Darth Vader used to say... The Force is strong with this wan..... then heavy breathing follows ....

This is has to be the only think you cannot go diving without… seriously and of cause the most complex equipment yet
Yes we are talking about the regulator set.. The Regulator set is infact a combination of a number of different components
Each components can be swap out and change about with different brands too…

From the picture you can see my selection. The Primary Stage or 1st Stage is the top most metal component..That is by Apollo Japan. They make pretty decent recreational equipment.. and its balanced. Meaning it would give me the same demand and delivery of Air Supply at Any recreational diving dept up to 45 or 60 meters.

My regulator or 2nd stage is the Black piece with the silver trimmings. Its so far had been performing well for me but can be a little bit noisy Lol , hence the Darth Vader Joke … Its the same make as the 1st or Primary stage. The SPG or Air Guage is from Cressi, its the cheapest in the market and comes with a dept meter too in meters.

My Aux or Octos is the bright yellow Oceanic. I choose that model because of its low profile see the picture below.

The main reason why we divers have 1 breathing components is because the yellow colored ones are for emergency air supply support to your dive buddy. A dive buddy is who you have been paired off which every single dive. It could be someone you know or not.. the system works in a way PADI diving schools encourages recreational divers to always dive in pairs.. that way it dramatically reduces the chances for underwater accidents.
Now you would ask? what if theres not enough air to go around?? usually when the Dive leaders try to assign dive buddies they would pair the stronger diver with the not so strong diver… meaning if you havent had a constant dive buddy travelling with you , if you have good air consumption ratio , you usually get paired with someone who consumes air pretty much faster then you do. How we measure that is by the below device at the end of every dive.

The first dial displays the dept you are at and at the surface the red marker shows how deep you went. It is reading that my last dive was over 20meters. And when we climb onboard the boat , the dive masters would record how much air we have left on the bottom dial. Usually the red areas 50 bar and below are considered dangerous to continue diving… its best practice to be already ending a dive when you have touched 50 bar…
On average, a normal Guy can finish a deep dive profile of 10 mins below 25 meters , 15 to 20 mins above 20 meters and finally 20 mins above 15 meters. The reason we have different time limits for different depths is because compress air behaves very differently at every 10 meters.
At every 10 meters , the air and your body is taking on another level of pressure. The air we breath is compressed further so , technically you are breathing more of the air thats been compress to a lesser volume hehe… not very encouraging I know.. wish we all could grow gills then eh??? me too.
Still even we carry a significant low supply of AIR, there are strict rules to follow that makes us very safe too.
Number 1 rule of diving is actually rather ironic too… Never ever hold your breathe. Even when the regulator is knocked out of your mouth by accident , you are not suppose to ever hold your breathe… you must immediately allow small bubbles of air leak out through your lips. The reason is when air is in your lung and you are going up , the air you had taken in at higher water pressure at deeper levels slowly expands outwards. Therefore filling your lungs up more. So imagine you hold your breathe and it expands further? yes you will burst like a balloon for your lungs. Thats the most common type of fatal accident that can happen. Its very rare , so rare its safer to dive then to drive hahaha.
Ok thats all for now.. Take care and happy diving !!!

IF ONLY I AM A FISH !.... THEN I DONT NEED THESE

Today I going to talk about MASK !
Its one of the major part of the scuba diving sports , but has been a favorite debate subjects…
some would even go to war ! defending what they feel is the best type of FINS … or MASK.
There are generally 3 Types of MASK in my point of view. Please dont flam me if you dont like my selections hehehe.
There are for MASK, FRAMED MASK, FRAME LESS MASK and PARA MASK.
FRAME LESS MASK.

The reason why its frame less is becos as you can see the plastic or rubber is moulded around the glass part of the mask. This in turn gives it a lower profile. The reason for my choice is the closer the glass is to the face of the user, generally you can get more viewable area hehe, think about tunnel vision.
Since if it was a framed mask, its plastic frame would be thicker, you will experience less field of vision. Also the lower the amount of air between your face and the mask, the less chances you can feel the suck out effect. This is due to the air been compressed by the water around you when you go deeper into the sea. That can be usually balanced out by blowing a little air out of your noses when you fee; the face squeeze hehe.
Now there are 2 points when you are buying and preparing a mask.


See the picture above. This is how you been testing a mask when you look right into it. Now without putting the rubber band around and over your head just lightly place the mask over your nose and eyes.
Next just inhale slightly through your nose and let go of the mask while your head is looking straight down. If the mask is a good fit on your face profile or type , it should be able to stay in place on your face and wont drop off by itself after 20 secs. If it has a bad fit around your face, the air around you will seep into the mask and cause it to slowly peel off. Thats the simplest rules to test the fitting of the mask on your face.
Now to prepare the new mask for use, its a bit more tricky, some might ask you to just put tooth paste on the inside of the mask glass parts and leave over night and wash it off with a tooth brush and running water.
The reason is all new mask comes with some kind of chemical coating on the inside of the glass part of a mask. Its a factory default. Therefore you need to peel or wash off that layer to prevent the mask from foggin easily while using it underwater.
What I learned is a bit more effective but needs a steady hand. I would prepare my mask by using a small lighter, the type you can buy off the tobacco or cigarette counters. Then slowly warm the inside of the glass part surface, as you do that you can clearly see the heat from the small flam slowly but surely burning off and evaporating off the chemical coatings with all new Mask. Once you got to heat off all the glass surface inside the mask, you maybe leave it to cool for 10 mins and then wash off the inside with tap water.
Now all you need to do is to spit saliva into it and wash it off with sea water and you are guaranteed clear vision through out a 1 hour dive hehehe . Of cos some more civilized divers unlike myself would still prefer to use commercial anti fog products on the inside of the treated mask glass part instead hahahaha.
Thanks for reading this blog and take care.