Dirt Hidden Under The Carpet

Air cylinders testers are rare, so for many years, and from different venues, I have sent my scuba tanks to the same company for test. And for many years the service has been problematic. Delays in collection, missed return dates. Cylinders leaking on filling, manifolds not sealed etc.
Finally enough was enough, bullet bit I commissioned our own in house testing service, paid out the money for the gear and the training, inspection, authorisation and bingo we now do our own. We are IDEST Test Centre 6W. Now we are opening cylinders for the first time and peering in, looking for rust, checking the valve threads. What do we find, rust and bad valves. How come in the last 6 years I do not recall ever having one being brought back needing new valves or requiring rust blasted out? We learned in our training that it is a requirement, when servicing a valve to replace all the innards. How come I have not seen that done before? Well all I can say is this. When we service your cylinder, we will do it quickly, efficiently and thoroughly. If there is rust inside, we will find it and rectify it. The valve will be stripped, cleaned and have the service parts changed. The valve and cylinders threads will be tested and the cylinder will be 02 clean. It might not be quite so cheap, but it wont be hiding something nasty!

British Divers Are Best

Having just dived with Dressel Divers in Mexico I am once again filled with admiration for us Brits. There the water was warm, the currents mild, the weather hot and sunny. The stress levels were about zero on the sphincter scale. So why on a 10 to 12 meter deep night dive I was briefed to come up after 45 min's or I would be out of air! Why physically turn on my torch and tell me NOT to touch it until after the dive when the dive leader would turn it off! Why operate the kit of a diver to do a buoyancy check when with over 100 dives to her credit she can very comfortably do it herself? Why, why why treat a group of 4 divers, consisting 2 Master Scuba Divers, an Instructor and a Course Director in the same way as a Discover Scuba! Well to be honest its probably resort instructor burn-out syndrome (RIBOS). That's where you are so glad to get your American guest to survive 45 minutes without a disaster that everything blurs into one and all customers are a threat! It made me think of the divers I see here, and it made me appreciate their skills, particularly buoyancy, navigation, the simple ability to actually fin! To breath deeply and slowly, and not to use the low pressure inflator as a lift button. Well done British divers, pat yourself on the back, that effort paid off! You are a cut above.

Hammerhead Heaven

For those of you lucky enough to be off to Sharm soon, good news. Get to the back of Jackson Reef and the Hammerhead Sharks are there a plenty. 16 sightings on one dive alone. Wonderful creatures, such grace. The best advice if you want to see them. Keep the group tight - like a bait ball - stay around 14 metres and when the first few appear do not, in any circumstances swim towards them. Once the sentinels have come for a look if you don't spook them they will disappear to return with the rest of the group for a look. Then if you keep the tight grouping they will stay for a really good look at you!

A Product I Can Recommend

As many of you know I am an opinionated, individual. Not one for sitting on the fence, if I like something I'm only too happy to share my delight and if I come across a real bummer I squeal like a good'n.
Well have I got a dose of delight for you. Last week in Sharm, and I apologise for the missing week of blogging, I tried the new Cressi Travel Light BCD. At 5.5lbs it certainly lacks weight, but with integrated weights, big pockets, metal D rings, trim pouches and three dump points it definitely packs punch. All from a BC that will fold up to the size of your old school plimsoll bag!
So clearly it must have faults - the weight pouches fall out - No. Lacking in lift - No. Feeble construction - No. Sorry I dived it the whole week, 16 times in all, and couldn't fault it. I wholly and unreservedly say - Well done Cressi, 10 out of 10, one of the best diving products I've ever bought!

Oh No Not Sharm Again!

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Sharm and frankly I'm over the moon, so I'm amazed to hear people questioning why I'm going there for the 30th plus time. 'You have seen everything there' seems to be the favorite remark. I don't agree and I'll tell you why. If I walk in a wood and stand under an Oak tree for 20 minutes in December I would never claim to have seen everything that tree has to offer. To start with it has no leaves, in the spring it will grow some, in the summer it will flower and in the autumn it has acorns, then the leaves change colour and fall. And that's just the tree, I've not mentioned the effects of weather or light or even the visiting wildlife. So you see I will always see new things every time I dive in Sharm or on any other site and that's why I'm over the moon.

Swan Rescue

I had a strange encounter with a swan today outside the dive centre. It just didn't look right, it was just standing there, swaying and stumbling. So being an interfering kind of bloke I went up to it and stood next to it - him i should say to be precise. and he just looked at me. 'Fluffy', er yes I named him, then waddled towards me and sat down right next to me. Now I'm no expert but I knew 'Fluffy' was not acting according to the usual swan protocols here. So I picked him up and set him on the back of the pick up where, until the Swan Rescue Service man appeared, we had a big cuddle. 'Fluffy' is now recovering from what appears to be a bit of food poisoning. It made me think though, why did I react? Simple I'm a First Aider and Rescue Diver, I'm trained to take notice of the unusual, and have the confidence to react to it. So if any of you want to have the confidence to react to an unusual or problematic situation why not complete your Rescue Course this summer.

Please note no swans were harmed in the writing of this blog.

My Top 10 Diving Dislikes

We all have them - our pet hates. You know the event, issue or subject that just hits the spot on the grumble gland every time. Here's some of mine............
Lateness. The van leaves for the dive site at..... and it doesn't.
I didn't read the manual - nobody told me I had to.
Can I move my course from tomorrow as I can work overtime, have a wedding, hangover etc
No I cannot swim - is it important.
Twinned bottles without a manifold.
My regs don't need servicing I had them done three years ago.
As I've bought a mask and a snorkel can I have 70% off
This is a low fill it only has 231bar in it
Why do you charge for an air fill - air's free
I bought this from x,y,or z diving at the dive show and its broken will you sort it out under guarantee.

Whats your top pet hate?