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Archives for December 2015

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Getting in the Mood for Scuba Diving – the Importance of Mental Preparation

Scuba Diver in Raja Ampat IndonesiaDuring a scuba dive you are immersed in water – an alien environment – relying on your equipment, skills and knowledge to keep you alive. But an equally important tool that you can use to ensure that you make the most of the experience and stay safe is your attitude, your state of mind, something we can refer to as your mental conditioning.
Your mental conditioning determines the level of your performance in any sport and scuba diving is no exception. We should not underestimate the degree to which our thoughts and moods affect our performance, the level of enjoyment we derive from an activity and how well we deal with the stress of an emergency.
Here are a few tips to follow to make sure you are mentally prepared for diving.

Improve your Skills

Practice your self-rescue skills to the point where they can be performed automatically, so you know that in an emergency you will not have to think about the correct thing to do, you will just do it instinctively.

Scuba Diver in FijiBuild Water Confidence

Get more used to being surrounded by water, not just by doing more diving, although that is always a good idea. Go snorkelling, do some free-diving, swim more often, spend more time at a pool or the beach!

Get Fit

You need to be physically fit for diving as well as mentally fit. The better your fitness, the better you will deal with the rigours of swimming against a current or making a difficult shore exit in full-gear. And the more efficiently you will breathe and the longer your air supply will last.

Be Comfortable

The tendency to panic on a scuba dive can be increased by a number of external factors, chief among which are fatigue, alcohol, cold and discomfort. So don’t drink and dive and make sure you wear enough thermal protection for the environment. Replace your wetsuit regularly; frequent exposure to pressure crushes neoprene, reducing its efficiency. A new suit does not only make you look better, it keeps you warmer.

Breathe Correctly

Correct breathing helps you keep a clear head if a potentially stressful incident arises. The ideal diving breathing cycle begins with a long exhalation with your stomach pulled in enabling your lungs to expel as much tension-inducing carbon dioxide as possible. Follow this immediately by a long sustained inhalation with your stomach pushed out to allow your lungs to expand as much as they can. With practice, each diving breath in and out could last 7 seconds or so, giving you a 15 second breathing cycle. That means only four breaths a minute! As well as helping you think clearly, this will make your air last longer too!

Scuba Diver ThinkingVisualize

Before a scuba dive, do as the technical divers do. Sit in a quiet place and think about the dive ahead. Think positive thoughts; imagine all the wonderful things you are going to experience and picture a successful dive in your mind. See yourself early on as you descend, in control, checking all your gear is in place, relaxing your breathing rate, maintaining good buoyancy and staying in touch with your dive team. Then focus your thoughts on the dive itself. Visualise yourself feeling comfortable, checking your computer and SPG frequently, then making a slow, safe and controlled ascent with a safety stop, finally establishing buoyancy on the surface and ending the dive with plenty of air.

Remove Apprehension

Apprehension is a feeling of uncertainty about your ability to cope with a situation and it can be dangerous to begin a dive in this state of mind, as it does not take much for the apprehension to turn into panic. By thinking during your visualisation about what could happen and how you would deal with it, you can build your self-confidence and approach the dive with a positive, relaxed attitude.

Take Notice of Premonition

Premonition is a powerful feeling of foreboding. If you ever get the sense before a dive that something bad is going to happen and you just cannot shake it off or you just feel that you are not ready or in the mood to do the dive, then strongly consider either sitting out the dive or at least changing the plan.

A Final Word

As long as you have been well taught for the level of diving that you are engaged in and have kept up your skills, then by maintaining a clear head and a positive state of mind you can be confident of dealing with any situation.

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Coral Bleaching Outlook for 2016

October 2015-January 2016: NOAA's standard 4-month bleaching outlook shows a threat of bleaching continuing in the Caribbean, Hawaii and Kiribati, and potentially expanding into the Republic of the Marshall Islands. (Credit: NOAA
October 2015-January 2016: NOAA’s standard 4-month bleaching outlook shows a threat of bleaching continuing in the Caribbean, Hawaii and Kiribati, and potentially expanding into the Republic of the Marshall Islands. (Credit: NOAA)
[From Kelly Drinin, NOAA]  NOAA’s standard 4-month bleaching outlook shows a threat of bleaching continuing in the Caribbean, Hawaii and Kiribati, and potentially expanding into the Republic of the Marshall Islands. (Credit: NOAA)
As record ocean temperatures cause widespread coral bleaching across Hawaii, NOAA scientists confirm the same stressful conditions are expanding to the Caribbean and may last into the new year, prompting the declaration of the third global coral bleaching event ever on record….[READ MORE]

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Scuba Diver Receives 2015 Volunteer of the Year

jesseOne of our clients, Jesse Cancelmo, was honoured this year as the 2015 Volunteer of the Year by the Office of the National Marine Sanctuaries.  Jessie is a big supporter of diving at the Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary as well as around the world.  He has published several books of his photographs and appears as a guest contributor to Dive Training Magazine.  He will also be joining us on one of our Indonesia trips this year.  Congratulations Jesse!  The press release follows…

Scuba Diver Receives 2015 Volunteer of the Year

Every year the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries asks each sanctuary to select a volunteer of the year. These 14 people are then recognized at the annual Capitol Hill Ocean Week celebration.
For 2015, Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary selected long-time sanctuary supporter Jesse Cancelmo.
Jesse first got involved in activities at the Flower Garden Banks in 1989, before it was designated a sanctuary. He was part of the team that installed the original mooring buoys and helped advocate for sanctuary designation.
As a journalist and underwater photographer he has introduced many others to the sanctuary and encouraged their support of this special place.
Jesse has also served as a recreational diving representative on the Sanctuary Advisory Council since 2011, including terms as Vice Chair, then Chair of the council.
Congratulations, Jesse, on many jobs well-done! We appreciate your dedication to the sanctuary for so many years.

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The Flower Gardens

FGNMS Photo
Photo Credit : FGNMS

The Flower Gardens – The Bigger Picture

[From Kelly Drinnin, NOAA Nationl Marine Sanctuary] If you’ve never been to the Flower Garden Banks sanctuary, you’ve probably never thought about what makes it the way it is. Two of the key elements are salt domes and currents.
Salt domes are small underwater mountains formed by large pockets of salt pushing the sea floor upward. These are the “banks” in the sanctuary name.  Without these, the sea floor would be too deep to support reef-building corals out near the edge of the continental shelf.
The Gulf loop current is what brings wildlife up from the Caribbean, past Cuba and the Yucatan, into the Gulf of Mexico. Eddies that break away from that current, swirl westward across the gulf and carry with them many of the Caribbean fish and invertebrates found around our reefs. Other currents swirl clockwise from the Yucatan past Texas and Louisiana and are the likely source of our corals.
Of course, water temperature, freshwater input, artificial reef structures, etc. all play roles in how our reefs came to be and how they continue to develop.
The sanctuary is an amazing place that is the happy combination of all the right things, in the right places, at the right times!  To learn more…