Big news in the wreck diving world. Two New Jersey divers found the Andrea Doria bridge bell. The last major Andrea Doria discovery was probably the stern bell in 1985. If you read this book, then you already know that.

I always enjoy underwater photography galleries. If you do, too, click on over to David Haas’ gallery.

If you’ve ever thought about owning your own air compressor, read this article for tips first. Duane at Precision Diving spells out the advantages and disadvantages.

Maybe you have a son or nephew you’d like to introduce to scuba? PADI offers a Boy Scouts of America scuba diving merit badge. Get ‘em while they’re young.

Last week I left you with a picture of a scuba diving cat. I thought I’d even things out for dog lovers this week:

The first place I ever dove after certification was Bermuda. On one boat dive we were briefed by the divemaster in preparation for our first dive. He asked if there were any questions.

“Yeah, should we make a safety stop”, I asked. Fresh out of my checkout dives, I couldn’t remember the rules for when to make a safety stop.

The divemaster scoffed at me. “We’ll hardly be going deep enough to require a safety stop.”

Fast forward a few years. I’ve read a mountain of material for fun and as part of my professional development. Looking back on this occasion, what would I have done knowing what I know now? I most definitely would’ve made a safety stop.

In case it’s been a while since you’ve had one, a safety stop is an approximately three minute stop made at 15-20 feet (5-7 meters) at the end of a dive. For deeper dives greater than 60 feet / 20 meters, they are usually considered a requirement, and optional for anything less.

The idea is that this brief time at a relatively shallow depth will eliminate a large amount of microbubbles, an effect strongly correlated with decompression sickness. Studies have shown that a safety stop eliminates virtually all detectable bubbles, decreasing the chances of decompression sickness drastically.

I’m sold.

In fact, unless I’m short on air or in a hurry, I always make a safety stop. Even for 50 foot dives. If you have a proven way to decrease your risk, why would you not?

I don’t blame the Bermuda divemaster for what he said. If there is ever a time when it is perfectly reasonable to forego a safety stop, it is on the first dive of the day (unless it’s a deep dive). Nevertheless, I see no reason to scoff at the suggestion, as they are something everyone should take seriously and include in their dive planning.

Photo by tslane888

A year ago I was working in New Zealand. I was interested in what the local diving had to offer, so I signed up for a small trip off the local coast of Wellington. What happened on that trip turned out to be a valuable learning experience.

It was a cold morning when we pushed off from shore in a small fishing boat, six divers and two crew. I was a little nervous since I knew the water would be cold—it was winter there, after all. I wore an old, uncomfortable rented wetsuit. A farmer john that had seen more than his fair share of divers. Add in the unfamiliar equipment and all weights and cylinder measured in that odd system known as metric, and I was in an uncomfortable place to start a dive.

Once on the water the captain asked us each to introduce ourselves and briefly outline our experience. As we went around, I quickly realized I was the most unseasoned diver on the boat. Everyone else had hundreds, some thousands, of dives, most in the murky Wellington waters. Despite having recently completed my rescue diver certification, I was feeling a little intimidated when I had to announce my meager dive experience.

I was teamed up with Tom, one of the highly experienced divers, and a nice guy to boot. We did backrolls into the choppy water. With the new equipment and unfamiliar waters I was unsure of my weighting. When grabbing my weights in the shop, I had no idea how many to use. Not only were they in kilograms (although I knew the rough conversion), I had all new equipment and did not have a good starting point. I asked around what others were wearing, but I couldn’t use anyone remotely close to my size’s weights as a guide (for example, one diver had a steel plate in his BCD).

Time to descend. Instead of stopping Tom and doing a proper weight check, I didn’t want to look like an amateur and descended anyway. As soon as I slipped beneath the surface I knew I had made a mistake. Not a great way to start a dive.

Despite this ominous feeling, the dive went off without a hitch. I was cold and burning through air faster than Tom. I felt bad that I was limiting our dive time, but when my air got low, it was time to end the dive, but first, a safety stop at 5 meters.

During the safety stop I started to feel the effects of not being properly weighted. As my tank emptied, it became more buoyant, requiring more weight to stay underwater—weight that I didn’t have. Only a minute in and I was struggling to stay underwater. In fact, I was completely upside-down kicking to stay at safety stop depth. Unable to fight the buoyancy any more, I floated to the surface right before the end of the requisite three minutes, while my confused buddy watched from his safe depth.

In an attempt not to embarrass myself and look like an “amateur”, I ended up embarrassing myself far worse. Fortunately, my dive buddy was gracious and did not say anything as I found more weight for the next dive. I realized my stupid mistake and swore I would never put myself at risk again for the sake of looking more experienced. This time it wasn’t a big deal, but next time it may be in a more unforgiving environment.

No matter how little or how much you dive, there is nothing embarrassing about being safe and comfortable on all your dives. If your buddy or anyone else has a problem, then it is their problem, and you can rest assured that they’ll be the ones who end up looking inexperienced. No diver worth their salt would belittle you for being a safe and cautious scuba diver.

Photo by JennyHuang

Barracuda actually encompasses a decently sized family of fish (sawtooth, Pacific, great, red, blackfin, and more). However, the differences are marginal, so we’ll cover them all together. Over time you should start to look up the species and study the differences. At the least, you should learn the species that live in the region where you dive.

Physical description

Barracuda have long, streamlined bodies that are rounded in the middle. Some species (like the great barracuda) can reach up to 1.8 meters (almost 6 feet!) in length, while most are a couple of feet long.

Most species have a distinctive underbite, which means their lower jaw appears to jut out, revealing a nasty set of teeth. Their teeth are fang-like, sharp, pointed, and all different sizes.

Barracuda can be anywhere from brownish to bluish gray on their upper body, with silvery sides leading to a white belly. Many species may have around 20 dark bars on their upper sides. If you see dark spots on the lower sides, you are probably looking at a great barracuda.

They have a rear dorsal fin paired with an anal fin right below it. They do have a forward dorsal fin, but it is usually flat and not visible. The caudal fin is moderately forked and suggestive of their swimming power.

Geography and habitat

Barracuda live in the tropical and subtropical regions across the globe. Most species spend their time near shore in coral reefs or mangroves. Some larger species are found in the open water, usually near the surface.

Barracuda tend to be solitary fish, hovering above reefs waiting to dash at prey. Younger barracuda, however, are sometimes seen in a group, called a battery.

Danger to humans

If you’ve ever caught sight of a barracuda watching you, it can be quite unnerving. In reality, they are of little danger to humans. It is true that wearing shiny jewelry and speared fish can attract the attention of a barracuda. Despite this, an attack is unlikely to be serious, at worse requiring stitches.

Be careful while spearfishing and avoid shiny objects and the chances of an attack are reduced to negligible.

Further reading

Wikipedia
Florida Museum of Natural History

Photo by JennyHuang

This week has been oddly busy, but I’ll get a handle on things soon.

In the meantime, check out Katherine’s article on A Day in the Life of… She describes her simulation dives required for divemaster certification. Basically, you have people pretend to be newbie divers to see how you handle the situation. Worthwhile heads up if you’re thinking about a DM certification.

Diverwire reports that Divers Alert Network (DAN) has a set of upcoming free webinars entitled “I May Be Bent, Now What?” They might be interesting to check out, and did I mention they’re free?

If you’re a PADI instructor and haven’t gotten the email, PADI Instructor Info details a list of discounted products, including books and slates.

Lastly, I leave you with this picture of an awesome cat:

Scuba gear supplier scuba.com has a cool selection of instructional videos.

Currently, there are 256 videos, with most of them related to product reviews. When shopping for gear, you may be lucky and find one of your potential purchases reviewed. If nothing else, it’s a great way to get a feel for a product when buying online.

Digging further you’ll find a selection of tutorial style videos. For example, they have a video on maintaining underwater camera o-rings and a video on how to properly clean your scuba gear.

It’s a useful resource for those times when you just need to see a piece of gear or a process. I plan to reference it from time to time.

Most of the time in this article series we cover a specific species of fish. Today, we are going to broadly cover the entire family of goatfish. There are specific, named species, but in this case it’s probably not terribly useful to learn them all.

Physical description

Goatfish tend to be smaller, growing up to about 10 inches (30 cm) in length. There are some species, however, that can reach twice this size. Their bodies tend to be elongated, with a deeply forked caudal fin and two separated dorsal fins.

All goatfish have the ability to change their color depending on their activity. The exact colors and activities that spur those changes varies from species to species. Usually the changes occur whilst feeding (at night) and schooling during the day.

The most distinctive feature of goatfish is the long pair of “whiskers” that protrude from their chins. They use these to dig through sediment on the ocean floor in search of food.

Geography and habitat

Goatfish can be found all throughout the reefs of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans.

During the day goatfish form schools, often mixing with fish of other families. At night, the schools disperse as each fish feeds along the ocean bottom. Goatfish are commonly followed by scavengers hoping for a free meal stirred up by the goatfish’s whiskers.

Small goatfish can be seen feeding during the daylight hours.

Further reading

Wikipedia
Wet Web Media
Seafriends

Photo by Paul and Jill

Way back when, we gave a handful of tips for improving your air consumption. Today we have a few more.

• Be prepared. Have your equipment checked out and ready before you enter the water. Any problems will cost you in air. Also, know your dive site and bring appropriate equipment. If you know you won’t need the camera, for instance, leave it behind. It’ll improve your air consumption.
• Beware of free-flowing regulators. Some regulators tend to free-flow often. Be aware if you have one of these so you can catch it as soon as you enter the water. Free-flows drain air fast.
• Learn to kick properly. This is a topic for another article, but learning the proper kick technique will minimize wasted energy underwater.

Along with the previous list, choose one or two of these items to focus on each time you dive. You will be pleasantly surprised at how much air you’ll end dives with.

Photo by aa7ae