Houston's Premier Scuba and Dive Shop Oceanic Ventures Inc.

(713) 523-3483 (dive)
5808 Newcastle Drive
Houston, TX 77401

Archives for February 2012

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Need a reason to take that Trimix Course?

Underwater Object Discovered300ft down.. perfect reason for me to get hypoxic & expedition trimix certified.  Such were the words of one of our clients, John Mittendorf.  What was John talking about you ask?  Well it seems a group of Swedish treasure hunters discovered a perfectly round object at the bottom of the Sea of Bethena off the coast of Sweden.  According to the team, it is unusual because it is perfectly round and appears to have a “drag” clearing leading up to it.

Of course there are other reasons to take a Trimix course.  Imagine being able to swim with huge sponges reaching out and up from the depths along the walls in Grand Cayman.  Visit a turn of the century sailing ship in the Dry Tortugas or a WW II submarine from the United States and another from Germany; these await deep divers in the Dry Tortugas.  There are some incredible sites waiting for Trimix divers around the world including, caves, wrecks and walls.  Dave and I have been fortunate to have visited a number of them over the past few years and we are always looking for some other adventurous souls to join us.

John, may be right.  This might just be the reason to continue his rebreather training to include Hypoxic and Expedition Trimix.  Of course you will also need some practice in a dry suit.

Here is what CNN reported about the find:

 

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From the Highlands to the Islands – A Tasting Event

Scotch GlassRecently, David Morris and I were sipping on a special glass of uisge beatha, which was a recreation of the spirits carried by Shakelton on his Antarctic expedition when we both had an idea.  Wouldn’t it be fun to do a Scotch whisky tasting?  We did a bourbon tasting last year so it seemed only natural to shift our attention to Scotland.  So, David being the resourceful person that he is came up with a plan and voila we had an event.

With a little more thinking, refinement and an ambassador or two,  we have assembled a really fine event that will be a real treat for our Club Aquarius members and our guests.  On February 23, we will be hosting Andrew Hyman, from Whyte and MacKay, who will be leading us on a tour of Scotland through our palettes.  He has promised to bring us a selection of Whisky from The Dalmore Distillery and the Jura Distillery.  To make this event even more special, we will be in the Whisky Bar of the Royal Oak Bar and Grille which is located at 3100 Westheimer.  As Ann would say, this bar is decorated in old world stuffy so it is an appropriate location for our event.

If you are in the area or plan on being here, please join us for this special event.  In order to bring enough whisky and hors d’oeuvres, we need to know you are coming.  Please email us and let us know you will be joining us on 23 February 2012 at 7:00.

RSVP

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Open Water Side Mount Scuba Diving

Diver Hovering
Photograph by Pete Nawrocky

If you look through the various diving publications or look at current diving trends on the internet, you will find references to side mount diving. Have you ever wondered why? In order to help answer that question we should first talk about what side mount diving is.

Like the name implies, in side mount diving, you mount the cylinders on your side instead of on your back. This is accomplished using some clips on the bottles and the d-rings on your buoyancy control device, BCD. You can see a diver in side mount gear in the photo above.

So now that you have a basic understanding of what it is, you may still be wondering why? Side mount divers have a variety of resons fro switching to this method of diving. Of course technical divers have been doing this style of diviing for a long time in order to squeeze into tighter spaces; but recreational divers are discovering new reasons to try it.

One reason given by these divers is the fact that you can carry the bottles to the water or better yet to the boat’s dive platform one at a time and then enter the water with no cylinder. This allows you to reduce the strain on your back especially when you get to hand the bottles back up to the crew and climb out of the water with no cylinders on at all.

Another reason is simply a gas supply issue. This is especially desirable if you are a heavy breather. By carrying two bottles, you have a larger gas supply and can remain underwater longer. Yes, guys, this means you can stay down as long as your wife. An additional benefit is that by changing the placement of the cylinders, side mount divers trim out better or obtain a better, horizontal posture underwater.

You may be asking that if it is simply a matter of mneung the bottles, why should I take a course to learn how to do it? That is a good question to ask. One of the things you will learn in class is how to configure your equipment to best carry the bottles. Another thing is the scheme of changing second stages as you swim underwater. In another lesson, you will learn how to deal with the bottles and the beginning and end of your dive so you don’t drop them to the bottom (a really bad thing especially when you are over a wall).

So, to put it simply, there is a lot of interest in lightinig the equipment load exiting or entering the boats for all of us. Side Mount divers also love the extra gas available! If you have not tried it, you should take a course and get started…it is a lot of fun.

To find out more about Open Water Side Mount diving, send Eric an email or leave a comment.

 The next Open Water Side Mount Course is scheduled to begin 28 February 2012. Other classes are available. Email us for more information.