Congrats Donna
The shop issued 146 certifications in 2012 and well Donna was a busy girl with 103
Ever have an Insta Dive Buddy?
Have you ever been on a dive trip and thought no buddy no worries, I will get an insta dive buddy
Well sit back by friends and let me tell you a tale of insta dive buddy. Our brave hero Gilligan and his buddy the Skipper are taking out a couple of divers for a nice morning dive or two. The brave crew decides that Skipper will dive with one of the passengers that had the least experience and Gilligan will dive with the older more experienced diver.
So Gilligan visits with his insta dive buddy about the weather and the experience of insta dive buddy. When they get to the dive site, Skipper gives them a little briefing as they gear up. They giant stride into the water and start the dive, Gilligan has a little trouble but catches up with his insta dive buddy quickly. About this time Gilligan notices that he has 1800 psi left and signals that it is time to turn around and head back to the boat. Insta dive buddy signals ok and they start heading back, shortly after that Gilligan notices he is down to 700 psi and signals that it is time to go up. They are at 80 feet and as they ascend to 35 feet Gilligan is out of air, he drops back down to insta dive buddy and gives the out of air signal and insta dive buddy just stares at Gilligan. Again, Gilligan gives the out of air signal and again just a stare in return. So Gilligan just reaches out and grabs the regulator out of the insta dive buddy’s mouth and gets maybe one breathe before it is yanked back. Now Gilligan is out of air and starts to do his emergency swimming ascent. As he is going up his fins come off and his weight belt has slipped down around his knees, but he can’t undo the buckle as it is stuck.
Gilligan makes it to the surface and with no fins, finally gets the weight belt to drop off so he is buoyant. After gasping to fill his lungs he finally manages to inflate his BCD so he can float. Skipper throws the life ring, but it only has a 20 foot rope and Gilligan is 30 feet from it, as he tries to swim to the ring and is only a few feet from it insta dive buddy finally arrives to help.
What went so wrong and so fast? First, Gilligan didn’t talk to his insta dive buddy about emergences. They didn’t to a pre dive buddy check. Also, Gilligan hadn’t checked his own gear. If he had he might have noticed that he had a hose that was loose and leaking air from his first stage regulator.
When Gilligan finally got home to MaryAnn and after she stopping laughing at him, Mary Ann suggested that Gilligan go see the Professor and take his Scuba Tune Up class.
The Skipper’s tale is just as bad, but that is for another blog
Translating water temp
Student: If the water temp of the pool is 81 degrees why do I need a wetsuit?
Instructor: Well, if you remember from your reading and class that water takes heat from the body 20 to 25 times faster than air.
Student: Do I need to use the wetsuit?
Instructor: It is your choice, everyone is different; but why don’t I bring it to the pool just in case.
As instructors and dive shop people, we get asked all the time about what type of wetsuit for different wonderful islands that people are traveling to and fortunately we have been in a lot of different water temp and can usually help out in trying to get a suit that will work for most people. Everyone is different, on one trip to Hawaii I was diving in my 3 mil with a hooded vest and still felt a little chill. Some friends where in their 7 mil suits with hood and vest and Donna was in her 5 mil and hood and vest, then there were the young guys from San Diego that were diving in skins or just their board shorts.
Let’s take a look at water temp as it relates to air temp. As we know water will take the heat from your body 20 to 25 times faster than air.
80 degree water = 68 degree air
75 degree water = 50 degree air
70 degree water = 32 degree air
On a nice late spring day with the air temp at 80 degrees we are all probably running around in shorts and light shirts and enjoying the sun. 80 degrees is a nice day to hang out at the pool or beach. But 68? I might be playing golf in shorts, but I will have a light weight pullover to keep me warm. 75 degree days? No worry, it is nice and beautiful, but 50 degrees is chilly and I am wearing a coat.
Instructor to Student: You cold?
Student: (shivering) not to bad
Instructor: You are turning blue, please go put the wetsuit on
Student: Ok, I am a little cold
Instructor: (smiling)
As always happy bubbles and feel free to leave a comment
A ZOO? In Grand Junction?
Aw, a nice sunny sunday strolling through the zoo with our kids and grand kids. Do you remember that? Do you remember the first time you saw a strange creature diving?
As divers we have the opportunity to impact our world through such positive and wonderful organizations such as Project Aware and many others. Either through volunteering or the donation of your financial assets, we have opportunities to impact the world and others. We can make a difference.
I want to share with you and maybe introduce to you an organization right here in our backyard, The Grand Valley Zoological Quest. What you say a zoo on Grand Junction? But not just a zoo, an educational center built around animals and conservation. Most of us have been to a zoo or aquarium and marveled and stare and been amazed at the animals, we have even taken our kids and grand kids to Denver to the zoo and some have even dove at the aquarium with the sharks. But we have to travel to do it. The vision of the folks at www.gvzooquest.org is to bring that here to our valley.
Grand Valley Zoo Quest is a group of professionals devoted to creating a wildlife conservancy in the Grand Valley of Western Colorado. Our goal is to connect students with nature to promote education, conservation, and research. Since January 2011 over 14,500 students have participated in our programs and outreach.
They are also part of Frog Watch, which is a program funded by the National Science Foundation. Did you know that there were tree frogs here in the Grand Valley?
Janet Gardner, the founder of this wonderful group of hardworking people, shared that little tidbit with us last night as well as many others such as most of our kids have never seen a racoon or at least can recognize one.
How can you help? Well they are hosting a Car Show on June 1 at American Furniture and they have set up the salt water aquarium here in the dive shop with a donation basket. We are going to host an open house for them here in the dive shop on July 20. I will detail more plans as we get closer, but the thought is to bring in some of the animals to the shop so you and the kids and grand kids can come in and see and maybe even touch and learn about the animals and also more about the mission that they are undertaking.
Can you imagine an Aquarium/Zoo/Rain Forest/ Educational Center right here in our back yard? They can and I can and that my friends would impact our world in a positive way for many generations to come
Are you up for PADI Rescue Diver class?
The PADI Rescue Diver class is one of the most fun and challenging class you will take as a recreational scuba diver. And I dare say that the PADI Rescue divers are among the best divers to have as a dive buddy. In fact all of my dive buddies are rescue divers. Why? I enjoy the confidence and peace of mind in knowing that if something goes wrong, they have the training and skills to help me.
Let’s look at what you learn in the PADI Rescue Diver class. First, we review all of our self aid skills; you know these from your open water class. Tired diver tows and cramp removal and basic skills that we all know along with air sharing.
We work on recognizing and assisting a diver in panic, both under the water and on the surface. From on a boat or the shore or in the water. How do we approach? Do we even have to get in the water to help? What do we do if our dive buddy is found unresponsive? How do we bring them back to shore or the boat?
The PADI Rescue Diver is trained in all of these scenarios and more. One of the biggest differences in the PADI Rescue Diver class and other first aid or CPR classes is in the rescue breathing. In most CPR classes only chest compressions are taught, but a study that was published in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine examined the value of rescue breathes taught in the PADI Rescue Diver class and determine that effective rescue breaths can be provided and that the benefits of these breaths far outweigh the negatives of any breaths.
Are you ready for the challenge? Sign up today for your PADI Rescue Diver class.
Are you Scuba fit?
Most of us work out to be healthier and fit. We eat better and try to maintain a fit body to some varying degree of success. But are we scuba fit? What does scuba fit mean? Let us breakdown how our body moves as we dive.
First, are we cardio fit? Does any effort exhaust us? Having good cardio fitness is important in diving, due to the pressures we place on our body and our breathing efforts. I think everyone can agree on this. So to be scuba fit, we should do at least 20 minutes of cardio 4 to 5 times a week.
How scuba fit is our core and the rest of our body? Our legs are obviously a spot that we should work on adding some strength and keeping them fit to drive our fins, but what about the rest of the body? Think about your other activities as you plan your workouts. Do you like to golf as I do? Then some flexibility and core exercises would be good to add to our routines. Golf and scuba, also both require a good fit upper body to swing the club or don our gear and to help our dive buddy don their gear.
Being scuba fit does not mean you have to spend hours at the gym and being ultra thin or Mr. Muscle man. It only means being fit and prepared to make the dives we wish to make. Is our body prepared for the effort we must put forth to enjoy this wonderful sport or are we going to be so sore and tired that we cannot enjoy the rest of what the sport offers us as we travel the world?
There is actually a wonderful web page and program called Scuba Fit. You can get more info at www.ScubaFit.com
April Snows bring?
Pitfalls of Valet Scuba Diving
What comes to mind when you think of valet scuba diving? If you stop right now and close your eyes what do you see when you picture valet scuba diving? Not carrying your gear, having it all set up for you or maybe it is rinsed well and hanging dry, even a nice dry warm wetsuit for the morning dives? It all sounds so nice and so easy, so what is there not to love about valet scuba diving?
In valet scuba diving the dive master or boat crew sets up your gear, but did they set it up the way you like it? Is the inflator properly attached? Is the tank band adjusted tight enough so the tank doesn’t slip out on your dive? Do you check it after it is set up and before you leave the dock? While it is great that the crew is taking care of you and doing the best they can to give you the best experience possible, it is still your responsibility as a diver to make sure you and your buddy are ready and good to go. Remember to always do your buddy check.
After your diving day is done, in valet scuba diving, the dive crew washes and hangs your gear. But how well do they wash your gear? Most of the time it is in a crate or bag and the crew just dunks the whole bag or crate in the rinse tank. This doesn’t do much in the way of really washing or rinsing your gear and it leaves quite a bit of salt residue on your gear which builds up over the week. To properly rinse your gear it should all be taken out and rinse piece by piece and not just passed through the rinse tank, but really soaked a little and even use the hose or move the gear through the rinse tank to flow some water over your gear. This will give you a little better rinse and get more of the damaging salt off your gear. Even if you do this, when you get your gear home, you still want to soak it for at least 24 to 48 hours with salt away to ensure your gear is clean and well taken care of.
Valet scuba diving is easy and that is what we all love and enjoy about it. Not having to carry the gear and having it all taken care of for you so you can enjoy your vacation. But remember even with valet scuba diving, we as divers are responsible for our gear and our self.
Happy diving and as always feel free to leave your comments
Another diving day
The end of a perfect day of diving
Follow our dive week
Follow us on our dive boat during our week at Compass Point Grand Cayman diving with Ocean Frontiers. Daily post on our Facebook page