Helping scuba divers have more fun
Aristotle for divers? Yep! Welcome to “think like a diver!” You have finished your open water class, received your Open Water Diver certification card, and just maybe, you have taken a dive vacation or two… I remember being you. Dawn and I were listening to our first dive briefing on a boat moored several hundred…
This Mar Guides Roatan Dive Guide shows a common approach to drifting the West End Wall. Another approach is to start at the the boat mooring nearer the mid-point, swim down the channel, ride the intensifying current, and drift even further south and west. Yeehaw! I love drift dives! Why? Most of the time, it…
It was our 7th dive with Divetech in Grand Cayman. We were diving a site known as The Knife. It begins with a swim-through at 113 feet. The dive plan was to do the swim-through, and then move up to 90 feet and gradually move across and up the wall. Sensible enough. All went well until…
Thank you! I haven’t posted a blog since the end of last year. Let me explain “why?” My bride and I dove St Thomas (USVI) in early November. We flew there and back on American Airlines’ over-crowded planes, and I believe we were exposed to Covid on the flight home. The captain turned off the…
Reading on-line scuba forums and groups is both a blessing and a curse. I think that the curse (and cursing) has been exacerbated by Covid-19. Everyone is frustrated, and patience, tolerance, and kindness are often neglected. The blessing comes when you hear real questions from divers—novice and experienced—from all over the world. One recent question…
I’ve been stewing about something since my bride and I returned from the U.S. Virgin Islands earlier this month (November, 2020). As scuba instructors, we beg students to “Never touch the reef or its critters.” Most Open Water manuals contain this kind of counsel: “In general, avoid touching living organisms underwater. Doing so almost never…
Practice makes perfect? Watch a sloppy golfer hit a bucket of balls or a flat skier ski his 100th run and you won’t believe this any more. As my friend and teacher Bob Stell says, “You can’t change what you tolerate.” Let’s consider a different approach. Let’s think about what is called “deliberate practice.” It…
I cannot believe this really happened. To us… Really? Yep. We found a great package deal at a great location and we were totally ready to enjoy a fantastic week of diving. We had our Advanced Open Water cards and our Nitrox certification. It had been less than 90 days since our last week of…
In my post on When things get wonky underwater, “Save Yourself First,” I mused about each diver’s need to “dive first,” to deal with any emerging situation second, and finally to communicate as needed. The more you get into diving, the truer this becomes. Each of us is ultimately responsible for our own safety. Some…
One of my shark sightings was very odd indeed. Our small group of dive-instructors-in-training was chilling out above a sloping shelf on the north side of Crystal Bay, on the island of Nusa Penida (near Bali, Indonesia). We had just done some deep dive training, and we off-gassing a bit of nitrogen before we moved…
On a boat dive, you have time to look around at other people’s gear. Impressive? Showy? Who has the biggest camera set-up? I look for what is missing! One piece of gear is consistently missing. The signal sausage! Why should we care? Two brief stories… We were diving at a site called Mwana wa mwana,…
