managed to complete the quizzes and exam in a record time (scoring mostly 100% every time). The snail's pace must have been torture to her.

Eventually after much explanations, discussions and examples it was time for the quiz. I asked the students to start the quiz with a heavy heart. I was sure that my words had not had much effect and that I would have to schedule another "RDP evening". Eventually I received the quizzes back and surprisingly ALL the students scored very well on the RDP portions.

Perhaps a valuable lesson learned - never assume that the students will not eventually "get it". However, the next time I teach the RDP, I will teach the class in the same way as I did with this class. Assume nothing and explain every obscure and obvious detail. Unfortunately the quicker students will be bored silly, but knowing how to use the RDP and being comfortable with using it is vital to safe diving.

Are you ready?

2005-08-09T13:10:00.000-05:00

I was reading through a blog from a great writer in South Africa and found the following gripping post.

http://africandust.blogspot.com/2005/01/absent-from-body.html

I link directly to the post, since I cannot even begin to do justice to the way Clare wrote so eloquently. The story gripped my heart and I could feel the pangs of sorrow and pain that she wrote about.

From my perspective the story symbolized many things. The most important is that we need to be ready to transition to eternity at any moment since being absent from the body is to be in the presence of the Lord. The second is the selfless way that Dave Shaw dove 270 meters (approx. 810 feet) to recover the body of a fellow diver.

Another link to a news article that describes the rescue attempt.

To pivot or not to pivot

2005-08-08T22:11:00.000-05:00

One of my greatest challenges is trying to get students to do a fin pivot correctly. Surprisingly, doing the fin pivot is easy, but my challenge is explaining the technique to the students in a way that they can remember and apply.

For those who do not know what a fin pivot is let me explain briefly. The diver lays face down on the bottom of the pool in the deep end of the pool and by controlling their buoyancy, the diver should be able to pivot on the fins tips by moving the upper body up and down around 18 to 24 inches.

The problem seems to be that some people think that the way to start the pivot is by doing a "pushup" off the bottom. Alternatively, the students tend to over-inflate the BCD and shoot to the surface.

Occasionally students will just be terrific at the skill and that makes this instructor a very happy man.

Not all classes are created equal.

2005-08-05T01:27:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it seems to me that classes take on a personality all of their own. With some classes everything flows smoothly and we don't have even the smallest hint of a problem. However, the class I taught recently was different. I knew from the start it would be a "different" class when at least half the students were still trying to buy masks, fins and snorkels minutes before the class was scheduled to start. Unfortunately, the poor fellow working on the retail side was swamped and the class started late.

It seemed like my instructions were bouncing off the walls. I had to repeat the same instructions three or four times before it seemed that the students understood. Even with the many repetitions, some people just did not pay attention, and when we submerged to perform some skill, they just did not know what to do. These same people were bantering, playing with their gear and generally goofing off while I was trying to demonstrate the skills on the surface. As much as I tried to get their attention and reign in the craziness, it seemed that my best efforts were not having much success.

Don't misunderstand my comments though. I have a great deal of fun teaching these classes and enjoy working with the students. I am just amazed how the personality of a class can change from the one to the next.

Are you OK?

2005-08-01T17:30:00.000-05:00

A few years ago, I had a student (lets call him Ed) who was from a foreign country. It does not really matter which, but he was not very fluent in English. I mention this only because of what occurred later. At the beginning of the class, like every other class I teach, we reviewed communications procedures and of course I always mention that the "OK" sign is both a question and an answer. Up to this point in my teaching experience, I thought that this statement was fairly self evident. "I ask you if you are ok and you respond ok". Simple stuff right?

The class was progressing along at a fairly good pace, but Ed was having some difficulty understanding my instructions. Sometimes he responded to the "OK?" and sometimes not. So trying to be the good instructor I remained patient and explained the importance of communication again. Unfortunately, Ed was having all kinds of problems, and at this point I was wondering if he really should be in the pool at all. He was trouble clearing his mask and it seemed like it was a poor fit. I advised him to try to get a replacement for the next class.

Eventually we submerged and moved down to the deep end of the pool to continue with the skills at the deep end. When we eventually all arrived at the bottom, I started going around the class with the "OK?" signal. All the other students indicated that they were "OK", but I was getting no response from Ed. So I tried three or four more times to get an OK from him. Nothing doing. At this point I was getting more than a little frustrated. I was thinking - how selfish of him - holding up the class like this. He is looking straight at me and is not responding! Is it that he did not understand what I meant with the "OK?". Was it due to him being from another country or was he just not cut out to be a diver?

In frustration I swam over to him and right in front of him I again gave him "OK?" sign. Nothing again. I was getting really steamed.

Then I took a closer look at this mask. His mask was completely flooded and he just sat there, quite content with a mask full of water. Obviously he could not see my many requests for "OK"! I felt really dumb.

Fortunately, with some additional work, Ed managed to complete all the required skills and later I heard from his open water instructor that he managed quite adequately with the open water dives.