Training

January 14, 2016 by Simon Pridmore

Ten Tips for Reducing Your Air Consumption While Scuba Diving

A note about the author – Simon is the best-selling author of Scuba Confidential – An Insider’s Guide to Becoming a Better Diver and Scuba Professional – Insights into Scuba Diver Training & Operations. Both books are available now from Oceanic Ventures.

Once you have completed your first Scuba course and begin diving with more experienced divers, one of the first things you may notice is how much longer their air seems to last in comparison to yours. You are always running low before the rest of the group and having to cut short your buddy’s dive.

The people who scuba dive with you will not mind at all. They know you are a new diver and it was not so long ago that they were in a similar situation. However, you probably will mind and you will be looking for ways to breathe more efficiently and make your dives last longer.

Here are 10 tips guaranteed to improve your air consumption and also make you a better scuba diver in many other respects at the same time. Notice that none of these involves using a bigger cylinder!

Eric Relaxing before Scuba Diving in Grand Cayman — Eric Relaxing in Grand Cayman

Tip One – Get in the Mood

Take some quiet time on your own before each dive to relax and focus on what lies ahead. Breathe deeply and find a nice peaceful place in your mind. Put away any negative thoughts concerning other aspects of your life. You are going diving; there is nothing you can do about anything else while you are underwater.

Tip Two – Breathe Properly

Learn to breathe like a scuba diver. Breathe from the diaphragm; push your stomach out to allow your lungs to expand and draw in as much air as possible. Then breathe out long and slow, bringing your stomach in to reduce your lung volume to a minimum. Practice this long, deep, slow breathing cycle until it becomes instinctive. Not only will this help you to use less air, it will help you stay calm and think clearly.

Tip Three – Get Fit

Diving is a sport and the fitter you are, the better you will dive and the less air you will use. Start a programme of aerobic training and increase the level of your training as a dive trip approaches.

Tip Four – Don’t Move

When you are underwater, only move your fins when you need to go somewhere. If you are not going anywhere, keep them still. Tuck your arms in, only use your hands if you need to signal and incline your body like a motorcyclist if you want to change direction or regain your equilibrium.

Tip Five – Remove Weight

Like many new divers, there is a good chance that you are wearing too much weight. A reliable indicator of this is if, after your initial descent, you have to add quite a lot of air to your BCD to keep you off the bottom. What happens next is that, when you start you swim, the air in your BCD lifts your upper torso and the weight around your middle drags your butt and legs down. This gives you the head up, tail down posture of a seahorse. Look at other new divers or ask a friend to take a short video of you, to see what I mean. Moving through water in this position requires much more effort and causes you to use up much more air than if you are horizontal, as you should be.

The trick is to reduce the amount of weight you are carrying. Start by removing one piece and, if you can still make a comfortable initial descent by exhaling fully as you leave the surface, remove another. If, at the end of a dive, you can hang at a depth of 10 to 20 ft. with 750 psi in your cylinder and an empty BCD, you are correctly weighted. Another little thing to remember: if you are wearing a weight-belt and a wetsuit, the belt will loosen and slip down onto your hips a little as the water pressure compresses your suit. So, once you are at depth, take a moment to hitch your weight-belt higher on your waist and tighten it a little. This will lift your legs up and give you a more horizontal posture in the water.

Tip Six – Do an In-Water Check

The whole gearing up, entry and descent process can be awkward and strenuous. For instance, you may be wearing a thick suit on a hot sunny day, there may be a lot of other divers around or the sea might be choppy. A whole host of factors can conspire to undo the positive effects of your pre-dive relaxation and the consequent stress can cause you to go through your air more quickly. So, once you are underwater and the confusion on the surface is behind you, make it a habit to pause briefly and go through a quick in-water check. Take a few seconds to compose yourself, get your slow, deep breathing cycle going, inspect your gear for problems and verify your cylinder pressure (Tip Eight) before heading off to the depths.

Tip Seven – Kick Differently

There are a number of easier ways to fin than the classic wide, full-legged scissor kick you used when you started diving. Learn about alternative techniques like frog kicks and modified flutter kicks. Ask your instructors to show you how or just watch and copy what they do. Using energy-saving fin techniques will reduce your air consumption considerably.

Tip Eight – Know your True Starting Pressure

The cylinder pressure you see when you check your gauge on a sunny boat deck is misleading, as the reading changes with the drop in temperature when you enter the relatively cool water. The underwater reading is your true starting pressure. If you are aware of this you can calculate your airtime (Tip Nine) and this will help you relax. A relaxed diver uses less air.

Tip Nine – Always Know How Much Air You Have

Always know how much air you have left and also have at least a rough idea in your mind of how long it is going to last. This is how you do it.

As you descend, make a mental note of your air pressure, say 2900 psi
After five minutes at depth, look again. Maybe you now have 2700 psi.
This means you have used 200 psi.
Assuming you are diving the deepest part of your dive first, you now know that you will use a maximum of 200 psi every five minutes.
If you want to surface with 500 psi, you have 2200 psi left to use.
So a simple calculation ((2200 / 200) x 5 minutes) tells you that you have AT LEAST 55 minutes of airtime left.

Tip Ten – Keep Calm

If you ever find yourself becoming anxious underwater, the chances are that the reason for this is that you have lost your deep, slow breathing cycle without noticing it. Maybe you have been fighting a current or trying to keep up with a buddy who is swimming at a pace that you are uncomfortable with. As soon as you are aware of your increasing anxiety, stop finning. Calm yourself down by inhaling fully and, most importantly, exhaling fully for a couple of minutes. As you take deeper and gradually less frequent breaths your mind will clear. Check your contents gauge. If you still have plenty of air left, continue with your dive. If your air supply is lower than you expected, ascend to a shallower depth. Remember, the shallower you are the less air you use.

December 18, 2015 by Simon Pridmore

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

During 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.

Build 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!

Visualize

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.

April 27, 2015 by Eric Keibler

New Scuba Diving Instructors

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Let it be known that Oceanic Ventures Has Four New Scuba Diving Instructors!

After a lot of time listening to lectures, working through a mound of homework, having special sessions, apprenticing with the staff and a great deal of stressful studying, John Davis, Joe Henry, Joel Hershey and Scuba Steve Soulen completed their Instructor Evaluation Clinic, IEC, this past weekend and are now officially Open Water Scuba Diving Instructors — well ok, once the paperwork is processed at SSI headquarters. Their journey to this point has been a long winding road. There were a lot of classroom sessions with me as well as pool classes and open water sessions. During the process, they all became Dry Suit divers so they could stand the winter and early spring waters at the lake and they learned to work with troublesome students (thank you Alex Witschey and Madison Lee.) They worked with new students and divers wanting to join Neptune again (i.e. Scuba Skills Updates). They plowed through standards and textbooks looking for the gems that they would be tested over as well as their Science of Diving materials (the physics and physiology of diving.)
Throughout the process they maintained a positive attitude and stepped-in to help where ever they could. Along the way, they, along with Dive Coordinator, Susan Long, came up with some awesome marketing ideas and some ways to improve the diving programs at Oceanic Ventures. All the while, Dive Mom had to remain out of their training and could not help them through the training process. However, I think the preparation program was just as hard for Dive Mom, because she could not participate in the program nor assist them in any way. She had to maintain her distance since she was the Instructor Certifier for the IEC.
In the end they all shined! They completed the testing and evaluation with most of their finger nails intact and with hair on their head — well, Joel excluded. AT about 4:30 Sunday afternoon they all knew — They passed and were now finished with their Instructor program!

April 20, 2015 by Eric Keibler

Rebreather Scuba Diving – The Advantages of Silent Scuba Diving

I am often asked why I prefer to dive a rebreather over open-circuit scuba. My reasons are mixed and sometimes maybe a little hard to quantify. But the simple answer is, for me, it has a number of advantages over traditional scuba.

Key Advantages of Rebreather Scuba Diving

While a rebreather isn’t the best choice for every diver or every diver, it is the best choice for many dives and many divers. Poseidon, a rebreather manufacturer says the key advantages are, a rebreather system is less noisy than an open-circuit system, making the interaction with marine life more intense and up close, as wildlife will approach you rather than swim away from you. The duration of a dive on a rebreather system is generally much longer which means that you can either stay down longer in one dive or do several repetitive dives without the need to re-fill your cylinders. The reason for this is that you will not use up your gas as fast as on a normal scuba system, because you are re-using gas the whole time, making the rebreather 96% efficient in comparison to 4% efficiency during an open-circuit dive. Your gas costs will be reduced, especially when you venture into technical diving. No decompression time is far greater on the rebreather system as it makes sure you have the optimal gas mix at every depth, therefore minimizing the intake of nitrogen. If you are a certified Nitrox diver, you can compare it to having a nitrox blender on your back that makes sure that you have the best mix at every depth.
An open-circuit system gives you cold and dry gas, but on a rebreather you will get moist and warm gas, which is much more comfortable to breathe while diving. There is no need for deep breaths because the loop is an extension of your lungs. You only need to make sure that you continually breath normal breaths. Your buoyancy will not be altered by the way you breathe; it will only be changed when you add gas to your buoyancy device.

Rebreather Divers in Grand Cayman During the First Innerspace CCR Event (Eric is in the Photograph)

Noise – a Rebreather Dive is Quiet

When I first started diving, I loved the silence that the underwater world brought. The sounds of traffic, phones, engines and other people faded away and the only thing you heard was the sound of your own breathing in the bubbles as they raced past your ears. Switching to a rebrerather brought new sensations. The surface sounds faded away just like on open-circuit scuba but so did the noise created by the bubbles. Suddenly it was really quiet — at least until I swam near a reef. Then I heard it — the sound of millions of small shrimp clicking away on the reef. Yes, as the sound of my bubbles faded, I was suddenly able to hear the sounds of nature and the reef and it was so cool!
When you get used to the relative quiet of the rebreather, you can really tell when open-circuit divers are approaching. The bubbles are so noisy and the fish begin to hide!
I know this is a politically incorrect statement but it is true. This is one of the reasons some rebreather divers do not want to dive with the “bubblers.” Of course there is another side to this; many open-circuit divers do not want to dive with rebreather divers because they take longer to get ready to go diving.

Eric On a Rebreather Dive in Grand Cayman — Eric Scuba Diving Using a Rebreather in Grand Cayman

Time – a Factor In and Out Of the Water

This is true, especially when compared to single cylinder, recreational diving. A rebreather diver has a checklist for the assembly and preparation of the unit for use underwater. Working through this checklist is a thirty minute to an hour process depending on the unit and the experience of the diver. Most times the divers get up a little earlier to complete the diving but there are times that gas is delayed or other logistical factors do not align and the open-circuit divers are stuck waiting for the rebreather divers.
But, once the divers are in the water, the rebreather shines. Having a “custom gas blender” on your back means that you get the optimal breathing mix throughout the dive. As we noted above, this translated into longer no-decompression times or shorter decompression profiles when compared to most open-circuit profiles. My first rebreather dives were amazing. I was in Grand Cayman swimming along the wall at 80 fsw to 100 fsw for an hour and then up along the top of the wall for the second hour and by the time I reached the mooring line there was no decompression time and I could go straight up. Of course, like all good divers, I did a safety stop but you can imagine my delight at doing a two-hour dive with no decompression required. Of course that changed later that year when I discovered the sponge belt in Grand Cayman at about 180 fsw. Now a limited amount of decompression was required.
On another occasion, when I was diving with mixed teams (open-circuit and closed circuit rebreather divers) in Florida a few years ago, we found that the rebreather divers could stay on the bottom, exploring the wrecks ten to fifteen minutes longer than the open-circuit divers and still exit the water at about the same time. In other words, we spent more time exploring wrecks like the Hydro Atlantic, and less time hanging in the water column decompressing.

Cave Scuba Diving using Twin Cylinders in Peacock Springs , Florida — Eric Keibler Cave Diving using Twin Cylinders in Peacock Springs , Florida

Weight – Lighter is Better

My diving has changed a lot over the years. I started in single cylinders, and then moved up to twin cylinders or double cylinders when I started cave diving and wreck diving. As my cave diving progressed, I found that I wanted more air so heavier cylinders were needed. At some point, Cliff Simeneau talked to Ann about the newest trend sweeping diving in the US and the importance of offering training on this new technology. We had already been diving and teaching the Drager Dolphin Semi-Closed rebreather systems but this was the time when the Inspiration was beginning to be seen in the US.
One of the advantages of a rebreather is that it gives you the same or more duration as the twin cylinders without the weight of the cylinders. So, I was overjoyed at trying the unit and diving it more. It is funny, one of my instructors, Tom Mount, liked to comment that the difference between new rebreather divers and more experienced rebreather divers was that at some point, experienced divers started making comments about how heavy their rebreathers are. This means they have now forgotten the shift from the much heavier cylinders to the lighter rebreather and now the CCR unit is the focus of the weight in their mind.
So, yes, a CCR unit is lighter than a set of twin cylinders – even the Sentinel weighs less than a twin-set of cylinders. Over the years, CCR units have become lighter and more compact. Several of the newer models, like the Pathfinder from Inner Space Systems, weigh closer to a single cylinder set-up which makes them ideal for travel. This reduced weight is also easier on your back as a diver which is important as the diving population ages.

Interaction – The Marine Animals Play More with Scuba Divers in a Rebreather

While weight and time are important factors for a rebreather diver, one of the most exciting things is the interaction with marine animals. Let’s face it, bubbles are noisy and the fish react differently when there are bubbles. The small fish move into the coral with each release (i.e. with each exhalation) and other animals just move away.
One of the first things i noticed a rebreather were those small fish moving in and out of a coral head. I had spent countless hours photographing coral heads, trying to get the timing right so I could photograph of the fish suspended above the coral. On my first Inspiration CCR reef dive, I noticed the fish remained suspended above the coral head; they did not disappear into the coral with my breathing! I also found the lobsters remained out on the reef rather than backed up into a hole. Perhaps the most amazing thing was coming face to face with a spotted eagle ray over a wall. It was so cool!
The life under the sea is so different without the noise of open-circuit scuba. As a rebreather diver you get to experience the world like a free diver but you get to stay and keep enjoying it while the free divers head back to the surface. Imagine coming face to face with a large turtle or a ray or watching squid mate or even being surrounded by large tarpon or schools of fish. This is rebreather diving on a reef!

Cool – You just look really cool Scuba Diving in a Rebreather

What can I say, you just look like James Bond! Because they are still rare at a lot of dive sites, when you dive a rebreather you will attract attention and people will stop and ask you questions. This may not be the ideal situation if you are a c overt operative but it does lead to some interesting conversations. It is also fun to surprise other divers underwater when you swim by — remember they did not hear you coming. But let’s face it, diving is pretty cool and rebreather diving is definitely cool!
So, why isn’t everyone diving a rebreather? I ask myself that all of the time. People will tell you it is the cost, or the time or the commitment which are all good reasons but when you try one, you will see why rebreather divers are hooked. They have found the money, time and made the commitment to experiencing the underwater world to its fullest.
Isn’t it time you joined the new rebreather diving generation?

February 16, 2015 by Susan Long

The Making of a Scuba Diver

Scuba Diver Susan Long Relaxing in Fiji — Susan Long Relaxing in Fiji

I have been scuba diving for over two years – since December 2012. Not only that, I had 100 dives within 10 months, and I had another 100 dives within another 10 months. I LOVE it! I am 59 years old, a retired IT professional, not athletic or mechanical in the slightest. How did I get here?

When we got married in 1992, my husband and I made a deal. He would not buy a Harley, and I would not go scuba diving. That way, we thought we could keep each other alive for a good long time. I have always had friends who scuba dived, and I have long been intrigued by it.

I swam for exercise in college – or more precisely, struggled through maybe 10 lengths a session. It was awful and so difficult, but for some reason, I did it. I did not enjoy it at all. Fast forward 25 years, and we went with some diving friends to the Yucatan for vacation. They did some diving, and we all snorkeled one day. I was terrified! I did not understand how I was supposed to breathe underwater. But I made myself jump in and try it, and within a minute or two, I was having a great time! There were lots of glamorous fish! Who knew? And I really enjoyed being in the water – which was also a surprise, after my college swimming experiences.

Scuba Divers Susan & Larry on a motorcycle trip — Susan and her husband, Larry on their last motorcycle trip.

After I retired in 2005, I decided to go to graduate school in Spanish Linguistics at the University of Houston. The parking is horrible! (The classes were great!) I soon realized if I had a motorcycle or scooter, I could park in the designated areas much more easily. So I bought a Vespa scooter! When my husband got over the shock, he got himself a Harley! So now I had permission to scuba dive! (We now both really enjoy our motorcycle trips together!)

I had permission to scuba dive, but on the other hand, I knew it was an expensive habit. I was reluctant to get a lot more “stuff”. We already had plenty of stuff. Being overweight, I didn’t think there would be enough weight available to keep me down (seriously). I also knew myself it could be dangerous – I had looked at some books detailing scuba diving “incidents” and they are pretty scary. You wonder why anyone comes back alive!

In the fall of 2012, my friend Donna Collins (another scuba diver, and Oceanic Ventures, Inc. denizen) and I were planning to go on a cruise to Costa Rica and Panama. She suggested that we could go snorkeling, and she might try to go diving. I was enthusiastic – I had not had a chance to go snorkeling in years! She took me to Oceanic Ventures to look into getting my own mask, snorkel, fins to take on the trip.

My First Trip the the Dive Store

Ann, Alex and David Morris were in the shop, and I will never forget the warm welcome. David took me under his wing and explained everything I wanted to know about masks, snorkels, fins. I could not believe how expensive they were! But I was sold on the part of getting good equipment so I could really enjoy the experience. I left with the mask, snorkel, fins, a bag, a skin, and maybe a few other goodies. David offered to give me a snorkeling class for free, which I gladly took him up on, since I was certainly not an expert snorkeler, having only done it once.

At the snorkeling class, I learned quite a bit, especially how to “duck dive!” David offered to give me a Try Scuba session, and I was, well, OK, sure! If he’s offering, I sure will try it. Within a few days, I was trying out the scuba equipment in the West U pool, and learning the first rule of scuba. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but the next inevitable step was signing up for Open Water Scuba classes so I could go on the Cozumel trip that December. And buying all my equipment. Oceanic Ventures made it so easy. I could not have chosen (and still can’t) between Buoyancy Compensaters, Air Delivery System’s or computers. I trusted their advice, and I really liked the idea that they had a lot of experience with the equipment they sold, and they believed in it for all levels of diving.

Open Water Scuba Training with Oceanic Ventures

I had a great time in the Open Water Scuba training with David and Alex. It was hard for me to clear my mask, but eventually I figured it out. It was hard remembering all the steps for sharing air, or the out-of-air ascent. But I did it! The Cozumel trip was fantastic. I did my open water dives there with Alex as my instructor, and it was so much fun! He was so calm, and knowledgeable, and encouraging. I could see it was going to take some time for me to get really comfortable with my buoyancy, and the breathing, but I was plenty comfortable enough to enjoy the diving, and the Oceanic Ventures group was so wonderful. All those experienced divers were so encouraging and helpful to the brand-new,” baby diver.”

Scuba Diving in the Solomon Islands Susan Long and Ann Keibler — Scuba Diving in the Solomon Islands with Susan Long and Ann Keibler

David had let me know in the Open Water Scuba training that he was the first Oceanic Ventures student to get 100 dives in a year. That sounded like a challenge to me, and I like challenges! Also it was quite clear after the Cozumel trip that the more experience I had, the more fun I could have as a diver. So I set myself the informal goal of getting 100 dives in a year. In order to keep diving through the winter, I started drysuit training and bought a drysuit. I started Advanced Open Water Scuba training, if for no other reason that it was more diving experience! I went with Oceanic Ventures to St. Croix, Belize, Cozumel, and then to Grand Cayman in August! (Donna and I did get to do a few dives on our trip to Costa Rica.) By the time I got to Grand Cayman, I had achieved the 100 dives, between the trips, the training, and being a fun diver at Blue Lagoon and 288 Lake.

Where I Am Now…

So what about all the concerns I had, and my husband had? Well, first off, safety is obviously the first priority at Oceanic Ventures. Now that I am diving, I wonder how people got themselves into those situations in those scary dive books. Of course, mistakes can happen, but most of those incidents are inconceivable on an Oceanic Ventures trip. Yes, diving is expensive, and I have a LOT of stuff. I am still dealing with how to organize it and where it all needs to go between trips. Oh well! The experiences I have had as a diver, and the friends I have made, have been more than worth it.

Scuba Diver Susan Long Diving in Fiji — Susan in Fiji

I love being a part of the Oceanic Ventures “tribe.” It feels like home. I am very impressed with the emphasis on safety and professionalism at Oceanic Ventures. Ann and Eric Keibler run a tight ship, with little room for error, but lots of room for fun. It is easy to have fun when you have confidence in the trip leader, the dive location, the divemasters, and the choice of dive sites. And you get to go play with your dive peeps!

My husband has put up with all this graciously, taking me to the airport and kissing me goodbye as I go off on my next diving adventure. I am so happy to report that since his retirement last August he has become a certified scuba diver, and we are going on our second trip to Cozumel with Oceanic Ventures next month!

December 10, 2012 by Eric Keibler

At the Office – Diving the Pathfinder Rebreather

Eric Keibler on a Pathfinder Rebreather in Grand Cayman

Just another day at the office. at least that is what I tried to convince Ann was happening the past five days in Grand Cayman. One of our friends, Pam, even said that maybe they needed to “meet in our conference room.”
But really, I was in Grand Cayman to complete a training program on the Megalodon and Pathfinder rebreathers. You can ask Emma or Nancy, I was in class each morning and diving in the afternoon…you know skills, drills and well ok, some fish, corals and steel; one dive was on the Kittywake.
While I have a lot of experience diving the Megalodon rebreather, the real treat of this trip was to dive the Pathfinder in something other than the pool. Not that I mind the pool, but there is something more interesting about a vertical wall with fish, colourful corals and vibrant sponges. Remember, part of my training was swimming in the unit.

Eric Keibler and Leon Scamahorn diving Pathfinder Rebreathers in Grand Cayman

The Pathfinder is designed with a more recreational diver in mind. Underwater photographers will love this unit because it is small, easy to use and prneudes the advantage of not scaring the fish away with every breath. One of the things that appeals to me is its size and weight. The complete unit will fit in a carry on suitcase and will not require help from three of your diving buddies to put it in the overhead. For divers with camera, the unit is robust enough to go as checked luggage as well.
The unit can be configured with a standard over the shoulder set of counterlungs or with the new top of the shoulder counter lungs. One of the other configuration options is the diliuent bottle. You can configure it like a standard rebreather with the diliuent and oxygen supplies mounted to the canister or, alternatively, you can utilize the bailout cylinder as the diliuent thereby reducing the weight and simplifying the rig for the diver.
Unlike some of the other rebreather designs for more recreational divers which try to minimize any diver thought or input into the system, the Pathfinder is designed for a thinking diver. Since you can never fully factor out the human interface, Leon Scamahorn, designer of the system, believes that the diver should be included and involved in the system. This does not mean that the system is complicated but rather it needs some input from the diver during the set-up and initialization phases of the dive. Further, it offers the diver more options in dive parameters and uses.
While a purely “recreational” diver will love this unit, the Pathfinder is capable of mneung beyond what we normally consider to be recreational diving. Leon designed the unit to have enough scrubber media and system capabilities for a diver to do a typical normoxic trimix dive (using helium in the breathing mix.)
So you are probably asking what did I think about it? It was a real treat to dive a lightweight but capable rebreather. The work-of-breathing, a performance measurement, is similar to that found in the Megalodon rebreather. What this means is that it is easy to breath in the horizontal position as well as upside down and while facing up at the surface. The electronics are straight forward and easy to understand both on the surface and underwater and they do a good job of controlling the oxygen set-point or level. I found the unit trimmed well so it was easy to swim with in the water and because of its size and weight it was easy to exit the water. The scrubber packs easily and the assembly is easy and straight forward. It flushes easily and takes minimal amount of time to correct the oxygen levels.

Grand Cayman Pathfinders — Eric Keibler and Leon Scamahorn after Eric’ s Final Check-Out Dive for his Instructor Certification

If you are interested in rebreahers, I think this unit is a good alternative for more capable and expensive rebreathers. It prneudes a lot punch and is ideal for a photographer or any typical “recreational” diver as well a diver wanting to venture beyond the recreational limits sometime in the future. The Pathfinder is a very capable unit and may be the only unit you will need for the style of diving you have in mind.