May 21 2020

How To Prioritize What Scuba Gear To Buy?

By Vandit Kalia Articles, Gear, Opinions

How to prioritize what scuba gear to buy?

Article by: Vinnie

One of the most common questions newly certified (or even moderately advanced) divers have is, what gear should I buy? This is fuelled in no small part by the various certifying agencies and dive centers, all of whom have a vested interest in pushing sales of gear. In fact, in a lot of places, divers are required to buy their own set of personal gear before they sign up for even their first certification course – and many places often push divers to buy a full set of dive gear before they have even gotten certified!

Now, don’t get me wrong – there are very good reasons to buy/own your dive equipment: good fit, convenient features like integrated weight pockets that are usually not present on rental kit, lighter gear for easy traveling, consistency in buoyancy and trim, familiarity with gear (which can be critical in an emergency) and also pride of ownership (let’s face it – dive gear is cool). And a lot of these benefits are not obvious until you have actually owned your own dive gear and realized how much better your dive experience is, as a result. If money wasn’t an issue, I’d suggest everyone buy a full set of gear as well.

But sadly, money is an issue for most of us. So the question becomes, how do you prioritize what to buy? As with most things in life, there are no short and easy answers which apply to everyone. But the purpose of this article is to give you the pros and cons of each piece of kit, so that you can decide for yourself.

A word of warning: the video and the attached article are unabashedly subjective and opinionated. My opinions. I have been doing this long enough that I think my opinions have a very sound basis in reality, but there certainly are other sensible ways to look at this issue which may be different. Also, this article is geared towards the typical tropical/vacation diver and also does not take into account any unique needs or specific requirements people may have.

MASK

Masks are the most commonly recommended item for people and with good reason. An ill-fitting or easily-fogging rental mask can reduce the enjoyment of your dive. As masks are fairly inexpensive and easy to carry, there is no real reason to not get a mask. That said, the downsides of not having your own mask are fairly low as well – fogging is relatively easy to fix, and most people generally are able to find a mask that fits their face fairly easily. However, for those of you with prescription glasses who do not want to wear contacts, a prescription mask becomes a near-essential piece of kit.

Recommended for: Everyone
Essential for: People who struggle to get a good fit with regular mask, people who need a prescription fit

SNORKEL

Snorkels are great for snorkelling. Or if you are doing long surf entries. They are absolutely a menace around dive boats – having your face in the water, unable to see or hear anything, is not really a good idea around a boat that may be pitching in the water. 29 years of diving, 6000+ dives later, I have yet to have a single dive where I have gone “gee, I sure wish I had a snorkel with me”. But your mileage may vary – if you feel uncomfortable on the surface with your head upright, then yes, a snorkel does make it easier to breathe, especially in choppy seas.

Recommended for: Those whose special dive conditions require a snorkel
Essential for: Snorkelers

THERMAL PROTECTION

Most tropical water dive centers issue 3mm shorties to divers. These are great for a moderate amount of warmth and some protection from stinging objects. If you tend to get cold easily, you will need a 3mm wetsuit – and it is nice to have your own, to ensure you get a good fit. Other pieces of kit that are nice to have are a full sleeved rashguard (sun protection, protection from small stingers in the water) or neoprene vests/jackets like the Mares Ultraskin / Sharkskin. There are various bits of kit you can buy, which can let you dial in the perfect combination to cover your diving situations – eg, I own a 1mm lycra fullsuit, a 3mm neoprene wetsuit, a full sleeves fleece+neoprene jacket, a hooded vest and a separate hood (and this ignores my older cold water gear – a drysuit, 7mm suit, etc). To get the most of this, it is better to gain some experience and understand how prone you are to getting cold, what sort of conditions you will be diving in, etc and then make a purchase decision, however.

Recommended for: Everyone, as they gain some experience and start to understand their own requirements
Essential for: People diving regularly in colder water

FINS

Making people aware of the importance of fins has become a bit of a personal crusade of mine. People obsess and agonize over what regulator to buy, for example, when you can pretty much pick any regulator in the market and get more-than-adequate performance. But pick the wrong fins and you have ruined your dive. Wrong fins make it harder to swim in challenging conditions (read: stronger currents) and can also ruin your trim by making your legs go up/down too much.

Recommended for: Everyone
Essential for: Those who struggle with currents or trim

BCD

Diving with the same BCD helps you dial in your trim more consistently, manipulating all the buttons and clips becomes a part of your muscle memory and you can customize your setup (storage of things like cutting tool, octopus, lift bag and reel) to be consistent every time. And most importantly, you know where the emergency dump valves are located and how much modulation they (and the inflator) need. The reason not to buy? These are all mainly matters of comfort and convenience. But don’t under-estimate the value of comfort and convenience: this is one of those products where you will not really miss having your own, higher-end BCD until you actually own one – but once you own your own, you will not want to go back to a rental.

Recommended for: Everyone, budget allowing; underwater photographers, wreck divers, people who dive enough to justify the savings in gear rental
Essential for: Cold water divers

REGULATOR

It is somewhat ironic that the most essential item in scuba, in terms of being safety-critical, is also the most reliable and relatively undifferentiated. Yes, manufacturers all tout superior materials, better breathing rates, etc. etc. but in real world conditions, there is very little difference between regulators that you would notice without doing an A/B comparison. That said, for experienced divers, it is good to own your own reg so you can customize hose routing, gauges, etc as per your requirements. Also, if saving weight is important for you, then having a travel-specific regulator can save you 500-1000gm over a normal regulator. Lastly, having your own regulator means that you know its service history and it is less likely to have minor leaks and issues than a rental regulator.

Recommended for: Those who value low weight, who want the peace of mind of knowing their regulator’s service history or experienced divers who like consistency in all aspects of their gear setup, people who dive enough to justify the savings in gear rental
Essential for: Tech or cold water divers

COMPUTER

To me, a computer should be mandatory for diving. When you have your own dive computer, you have all the information that you need to dive safely, and also to handle any emergency that may come up: depth, time, no-deco info (or deco info), ascent rate and with high-end computers, compass/heading and air time remaining. Relying on a dive guide’s computer or sharing a computer between buddies – both common practices – is a little better but over the course of a dive holiday, small variations in dive profile can add up to a significant difference. Not to mention what happens if you are separated from your buddy: that is a stressful event and being without a computer at that time only makes things worse. Quite simply, as a diver, you are in charge of your own safety – and you cannot do that without a dive computer (don’t even mention tables). Yes, you can rent dive computers on trips – but it is preferable to have your own computer, where you understand what the displays mean, how to adjust the settings, etc. Dive computers are fairly cheap, starting at a little over Rs 20k for a computer – there is no real reason not to own one.

Recommended for: Everyone
Essential for: Everyone

ACCESSORIES

There are plenty of useful accessories divers can own – SMBs, whistle, reels, a small cutting tool, a small dive light, reef hooks and pointer sticks. Of these, I would say SMB/whistle are essential if you are boat diving; cutting tools are handy if there is a risk of entanglement, reef hooks for hooking in during currents (if allowed by the dive center – this is a debatable practice, which is a separate discussion), etc. A lot of these can also be rented as needed, so there is no great impetus to own these other than the convenience of always having them with you in case of an unexpected need.

Recommended for: As needed
Essential for: n/a

SUMMARY

So – what do you actually need? Personally, I would suggest starting with the following 2 items as your initial purchase: mask and computer. These have the biggest and most immediate impact on comfort and safety. Then, once you have gotten some experience, add a pair of suitable fins (based on having tried out various options) and appropriate thermal protection (rashguard, jacket, vest or full suit) – both of these are probably just as important, if not more, for comfort than a mask but you need some experience in order to make the right purchase here. The regulator and BCD can come last – or you might find that you don’t dive enough to warrant purchasing these and are ok to rent – these definitely fall in the “nice to have” category (or the “will save money” category for frequent divers).

With all diving products, especially if you are starting out – nothing beats the advice of experienced professionals who can help you select the product that best fits YOUR needs, as opposed to what they have in stock. As much as possible, do try out the product you are buying in the water, if you can – just because something works very well for others doesn’t mean it will for you.

Ultimately, there is only one question that matters: will a particular piece of kit make diving more comfortable/enjoyable? Anything that gets you diving more is a win – the sticker shock of the purchase goes away, but the memories of great dives stay with you forever.

Jun 01 2019

Love1

Buyer’s Guide to Scuba Fins

By Vandit Kalia Articles, Gear, Opinions, Training

BUYER’s GUIDE TO SCUBA FINS – WHY FINS MATTER AND HOW TO PICK THE RIGHT PAIR

(aka, an old dog learns something new)

By: Vandit Kalia (Vinnie)

How to Buy Scuba Fins

Go to any scuba forum and ask what the most important bit of diving kit people should own, and the answer is going to be “mask”, “dive computer” or “regulator”. Makes sense. Masks are probably the most likely point of discomfort on dives due to improper fit. A dive computer is the single most important bit of kit that a diver should have, in order to take ownership of their safety (as anyone who has taken a course with me will have heard me reiterate over and over again). And regulators – well, that is obvious as well.

Now, a little side trip. I am a gadget freak, but I am also a creature of habit. Once I find something that works with me, I stick with it. I have been using Apeks regulators since the late 90s: they’ve gone ice diving with me, they’ve been inside the Andrea Dorea with me, they’ve endured far more abuse than they should have and they have kept ticking. Similarly, for fins, I have been using Cressi Masterfrogs since 2000 or 2001. They are large, they are stiff, they don’t have any fancy technology, but they provide thrust and precision control like no other fins I have used (and have much better buoyancy characteristics in warm water than the only other fin that comes close, the Scubapro Jetfins). So that’s what I dive with. But Cressi, in their wisdom, discontinued the Masterfrogs and replaced them with a lineup of fairly mediocre, “me-too” fins which do not stand out in any way.

So that got me looking for a replacement when my current pair, which is 10 years old, finally wears out and I have been trying out various fins from Mares, Scubapro, Apeks and Technisub to find “The Next One” (@TM Vikas Nairi).

Vinnie’s Mythical Cressi Master Frogs

And in my quest, I have realized something: fins are probably THE most significantly under-rated piece of dive kit. In theory, we all know the characteristics of fins: they come in varying level of stiffness, buoyancy and thrust. Some require faster kicks (equivalent to high turnover/cadence in running or cycling), some require slower, more powerful strokes (my Masterfrogs). Some are easier to kick but top out at moderate thrust – others provide greater thrust but require more power. Some are softer and easier on the legs. Yet others use fancy technology (split fins, gears, channels, springs, etc). And yet others are designed for flutter kick while some are better for frog kick.

But if think about it – if you rent gear, when was the last time you ever paid attention to which fins you were provided? I mean, it certainly isn’t something I have prioritized as a “must own” item to other divers looking to buy their gear, focusing instead of mask/computer/regulator as well. But recently, I have had a change in my thinking.

This realization was kindled over the course of two separate Diveindia Outbound trips – one to Malapascua and one to Maldives. In both cases, I was using new fins. In Malapascua, I was simply unable to get into horizontal trim, despite the rest of my kit being my usual gear. My legs would keep sinking and since i was diving without any weights, I had no real option to adjust my trim. That made photography a singularly uncomfortable experience, my air consumption was about 20-25% higher than normal and throughout the dive, I felt as though I was a newly-minted Open Water diver again. In Maldives, the trim was better but in a current, I outkicked my fins, and possibly for the first time in 2 decades, I was struggling to move in a current (the Cressis havent seen a current they cannot wallop – if a diver has the leg strength to swim against the current, the Cressis will make it happen): I was working far harder and moving far too slowly than I could/should have.

Mares Quattros

I’ve dived in BCDs that are too large or too small for me (including an XS – and those of you who have me know that at 6′ and 82kg, I am definitely NOT an XS). I’ve worn masks that pinch my nose, used regs with super-high breathing resistance and dived while overweighted by 3-4 kg (although not all at the same time). Did I enjoy any of these experiences? Not particularly, but it wasn’t a particularly big deal. So while I do prefer the comfort of my own gear, I can make do with pretty much anything that is reasonably close. Except with these fins – with these fins, it wasnt just a mental thing. I was physically affected during my diving.

So that got me thinking – if my choice of fins messed up my diving zen so badly, what are the implications for all the people who have recently learned to dive, who are going on diving trips and are wearing fins that may not be optimal for them? To what degree is a diver’s trim (and therefore buoyancy), breathing rate and general comfort level in the water, especially in currents, affected by poorly-matching fins?

So we modified our buoyancy specialty in certain cases to make sure we spent time experimenting with various types of fins – and we tried this with divers of varying levels (beginner to over a hundred dives). And it has proven to be a game-changer for a significant majority of the divers – in most cases, there was ONE Goldilocks fins which just made the entire system (BCD, weight distribution, kicking, buoyancy) work together in a significantly better way.

And really, it makes sense. Fins may not be very heavy, but they are the furthest item from your center of buoyancy/gravity and so exert the greatest moment on your trim. A small change in the buoyancy characteristic of your fin can have a greater impact than a kilo extra on your belt. Then add to that your kicking style – do you prefer slower, more powerful strokes or shorter, faster kicks, and which affects your breathing pattern more? The right fins address all these issues.

Scubapro Seawing Novas

So what is the takeaway for you as a diver? If you have ever had buoyancy and trim issues, or struggled in a current, look into not just weighting and distribution, but also fins as a source of fixing these problems. Even if you have not had any issues with currents, it may still be worth trying to find the Right Fin – it may not be as critical but going from an Ok Pair to The Right Pair is very similar from going from being almost properly weighted to properly weighted – it feels significantly better.

To help you with the process of evaluating fins, I have created a framework of 5 attributes for evaluating fins.

HOW TO EVALUATE FINS

The following 5 attributes of a fin provide insights into its performance and should help you narrow down on fins that work best for you:

1) Thrust: This is a measure of how much propulsion a fin provides with a single kick, and depends on the length of the fin, its stiffness as well as the overall design.

2) Beat Rate: This is a measure of how frequently you have to kick in order to get the optimal propulsion. A direct analogy would be running, where your speed depends on your stride length and turnover or how many steps per minute you take. Beat rate is the equivalent of steps per minute here, with thrust being the equivalent of stride length.

3) Stiffness: This is a measure of how much force you have to (or can) exert per kick for optimal propulsion. In general, greater stiffness typically results in greater thrust, but manufacturers are always trying to find clever designs to improve the thrust:stiffness ratio.

4) Buoyancy: This tells you whether the fin floats or sinks in the water – which can affect your trim. These days, most fins tend to be more or less neutrally buoyant, although a few notable exceptions do exist.

5) Bite: This is a term i have coined to describe how well you “feel” the water when you kick – your proprioception, in other words. To use an analogy – when you do the front crawl, you learn to develop a feel for “holding the water” in your hand when doing the pull part of the stroke. Similarly, you have a better feel of the water with some fins than with others. That is bite. Why does this matter? This is essential when you are trying to make small precise movements in limited space – eg, inside a shipwreck or while engaging in underwater photography.

So what does all this mean?

Thrust and beat rate together give you a measure of the propulsion provided by a pair of fins. You can get the same propulsion by using a high-thrust fins kicked at a low rate (the equivalent of mashing a big gear on a bicycle) or by using low-thrust fins kicked at a high rate (high cadence spinning). The former is easier on your lungs but harder on your legs – the latter will increase your HR to some degree, but is easier on your legs.

Stiffness tells you how much effort is required to get that propulsion. Actually, to some degree, stiffness and beat rate are linked – stiff fins tend to lend themselves to lower beat rates, whereas softer fins tend to lend themselves to higher beat rates. But I feel it is worthwhile enough to keep stiffness as a separate category because it doesn’t just affect propulsion but also leg comfort. Also, it is possible to “outkick” your fin if you exert a larger effort than the fin’s stiffness allows it to handle – in such cases, it is better to increase the beat rate rather than effort per kick.

The last 2 characteristics aren’t about propulsion but about control and balance in the water. Buoyancy of fins tells you how it will impact your trim in the water, as explained earlier in this article. There is no right or wrong attribute here – a lot depends on your trim characteristics (defined by your body and your gear).

And lastly, bite gives you an indication of how much precise control you have in the water with the fins. I created this term while trying to understand why I liked some fins more than others even though both of them were equally effective in the water. The words that came into my mind were “mushy” vs “precise” – and it is a significant factor in determining how good a pair of fins feels while diving.

OTHER FEATURES OF FINS

In addition to the attributes mentioned, there are other aspects of fins that also go into a purchase decision.

The first of these is whether you want a Full Foot fin or an Open Heel fin – the former are meant to be worn on bare feet, whereas the latter require the diver to wear booties (or at the very least, neoprene socks). The benefit of full foot fins is that they can be very comfortable and feel very secure – and also require one less piece of equipment. On the flip side, fit is very important – if the foot pocket doesn’t match your foot shape and is too loose or tight, it can hurt or result in blisters. Open heel fins are more flexible in terms of fit, and also allow you the ability to wear the fins over a broader range of water temperatures. Plus, if you are doing shore dives, dive booties are very nice to have – especially on rocky water entries.

Another point to consider is fin size and weight – in this day and age of ever-miserly baggage allowances, large fins can be harder to travel with. I am always on the quest for smaller and more compact fins – but so far, I have yet to find one where the smaller size comes with no compromises (there are a couple of fins where the compromise can be acceptable in some conditions – but not universally so). And given the cost of a diving trip, the slight increase in inconvenience of taking the Right Fins is significantly outweighed by increased comfort when diving. Your mileage may vary, of course.

The last item is what I call “high tech features”: fancy designs meant to shift the thrust-to-effort ratio. These include gears to adjust stiffness, split fins, funky designs, etc. I have tried a bunch of them, and honestly, been underwhelmed – however, I also admit that while I like playing with new tech, it also takes convincing to get me to give up what has worked well in favor of the latest-and-greatest: especially when this latest-and-greatest often comes at a much higher cost. As with most things, personal preferences come into play. Personally, instead of just looking at the technology, I would evaluate fins like this using the 5 attributes I had mentioned earlier – ultimately, that is what matters, and not how “funky” the fins are. Obviously, if all else is equal, you can always choose to get the fins that are more high-tech: nothing wrong with wanting cool tech.

SELECTING THE RIGHT SET OF FINS FOR YOU

So now that you have read all of this, how do you actually select the correct fins for you?

Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to this. Because we all vary in our dive skills, personal fitness, swimming skills, buoyancy characteristics and kicking style, what works for me will not necessarily work for you – and by the same token. a set of fins that I discount may very well be the best fins ever for you.

The only way to find the right set of fins is to try out as many pairs as possible. The next time you go diving, try out a few different fins, if you can. Note the model and try to evaluate how they feel in terms of thrust, beat rate, stiffness, buoyancy and bite. Make a note of what you like about it and what you don’t (sometimes, you may have to try more than one set of fins before you start noticing these differences). You will note that some fins feel a lot better and improve your comfort in the water drastically – if possible, try to identify what particular aspect of those fins is contributing to this.

To help people with this process, we have also put together a basket of Recommended Fins – these are available to try out in our dive centers in the Andamans, as well as at our @Home dive centers in Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore and Chennai. We have selected fins that, from experience, have worked well for most divers – each of these fins are slightly different from the other in terms of attributes, and we feel confident that most divers will be able to find something that works for them from this set.

Author: Vandit Kalia (Vinnie)

Vinnie is the founder of DIVEIndia Scuba & Resorts, and has been diving since 1991 and teaching since 2oo1. A NAUI Course Director, SSI Instructor Trainer and TDI trimix diver, he is also a keen gadget head and always interested in digging deeper into the nuances of dive equipment and trying to figure out what works, what doesn’t and more importantly, why.

Aug 09 2018

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#Ocean Love: Book of the Month – What a Fish Knows, Jonathan Balcombe

By Chetna Purushotham #OceanLove, Articles, Blogs, Opinions, Underwater Naturaliast Course

What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins

Jonathan Balcombe, 2017

To me, diving at the same dive site over and over is never boring. It feels like going to hang out at a friend’s house. There is pleasure in seeing them again and there is comfort in knowing all your favourite things about their place are still there.

I have a close friend at Dixon’s Pinnacle, here in Havelock; a cute and curious circular batfish (Platax orbicularis). When I dive Dixon’s, typically the first thing I see is a 10 meter tall wall of batfish gingerly fighting the current. And nearly every time, there will be that one batfish that peals away from the school and swims over to where I am. Swimming barely a meter away, this batfish accompanies us to the second pinnacle, and waits patiently while we look at the big-eyes hovering behind the third pinnacle. She (or he) even ascends with us to the top of the first pinnacle towards the end of the dive while we look for juvenile emperor angelfish.

The probability of this happening is so high that I can confidently brief my divers about the batfish and sure enough, there my buddy will be! I have grown attached to this batfish and find it especially comforting when she (or he) accompanies me until the mooring line at the end of the dive, even though it is a good 30 meter swim into the blue that my batfish buddy must swim back to the pinnacles, alone.

Book Review: What a Fish Knows, Jonathan Balcombe

My buddy and I say our goodbyes at the end of a dive at Dixon’s Pinnacle.Picture credit: Mayank Singh

I have not been diving for very long, but it did not take me much time to realise that while it is very difficult to tell individual fishes of a species apart , there is no doubt that every individual is different. Fishes, much like us, have different personalities and temperaments, which may be a sum of their life’s experiences. Although there is a lot that we now know about the lives of fish, there is so much more we are yet to understand about them.

The batfish at Dixon’s and several other underwater friends (and enemies) I have made around Havelock have got my mind constantly churning up questions about what they are doing, what they perceive, feel and think! And as though the forces knew exactly what was going on in my mind, the universe dropped a fabulous book into my lap (alright, read: kindle).

‘What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins’ is an eye-opening and mind-boggling account of fish lives that ethologist Jonathan Balcombe uses to make a strong case for fishes as being sentient beings and not merely animals to be caught or consumed. Balcombe bases his argument on decades of science and numerous anecdotal stories, told in a way that really draws you in. While you may or may not agree with some of his interpretations, the facts and observations he states are real.

Fish swimming in schools are not an arbitrary group of fish moving in arbitrary directions. They have leaders, informants, and navigation-communication systems. They have culture.

Photo credit: Vandit Kalia @vanditkalia

This book comes at a time when fish populations are steadily crashing across the globe. It is taking destructive and wasteful fishing practices to meet the ever increasing demand from the seafood market, the live pet trade, traditional medicine, aphrodisiacs, you name it! There is a need, now more than ever, to talk about fish, as individuals whose lives have intrinsic value and not just commodities that measure in kilograms, pounds or tonnes.

To begin with, we hear very often that we ‘evolved from fish’. There is significant scientific evidence to show that we are descendants of fish and fossils of the first fishes dates back to 530 million years ago. Today they make up 60% of all vertebrate animals on earth. They have had plenty of time to adapt, evolve and diversify extraordinarily; just, not within our view.

We may never truly know what it is that fish perceive, but we are able to figure out the mind blowing extent to which their sensory abilities have evolved – vision, speech, hearing, taste and touch. Balcombe spends time on each of these and several ‘sixth senses’ including navigation using lateral lines, ultraviolet code language and hunting with electroreception!

Fish can think, calculate and memorise. The ‘three second goldfish memory’ is now a thing of the past. Wouldn’t you agree that a three second memory would be frighteningly painful for a manta ray that plans to travel between specific seamounts in search of plankton blooms and then go back each year for a routine clean at the exact same cleaning station, on exactly the same corner, of the exact same coral reef?

What a Fish Knows, Jonathan Balcombe - Review

Fishes such as this Dascyllus uses its lateral line system (seen as the thin line arching across its body) to detect movements and navigate its surroundings

Picture Credit: Gunnhild Sørås @gunnigullet

The most interesting part of this book (and you can tell while reading it), is also probably what Balcombe holds closest to his heart. Going beyond the senses, beyond just cognition, he asks- do fish have feelings? Do they have beliefs?

Through studies and stories that are amusing, sad, and hilarious and awe inspiring all at once, we see how fish can have feelings that range from stress to joy. They can appreciate the warmth of the sun in the same way we do after a cold rainy day. A visit to a cleaning station relieves their stress the same way a good massage does ours. They can be inquisitive, deceptive, empathic and playful. Fish have culture, traits that are not innate and need to be learned through the course of their lives.

It makes you wonder why it has taken us so long to acknowledge that fish are not just instinctive but are also intelligent too. Is it because we just have not spent enough time with them? Is it because their faces are not as expressive as other animals that we relate to, like primates? Speaking of primates and how intelligence is contextual, a quote by Albert Einstein comes to mind. “Everybody is a Genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

“You don’t need to have fur and feather to have a personality. Scales and fins will suffice.” – Jonathan Balcombe

Picture credit: Vikas Nairi @vikasnairi

In conclusion, this is a really fun book but also pertinent given the current state of affairs where fishes in our oceans and rivers are concerned. We have learned fish behaviour enough to know how and when to detect and catch them using sophisticated technology and yet we fail to use this same knowledge to stop decimating their populations and ecosystems.

Try spending about five minutes on your next dive observing a cleaning station. The interaction between cleaners and clients on a reef alone tells so much about their social systems and will show you that “fish aren’t just alive, they have lives”!

In the meantime, after having read this book, I look forward to heading back to Dixon’s to meet my buddy the batfish again. Do you think that they know that we know what they know?

What a Fish Knows is easily available online, in paperback and kindle versions!

Read other posts in the #OceanLove Book of the Month series here

The author, Chetana is a PADI divemaster and resident biologist at DIVEIndia in the Andaman Islands. She is an alumnus of the Masters program at the Wildlife Conservation Society -India program and National Center of Biological Sciences in Bengaluru. She has been diving and exploring the Andaman Islands since 2013. She is also deeply excited about forests, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

Jul 04 2018

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#OceanLove: The Highest Tide, by Jim Lynch

By Chetna Purushotham #OceanLove, Articles, Opinions, PADI underwater naturalist

#OceanLove: Book Of The Month

The Highest Tide, A novel by Jim Lynch

“If there is poetry in my book about the sea it is not because I deliberately put it there but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry” –Rachel Carson, in her acceptance speech of the National Book Award for non-fiction (1952) for ‘The Sea Around Us’.

Miles O’ Maley is a thirteen-year-old boy who admires Rachel Carson to the extent that he can quote lines from her books and speeches off the top of his head any time of day or night. Growing up around a beautiful bay in Puget Sound, Miles spends most of his time in the tidal mudflats looking for interesting marine life at low tide. He has an extraordinary passion and love for the water with an unparalleled understanding of the ocean and all of its inhabitants. Miles still is your average teenager; struggling with the perils of puberty, love and parents who he thinks do not understand him. He finds growing up more mysterious than the tides.

Rock pools at low tide. Picture credit: Ajay Kumar @ajay.1994

He doesn’t consider himself special in any way; he only speaks of the world around him. In fact, people around him consider his fascination rather odd, until the day when everything suddenly changes. Miles becomes the centre of media attention for finding a gigantic deep sea creature beached in his bay. The story then becomes about how this one event changes his life, the people around him and the bay that he has grown up in and deeply loves.

While the story is one of fiction, none of the marine life that Miles describes is. You will find yourself taking to the internet quite frequently to be sure that the bizarre animals and plants actually exist in this world. In this one read, just by following Miles through the ups and downs of his sensationalised summer, you learn about the beauty of tides and how they shape our coastlines. He describes in his totally casual tone, how the marine life seen when the water recedes, is not randomly thrown around but are living creatures that are tracking the tides as well, and actually thriving in this dynamic environment.

His adventures will also leave you wondering, more often than not, why you didn’t spend more time exploring the intertidal rock pools and mud flats during your last beachside holiday.

This is a story of one boy and the places his love for the ocean takes him. It is one that will resonate with you if you have ever been in the ocean, and if you haven’t, the tale is likely to make you excited enough to see everything for yourself! Miles puts it all in perspective for us when he says that “Most people realise the sea covers two-thirds of the planet, but few take the time to understand even a gallon of it”

The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch is easily available online, in paperback and kindle versions!

Click here to read about our Intertidal walks at DIVEIndia

Sep 22 2016

Love2

What does scuba diving feel like?

By Vandit Kalia Andaman scuba diving course, Articles, Opinions

What does scuba diving feel like?
A beginners view.

One of the downsides of having been diving for a while is that sometimes, it is easy to take the ocean’s wonders for granted – yes, the diving is still enjoyable but that sense of wide-eyed wonder is lost. The more you dive, the more cool things you see, the less you tend to be excited by the common, everyday stuff – which, if you take a step back and think about it, is pretty damn amazing. On any given scuba dive here in the Andamans, you can see well over a hundred species of marine life. Translate that to seeing 100 different animals in a national park, or 100 different birds in a morning walk.

The same thing happens with the Andamans. After going out for an evening walk with the dogs daily for nearly 10 years, it is easy to take the long stretch of quiet, untouched beach, the clear azure waters and all the interesting marine life in the low tide rock pools for granted. It’s human nature, after all.

Still, sometimes, it is nice to “see” things from fresh eyes. Rajdeep Bhattacharyya came to do his open water course with us, and has written a beautifully evocative post on his first experience at diving. It puts a smile on my face, and it reminds me of my own first dive (in a pool – where the feeling of weightlessness had me hooked to the sport instantly) and the first dive where I saw fish (dive #30, in Florida). So, with the author’s permission, here is a link: https://www.wingd.ca/swimming-fish-andaman/

Jul 01 2016

Love3

Review: Aqualung i300 Dive Computer

By Vandit Kalia Gear, Opinions, Reviews

Review: Aqualung i300 Dive Computer

Anyone who has done an Open Water or Advanced course with me knows that I feel that a dive computer is the single most important piece of equipment a diver should own. With a dive computer on your person, you have full control over your dive and are completely self-reliant – which is exactly what you, as a certified diver, should strive to be. A divemaster or more experienced buddy is good to have as an added layer of safety, but your safety is your responsibility and no one else’s.

Yes, it costs a little bit of money – but really, if you factor in the years of use you can get out of it, the annual cost is not that high. And having all the information not only improves your safety, but your confidence as well – and that means you are more likely to dive.

At this point, I can hear someone going “yes, but i can do this with a dive table as well”. Yes, you can, in theory. I did a dive yesterday – max depth 30m, total dive time 58min and at no point did we come anywhere close to our no decompression limits. If you were on tables, you would be out of the water in 24-25 min. Do you really want to pay thousands of dollars on vacation and then give up on >50% of your dive time? Let’s get real. Dive tables are obsolete for recreational divers and for good reason.

But I digress. Getting back to dive computers: until now, it really wasn’t cost effective to buy scuba gear, including computers, in India. However, times are changing. As those of you who are members of our Facebook group know, the scuba market in India has finally evolved to the point where manufacturers are taking it seriously, and now it is becoming increasingly cost effective for people to buy gear here.

So that led to me scouring the various price lists to see if there was a dive computer that could be a sensible alternative to the Suunto Zoop, one of the heavyweights in entry-level dive computer category – and this search led me to the Aqualung i300.

Before we start, a word on ‘entry level’ – that is not the same as ‘cheapest’. The idea is to find a computer which has sensible set of features ie, one which includes everything that is essential, and where you are neither paying extra for a bunch of optional bells-and-whistles, nor saving money by giving up on things that are important (be it features or usability).

THE SPECIFICATIONS

The Aqualung i300 is an over-sized dive computer which has 4 modes: Air, Nitrox, Free and Gauge. The first 2 are for diving, the 3rd for skindiving/apnea and the last for use as a bottom timer when doing technical diving.

The first thing that jumped out at me was that the i300 has user-replaceable batteries. This is a heaven-sent. My personal computer, a Suunto D9TX, requires me to send it to Thailand every time the battery runs out – which means a couple of months without it. User-replaceable batteries are a ‘must have’, in my opinion.

The i300 also comes with a bunch of useful features: backlighting (for viewing in the dark), auto-detection of altitude and fresh water/sea water, the usual depth and time alarms & 2 unique alarms: a ‘Dive Time Remaining’ alarm (which can be set to beep to however many minutes before you hit your no-deco limit) and a nitrogen loading alarm (which can be set to beep when you hit 20%, 40%, 60% or 80% of your max nitrogen loading).

It gets credit for having a sensible Dive Plan mode – on many computers, including several Suunto models, accessing the Plan mode during a surface interval would only provide the bottom time based on the current surface interval. So if you were 30′ into the SI and wanted to get in the water after another 45′, there was no way to figure out how much bottom time you would get then – the Plan mode would only show you how much bottom time you had at that time. Thankfully, the i300 lets you add more surface time to the planning mode, which makes it actually useful for figuring out how long you have to wait or what your depth/time limits would be when you actually got into the water.

Two other neat features – it has a ‘Deep Stop’ option you can enable, if you want, and it also lets you specify the depth and duration of your safety stop.

In addition to the above, the Aqualung i300 also has all the other usual features – dive log mode, total number of dives logged, a conservative factor setting (which lets you make the computer more conservative), metric/imperial adjustments and the ability to sync with a computer with an optional cable (this lets you download your dives for review on a computer or online dive log software, and also lets you upgrade the firmware of the device if need be) and auto-on – although for some inexplicable reason, you actually have the ability to turn off the ‘auto-on’ function, if you so desire.

Lastly, the i300’s Free Diving mode is quite robust: not only does it includes things like a Countdown Timer (before you start your immersion), but the computer actually tracks your activities in Free Diving mode. So that means you can switch from Free Diving mode to one of the Diving modes (Air or Nitrox) at any time – many other computers, including several Suunto models, require a 24-48 hour waiting time before letting you switch modes.

THE ALGORITHM

All of this is well and good, but ultimately, the main purpose of a dive computer is to help you plan and execute your dives. How good is the i300 at this?

Let me take a step back and sign a paean to Suunto dive computers. They are one of the heavy-weights of the dive industry, and with good reason – sophisticated computer models, workhorse reliability and smart interfaces. However, the big knock against them has always been how overly conservative they are – they use a very advanced model called RGBM, which tries to predict and minimize silent bubble buildup in the body, but the downside to this is that your dive time is greatly reduced, especially on repetitive dives.

The i300 is made by Pelagic Systems – who also make dive computers for Oceanic, Mares and others, and who are one of the leaders in developing decompression algorithms. The i300 uses their PZ+ algorithm, which is a moderately conservative algorithm, slotting in between the liberal DSAT model (also created by Pelagic) and Suunto’s conservative RGBM model.

So in theory, this should give you more bottom time, especially on repetitive dives.

But hold on – isn’t it better to have a more conservative computer? I sort of agree with that – their extra conservative model is the reason we use Suuntos in our dive center, after all.

However, the decision-making for a dive center is going to be different from the decision-making for an individual: we have to take into account divers of all body types, fitness level, age groups, health levels and abilities. You only have to take into account yourself.

And the inescapable fact is that millions of people have been diving safely for years using variations of the Buhlmann model (which is the compartment-based model that you learn in Open Water and even Divemaster), of which the PZ+ is a derivative. So at what point is a computer conservative enough?

Suunto themselves recognizes it to some degree – on their higher end computers, such as the D9, they offered a setting which would let you make the computer less conservative.

Generally, my belief is this – unless you have a condition which requires you to be more conservative when it comes to DCS (age, fitness, overweight), the PZ+ algorithm is going to be more than adequate at keeping you safe – just be careful about watching your ascent rate, give yourself atleast an hour between dives and follow all the concepts of safe diving that you learn in Open Water, and you are good to go.

TESTING THE COMPUTER IN THE WATER

Over the past few days, I have taken the computer for a bunch of dives, along with my Suunto D9TX and a Suunto Zoop from the dive shop. To test how the computers responded to various diving situations and emergencies, not only did I do a day of regular diving, but I also took all 3 computers into decompression, and did a day of reverse profiles (a shallower dive first, a deeper dive second).

The computer behaved pretty much as i expected: on the first dive, I got a bottom time that was somewhere in between my D9TX (which has the reduced RGBM algorithm) and the Zoop (which has the full RGBM algorithm). The difference between all 3 computers was fairly small. On the second dive however, the i300 gave me a little bit more bottom time than the D9TX, and both gave me significantly more time than the Zoop – this is pretty much what I expected, given the algorithms.

The backlighting worked well, the tactile buttons were a pleasure to use, and all the automatic features of the computer worked precisely as they were supposed to. And the readout is very clear and easy to read, with all the essential information available at a single glance.

On the reverse profile day, the same held – all 3 computers gave readouts that were ‘sensible’, with similar bottom times as earlier.

On the decompression dive, there was a significant variation, however. I went down to past 40m and hung around till all 3 computers went into deco (no significant differences in bottom time here) and started to ascend once both computers were showing me 5′ of ascend time. As i ascended to a shallower depth and the controlling compartment changed, the Sunntos gave me credit for off-gassing on the faster compartment and the deco obligation cleared by the time i was at 15m. However, the i300 obstinately kept that deco clock ticking till I ascended to shallower than 10m.

This is a key difference – the Suuntos are designed for decompression diving (provided you are trained and qualified to know how to use them for this), whereas the i300 is strictly for recreational, no-deco dives (and it doesnt pay any attention to that ‘recreational deco’ nonsense) – So someone who is a technical diver or planning to become one may prefer a different computer. However, for the vast majority of recreational divers, this isn’t such an issue. You shouldn’t be going into deco anyway.

CONCLUSIONS AND FINAL THOUGHTS

2 weeks ago, if you had asked me to recommend an entry-level computer, I would have blindly said Suunto Zoop/Vyper – why? Because i am a long-time Suunto user – and Suunto is also the brand that we use in the dive shop, with excellent results.

However, while the Zoop still makes sense for the dive center, I think that for an individual diver, the slightly less conservative algorithm of the i300 makes it a better buy, especially given that prices are comparable.

There are a couple of cheaper options out there, such as the various 1-button dive computers like the Mares Puck. However, going back to what i wrote earlier about the difference between ‘best entry level’ and ‘cheapest’ – single button interfaces are a pain in the rear. Given that the monetary savings would have been very modest, I ruled those out.

There are also more expensive options out there – what a greater price gets you is a smaller form factor (so you can wear it like a wrist watch – which is actually a really good thing: it goes with you whereever you go, so you are sorted if you make a last-minute decision to go diving somewhere), air integration via optional tank transmitter (so you can see how much air you have left, both in bars and time, based on your breathing rate), an in-built digital compass (that’s nice to have for serious divers and pros) and, at the highest end of the scale, the ability to switch gases between various nitrox and helium blends and rebreather modes (useful for technical divers).

All those features are nice to have, and if budget allows, by all means go for it. A Suunto D6 or equivalent is a great buy in that price range. But if you are a casual recreational diver who is not looking to spend a huge amount of money on unnecessary gear, the Aqualung i300 gets my vote as the first piece of scuba gear you should own.

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