Lately I've gotten a few questions from friends of mine who want to learn to swim better. I'm happy to help them - especially knowing that I only tweaked my stroke into decent shape in the last few years.
If you don't know how to swim at all, seek out some classes. They'll get you in the water and make sure you don't drown in the process.
If you're more like my friends, who haven't swam much since they were kids, then I've got a suggestion for you. Go take a look at Total Immersion by Terry Laughlin and John Delves. It's full of simple ways to improve your swimming. I found it very useful to read though it a bit, then head down the pool and focus on a particular aspect of my swimming for the session.
There were two concepts that really helped me. The first was called 'press your buoy'. This translates to keeping your chest under the water. Once you do, you'll find that the rest of your body floats much better. Staying on top of the water takes less effort, translating to more efficient forward motion. The second was swapping your hands. By always keeping a hand in front of you, your body is longer in the water. Longer objects travel through water with less resistance, again resulting in more efficient swimming.
I'm a firm believer that SCUBA divers should have decent swimming skills. If yours are a little rusty, the book is a great way to tune up.
The giant squid has been an elusive critter. Every so often, bits of these puppies would wash up on shore. Getting any real research on them has been difficult. A research team managed to catch one using a smaller squid as bait on a fishing line. The team was excited that they managed to film it alive - but it died shortly after.
The squid? It was an immature female, coming in at a mere 24 feet. Interestingly enough, they found the squid by following Sperm whales to their feeding grounds. Whale sharks are still on my diving wish list - but I never want to meet one of these babies underwater
If diving with a Whale Shark is one of the grails of open water, then diving with a sedated on has to be an experience to remember.
The Georgia aquarium has several Whale Sharks. A 22 footer named Ralph received a medical exam yesterday - it involved over 50 personnel and an incredible 1500 gallons of anesthetic laced water for a two hour procedure.
That had to be an incredible experience. I had no idea that anyone had a Whale Shark that large in captivity. I'll have to add the Georgia Aquarium to my list of places to visit. [Via CNN.com]
SCUBA Theory is following the wet sessions of a unique, semester(three month) long university level Advanced Open Water SCUBA class. Last week we got the fins out. Today we're getting into basic skin diving and SCUBA skills with surface dives and water entry techniques. Most open water courses don't teach all of these entries, so it's a good series to read up on if you are already certified.
Sister blog TV Squad picked up the story of Irwin's death this morning. I'm sad he died - I was just watching the Crocodile Hunter movie with my daughter the other day. The reports say that he was stung by a sting ray in the chest - actually in the heart. I'm pretty surprised at how he died. Sting ray stings are certainly known to hurt, but death from one is pretty rare.
SCUBA Theory is following the wet sessions of a unique, semester(three month) long university level Advanced Open Water SCUBA class. Last time we hit the snorkels, today we're moving on to fins. We cover the basic kicks and then start bringing things together under the water.
SCUBA Theory is following the wet sessions of a unique, semester(three month) long university level Advanced Open Water SCUBA class. In our first session, we covered mask clearing. You might know just how much I love my snorkel. Today I'll cover the basics of snorkel clearing and we'll even start training for buddy breathing in today's SCUBA Theory.
School's starting up, and so is the Advanced Open Water class that I work with. This semester, I'm going to follow the wet sessions with my SCUBA Theory entries. The class goes far beyond what a regular dive shop can offer so even if you're certifed, you might want to check it out. Today in SCUBA Theory: neutral weighting and mask clearing
Surprise, we've got a new shark that was discovered just off the U.S. coast. It was missed before because the thing looks like a scalloped hammerhead. National Geographic has a nice shot of the entire shark. It's apparently a rare species too. This could actually have some very interesting implications for the future of the shark population as a whole.
It's been said before, but the shark population has been reduced significantly over the years. I'm hopeful that this discovery will encourage the protection of these fantastic animals. The Shark Trust has news on this one and another new species of Wobegong shark that was recently discovered off of Australia.
I was shopping around for some new tanks when I ran across this interesting toy at scubatoys.com In a nutshell, the CO Cop is a litmus test for carbon monoxide. I'm curious to know just how sensitive this thing is, but if it works, it's worth every penny.
If you haven't studied it before, Carbon Monoxide is one of those things you don't want in your air supply. Hemogloben (red blood cells) has a higher affinity for Carbon Monoxide than Oxygen. If there's enough CO in your air supply, you're body could become oxygen starved.
The main give away that a diver has CO in their air tank - aside from the dizziness, nausea, disorientation or convulsions - is a set of cherry red lips. That's right. If your dive buddy looks like he just put on some lipstick during the dive, double check him/her and end the dive.
Before I forget, the primary treatment for that (and most diving medical emergencies) is the administration of oxygen ASAP.
Have you ever been choked a bit by some stray water in your snorkel or a leaky regulator? Today I'm back with another trick to keep you more comfortable in and under the water. You can practice this one in the bath tub, shower, pool, whatever. Check out today's SCUBA Theory!
"Don't hold your breath" is a mantra heard in virtually every scuba diving course every taught. You can easily
damage your body during ascention by holding your breath during SCUBA diving. The expansion of the air can quickly cause
damage regions with very few nerve endings to tell you that you're doing bad things to yourself. Today in SCUBA Theory,
why breath holding is a valuable skill to practice.
Sport divers are instructed on the use of open circuit SCUBA. Rebreathers are a bit of an enigma. Commercial units are
expensive, complicated and get pretty weird looks on the diving boat. Surprisingly, rebreathers have been around for
longer than modern open circuit SCUBA diving. Today in SCUBA Theory, we're covering basic rebreather theory.
It looks like the real issue is a billing
disagreement between the owner of a *few* chambers and DAN. The email
that circulated about SSS refusing DAN insurance carriers was cleverly written. It listed several chambers while only a
handful are actually having a billing dispute with DAN.
The guys over at scubaboard have a really
long discussion about this. It goes on... and on... and on... Several of the scubaboard members have been
in contact with DAN and SSS. If you have lots of time it's worth a peruse.
We've covered this before, the
latest news is that David Swain is appealing the wrongful
death suit over his wife's death. Interestingly, the civil suit was filed in Rhode Island, while the actual events
occurred in the Caribbean, where the death was ruled an accident by local authorities. The jury awarded several million
dollars to her parents. The articles were pretty sketchy on the details. It will probably take a while for the
Rhode Island Supreme Court to decide if they'll hear the case.
Lately I've gotten a few questions from friends of mine who want to learn to swim better. I'm happy to help them - especially knowing that I only tweaked my stroke into decent shape in the last few years.
The giant squid has been an elusive critter. Every so often, bits of these puppies would wash up on shore. Getting any real research on them has been difficult. A research team 
If diving with a Whale Shark is one of the grails of open water, then diving with a sedated on has to be an experience to remember.
Sister blog 
SCUBA Theory is following the wet sessions of a unique, semester(three month) long university level Advanced Open Water SCUBA class. In our first session, we 
hammerhead. National Geographic 
I was shopping around for some new tanks when I ran across this interesting toy at 
