Elizabeth Miller asked:


At the southern-most tip of the USA is beautiful San Diego, California — my home town and a playground for every water sport from skiing, sailing and surfing to fishing, snorkeling and scuba diving.
As a scuba diver you’ll find an exciting variety of marine life in Wreck Alley, in various kelp forests and in La Jolla’s massive underwater park.
The park combines La Jolla Submarine Canyon and Scripps Canyon, an underwater treasure of marine life including some of the more bizarre creatures among us.
The valley of this huge canyon system is about 1600 feet down. Its steep walls rise into two branches just made for convenient scuba diving access from the beach at either the La Jolla Cove or La Jolla Shores.
At the La Jolla Shores side you can start at the foot of Valicitos Street and swim to the buoys that mark the canyon’s upper reaches. Better be pretty skilled at swimming in surf. Otherwise, take a scuba diving charter boat out of Mission Bay.
By the time you’ve descended to about 30 feet you’ll be at the Scripps Canyon rim and its precipitous, narrow walls that plunge ever deeper toward the abyss. Be very careful here because the dropoff is nearly vertical at some points, often involving overhanging walls.
Visibility is good but variable due to upwellings and occasional strong currents. Winter water temperature is in the 50s; summer water gets up to the high 60s and sometimes low 70s.
Scuba divers and scientists alike have made the La Jolla and Scripps Canyons one of the most-studied undersea environments in the world. You can see the prestigious Scripps Institution of Oceanography and pier from any point along the La Jolla coastline. La Jolla Canyon’s fan valley was the site of the world’s first deep oceanic drillings, where core samples were retrieved from thousands of feet below the sea floor in 1961.
15 minutes south of La Jolla is Wreck Alley, about a mile off Mission Beach. Here you can explore artificial reefs created by eight sunken ships and a couple of unlikely structures that got there by both accident and intent.
The latest addition is the 366-foot Canadian destroyer Yukon, which was intentionally sunk here in about 100 feet of water during the year 2000. The Yukon still has years to go before it can compete with its older companions as a showpiece of densely populated cover.
The Ruby E, a 170-foot Coast Guard cutter resting in about 70 feet of water, was covered bow to stern with brilliantly colored Corynactis Californica anemones only a few years ago. But being one of the most beautiful sights for scuba divers’ eyes brought so much scuba diving traffic that some of the life has disappeared. Yet you can still drift through the wheelhouse and be absolutely dazzled by thick growths in a stunning array of colors. Be sure to bring a light.
Then there’s the kelp cutter Del Rey and several smaller wrecks, all with much more growth than the others because of lighter scuba diving traffic.
Now if you want to feel like you’re on an underwater highway, be sure to visit the Ingraham Street Bridge at about 60 feet down. It was demolished and dumped here in the ’50s or ’60s to make way for a new bridge in Mission Bay Aquatic Park. Now with some 50 years of cover it has become more like a natural reef with abundant growths of kelp, fans and algae, great colonies of filter feeders and all the marine life that comes to nibble.
Finally, there’s NOSC Tower, thanks to a 20-foot wave that dealt a fatal blow in the dark of one 1988 winter night. For three decades the NOSC Tower had served as a research platform off Mission Beach for the Naval Electronics Lab and the Naval Ocean Systems Center. Now it’s a twisted mass of steel covered with anemones, mussels and star for fabulous scuba diving in a world of stunning color. Bring a light for the show and a sharp knife for the fishing line and rope that you’re likely to find.
Bring your camera too, of course, for a great photography dive. Visibility averages 15-25 feet and by the way, hunting is not wanted here.
You can reach this great scuba location on such Mission Bay charter boats as Blue Escape (619-223-3483), Dive Connection (619-523-9282) and DiveQuest (800-303-3483).

CoffeeBean asked:


Mask
Fins
Torch
Wetsuit
Regulator
Other gadgets worth mentioning?

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PAGRO asked:


Searching the web I came across : http://www.divers-supply.com/
Is this a legit site to buy scuba equipment? has someone purchased from them?.

I am looking to get a dive computer (OCEANIC VERSA WRIST PDC). It is a basic, cheap computer, but their advertised price beats all prices online.

Here is the link: http://www.divers-supply.com/OCEANIC-VERSA-WRIST-PDC-p/oce0109.htm
scubabob: I am shopping around and came across that particular site. I am by no means wealthy (maybe you are). So let’s do this, where is your LDS?. what is their phone #?. Or better yet, entertain me, and ask them if they carry the item in question, and let me know what their price is…
scubabob: thanks for the price info. Where is your LDS?. Does he have a website? Why do you ask about nitrox? I thought this dive computer was both air/nitrox. Anyway, I am a new recreational diver, with only 8dives (max 95ft), and planning another trip to the caribbean for another 7-8dives in june. I don’t own any of the equipment, and wanted to buy the basic (fins, mask and maybe 3mm wetsuit) + dive computer. Based on my needs I am looking at entry level models for the computer as well as basic equipment. Maybe you or your LDS can suggest a sub $200 dive computer for my needs, as well as decent mask, fins, wetsuit.. send me a private if u want. thanks for the info.
forgot to say, I live near NYC, where most LDS are highly overpriced since they cater to certain customers with lots of disposable income.. I don’t fit the bill

jvstiniann asked:


What would you think the best and most important equipment is to buy after all the basics? BC? Dive computer? First, second stage etc??

jamie i asked:


My ears feel like they’re gonna pop when i get to about 2 and a half metre’s and i’;m going to sharm el sheikh in a month, any tips?

I can’t really aford to have diving lessons before i go.

Clare Hudson asked:


Within a decade, technical diving has moved from being the preserve of extremists to becoming a main stream, yet specialized, field. The rationale behind technical diving has been reached only after passing through a series of challenges and scrutiny in the past. In the late 1980s the International Association of Nitrox Technical Divers became the first specialized technical training centre, marking a revolution in diving. For the recreational Scuba diver, the diving depth limit is 40m and the diver should surface directly in up an unrestricted course. However, technical divers enjoy unlimited diving depth and the diver may need to resurface along a more restricted route such as in technical cave diving. Wreck diving also challenges the diver’s ability to cope with unstable conditions and the maze-like corridors in a wreck. After a deep dive, the diver’s body has absorbed a large amount of inert gas (mainly nitrogen). There is a life-threatening danger in surfacing without following a proper decompression process during the ascent.

Technical diving is a relatively risky activity; therefore, the training course follows stricter rules when admitting students. The instructor has the right to refuse non-suitable candidates onto courses such as technical cave diving and re-breather diving. Generally, students participating in basic technical diving courses should have at least two to three years of diving experience, perhaps even as certified recreational diving instructors.

The main difference between technical divers and recreational divers is not their experience or courage, but their mind set. Recreational divers are happy to swim over coral and fish, while technical divers are eager to test their limits. At a depth of 300 feet, the diver’s personality, clear mind and technique are under massive stress. Even a minor mistake can lead to uncontrolled results in this environment. Therefore, psychological fitness is even more important than physical fitness for a technical diver.

How should you choose a technical diving training agent? There are about five international training centres in Hong Kong, including the founding agent IANTD and PADI. Several points should be considered when selecting a training centre: equipment availability and standard, insistence on reasonable and correct training procedures, the experience of the technical diving instructors, and the opinions of ex-students. Though cost could be another point to consider, the difference of a hundred or a thousand dollars is meaningless compared with the value of your life.

The course structure of a technical diving course is similar to a recreational one in that everyone starts from a basic level, even if you are a qualified instructor or experienced diver. The technical deep dive course comprises three different levels under the IANTD and PADI systems. The basic course is named Advanced Nitrox Diver (IANTD) or Apprentice Tech Deep Diver (PADI). It teaches the student the benefits, hazards and proper procedures to dive to a 45m depth using high content oxygen for rapid decompression. This is deeper than the recreational diver’s limit. It is important to strictly follow the time and safety stops procedures for surfacing, otherwise decompression sickness (the Bends) could result. If a diver spends 30mins at a depth of 45m, they will need an extra 40minutes for decompression. After finishing the basic course, the student can move on to the Technical Nitrox Diver (IANTD) or Tec-Deep Diver (PADI). In this course, the student dives as deep as 55 meters with two oxygen-rich tanks (one is pure oxygen) for decompression. The 30-minute deep dive practice at 55m will necessitate another 50 mins for decompression. Apart from the deep dive practice, the student thoroughly studies the high pressure impact on the diver and psychological changes and works on improving posture and buoyancy control technique.

The final course is Trimix Diver. The diver uses a combination of low oxygen, low nitrogen and high helium gas mixtures for an 80m dive. This gas mix is essential for such a deep dive as ordinary pressurized air places negative impacts on the diver’s body at depths of more than 55m. The 21% in air after 55m depth will cause the diver to conrulse and even lose consciousness - this is oxygen toxcity. Inappropriate usage of the trimix gases, however, will also cause problems; therefore, specialized training is a must.

All the technical diving courses include lectures, pool work and deep water practice. The ratio of instructor to student is much lower than in recreational diving courses in which one instructor handles 3 to 4 students and the ratio is even stricter for certain courses, to account for the more complicated nature of the course.

Technical Diving is still a risky activity, the technique and experience learnt from technical diving can feed back into recreational diving to improve the safety standard for the whole diving industry.

snorkelman_37 asked:


I will provide an address if you have some to send to me. It will be used to teach underpriviledged adults and kids in a swimming pool.

chocolate_queen09 asked:


I have these sentences that I can’t figure out, and I need to diagram them. I just need to know what the infinitive is and what part of speech (Adj, adv, or noun) it is. If it’s a noun, I need to know whether it’s the subject, direct object, PN, or Object of Preposition.

1)The teacher assigned the class to write a friendly letter.
2)We didn’t know what to do.
3)To finish will take us hours of hard work
4)I can hardly wait to wrap my hands around a cup of hot apple cider.
5)To rent scuba diving equipment requires a certificate.

I think I know 3 and 5, but I want to make sure. I really don’t know the other 3. Thanks!

alycaamerson asked:

removing gear

fgkirkwood asked:

My Cat Nonny loves water and I love diving. When I got home from diving the other night he helped me wash my scuba gear.