Dive like your diving Solo. We’re not saying ditch your dive buddy and dive alone. By all means stay close to your buddy and be ready to help him. But, as far as your own safety is concerned, pretend he’s not there or… won’t be when you need him, in other words be self reliant. In any emergency your most dependable rescuer is you!

Here’s how you can be a better dive buddy to yourself and others especially if you aren’t rescue certified yet-

Sharpen your diving skills
Most times you’ve already been taught the skills you’d need to rescue yourself in almost any situation, but you’ve forgotten how or don’t have practice. Regulator recovery, mask clearing, free flowing regulator, controlling an emergency ascent, switching to your alternate, unbuckling weight belts and so on are some of the things that all divers are taught. They seem easy and don’t sound like much, but you’ll be surprised at how many divers forget the most basic of skills in an emergency situation.

Since probably haven’t needed to take your scuba unit off underwater since your open-water certification or use any of these skills, it’s important to practice and sharpen the skills taught to you in training. Diving skills develop and become second nature only with practice, so on regular dives maybe at the end at the safety stop if you have air to spare, sharpen your skills by practicing them. By reminding yourself how much you already know, you’ll gain confidence to perform them if needed without undue stress.

Go Over Emergency Scenarios
Rehearsing emergencies and other situations makes them more real. It helps you visualize what they will be like and what will need to be done. It’s a rehearsal of those emergency techniques you’ve learned and practiced that brings the correct response to the front of your mind before the need arises. Learn from your peers by asking your dive master, instructor or other divers for scenarios they might have faced and if you have an queries or situations you don’t know how to cope with.

Think solo, plan smarter and rehearse before-hand how you could deal with a situation so that if need be you know how to react without wasting time looking for a rescuer.

Gear up for emergencies
Keep at hand all the dive gear and equipment you may need if you were diving solo. For example: Have your own completely redundant air source, like a pony bottle, instead of relying on your buddy’s octopus. You may want several cutting tools instead of just one, mounted so you can reach at least one with either hand in case of entanglement. A surface signaling device is important when boat diving, in case you surface out of sight of the dive boat, you should also have a whistle to draw attention. Be prepared for yourself and carry your own backups. (Read: Must-Have Scuba Diving Safety Gear)

Rescue Course
Lastly, we recommend that all divers get their rescue and emergency response certification as there’s nothing better to develop your own self-rescue ability than learning how to rescue someone else.The focus on emergency situations and practical training for the same will not only teach you a lot but it’ll also boost your confidence and increase your comfort levels underwater.

*Photo Credits: photos by star5112, Brianz, Nemo’s great uncle, gjs on flickr

How To Be A Better Dive Buddy To Yourself And Others was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

A good way to start is to check for currents before the dive. Before getting into the water, look for current patterns on the surface itself and have the boat drop a drift line in the water to see if there are any. Usually local fisherman, boat hands and experienced dive masters who are familiar with the area can recognize the conditions from the surface.  Once underwater, take a cue from the fish. You can tell changes in currents or the appearance of one, from reef fish. Generally, small fish will all be facing up-current, unless it is so strong that they are forced to take shelter. In a down current, however, fish may be fining up and down and frantically in circles. If the down current is particularly strong, you may even see larger fish being swept downwards.

Descend down an anchor line when there’s a prevalent current at a particular dive site. Avoid free descents. Remember not to let go of the line until you reach the bottom or desired depth and make sure your dive buddy is ready too. If you’re in for a strong current dive, it’s best to make it a drift dive if possible. For that however, you would need to appoint a reliable surface supervisor that can spot the divers on the surface and bring the boat around for retrieval. It’s also important that you trail a surface float while you dive for the dive boat to keep track of the group and every diver should carry a safety sausage or a deploy-able high visibility buoy (Surface Marker Buoy) that can help the dive boat spot you, should you separate from the group and have to surface. A whistle attached to your BCD might help as well in such a situation.

If you know you are to dive in fast currents try not to overload yourself with too much dive gear and scuba accessories like large  underwater cameras and underwater torches. What you may want to consider carrying instead are things like an SMB (for sure!), a buddy line to avoid separation (however it risks getting snagged), a reef hook- a great way hang around a spot to wait for other divers to catch up or just stop and watch the passing life. This blunt hook about 10cm-long is attached to a 2m long line clipped to the diver and can be snagged into a piece of dead coral or a rock crevice.

If you’re not drift diving, always start the dive against the current, time the dive carefully and plan your turn around time depending on the speed of the current.Stay close to the reef wall or sea floor when in the same direction as the current. The current is almost always lesser at the bottom near the sea bed, so if you need to slow down or wait for the group to catch up with you, go lower and hug the bottom. If you find yourself pulled into an unexpected orientate yourself horizontally to make yourself as streamlined as possible and try to cross it diagonally by heading upstream of your destination.

Pace your breathing and keep a close eye on your gauges. It’s easy to loose track of both your depth and air consumption when you’re riding a fast current. Be prepared to inflate or dump air quickly if you get dragged down or up. If caught in a down current, try to get as close to the reef as you can and tuck yourself behind a ledge, be prepared to dump air from your BC quickly as soon as you get out to avoid ascending fast.

Streamline, streamline, streamline. Dangly bits can be a nightmare on a fast drift dive. You will get the best from the dive if you stay as neutrally buoyant and streamlined as possible. Wear a good pair of gloves in case you have to grab on to rocks and dead coral against a current (however avoid touching anything unless absolutely necessary).

Lastly, if you don’t have much experience don’t attempt a current dives unless with a certified dive instructor or a more experienced diver than you.

*Image credits: photos by kradk, kah_adiving, Raymond™ on flickr

Dealing With Underwater Currents When Scuba Diving was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

Keep at hand all the dive gear and equipment you may need as if you were diving solo. For example: Have your own completely redundant air source, like a pony bottle, instead of relying on your buddy’s octopus. You may want several cutting tools instead of just one, mounted so you can reach at least one with either hand. Be prepared for yourself and carry your own backups.

2. Be Lazy: Mimic a sloth. Doing everything in slow motion will stretch your air supply. Move like you’re too exhausted to move. Every fin stroke, arm movement or even a head turn requires a lot more energy under water as it’s almost 800 times more dense than air. Energy in diving equals oxygen, so the faster you burn energy the faster you empty your dive tank. It’s that simple.

It takes a conscious effort to move at slow motion speeds, but practice will make it second nature. The payoff is bragging rights over your air-hog buddy at the end of the dive. Be lazy out of the water before and after a dive too. Sit down as much as possible and relax to conserve energy and you won’t feel fatigued. Most importantly stay lazy with your body in order to stay alert with your mind.

3. Breathe Efficiently: One of the first diving no-no’s you learn is to never hold your breath. And certainly don’t. To significantly improve your breathing efficiency, reverse your normal breathing pattern from inhale-exhale-pause to inhale-pause- exhale, the pattern many experienced divers adopt naturally over time. What you have to keep in mind is the pause you take when your lungs are filled is not held with your throat closed and most definitely not forced.

The few seconds pause while your lungs are full of air allows more time for gas exchange, so you take in more oxygen and dump more carbon dioxide with each breath. Therefore, your need to breathe will lessen and you will get more cycles out of your cylinder. This breathing technique is not taught because a pause can be confused as holding your breath with a closed-throat. So, if you aren’t sure of the difference or of not inadvertently closing your throat to pause, don’t try it.

4. Avoid Using Your BCD: Using the BCD (Buoyancy Control Device) throughout a dive for control is a mistake made by many divers, especially rookies. Since water is denser, momentum gathered takes a little more time to slow or stop. While you’re squirting a little more air in you BCD thinking you’re a little negative, before you realize it you’re actually a little positive. But you won’t feel positive because you come to a stop and pause there for a moment or two before that little squirt of air in your BC begins gathering its strength before raising you slowly.

Naturally, you need to use some judgment and assess the need to use those buttons when you’re dropping like a rock or rising like a cork. But, as you zero in on neutral buoyancy you don’t want to mess it up by touching the buttons again. You can make depth changes of four or five feet by using your lungs alone, without messing with your buoyancy compensator and losing that hard-to-find neutral buoyancy.

5. Don’t Overdo the Gear: By don’t overdo the dive gear we don’t mean offload your weights, ditch spare regulators or don’t wear a dive computer, it simply means don’t let your equipment get the better of you. Diving with an all new kit of diving equipment with a fancy new dive computer on one hand, an underwater camera in another and a squeaky new BCD you’re unfamiliar can be overwhelming. The use of your dive gear should be intuitive and not take up your attention. Another reason to avoid carrying extra gear apart from unnecessary fidgeting is the temptation to seek security in equipment rather than in technique. As a general rule, get more experience before more gear.

That said, we like to encourage divers to own their own gear and not rent, because owners know their gear better and take care of it better. We also think divers should buy their gear new and of top quality. There’s no such thing as too much performance and you definitely can’t put a price on safety.

*Image credits: photos by aa7ae, riandreu and pjf@cpan on flickr

5 Tips To Becoming A Better Diver was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

Here’s a look at some random scuba tips we’ve picked up over our dives:

• For divers with a mustache, a little zipper silicon or petroleum jelly (vaseline) on the mustache helps your scuba mask seal over it better.
• Always wet your BC tank strap before securing your tank. Why? If your BC jacket is dry, no matter how tight you strap your tank in, when it gets wet, it will expand and loosen. You don’t want your tank slipping lower during a dive, do you?
• Never wash your wetsuit in hot water. Neoprene expands in hot water and loses some of the flexibility, so it is best not to soak your wetsuit in hot water when rinsing it off after use. Many scuba divers jump straight into a hot shower with their wetsuits on after a cold water dive, which can drastically reduce the life of your suit.
• Before donning a wetsuit or other neoprene items, spray the insides with a watered down hair conditioner to slip into it more easily. Or better yet, check out Suit Juice for a more environmentally friendly option that also helps to preserve neoprene.
• Always carry spare o-rings. Just as duck tape fixes everything on land, o-rings and tie wraps can fix anything when your at sea. Found in a variety of scuba gear, o-rings are needed for regulators, underwater lights, regulators, dive computers, as well as tank valves, and may often break due to pressure and wear & tear.
• Start equalizing before you get in the water. Listen for the pop and clicking sound when you’re on the boat or well before a dive. Do this by swallowing or by using the valsalva method gently. Pre-pressurizing  helps make equalization underwater much easier.
• When diving in hot weather and going into colder water with a camera in a housing, place the rig completed sealed in an ice chest/cooler with the drinks (ask first though ).That way it is tempered and ready to go and won’t  fog up when you dive in. (Silica packets also help with fogging issues).
• Put some folded tissues or silica gel sachets in the crevices of of your underwater camera housing to absorb some trickles of water that sometimes manage to get in.
• A good way to keep track of buddies or anything behind you: Tuck your chin down to your chest and look behind you from underneath your body. It beats trying to turn around!
• In the case of new masks, you can burn the residual coating on the lens by running the tip of a flame over the lens. But before we go any further, a word of caution…don’t try this on plastic lenses (they will melt). Using the tip of the flame, of either a lighter or candle, burn the coating on the lens (it will go black), being careful to keep the flame away from the silicone skirting. Also avoid allowing the glass to become too hot. Wait for the mask to cool and then wipe away the blackened soot with a soft cloth. Repeat until the glass no longer turns black easily. It might take 2-3 times. This gets rid of the coating permanently.

Don’t forget to share your tips and tricks with us in the comments section below!

*Image credits: photo by chesbayprogram on flickr

Cool Scuba Tips We’re Always Learning was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

The worse part of seasickness is that sometimes, to much embarrassment, it seems to have affected only you, when all the others in the same dive boat are fine.

What is Seasickness?

Seasickness or Mal de Mer , is a form of motion sickness characterized by a feeling of nausea and in some cases, vertigo, experienced after spending time on a boat. Seasickness can affect anyone; even the most seasoned sailor or diver can be suddenly plagued by its symptoms.

The ailment is a form of vertigo. All vertigos result from a disturbance of equilibrium in the ear. The problem is attributed to disturbance in the balance system of the inner ear (vestibular) system. Your sensory perception gets out of sync as these nerve fibers attempt to compensate for the unfamiliar motion of the ship moving through water.

Symptoms

Some of the symptoms of seasickness are:

• Drowsiness
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Headaches
• Cold Perspiration

Prevention & Remedies

While in the dive boat, try to sit amidships (in the middle of the boat) on the water, always look at the horizon, lean back against a firm surface and avoid neck movement. The idea is to prevent excessive movement or rocking and allow your senses to provide stabilization inputs by glancing at the horizon.

Don’t sit near the exhaust or engines of the boat, as the diesel fumes may aggravate your condition. Sit facing the wind where you get plenty of fresh air. Most people recommend not reading while in the dive boat, and prevent using binoculars for extended periods.

Try to suit up as quickly as possible and be the first in the water. The effects of motion gradually tend to wear off as time passes on the boat.

Always get a full nights rest before a dive, and if you’re hung-over, you will almost certainly be motion sick. Many divers suggest having a light breakfast before a dive, and even claim that nibbling on biscuits on the dive boat may help prevent seasickness.

If the above preventive measures don’t help, you can always take a seasickness pill as soon as the symptoms occur. If you are diving however I would suggest taking a pill the day before the dive just so that you would know if there are any side effects beforehand, rather than finding out once your 30 feet underwater!

Acupressure wristbands that claim to prevent seasickness are often used, even though it is said to be more of a placebo affect rather than the actual science. Seasickness patches and other seasickness products are also available nowadays that you can stick onto your skin before boarding the boat, and can be obtained with a prescription from your doctor.

All of us at some point or another have experienced the effects of motion sickness. It is nothing to be embarrassed about, and its effects wear off as soon as the unfamiliar motion ceases. You will be right as rain as soon as you jump into that cool water so don’t let this malady ruin your diving.

Photos by Capt Kim, star5112, michael 7601, subnet24,

Dealing With Sea Sickness When Diving was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

Visual References
Before jumping into the water, take a few seconds to get your bearings, through some form of visual references.  Look at where the sun is positioned as that will help you determine direction underwater. Note the position of the island or the shore in relation to the boat. Note the way the island, reef or landmass slopes underwater, as this will help you determine if your starting point. Once in the water take a good look at what you boat looks like from the bottom, especially if there are several other boats in the vicinity. Once descending, either along an anchor line or not, take a few minutes once you’ve reached the bottom to note some terrain feature that will help you pin-point your boats location or the anchor line.  If you are diving a wall or a ridge, take note of the direction you intend to dive along and always keep you shoulder facing the terrain feature.

Compass Bearing
Before beginning a dive you should set the bezel of your compass to point you to the direction dive boat and in case of shore diving to the shore. In this case once the bearing is set it shouldn’t be changed during the dive and to return, one simply rotates himself in the opposite direction. If you are not familiar with how to use an underwater compass, take the time to get a Dive master or Instructor teach you this simple yet invaluable skill.

Aeris X1 Compass Module

Dive Site Briefings
Pay attention during pre Dive Briefings!! Often when diving a new dive site, the pre-dive briefing provided by the Dive Master, or Instructor is the best way to pick up relevant information about the lay of the land and key features of your dive site. Try and remember key terrain features that are pointed out and attempt to spot these while on your dive, so that in case you lose sight of the DM you’ll know exactly where you are.

Dive Site Maps
Popular dive sites always have dive site maps published, available online or at the local dive centers. Purchase a copy and study the sites, depths and features before you set off. These maps are also great as they clearly mark known marine life residents at the site, and indicate normal currents and entry and exit points.

Monterey Bay Folded Map B406

Dive Site Guide Slates
Several popular wreck dive sites or well known reef sites have waterproof guide map slates that a diver can carry with him/her on their dive as a carry with you reference.  These are great ways to know exactly where you are during your dive.

3D C-53 Felipe Xicotenabtl – Cozumel Mexico, Waterproof Dive Site Card

Draw a Map on your dive slate – Map out the dive site on a dive slate before you go and maybe chalk out an intended dive plan in the direction you want to go in for reference underwater. Take notes of your dive briefing before you jump in and its always A good idea is once you’re diving the site to note down certain landmarks on your map to find your way back easily.

Innovative Divers Slate with Split Ring

*photo from flickr by torbenator

How Not To Get Lost While Scuba Diving: Underwater Navigation Tips was written by Nevin for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

However, what came as a shock to me, wasn’t near as surprising to some of the other divers who shared doing risky deep dives without the experience nor the training. Some of the divers didn’t even have dive computers of their own at the time and relied completely on the dive guide’s. One common thread they all shared was, they claimed not to know what they were doing was risky, they just followed their dive guides and did what they said. Is it that common for divers to put themselves trustingly in the hands of dive shops without considering whether what they are about to do is safe? Who’s responsible for any incidents, the certified diver or the dive shop?

Part of the reason why divers are made to sign waivers before diving, is to take complete responsibility for their actions. As certified divers, we all know the risks of scuba diving and the increase in those risks as we go deeper. Monitoring depth and time during a dive is one of the very first things a diver is taught when certified. So why do we forget this just because there’s a leader? Blindly following the dive guide puts you in a vulnerable position.

Every diver’s dive profile is different. If you happen to dip even 15 feet lower than your dive guide or buddy with a dive computer, it shortens your dive time. Exceeding your dive time even puts you at higher risk of decompression sickness. Not only that, diving beyond recommended depths for recreational diving on air has further more risks like nitrogen narcosis.

While many make lightly of nitrogen narcosis being just like a drunk feeling, at 100 feet or deeper underwater, it can spell disaster. You’ve probably been that deep or even deeper and never felt narced, right? and that’s exactly why it can be dangerous. Chances are you’ve never even noticed the effects of narcosis cause not cause you haven’t been narced but rather you haven’t noticed. Most times when nitrogen narcosis hits, you haven’t had do anything but breathe normally through your regulator, which is almost second nature if you’ve been diving a while. It’s when and if you have react or deal with anything that requires some thoughtful response you’ll be in trouble. So while you must have heard about decompression Illness being the biggest risk of diving, some consider Nitrogen narcosis more dangerous as it attacks the most important piece of life-support diving equipment a diver has- their brain.

Bottom line is….Don’t blindly play follow the leader when you dive. Be responsible for your own dive plan. No one should tell you how deep or for how long you have to dive for. As good as their intentions may be, all it takes is one incident for your worse nightmare to become a reality. So why risk it? Your experience, training, practice and dive buddy are all important factors to consider if you’re up for a dive, particularly if it’s considered an advanced dive or there are environmental conditions you’re never faced before. Don’t let anyone talk you into doing dives you may have doubts about. Don’t let peer pressure put you in a situation that you are not ready for. It’s your life and your responsibility at the end of the day.

*Photo credits: photos by reneetb , SWBatzer, torbenator on flickr

A Lesson In Diver Responsibility- Don’t Play Follow The Leader was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

Jaw fatigue is a common complaint for a number of scuba divers. Usually newer divers experience it as they forget to relax their jaw and feel a sense of comfort in gripping the mouthpiece really tight. For others, renting scuba gear they are not familiar with or not setting up your scuba kit properly can be reason for this unwanted pain in the neck…er, I mean jaw.

If your BCD is positioned too high or too low on your scuba tank, it can cause the hose of to seem short and pull on your mouth when you turn your head. This tends to make you instinctively bite harder on the mouthpiece to stop if from falling out, invariably tiring out your jaw. However, if you’re still experiencing jaw fatigue despite correct positioning of your BCD and being relaxed underwater, there are two scuba equipment upgrades you should seriously consider

1. Changing the mouthpiece
Traditional regulator mouthpieces made from hypoallergenic silicone are ergonomically shaped for the average person. But everyone has a different mouth and their teeth too are different shapes, sizes and curvatures. The shorter mouthpiece tabs require you too grip with your side teeth, which might not be a comfortable natural position for you.

featured above: Seacure Hi-Flow Mouthpiece available at LeisurePro.com

Today, you can opt to change your own custom regulator mouthpiece specially molded for your mouth. We’re talking about the SeaCure “Boil and Bite” mouthpiece, much like a football mouthpiece. This custom mold-able mouthpiece is designed to precisely fit the individual diver’s mouth, teeth, gums and jaw configuration to provide maximum support of a regulator and, thus, eliminate jaw fatigue. The longer bite tabs can be gripped with your back molars, which is a more natural closed mouth position.

2. Getting a 360º Regulator Swivel
If an ill-fitted mouthpiece is not the culprit, then a 360º Swivel Low Pressure Hose Adaptor for your regulator may be just the key to help you achieve the freedom of movement, without feeling the tension in your jaw to hold onto your regulator.

featured above: The Oceanic EOS FDX10 DVT Regulator with Swivel available at Leisurepro

A 360° Regulator Swivel attaches between the 2nd stage and hose to allow freedom of movement between the 2nd stage and hose. As the swivel rotates freely, it reduces tension on the regulator 2nd stage and mouthpiece regardless of which direction your head is turning. It also makes sharing your regulator more comfortable as it makes the hose and 2nd stage more maneuverable.

There are a number of scuba regulators in the market today with this added feature already like the Aeris AT 400 ION Swivel Regulator, Oceanic EOS FDX10 DVT Regulator with Swivel and the Oceanic Delta 4.2 FDX10 Diaphragm Regulator. However, you don’t have to buy a new regulator to avail of this feature. You can just have an attachment like the Aqua 360 Degree Regulator swivel added to your current regulator. A small downside though, is that incorporating a swivel adaptor to a regulator gives you one extra thing to check for air leaks or as a failure point.

Whether you experience jaw fatigue or not, with a 360 degree swivel you’ll notice the difference in comfort when you dive. And despite adding an extra possible failing point to your gear, we highly recommend you give it a try, as it’s totally worth it. You won’t go back to non-swivel regulators if you do.

*Photo credits: photo by Moon Fish on flickr

Two Ways Of Reducing Jaw Fatigue When Scuba Diving was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

There are many different tricks and concoctions that divers use nowadays to create their ‘miracle’ mask defogging solution. Here’s a few of our anti-fogging solutions:

Brand new masks usually have a coating of silicone left over from the manufacturing process on the lens that will cause it to fog constantly, no matter how many defogging agents you try. So, first you’ll have to treat it to remove any traces of this coating before using it on a dive.

Toothpaste- Rub toothpaste with your finger to coat the lens and leave it overnight, before wiping it off with a soft cloth or washing it. This works well to remove the residual silicone coating on new masks. A simple non abrasive toothpaste, preferably without beaching agents works good for this. People often use toothpaste even as a day to day defogging agent before dives. It works well and leaves your mask smelling minty fresh!

Flame trick- In the case of new masks, you can burn the residual coating on the lens by running the tip of a flame over the lens. But before we go any further, a word of caution…Don’t try this on plastic lenses (they will melt). Using the tip of the flame, of either a lighter or candle, burn the coating on the lens (it will go black), being careful to keep the flame away from the silicone skirting. Also avoid allowing the glass to become too hot. Wait for the mask to cool and then wipe away the blackened soot with a soft cloth. Repeat until the glass no longer turns black easily. It might take 2-3 times. This gets rid of the coating permanently.

For used scuba masks, there a a number of quick fixes and alternatives to using saliva. Our best picks are-

Baby Shampoo- My favorite pick of an easy and effective foggy mask fix is baby shampoo. A few drops rubbed onto the lens and rinsed of just before a dive works wonders! Why baby shampoo instead of regular shampoo you may ask. Well for one, most baby shampoos have a “No tears” formula which is hypo-allergenic and doesn’t cause your eyes to sting even if you happen to have some in the mask after rinsing. Secondly, they are also biodegradable and generally friendly to the environment. And lastly, they leave your mask smelling great!

Glycerin- Either in it’s original form available at your local pharmacy or in the form of glycerin soaps or dish washing detergents, they work in the same way baby shampoo does. Put a few drops on the inside of the mask, rub them in and rinse. However, a downside of these are that if you happen to get water in your mask during the dive and it comes it contact with your eyes, they can sting.

Commercially available de-fog solutions- Most dive stores or diving websites sell specially created mask de-fog agents that come in convenient spray bottles. There have been mixed results and quite a bit of debate as to which commercially available product works best. So make sure you don’t spend a fortune on these products when you have so many cheaply available alternatives. Pictured right is Sea Vision 2 OZ. Spray De-Fog Bottle

Papaya Leaves- A little local island tip I received when diving in Asia was that if you crush and rub papaya leaves on your mask lens, you mask won’t fog. So I gave it a try and “voila!” I enjoyed a fog free dive!

So take your pick the next time you go diving, and do let us know your favorite tricks to keeping your mask from fogging during a dive, in our comments below.

* Photo credits: photos by lolandese, kkalyan on flickr

Solutions For Foggy Scuba Masks was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

It’s not uncommon to see divers huff and puff to orally inflate their BC’s just before a dive. If you ask them why, they will tell you to it’s a good practice to avoid wasting air. Does it really make a difference? No. Truth of the matter is, a BCD (Buoyancy Compensating Device) uses a negligible amount of air as compared to what a scuba diving tank holds. Think about it logically. Say it takes you 2-3 breaths to fully inflate your BC orally, what’s 2-3 breaths taken from your regulator underwater? If you did the math on how many breaths you take in a minute underwater and how little 2-3 breaths would come too, you’ll feel silly. It’s not even 12 seconds of worth of air for the average diver. Further more, if were to use the power inflate on your Buoyancy Compensator the air used from your tank wouldn’t even show a significant change on your pressure gauge.

Another misconception divers have, is trying to minimize their intake by breathing less underwater to conserve air. This practice actually adversely affects their consumption. By taking short shallow breaths you shorten your air supply as your body doesn’t absorb enough oxygen with each breath. Consciously trying to lower your intake, holding your breath or expanding your lungs beyond their capacity, are all ridiculous ways of conserving air. Instead breathing right, deep and consistent for the maximum gas transfer is key for maximizing your air supply. Diving slow, shallower and being properly weighted are other ways that DO help reduce air consumption.

My advice is, not to beat yourself up about it at all. People are different and each have their own metabolisms which dictates a persons need and use for oxygen. Being obsessive about air consumption can often lead to a diver’s downfall of the very same. Dive slow, calm and most importantly have fun and enjoy your dive and forget about the rest. That alone may spare you the extra air you crave for a longer dive.

*photo credits: photos by tab2space on flickr

How Far Will You Go To Stretch Your Tank of Air? was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World