Buoyancy compensator (diving)

I am going to be heading to Taiwan to live and dive for a few years. I am a U.K diver and would preferably like to continue diving in a drysuit as I am used to the buoyancy, like the redundancy etc. Does anyone have any experience diving Tri-lam drysuit (no hood or gloves), very thin sweat wicking underlayer only, in water temperatures of 25-30 degrees Celsius? Is it comfortable, or just way too damn hot? Thanks!

Our ship’s engines cut out 125 miles off the coast of Oman, in the Arabian Sea. Zane and I checked our gear for the thousandth time since we suited up. I knew him well enough; we’d worked together previously on larger dive teams, but I wouldn’t consider him more than a colleague. All I needed was a competent partner, and he certainly was that. A veteran of countless dives, Zane was quite qualified to pick up this contract. I’m no slouch either- I worked as a commercial diver on oil rigs for most of my twenties. For the past sixteen years, I’ve been a diving instructor. Given my skill set and experience, if the job is reasonably close, I don’t pass up a lucrative opportunity if it comes my way.

For this job, our primary objective was to identify the cause of a wreck. A relatively small container ship went down 3 weeks ago in stormy waters. Rescue teams picked up most of the crew, but a handful remained missing. Sonar revealed that the wreck site ended up on a seamount and was shallow enough that they could send humans to investigate. I suppose shallow is a strange word to use for a 755-foot dive. It’s difficult to be sure, but I’ve dived deeper- and in worse conditions.

Zane and I back-fell off the boat and set our dive computers. The HUDs on our dive masks lit up, giving us hands-free info on our depth and gases. Our employers had spared no expense with this operation. Redundant equipment is the key to preventing emergencies. Between our pony bottles and many stage cylinders, I felt at ease. Not complacent, mind you; complacency is one of the greatest dangers to an experienced diver.

The crew lowered the shot line which sank out of sight, the winch operator letting out line at a steady rate. We finished checking for leaks and when the dive manager gave the all clear; we began our descent.

The cold embrace of the open ocean enveloped us. I felt at peace. I was back in my element.

We paused a touch over 150 feet to allow time for our systems to switch gases. Heliox is wonderful stuff. It lasts exponentially longer at depth and cuts down on resurface time. Your voice gets annoyingly high-pitched, but at least anyone you talk to over comms hears an automatically generated pitch-dropped version. My digits tingled, and I felt a bit woozy. The narcosis effects are precisely why they paid us the big bucks; we were somewhat acclimated over the course of our careers, and could be trusted to make calm, rational decisions under pressure. After adjusting, we conti

Hello, I am interested if submarines can (ww2 German U-boats in particular) maintain their depth at like 200 meters or so when their engines were completely off or do they free fall to their demise until they choose to increase submarine speed or blow ballasts? The reason why I ask this is because I play popular submarine simulator Silent Hunter 3 and for some reason my submarine keeps diving on its own when at depths below 180 meters if my engines are slow or turned off. Didn't submarines have ability to trim their ballasts or something to keep them from free falling like an anchor?

DGX Custom - Singles Harness / Backplate / Wing Package

with a pair of HOG 10# weight pockets,

a DGX Titanium Tek Knife,

and a DGX Sharp Cut

Hello. I want to show off my BP/W setup and share my experience with BCDs.

I got my OW certification about a year ago in late December of 2019. The BCD I used during the class dives was an Aqua Lung Pro HD, a wrap-around jacket BCD. This was the first BCD I had ever worn, but I disliked that when I inflated it, it compressed my sides and abdomen. At times it was difficult for me to inhale and exhale comfortably.

After the class, I purchased a ScubaPro Seahawk 2, which is a back-inflate BCD. I liked it because it was more comfortable than the Pro HD when inflated. After 5 dives though, I realized that it felt bulky because of all the padding on the back and on the shoulder straps, all the strap adjustments, and the semi-useless storage pockets. The storage pockets are large, but when the weights are loaded, access to the storage pockets is difficult and the storage space is reduced. I dive in 50°F water with a 7mm Farmer John and Jacket wetsuit combo. I figured I didn't need the excess padding on the BCD since the wetsuit is providing some of that.

My diving buddy started off with a Halcyon BP/W, and I liked the simplicity of the system, and the fact that he needed a lot less weight than I did. More on this in a bit. So I decided that I wanted to try out a BP/W, but I did not want to spend the money on a Halcyon system. I read a few reviews and posts on reddit regarding the DGX Custom BP/W and purchased one. I tried it out on my 12th dive, and it took me 2 dives to get used to it. I initially felt vulnerable when in the water because I did not have the BCD hugging me, but I quickly adjusted to that. Four dives in and I couldn't be happi

Well folks, time to see how Tom manages last times setback, I have again gotten some help from TwoFlower68 but we all know I fuck up too much for one guy to catch it all so be on the lookout for me.

With that let's get right into the story

Sapphire

First Previous Next

__________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 25: Not Again

As Tom went flying he thought to himself, he really needed to work on situational awareness. There might be a storm raging, and the wind howling to the point of making him half-deaf, but three times in as many minutes was too often to be surprised from behind. His assailant was yet another dark-colored dragonette, it seemingly didn’t care for carrying him off though. Instead, it just threw him clear of the dragon as it made its way out of combat. Really! it didn’t even bother with a monologue he was just chucked into the dark.

So now he was falling through the sky flailing his arms around screaming like a little girl. He had come here to feel alive again, on that front he had to give the mysterious voice credit, mission fucking successful. He had no clue how high he was nor which way was up or down. He was spinning wildly though, that much he could figure out.

He had been parachuting before, so he stretched his arms and legs out and backward to stabilize his fall, that did the trick and he leveled out. He couldn’t see the ground but then again he probably wouldn’t until right before he hit. He wondered just how high he had been and if anyone would be able to catch him. Why didn’t he bring his parachute, even if the arrow to the back would have fucked it up anyway, that was still stupid. This was the second time he had needed it. This whole situation was stupid. As he plummeted, swearing at himself, he heard a hasty wingbeat trailing after him.

As Dakota grabbed hold of him, she did not seem pleased.

“Could you at least try and watch you back.” Tom wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, he had not volunteered for any of this, and had generally no clue what was going on. So he really didn’t think

I'm getting the hang of things - navigation, crew/boat management, how to stalk and get sneaky (accurate sometimes) shots off and then escape the warships etc. It's interesting and satisfying to get it right.

However, so far I have yet to survive being damaged (except one occasion when I scraped myself on the seabed). My last loss for example - I'm trucking along the surface in 600m of water, aircraft sighted, alarm, crash dive to 100m, at about 40/50m we take a depth charge, 2 causalities, bow torpedo room damaged, one leaking torpedo loading hatch, one hull breach. So in that moment, I am still diving, some negative buoyancy but can compensate, and torpedo room flooding. So I level off the dive, send in the mechanics with spare parts and rebreathers to work on the leaks, start the bilge pump (didn't blow the buoyancy tanks here, realise I should have). But there's nothing to be done, torpedo room floods, negative buoyancy goes up, uncontrolled dive, the mechanics drown, crush depth etc...

So is it possible to survive a hull breach in >200m of water or is that just a death sentence? What could I have done better? I can see you can seal the flooding compartment but then we're just sinking to crush depth anyway with no way to address the leaks. Apart from just avoiding taking any damage ever, what do?

Thanks.

Not a beg for attention post but today I had my first anxiety issue during a dive.

It happens to everyone; at least once. That’s what I was told. Beautiful day 72 & sunny, bottom temp of 66, 40’ vis. Seas were 2-4ft and the wind was 10knots gusting 15. Now I have a habit of sea sickness and normally I don’t dive in 2-4 seas but it was such a beautiful day. So I took a dramamine, rented a wetsuit, and joined the group. Not feeling very well after being underway but I knew that when I hit the water I’d feel better. And I did. The cooler water felt great and removed any trace of sickness. Diving down the line I realized that I was positively buoyant and this is where I should have turned around. I figured that once we got to some pressure that I’d level out and be good and that’s why happened for a moment. We hit the wreck and I tried to adjust my BC and that’s when I lost any neutral buoyancy. I attempted to continue the dive by swimming against and quickly tired. This triggered my first anxiety and panic issue underwater. I alerted my dive buddy to my situation, we checked our air and headed back to the bow. I began to rise as I continued to swim against it and just barely made it to the line. From there I controlled my ascent and boarded. Then I got seasick.

I know this happens to “most everyone” but today it happened to me. I never imagined myself being someone who would panic in a situation like that but it happened. I suppose with diving it’s just something that happens and we face it and move on, but looking back I almost feel ashamed for diving in less than ideal circumstances. For example: my wetsuit was to small and my movement was limited, seas were to rough for my comfort level, and I didn’t allow for a needed addition of weight to compensate for the wetsuit (6mm).

I suppose it happens to everyone. Just got to put it behind you and move forward.

Tl;dr

Dealt with first anxiety underwater issue, reflecting on it now, and putting in the past and moving forward.

So as a recently certified diver I have taken up my time to finally join Reddit to start doing my research on different gear to obtain. I have noticed a bunch of acronyms that I didn't understand and had to stop my research to go understand what everyone is talking about. I couldn't find one here on r/scuba so I thought I might be able to help my fellow greenhorns and make a list of commonly used acronyms. Obviously I'm no expert so if they are wrong I do apologize, and please add more if you can think of them.

AAS: alternate air source
BC: buoyancy compensator
BCD: buoyancy control device
BWARF: (BCD, weights, air, release, final) (pre-dive check)
CCBA: closed circuit breathing apparatus
CCR: closed circuit re-breather
CESA: controlled emergency swimming ascent
DAN: diver's alert network
DIR: doing it right
DUI: diving unlimited international EDC: everyday carry
HP: high pressure
IP: intermediate pressure
LDS: local dive shop
LP: low pressure
MOD: maximum operating depth PDC: personal dive computer
SI: surface interval
SPG: submersible pressure gauge
STA: single tank adapter

Institutions-
NAUI: National Association of Underwater Instructors
PADI: Professional Association of Diving Instructors
SSI: Scuba School International

Gas-
Argox: argon and oxygen
Heliox: helium and oxygen
Hydreliox: hydrogen, helium and oxygen
Hydrox: hydrogen and oxygen
Nitrox: nitrogen and oxygen

edit- added "EDC"

There is a man Swimming in the sky. No, I’m not on drugs or anything, but I am almost certain there is a man Swimming in the sky right above my backyard.

He is all the way up, in the clear dark blue sky absent of any clouds. From a distance he looks like a bird, a hawk maybe gliding and scanning the horizon for any rabbit it might snatch up. but if you squint, just enough, the superficial bird will unravel itself to be but a figure of a man.

A man somehow floating in the sky, fluttering his legs up and down as he plunges both arms in front of him before spreading and placing them by his side. As if the sky itself was the limitless ocean, he swims through it, his body moving in a way only possible if it was submerged in the water yet he was not. He was in thin air, and yet he moved through it with the fluency of a swimmer.

I had just finished dinner with my lovely wife and son. Amy had made mac and cheese casserole for dinner which was mine and Thomas’s absolute favorite; I had even once joked that if I ever had to eat something before I died it would for sure be a piping hot mac and cheese casserole.

I had just finished my third plate and Thomas was on his second while Amy was doing the dishes. I went to the fridge to get a beer and headed to the back porch. Nothing ended the day better than a cold one. I looked out into the field lined with carpets of grass and I took a seat. I sat in my old man's chair and stared out into the deep blue sky now infused with the dying orange embers of the setting sun. Everything was idyllic and heavenly, a perfect life I would say, my perfect life, but as the cold bittersweet nectar ran down my throat, that was when I saw the man.

“What in the world…” I muttered as I got closer. He wasn’t just a man, he was a diver, and from the looks of it, a scuba diver. He wore a black diving suit and on his back attached a silver cylindrical air canister. On his feet, there were blue swimming fins which he kicked up and down to move. A yellow pipe connected from his tube to a regulator on his face, a face which although was obscured by black Swimming goggles, seemed oddly familiar. Rex then ran up to me and barked at the diver. It wasn’t just me seeing him then. If my dog could see him, he had to be real. I brushed his golden fur and hushed his barking, the diver seemed more like an oddity than an actual threat and so I didn’t want Rex to scare him away. Yet there was something unnerving and familiar about him. I just couldn’t pla

I just did my OW in March this year and I've been looking into buying my own buoyancy compensator before doing my AOW later this month.

I don't understand what is this lift that they talk about. How much lift will I need? As I do not want to spend too much, I'm looking at buying a used BC. Is there anything I should look out for?

Hello to all, I am going on a study abroad opportunity this summer to Turks and Caicos Islands. While there I will attain my PADI certification. I already have snorkeling equipment (fins, dive boots, dry snorkel and mask) I'm just wondering what brands are the best for my budget (college student) and where to get these items. Listed on the syllabus are the following necessary items for SCUBA (tanks and weights are provided by school), I've typed the list verbatim, so if there is confusion, my apologies: -Dive computer that provides depth, time and no-decopression limits is mandatory. -Submersible pressure gauge -Buoyancy compensator -Primary (second stage) and secondary (second stage = octopus) -Alternate air source retainer -Console retainer -Wetsuit (shorty) As a fledgling diver, any addition advice about safety etc. is greatly appreciated!

On August 18th 2010, Ben McDaniel, a 30 year old scuba diver, vanished 115ft under water from the cave at Vortex Spring diving resort, in Ponce De Leon, FL. Ben was last seen by two Vortex Spring (VS) employees, Eduardo Taran and Chuck Cronin, around 7:30pm at the gate blocking untrained and non-certified divers from entering the most dangerous parts of the cave. Ben did not have the certification and training required to rent the gate’s key from the dive shop, though he was suspected of tampering with the gate and breaking into the gated area after hours. Fearing Ben would have an accident getting tangled up or over exert himself trying to force his way through the gate, Eduardo decided it would be safer to unlock the gate for the determined diver. That was the last time anyone saw Ben. Recovery divers exhaustively and painstakingly searched every nook and cranny of the deepest, most dangerous areas of the cave. A world-renowned cave diver went as far back into the cave as humanly possible- further than anyone else had ever gone, but found absolutely no evidence of Ben ever being back there. The diver explained to Ben's terrified family that at 6’1" and 210-220lbs, Ben could not have physically gone any further into the cave- that it was spatially impossible for Ben and his gear to even fit through the dangerous 4th restriction, let alone the final fissure at the “End of the Line”. If Ben, in some ludicrous superhuman feat, managed to squeeze his large frame and 200+lbs of gear into the crack just 4 to 6 inches tall, far enough to not be visible, no diver would ever be able to follow. Divers began to wonder if Ben was ever even in the furthest reaches of the cave. If he isn't in the cave, where could he be? Maybe it was a hoax. Maybe he's not even dead…

Hello all, welcome to part 4(A) of a comprehensive, multi-part series about the disappearance Ben McDaniel. Part 4 was getting too long for reddit’s character limits, but not long enough for two different parts, I've decided to make two posts, labeled Part 4(A) and Part 4(B). Part 4(B) will be posted on Friday, like a bonus since these have taken more time than I initially thought they would. Remember to take care of your eyeballs, folks! You've guys have given me such a good response. I've been editing less out and adding more details, so my apologies these are taking longer between posts. This is one of those cases where the little details actually are relevant, and may give more

She weighs 3 lbs (on land) with lanyard. When diving salt water, I usually don't need much weight at all, will I need to offset with buoyancy compensation on the rig itself? Or just dive with less weight?

New Dive Rig!

I went out the other day to beach dive/spearfish in Fort Lauderdale. I live on the beach and have been out many times before with no issues, but this time right as we got in the water the lifeguard comes running up and says that we need a BCD (buoyancy compensator device) for going 50 yards or more out. I talked to him for about five minutes about how that doesn't make any sense, as you wouldn't wear a BCD while skin diving, but he said it is a city ordinance and wouldn't let us go out. We went to another beach and had a good time, but I was talking to some buddies and they said they hadn't heard about this, and that the lifeguard must have been mistaken. I looked it up and it turns out the guard was right and it specifically says for skin and scuba diving you need this (https://www.fortlauderdale.gov/departments/fire-rescue/ocean-rescue/beach-rules-and-regulations).

My question is, does this make any sense to you guys? And what vest or device would you recommend I wear? I

That reminds me of a story.

Bright college days, oh, carefree days that fly,

To thee we sing with our glasses raised on high.

Let's drink a toast as each of us recalls,

Ivy-covered professors in ivy-covered halls

Ah, yes. Bright college days. No more AP courses. No more teachers who are just in it for a paycheck. No more living at home. Just me and my best friend Toivo going through all the motions until we finessed our degrees.

Undergraduate days were about as uninspiring and uneventful as a typical undergraduate tenure at a local commuter college can be. Oh, sure. I had declared my Geology Major on day one of classes and stuck with it through the award of my 4-year BSc degree.

School and the classes therein were fine. Just fine…

Math through Calculus IV and Abstract Algebra.

Physics through Statistical Mechanics & Thermodynamics.

Geology that included virtually every geology, paleontology, geophysics and hydrology course the college could offer.

Biology and Zoology through Organismic Evolution.

And chemistry.

Ah, yes. Chemistry.

Somehow, I ended up with a Geology BS, with minors in Math and Chemistry.

It wasn’t planned that way.

See, the Chemistry Department, thanks to being underwritten by the local huge home-cleaners and bug-spray corporation, attracted some of the top chemistry professors that the subject had to offer.

Including Dr. Arrhenius Anfo, the Detonic Chemistry professor.

He made me appreciate all that chemistry had to offer. Unfortunate that he only taught two upper-level classes in Detonic Chemistry.

The first couple of years of my initial degree pursuit was fair to moderately uneventful. Toivo and I worked at the local stainless steel place over in the next unincorporated region adjacent to the school. It wasn’t totally necessary as we had scholarships for the whole four years, but I needed some sort of distraction away from the constant book bashing. Besides, it enabled me to upgrade my welding skills and how to be a better chucker and turret-lathe operator.

Besides that, it was fun working that 1600 to 0400 shift with no bosses around.

However, the summers when I had some time to myself were often subjects of reminiscence. I worked every summer to sock away some dinero for the school year as I knew I couldn’t really work the weird afternoon-morning shift any longer at the stainless place once I got into Independent Research beginning my Junior year. My scholarship only covered so much and as

hese things only happen on television, until they happen to you.

Just before the sun set Sunday on Pensacola Pass, a charter boat rescued a Pensacola scuba diver who had been lost for nearly eight hours.

"I never intended anything like this to ever happen in my life," Mike Ozburn told the News Journal on Tuesday.

A network systems engineer for the Pensacola Police Department, Ozburn picked up scuba diving back in November as a way to enjoy his free time. Sunday marked Ozburn’s 35th dive — this time, among the roughest waters he has descended in yet.

Ozburn and a group of friends piled into a boat and began their dive around noon Sunday, about 16 miles offshore in Pensacola Pass.

While gearing up, Ozburn’s elbow hit the inflator hose, letting air into his buoyancy compensator, a control device worn to maintain neutral buoyancy. Not thinking anything of it, he descended into the water but quickly realized the excess air was keeping him from going any farther.

Ozburn vented the buoyancy compensator and descended into the murky waters once more. Due to his equipment malfunction and the lack of underwater visibility, Ozburn couldn't find his diving buddy.

Swimming deeper, Ozburn reached a flat level of sand, instead of the pyramid shaped surface the divers initially descended upon.

After 10 minutes of unsuccessful searching, Ozburn went up for a three-minute safety stop, finding himself about 150 yards away from the boat and out of sight, he said.

“I inflated my safety buoy and waved my arms, blew my whistle. ... They didn’t see it, they didn’t hear it,” he said.

Another five to ten minutes later, he had officially lost sight of the dive boat.

Ozburn’s crew began a search pattern, and after about an hour in, notified the U.S. Coast Guard. A little while later, dive charters volunteered to join the mission.

Lost in the water for hours

As time dragged on, helicopters and boats passed by — none of them noticing Ozburn’s calls for help.

Lost in the water, Ozburn maneuvered his gear to keep him alive and afloat. Using a dive watch and safety buoy, he lined up with the edge of the clouds and kicked toward the direction of shore.

“A lot of interesting things that you do not think about when you dive regularly come into play,” he said.

Ozburn’s neon green safety buoy was one of them. Chosen for its high-visibility color, the buoy failed Ozburn on Sunday because the way the water and sun fell on it caused it to appear white, blending in wit

Hi there

I made the change from very infrequent holiday rental gear diving for about 14 years to purchasing my own equipment and booking local dive boats as often as my free time allows. I have tweaked my intensively researched setup to my satisfaction over about 10 dives this month and would like to write the sort of semi-comprehensive guide to a complete gear setup I would have liked to read 3-4 months ago, when I started to research the abyss that is diving equipment. I certainly ended up with a very different setup to what I would have happily gotten into without further scrutiny. It may help the odd diver out there save some time - and provide fertile ground for discussion.

The list below covers a base single rear mounted setup, any specific extras like reef hooks, night diving gear, etc., are excluded as they will not be relevant for every diver out there. It will contain some bias towards certain types of equipment, but I will explain why for each of these items. It does not follow any specific philosophy (e.g., DIR), but it certainly takes some inspiration from what I thought makes good sense for safe and streamlined recreational diving.

I am interested in any further thoughts that can help develop 'best practice' rec diving gear guidelines for the type of person browsing on /scuba, that assume a somewhat clean slate to start. I think there is a real danger of being dragged into packaged deals at the LDS only to then regret purchases later on, replacing items at additional cost down the line, or live a lie defending equipment choices that are actually not ideal given what we know in 2019.

1 Regulator Setup

- This is a priority item, buy the best you can afford and get serviced locally.

- Balanced 1st stage with established cold water performance, even if not planning to dive in cold water yet. The regulator needs to be the only one you need for the next 10+ years, anywhere in the world, with Nitrox to 40%.

- Balanced primary 2nd stage with venturi switch to prevent free flows when not in use. Pay attention to work of breathing (WOB) and case size figures when comparing. Additional adjustments are optional.

- Sturdy octopus 2nd stage with venturi switch to prevent free flows. Reliably simple but never sub-par cheap. Keep it simple by opting for one manufacturer (I recommend Scubapro and Atomic for well performing and reliable regs).

- Avoid newly released models and opt for models with a proven track record. Avoid novel but

Hey everyone. finally taking the plunge and getting my own gear in the next coming months. i am gonna write down my list of what i have been looking at and my thoughts. i would like everyones input :) also open to

FYI: I am a new open water diver with 57 dives. My dives are almost all going to be recreational in warm tropical water.

BCD

• Aqua Lung Dimension : i have actually tried this BCD in a pool setting and i liked it. Fit great. wish it had roll out pockets though.

• ScubaPro Knighthawk : I tried this in the shop and i enjoy how small is the pouch that holds the intergreated weights were and the roll out pockets were a great plus.

• Scubapro SeaHawk : Almost the same thing as the knighthawk but has bigger pockets. They get squished when you put weights in it though.

Wetsuit

• Akona quantum 3mm wetsuit

Dive Computers

• Aqualung i300 Three Gauge

Regulators

• Aqua Lung Core regulator : i have been looking at this regulator for a while. I have not used one before but i have used The Legend and enjoyed it but i cant afford it.

Octo

• Aqua Lung ABS Octo : very simple and cheap.

• Aqua Lung Core Octo : not sure if its worth having a octo as the same model as my primary reg

Hello r/scuba

I browse the sub a lot and I have something to ask : I have been putting together a bilingual lexicon of scuba useful terms (French/English) for buddies about to travel and dive in English-speaking countries.

I work as a translator, but the scuba lexicon can be quite specific, and I am more interested in the term you use daily, however informal they are (by the way, I find “safety sausage” to be hilarious). I am also asking for help because I am a young diver (only one year behind me, and currently studying to get the French equivalent of the AOW certification), so I might not grasp everything.

Would you be so kind to take a bit of your time and check a few terms, add words that might seem useful, make a suggestion, point an error ? I have added pictures to make sure we are all talking about the same thing.

The list is quite long, but I'd appreciate any insight you'd have.

(a note : I am not doing this for money, it's just a side project I'd like to complete for my dive buddies. I will obviously post the final file on r/scuba for all to use (a good chunk of its content is in this post anyway)).

Thank you for any help you would provide !

gear / matériel

• Snorkel / le tuba

• Mask / le masque

  • Prescription mask / masque adapté à la vue
  • Skirt / la jupe
  • Strap / la sangle
  • Mask-clearing / Vidage de masque

• Fins / Palmes

  • Full fins / Palmes chaussantes
  • Split fins / Palmes réglables
  • Spring strap / La sangle Y de sécurité
  • Booties or Boots / Botillons
  • Socks / Chaussettes

• Gloves / Gants

• Diving suit / La combinaison

  • dry suit / La combinaison étanche
  • semi-dry suit / La combinaison semi-étanche
  • wet suit / La combinaison humide
  • one-piece suit / La combinaison intégrale
  • two-piece suit / La combinaison en deux parties ou un pantalon-veste

• Rubber / Un manchon

• Zipper / la fermeture éclair

• Weightbelt / la ceinture à poids

• Bag weightbelt or Pouch weightbelt / La ceinture à poches

• Weights / Les poids

• A tank or A cylinder / Une bouteille

• Pony bottle / Un bloc de décompression

• Air-fillling / Le remplissage

• Valve / Un robinet

  • ...DIN valve / Un robinet DIN
  • ...Yoke valve / Un robinet à étrier

• Adapter / Un module ou Un insert (the whole piece)

• O-ring / Un joint (the black rubbery thing)

• Tank mesh / Le filet de protection

• Handle / La poignée

• First and second stages / Le premier et le second étages

• Hose / Un

This was my first time diving in "cold" water. All my previous 51 dives were in tropical warm waters.

I basically just wanted to do it just to say I have done a dive in the "cold" California waters. At the time I had no intentions of doing it again, but after my 2 dives, my mind has changed and I want to come back and do it again.

Wearing a thick 7mm wetsuit was new to me, as well as wearing a hood and gloves. Talk about feeling like a penguin! I also didnt realize how much more lead I needed to compensate for the added buoyancy of the 7mm of neoprene suit.

The initial shock of the cold water hitting you takes your breathe away but as soon as you go under and see how beautiful it is you quickly forget about the cold and enjoy the dive.

The nice thing about diving at the Casino is the area directly in front is a marine preserve. Also, the fish in the area are so used to divers and snorkelers that they dont even care you exist. I was also amazed at the shear amount of fish swimming about. Very nice to see for sure.

It was a sureal and amazing sight to see the beams of sun just shining through the kelp forest. I was kicking myself for forgetting my Gopro. Visibility was a easily 50' or more it was so clear.

Was hoping to see a giant black sea bass as they are huge and are sometimes spotted in the area, but unfortunately I was not able to see any during either dives.

We poked around a couple wrecks and then fed a few abalone. Saw a nudibranch that is only found around these islands as well as the head of a huge morey eel. Saw a few sea urchins and thought of hitting a good Japanese restaurant as soon as I got back to the mainland. Hehehe.

All in all, some good dives and my mind has changed about diving in the cooler waters of California. Hope to be back for more later this year.

They will supply SCUBA buoyancy compensators (BCs), regulators, tanks, air fills, pool weight belts. Below is the list of equipment I need to provide myself - links are products I'm thinking of buying (after all the help from /r/scuba):

• mask - sounds like the best advice for this one is if it sits and seals well, it fits
• snorkel - simple and cheap
• fins - sounds like I needed stiffer fins like the OMS Slipstream OR Cressi Reaction OR Mares Avanti Quattro OR mask/snorkel/fins package?
• booties - Manta 5mm with probable upgrade to 7mm
• gloves - 3mm U.S. Diver Cold Water Diving Gloves with possible upgrade to 5mm
• ocean weight belt - webbed with steel clasp, weights may be provided by instructor
• ocean wet suit - 7mm sounds like where I'm going, hopefully I'll get some Black Friday deals.
• watch - Casio G-Shock 200m
• cutting tool - Trilobite

Thanks for all the help guys & gals.

This is what happened (Part One)

Evita, the friendly older woman from the shop I’d entered, helped me with a request that pulled her friendly smile down into a puzzled, skeptical frown. With a sigh and a shake of her head, she began spouting off a long string of Spanish that sounded reprimanding, the only words I could make out being “extraño” and ”equipo”. She helped research my request on her phone as I used the automático (ATM), and she explained as best she could via the use of the map on both her phone and mine, the location of a dive shop I’d requested, nearly three hours away. I begged and pleaded, and with a sigh, she called the shop, which would close before I’d arrive, for an urgent request. She helped arrange for the owner to wait for me to purchase a wetsuit and a life jacket after closing hours. I thanked her immensely, handing her $60, which she tried to refuse but I insisted she take.

I purchased a few candy bars and a large bottled water, and I waited where Evita explained a communal taxi, called a ‘colectivo’ would come by shortly. I thanked her with a clasp-handed gesture, and she mumbled something with an emphasis on a word “personaje”, and I walked out into the blinding sun to wait on the side of the road for the car. I’d taken out a decent sum of money, putting the $2,500 in pesos (about $130 USD) for the equipment into my sock in case anything happened. Soon a beat-up van slowed to a halt, and I climbed over the other passengers to the free seat, explaining “Playa Las Gatas” as my destination. I was soon on my way in the bumpy van, wondering if this strange day would be my last.

I nearly nodded off on the jostling ride, but the lack of shock absorption in the beat-up van and an occasional, last-minute turn continued to jerk me awake. It stopped frequently, letting people out and in to squeeze by me as the radio played. It was easy to admire the landscape and colorful houses we’d passed. I realized I’d love to come back under entirely different circumstances, trying not to tear up by hoping that opportunity might exist. Eventually we arrived and I paid the moustached driver before jogging over to meet the tall, fit man who shook my hand, introducing himself as Pedro in front of the scuba shop.

“Gracias, Pedro” I said genuinely and accepted the rubbery equipment as he explained in choppy English how to use the wet suit and fit on the life vest. I p

I am thinking more along the lines of a metal container that can resist increasing amounts of pressure, not something like a deflated beach ball. I am considering pressures beyond 1 atm.

I'm working a dieselpunk-ish science fantasy, I'm pretty much trying to put everything that I think is even remotely cool into one setting.

And one of the things that I think is cool is "space opera style space combat"!

That is space combat taking place at relatively slow speeds and at close ranges, by slow big ships firing at each other while smaller more nimble ships duel each other and make runs at large enemy ships.

This is terribly unrealistic, space combat is likely going a mixture of submarine warfare and sniper combat. However that's not as visually entertaining, and while my setting may reach that point eventually its many,many centuries away.

For now its follows the rules of space opera combat, and I need a good reason for that to be the case. Just going"cause reasons" isn't good enough.

So I've been trying to come up with a good reason it. Introducing a real aether to the setting is the best thing that I've been able to come up with. I have been tweaking the aether's properties to the conditions that I want.

• The aether is an omnipresent field of exotic particles that flows from its home dimension through the cosmos and back in an a cycle. Aether is visible giving space a faint silvery haze.

• Aether disrupts radar and communications, its particles make beam weapons useless(somehow).

• Aether is everywhere but not very dense or visible on planets(for some reason), aether can be used for flight and levitation. Through the aethereal engine. the ae-engine resonates with the aether to generate lift and thrust, a certain type of engine even allows for zeppelin like aether buoyancy. However using the aether for thrust is a little different from simply floating, thrusting against the aether generates a destructive-feedback. Difficulties in compensating for this feedback is the main limiting factor on ship speed.

• The aether acts like a fluid(which air technically is) so ships with aether engines behave as though they were in atmosphere minus gravity's pull. They also have to deal with aethereal currents.

[Perhaps the feedback compensators scale up poorly which is why there are small nimble fighters and big slow cruisers?]

• the aethereal plane called the [sub-aether](http://moa.omnimulti.com/Sub-Ether_Drive_(Outlaw_Star) is used for FTL travel

20% of all wordbank names and if you buy 3, the cheapest is exclusive for free.

1. Tatters Pos

2. Stories Generated

3. Polyphonic

4. Guitar Greenland Spoke

5. Hallowed Heinz [Locked]

6. Mercenary Lounged

7. Venereal Assembly

8. Barometer Variablity

9. Transformation Probity

10. Obituary Spot

11. Castle

12. Adverb Mistress

13. Spencer Theoretic

14. Hudson Archduke Mammal

15. Nothing Sake

16. Homily Clairvoyant Shield

17. Ecommerce Callow

18. Scrawl Atlas

19. Iambic Watchfulness

20. Nursing Marksmen Shift

21. Coral Possibilities

22. Elective

23. Runaway Quibble

24. Hic Alfonso Loose

25. Invatation Outdone

26. Noose Paradise

27. Powder Wisdom

28.Wedlock Draw

29. Maintains Proved

30. Embarkation Journalism

31. Bleaching Squalid

32. Qualification Foef

33. Maiden Elective

34. Genesis Runaway

35. Fantasing Nursing

36. Sherry Bbw

37. Thieving Genesis

38. Marsh Monty Simplify

39. Transgressed Beguiling

40. Abaft Should

41. Visitor Visitor Indebtedness

42. Essays Grunt

43. Trumpeter Recruit

44. Downloadable Homicide

45. Manufactored Msg

46. weddings Boasting Lunacy

47. Acme Grinder

48. Chem Convention

49.Theoretical Gold

50. Locale Shortage

51. Protecting Components

52. Un Dated

53. Loth

54. Stewart Aj

55. Unsubscribe Combining

56. Greek Penetration

57. Individual

58. Unbalanced Customer

59. Perpetuate Buying

60. Perennial Deadline Str

61. Hellas Evening

62. Protected Suspension

63. Varlet

64. Dsl Cardiac Availability

65. Lard Face Jot

66. Peacock Effusive

67. Notoriously Armful

68. Quizzes Purification

69. Asia Lock

70. Peacemaker Rebus

71. Debase Festal Electrode

72. Kay Phonograph

73. Comeliness

74. Delusive Minimize

75. Allow Numeric

76. Comic Eighty-Seven Decipher

77. Tall Bicycle

78. Red Hot Autocratic

79. Bowling Mozilla

80. Cravat

81. Voted Rapacious

82. Favourite Shaky

83. Probably Maryland

84. Oration Plate

85. Lotus Spaniel

86. Metaphor

87. Quit Infinite

88. Montana Incumbent Podcasts

89. Powerseller Simulations

90. Discourteous

91. Enlargement Mumbai

92. Offal

93. Hankering

94. Dad Captious

95. Enterprise Priorities

96. Surge Buffeted

97. Uncontrollable French

98. Slime Promotion

99. Blogger Poison

100. Factor

101. Tiles Milling

102. Modular Nowise

103. Wang Suavity

104. Njordomir Dd Potter

105. Pd Impersonation 597

106. Insipid Pervade Woman

Gnomish Air Prison (Mark VI)

The old witches interpretation of the stars on the Night of Crows said we would find Lady Ferra’s tomb between the Three Sister Isles. Curnan the Blessed shook his head as this didn’t make any sense. The only thing between the three sister isles was ocean; deep ocean if the fishermen were to be believed. They are islands after all.

He had related this conundrum to the party. No sooner had Curnan finished, they were approached by a few interested gnomes. They had overheard the cleric’s tale and believed that they had a solution to his problem.

That was yesterday evening, today he and his party were on a small ship with a throng of excited gnomes heading toward what looked like two barges supporting the largest overturned cauldron he had ever seen. He was still mystified on how this was considered “assistance” to his mission. The chief gnome grinned and said, “Now, you might think that a boat that doesn’t float is a bad thing. Well dismiss that thought at once.” Gesturing to the scene on the horizon, “I present to you, the Air Prison, mark VI, the best we have for vertical ocean voyages.”

Description

The Air Prison (Mark VI) looks like an upside down cauldron that is roughly 75’ in diameter and 40’ in height. The opening of the cauldron (on the bottom) has been fitted with a heavy iron column. The inside of the column has a ladder that allows passengers to climb up into the vessel. Three sets of retractable landing gear are attached to the outside of the column.

Main Level

By climbing the ladder, they enter the vessel in the middle of the main deck. Around the edges are stacks of gear and the various control stations for the retractable legs. Another ladder on one side, will take you up above to the mezzanine.

Mezzanine

The mezzanine is basically a catwalk that goes all around the inside of the cauldron but also has an opening in the center where the captain can oversee the crew. Here we also find beds for the crew and passengers and a desk for the captain.

Various charts are on the wall next to strange gauges. Also on the mezzanine, six ropes spaced evenly around the center. Each rope descends down past the main level and into the water and supports a heavy weight. These can be moved around or cut to adjust balance and depth.

The only other object that goes through the entry port and down into the water is a long stick. This is the Ocean Floor Early Warning System

I'm going on a liveaboard trip in September with a co-worker (Bahamas). This co-worker is an experienced diving instructor who does liveaboard trips every year. This will be my first one.

As a caveat for me going I asked if he would be willing to certify me for AOW, and he agreed. When going over costs for the liveaboard he mentioned all fees, and then tossed in "plus whatever you want to give me for certifying you." I am cool with giving him whatever is fair, but I don't know what fair is. While most of the certification dives will be "tick the box" we will be using the week to work on my buoyancy for future cave classes. So, I'm getting excellent instruction even if it's not necessarily what I'm getting certified in.

My question is what a fair amount would be to compensate him. He doesn' have a shop or price list (he does for tech diving, not open water). My next step is to ask him, but was curious as to what I should expect. Any guidance is appreciated.

Our ship’s engines cut out 125 miles off the coast of Oman, in the Arabian Sea. Zane and I checked our gear for the thousandth time since we suited up. I knew him well enough; we’d worked together previously on larger dive teams, but I wouldn’t consider him more than a colleague. All I needed was a competent partner, and he certainly was that. A veteran of countless dives, Zane was quite qualified to pick up this contract. I’m no slouch either- I worked as a commercial diver for most of my twenties on oil rigs and for the past sixteen years, I’ve been a diving instructor. Given my skill set and experience, if the job is reasonably close, I don’t pass up a lucrative opportunity if it comes my way.

For this job, our primary objective was to identify the cause of a wreck. A relatively small container ship went down 3 weeks ago in stormy waters. Rescue teams picked up most of the crew, but a handful remained missing. Sonar revealed that the wreck site ended up on a seamount and was shallow enough that they could send humans to investigate. I suppose shallow is a strange word to use for a 755-foot dive. It’s difficult to be sure, but I’ve dived deeper- and in worse conditions.

Zane and I back-fell off the boat and set our dive computers. The HUDs on our dive masks lit up, giving us hands-free info on our depth and gases. Our employers had spared no expense with this operation. Redundant equipment is the key to preventing emergencies. Between our pony bottles and many stage cylinders, I felt at ease. Not complacent, mind you; complacency is one of the greatest dangers to an experienced diver.

The crew lowered the shot line which sank out of sight, the winch operator letting out line at a steady rate. We finished checking for leaks and when the dive manager gave the all clear; we began our descent.

The cold embrace of the open ocean enveloped us. I felt at peace. I was back in my element.

We paused a touch over 150 feet to allow time for our systems to switch gases. Heliox is wonderful stuff. It lasts exponentially longer at depth and cuts down on resurface time. Your voice gets annoyingly high-pitched, but at least anyone you talk to over comms hears an automatically generated pitch-dropped version. My digits tingled, and I felt a bit woozy. The narcosis effects are precisely why they paid us the big bucks; we were somewhat acclimated over the course of our careers, and could be trusted to make calm, rational decisions under pressure. After adjusting, we

I met kevin last year when I first took my Open Water Diver classes (the entry-level)

Kevin was a nice person who thought he knew things, but in fact didn't. A Dunning-Kruger effect type of person

• Snorkel

In OWD classes, you learn to use scuba gear (regulator and buoyancy compensator) and use it in the deep of a pool. That experience can sometimes scare people off (breathing underwater either seems extremely fun, my case, or extremely wrong and freaks out people).

All the class does its thing and mounts properly their regulator and BC on the cylinder and off we go to the bottom of the pool for our first lesson. Except Kevin.

Kevin would go to the bottom, attempt to take a breath and ascend back to the surface. This worried the instructors, because of the way gases work (holding your breath is dangerous, to say it shortly). In fact, the instructor observed him once and started laughing.

Instead of taking the regulator in his mouth, Kevin would take his snorkel in his mouth and went down. He had a snorkel with a top (it blocks water from entering) and tried to breath. Basically, it sucked close to nothing, since a snorkel is a very small thing.

After the issue was solved, the instructor noticed he had trouble breathing. Kevin, not listening to the instructor, had not opened his cylinder properly and had close to no air in his regulator. Now, that could have been dangerous if he had ascended, but the instructor had him close to himself so he could fix any other problem he had.

• lead

To dive, you need lead. If you're a muscular person, you won't need as much as a fat person who weighs the same (IE a body builder weighing 220 lbs won't need lead in a pool, while a 220 lbs fat person will need some). Kevin was fat, but didn't understand how buoyancy worked. If he weighed 220, he wouldn't need lead, right? Well... Kevin didn't understand it.

I spent 15 minutes in our third class having a chuckle seeing Kevin, not leaded, floating at the surface, while the instructor kept adding lead to him and try to pull him down (it looked like someone tried to keep a bowling pin from flying away in a tornado).

• Nitrogen

In scuba diving classes, you learn how dangerous a dive could be if you didn't have the proper training, mostly because staying too deep for too long builds up nitrogen in your bloodstream and going back to the surface would cause bubbles to form and that could kill you.

Kevin thought this would help with buyancy at the end of a dive.

Basic

On August 18th 2010, Ben McDaniel, a 30 year old scuba diver, vanished 115ft underwater in the cave at Vortex Spring, in Ponce De Leon, FL. Ben was last seen by two Vortex Spring (VS) employees at the gate blocking untrained and non-certified divers from entering the most dangerous parts of the cave. Ben did not have the certification required to rent the gate’s key from the dive shop. Fearing Ben would get tangled up and drown, the employee, Eduardo Taran, decided it would be safer to unlock the gate for the determined diver. That was the last time anyone saw Ben. More than 16 volunteer Rescue/Recovery cave divers exhaustively searched every nook and cranny in the furthest, deepest areas of the cave, followed by an extensive above-ground search with cadaver dogs, over the course of 36 days. There was a clear lack of any signs that Ben’s body was hidden somewhere in the cave, and the evidence that was found was suspicious. The search for Ben continued above water, but left investigators, Ben's family, and the diving community trying to make sense of contradictory evidence. The online diving community began to wonder if Ben was ever even in the depths of the cave... If Ben is not in the cave, is he dead or alive, and where is he?

Welcome to the 3rd installment of a comprehensive multi-part series about the disappearance of Ben McDaniel. Thanks for your patience everyone. Earlier this week, I developed some killer eye strain and a terrible headache that kept me from using my tablet or computer. I'm still having some trouble with it, so I may not be in the comments quite as much this time. Since I've gotten such a great response about these getting long, I'm investing some more time into them. Let's get back to the case at hand...

The most plausible theories about what happened to Ben include:

A. Ben accidentally drowned while exploring the furthest reaches of the cave, and his body is wedged in some crevice or buried in sand, where it remains hidden.

B. Ben committed suicide by purposefully squeezing into a tight space that search divers cannot go, knowing he would not be able to get back out.

C. Ben faked his own death by making it appear like he drown in the cave, but had actually exited the water safely, leaving his old life behind.

D. Ben fell victim to some sort of foul play either during or after his dive, and his body was hidden, either inside or outside of the cave.

Part

I was watching a YouTube video on the death of a diver, and just became curious with the process of diving. I couldn't really find an answer on google. I know that divers use what is called a Buoyancy compensator to achieve neutral buoyancy to stay in one spot and negative buoyancy to descend, but what do they do when they want to return to the surface and ascend, do they simply add more air into their buoyancy device and kick up?

I am in the process of getting my open water certification and right now we are working on neutral buoyancy. I understand the concepts, but actually hovering above the bottom of the pool is easier said than done (at least for me). I am especially having trouble with pivoting on my fin tips. For some reason I can't seem to keep my fin tips on the bottom of the pool, instead they want to keep folding up so that I am U-shaped. Does anyone have advice for this, because my instructor really didn't know what to say.

I just did my AOW at Tioman, Malaysia over the weekend and I'm very confused about the weights. I did a total of 6 dives, 4 on the first day and 2 on the second day.

I'm about 155lbs, used the same bcd throughout the 2 days, no wetsuit, only a rash guard and swim pants so no need to compensate for the extra buoyancy.

Day 1, first dive was to practice and achieve peak buoyancy. Did the check of weights on the surface on I was perfectly weighted with about 8.8lbs of weights. Descended to the bottom, knelt down and did the close my eyes, feel where I'm falling to check position of weights. Everything was perfect. Buoyancy was spot on.

2nd dive, still good and same amount of weights.

3rd dive, post lunch and my weighting gets thrown off totally. Could get to the bottom with 8.8lbs but a minute later I start floating up. Instructor had to add on 4 lbs on the back on my tank. Went down and dived till I had 50 bars left and couldn't do my safety stop at all. Just floated to the surface.

4th dive, can't remember much. Had a terrible headache cause mask was too tight.

Day 2, 1st dive. Used 13 lbs of weight but still didn't manage to do my safety stop.

2nd dive, used 17 lbs of weight and finally felt perfectly weighted.

Is it common that we will need to change the amount of weights we use so often? Does that mean I have to check every single time I enter the were? Also came to the conclusion that it's better to be over weighted than under weighted.