Bangkok protests

Bad, bad times for diving industry in Thailand. The opposing party supporters ("yellow shirts") have blocked Thailand's largest airport - the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok (read more) . This basically means that people have extremely hard time leaving Thailand, with plenty oftourists stuck on this airport. Those who are coming can choose alternative routes (e.g. through Kuala Lumpur), but still it has been made harder for them. This situation will also make lots of people reconsider their travel plans:/

Effects can be seen on Samui - empty streets, restaurants and hotels, not much movement in the diving industry. On top of that we have the economic crisis (lots of talk about that, but I'm still not sure if it affects tourism that much) and bad weather.

We were to begin our trainig with Easy Divers, but because of all this the boat was canceled all past week, so we cannot start this training (which is basically getting to know the dive sites), not to mention working:/.

Today was the King's birthday and everyone expected him to say something about these protests during his speech which he always gives on his birthday, but because of some illnes the event was cancelled.

Hopefully not all of those who booked their hotels for the Christmas period (a little high season here on Samui) will not cancel.

Diving jobs in Thailand

We've spent most of the last month looking for a job. And it turns out it's not so easy to find work as a Divemaster on Phuket. Unless you speak a rare language (like Russian) in addition to English, or speak 3 or more languages (i.e. English, German, Swedish or other Scandinavian) your chances are very slim. Dive centers prefer to hire instructors because they are more versatile and it is easier for them to get Thai work permits (WP). Work permits are required, and they are often checked. The penalty for working without one is jail. You can always try to bribe your way out, but it'll cost you a substantial amount of money (it is said that if you do it early enough 50K Baht should be enough). Sometimes dive centers hire staff on a freelance basis, which moves the responsibility for obtaining a WP from the employer to employee. It is possible for a divemaster to get a WP, but again it costs. You need to set up a company, for which the starting price is 100K Baht. If you are smart or have some luck you could probably do it for 60-70K, but still its a big sum of money for us poor backpackers...

That is why we decided to try somewhere else (anywhere else to be frank). After some time and about 200 applications sent (I love SPAM :D ), we finally managed to interest someone. This someone was Easy Divers on Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand (the other side of the Malay Peninsula). After an interview we were accepted and hired on a freelance basis. We are moving to Samui now:)

PADI Assistant Instructor course completed

Today was the last day of our Assistant Instructor course. This course is the first part of Instructor Development Course (IDC). IDC consists of two parts: the AI course followed by Open Water Scuba Instructor course. Usually they are taken together, but it's possible to do them separately, like we did. AI course focuses on in-water diver control, presentation (or lecture) preparation and conduct. During the course you also learn about PADI programs that can be conducted by Assistant Instructors. This are the same as Divemaster programs plus: Peak Performance Buoyancy, Underwater Photography, Seal Team Missions and Project Aware Specialties. Additionally AIs can asses the surface skills during OWD course and give the lectures during that course. Another important part of the course is about general PADI standards and procedures and particular courses standards.

A part of the course also focuses on demonstrating skills underwater, however unlike the DM which stresses the quality of the demonstration, AI is about maintaining control underwater. The same goes for the open water part of the course: you are assigned two exercises that you must perform with a group of "students". These students are of course your fellow AI trainees or instructors, and each of them is simulating a problem, as assigned by the instructor. These problems range from collecting corals while you're not looking, through loosing parts of equipment, to trying to do an uncontrolled positive buoyancy ascent:) You, as their instructor, must maintain complete control over what they are doing and don't let them do anything stupid. The quality of your briefings and debriefings also gets rated.

At the end your diving knowledge is exam (same as during the divemaster exam).

I feel that during this course I've learned a lot about conducting lectures and presentations and also about diver control. Still, I feel that I need a little bit more experience before signing for my OWSI course and completing the Instructor Examination.

Phuket first impressions

After some problems during the flight we finally landed on Phuket. The problems we had were with the Polish airlines - LOT. It turned out that they don't respect some agreements with other airlines or are to lazy to check the conditions of these agreements. The company we bought our tickets from (LTU Airlines) assured us that we can transport diving equipment free of charge, and the guy at Okęcie Airport checkin wanted to charge us for that luggage. This additional fee was so big that we decided to leave our luggage behind:/ Thankfully our friend offered to ship it for us, but we will have to wait before he arranges the air freight. Until then we only have our masks, fins and snorkels, one regulator, diving computers and compasses. If you can, try to avoid LOT.

We landed on Phuket and are staying in a hotel in Phuket Town. We are (or at least I am) a bit overwhelmed by this place (the Phuket town). It's so much different than any other city I have visited. Phuket Town seems very dirty to an average European person. In addition everything smells different, everyone seems to want to kill you with their motorbike, the traffic rules we are used to are "just guidelines" here.

We don't know the town and although we have some maps (and of course our Lonely Planet guide) we are clueless how to get to places we want to go. Thai people are very friendly, that's true, but the don't speak English:/ To make things worse, they are very good at hiding this fact from you. They just say "Ohh.. yes.. aaa.. yes" and when you think you they understood it turns out that they do something quite opposite in the end. When it comes to navigation maps don't help either - they don't seem to understand what you try to show them. We've learned that lesson trying to get to the divecenter we are doing our Assistant Instructor course in. Of course there thankfully are some exceptions:)

The next thing that was different than I expected was the weather. I thought the rainy season was over so I expected the weather to be hot, moist with lots of sun. I was wrong, the rainy season was not over yet and it was cloudy, warm and there was some rain.

Off to Phuket

On 24th of October we're starting our voyage:) First we're going to Phuket in Thailand to do PADI Assistant Instructor course and hopefully find some employment in one of Phuket's divecenters. The peak season in Thailand is starting at the beginning of November so we hope that there will be some employment for two new PADI AIs. We're flying from Warsaw to Bangkok through Berlin and then to Phuket by AirAsia. We have booked a hotel for the first few days and then we hope to rent a house/condo. The last few days in Warsaw were very busy - we had to do some last moment preparations and also pack all our belongings as our friend are going to be renting our flat.

Finally - plastic arrived

Today I got my Divemaster certification card :D. I've posted the application 1,5 month ago, so it's quite a long time. Fortunately I got my PADI number earlier, three weekse after PADI charged my credit card for the divemaster application. If you want to get your number quick you can try contacting PADI member services, they are very helpful.

The deck is growing...



It's funny that I got the course evaluation questionnaire on paper this time.

Mailing my PADI Divemaster Application :D

Today I posted the divemaster application to PADI. Apart from the filled in application form you also have to send them a recent medical examination stating that you are fit to dive, a recent photo and an authorization to charge your credit card. Don't try sending checks or other methods of payment - credit card is the fastest way. If you don't have a credit card you can always try asking your relatives :) It also doesn't have to be a real credit card (one that allows you to spend money you don't have) - you can try one of the so called eCards (card that pretend to be credit cards but work in a prepaid manner).

Hope the application will be processed quickly by PADI - I must have my c-card before going for the AI course on Phuket in the end of October.

AOWD - finally

Last weekend I finally managed to finish the internship portion of the divemaster course - the AOWD course. This was a lucky shot because I'm running out of time. I have to get through the certification process before our departure to Phuket, Thailand.

AOWD - the course that does not happen

To finish the internship part of the Divemaster course I'm supposed to help an instructor during the Advanced Open Water Course. Seems easy - the course itself is just 5 dives/2 days. The problem is, that almost everyone is doing their AOWD in Egypt, Croatia or some other place with warm, clear water and not in polish murky lakes:/ I don't have the time&money to go to such place (im trying to finish my masters thesis), so I'm kind of stuck. Hope that someone will eventually do this course before our departure to Phuket.

Search & Recovery

As I was swimming today at our local swimming pool a lifeguard approached me and asked if I could help one of the other swimmers. It turned out that he lost one of his custom made contact lenseses in the pool. I thought 'no way I can find this lens' as there were lots of people swimming, but I didn't want to dissappoint the lifeguard so I agreed. I did a quick breathhold warm up and swam towards the area of the pool where the lens was lost. Remembering my search & recovery skills acquired during the AOWD and Rescue courses I applied the U-pattern. This was easier in the pool as I could follow the tiles on the bottom. On the other hand it was harder because I had to surface to get a breath. I wasn't expecting to find the lens, so I was surprised and happy when it appeared right before my eyes on the second or third turn :)

The guy who lost the lens was even happier - he said that if I hadn't found it he would have to wait one month before he could get a replacement...

Magda going to Egypt for a wreck safari

Magda has been invited to go for Egyptian wreck safari as a divemaster. During a week on a liveaboard boat she's going to guide dives to: Salem Express, Giannis D, Carnatic, Chrisula K, Kimon M, Thistlegorm, Rosalie Moller and El Mina. This is going to be a great trip for her. And it's good beacause she's been put on 'fasttrack to DM' in our dive center, meaning that she'll have priority to do all the interships needed for the Divemaster course she hasn't done yet.

And in the meantime I'll be finishing my master's thesis. Great ... :/

Rescue Diver training on Piłakno Lake

Wow, Rescue Diver training seems to be as hard for the Divemasters as it is for the trainees.. especially when the divemasters are also helping during Deep Diver speciality... This is basically what me and Magda were doing last weekend.

The RD open water training focuses mainly on different ways of getting a diver having a problem to the shore or other safe place. That is why the future RDs where practicing different methods of towing a tired or unconscious diver (sometimes with rescue breathing). A lot attention is also put on searching for a missing diver. During the training trainees were first practicing, under DM supervision, different search patterns (U-shape, square etc.) and then applying these skills in a simulated rescue action.

Viz in the lake was rather poor (less than 5m) and so we had to keep really close to "our" trainee during this supervision. It was then when I got kicked in the face with to-be-rescue-diver's fin and bit off the mouthpiece of my regulator:/ I had to finish that dive on my octo.

Tropical destination chosen :D

We have chosen our tropical travel destination: it's going to be Phuket in Thailand. We're planning to do PADI Assistant Instructor course with Asian Divers a Polish diving center there, and then start working. Lot's of work ahead of us: finishing our masters thesis, finishing DM course, finding accomodation, visas, flights etc. But I can't wait to get there:D

Open Water course on Piłakno lake

Last weekend we did the OWD course internship. This was kind of hard despite that there was four of us divemaster trainees (DMTs for short), because there were 9 people doing this course and the visibility in Piłakno is at most 5m (that is before the OWDs get in the water:) ). Because of the visibility our instructor split the course into two groups so that each DMT had his own diver to supervise. So we had to do 8 dives during two days (of which one was my birthday:/). The weather was not so good either.

During the dives we supervised the OWD trainees so that they would not get lost or jump to the surface at high speed. One of my divers tried to do that so I had to catch him and bring him down. This was harder than I thought as I didn't have enough weights on me to pull him with a full BCD down... My bad..

We also helped new divers in practicing their skills, don their gear, answered A LOT of questions on different topics... all in all great fun and a very rewarding experience.

Assisting during Rescue Diver pool sessions

Yesterday we did our internships during PADI Rescue Diver confined waters training. This part of the Rescue Diver course is generally hard work, though it gets even harder in the open water.

This pool session was a total organizational fuckup. The to-be-rescue-divers didn't have any classes, they didn't even get to see the Rescue Diver Video, so we had to instruct them in-water which was a bit awkward.

During the pool session managed to show them various techniques of towing a diver, with and without rescue breathing and that was about it.

Afterwards it turned out that the pool will be close from the next week onwards and so the trainees won't be able to practice surfacing unconscious diver before open water.

Piłakno lake diving

Our dive center, Nautica, finally has it's own diving base in Poland. It is located in Mazury, polish lake district, at lake Piłakno.


Show bigger map

Last weekend was longer than usual because of Corpus Christi holiday, so we went to this new diving place. Although it was raining cats and dogs during the first three (of four) days of our stay there and visibility underwater was poor, we've spent a great time there partying:) We did some diving too, preparing the place for the summer. We laid out some guide lines to the most interesting spots in the water. These spots are: a sailing boat wreck, something called "The Mower", which is supposed to be a wreck of reed mowing machine, and, ofcourse, an underwater platform used for excercises. There are lots of fish in the lake (pikes are the most interesting) and also some crayfish.

As usual, we were hoping to do a little bit of the divemaster course, unfortunately no one (except for one OWD Trainee) came because of the weather...

Doing the OWD confined water session

Last weekend we were assisting during OWD confined water training. This was harder than I thought, beeing a divemaster seems to be a tough work. There were 8 OW trainees doing this course, 1 MSDT, 2 certified divemasters and 2 to-be-divemasters - us:). Each of the four DMs got 2 OWD to supervise. First we had to haul all equipment (weights, tanks, regulators and wetsuits) to the swimming pool. Than make them don it all and make sure everything is connected and strapped properly. I forgot donning gear can be such a challenge:) Finally we had 8 OW trainees geared up and ready to go, and so in the water they went.
Now we had to take them to the other end of the pool. Seems easy but problems started to show up. One guy was staying behind, so I asked if he was OK, and he wasn't - he had problems breathing, his mask was fogging, he just didn't feel allright. It turned out that he forgot to wash his mask after he bought it so we swapped masks, and also that breathing from his regulator was a bit harder than usual, so he got a new one. Despite that he couldn't stay underwater for more than a minute:( What was surprising was that he was able to demonstrate almost perfectly the regulator recovery&clearing and mask clearing skills during that minute:)

During the second session this guy was doing excercises with another Divemaster so I don't know if he managed to finish the confined waters portions of the course. I was assisting some other divers, it was very rewarding to see them learn:) Of course there were some problems, but my superior demonstration quality skills:P allowed them to master (almost) these skills.

Anyways, last weekend I've learned that being a DM or an Instructor is harder than I expected, but at the same time is a much more rewarding experience than I imagined

Lights and Computers

Today me and Magda got a big shipping of diving equipment: anoter Apeks ATX-40/DS4 regulator for Magda, Suunto Vyper computer for me, AZON canister light system, marker buoy, tools&spare parts and some small stuff. I'll just write a few words about the flashlight and the computer, other stuff, though useful, ain't rocket science :)

First - the computer. Vyper is a dive computer made by Suunto since 1999 so it's a mature design. It allows for diving with air, nitrox up to 50% PPO and can also be used as a depth gauge/timer during deeper dives. A diving computer is a very convenient thing, integrates the three meters you need underwater (depth gauge, timer and thermometer) into one device. A diving computer also allows you to extend your NDL (as compared to tables) becuase it traces the exact profile of your dive (no rounding up the depths nor times), and adjusts the NDLs in real time (Vyper is using Reduced Gradient Bubble Model, RGBM) Planning a dive is also much easier - you don't need the tables and you don't need to write down your diving profiles - the computer does that for you. That said, a computer can fail so you still should bring backup for your dives: a timer, a depth gauge and tables...



As for the canister light we bought, the AZON (abbreviation for Autonomiczny Zestaw Oświetleniowy Nurka which translates to Autonomous Diver Light System), it's a fairly good canister LED lamp whith a Goodman handle, made by a Polish diver. It uses 12 AA cells, instead of one acumulator, which are kept in a construction plastic container. These cells should last for at least 90 minutes, though I haven't tested it yet for that long. The light is quite strong (1400 lumens though somewhat dispersed as compared to HID lamps. Charging 12 AA cells is not as easy as charging one big acu, but, and this is the biggest advantage, the price of the lamp is one fourth the price of the cheapest canister lights available elswhere!. The weight of the lamp is very small - only 1kg on the surface and 0,4kg underwater (that's because it doesn't use one big acu and is made of plastic).We are extremely safisfied with this lamp:):)

Divemaster Watermanship and Equipment Exchange

Today we've completed the Stamina and Watermanship and Equipment Exchange portion of the PADI Divemaster course.

The Watermanship and Stamina is just timed swimming: 800 meters with snorkel gear, 400 meters swimming, 15 minutes survival float (last two minutes with your hands above the water) and 100 meters diver tow. For each of them you get 1-5 points (depending on your time), you must have at least 12 to pass. It's easiest to score 5 points on the survival float, to get 5 point for your swimming you must be a fairly good swimmer ( 400m below 6 minutes 30 seconds).

Equipment Exchange, however, is something quite different than what you normally do on PADI courses. Your goal is to exchange all your gear - BC, weights, mask, fins - with your partner while buddy breathing. This task is supposed to be a test of your problem solving skills and ability to stay calm under stress which, in my opinion, it tests quite well.

My advice for Divemaster trainees: try to enter the water wearing each others gear (at least mask), and take as much lead as possible, distributed between your weight belt and BC's weight system (so your BC is easy to hold at the bottom), keep calm, exchange one item at a time and help your partner don the gear. At least that's what worked for us:)

You can also check out this post at ScubaBoard.com.

Diving Hvar, Croatia

A day after the "basic skills demonstration" exam we were on our way to Croatia for 7 days of diving. We hoped to do at least a part of our Divemaster practical training as this diving trip was organized by our diving center, Nautica Warszawa, and there were about 50 people. The practical training is a part of the divemaster training, it is a kind of internship - you participate, under your instructors supervision, in different courses: OWD, AOWD, Rescue one chosen speciality and you must also practice leading certified divers. This is one of the possible ways of passing the practical part of the divemaster course. The other one is so called Practical Training Excercises which basically is just simulation of the aforementioned courses. I think that the internship is a better way of learning because you deal with real divers and their problems and take part in real courses. This way you gather more experience.

It is important for us to get the Practical Training done as soon as possible because this is the most unpredictable part of the course. Our friend that was doing the previous divemaster course got stuck because nobody wanted to do the AOWD course in winter in Poland...

Unfortunately it turned out that nobody wanted to do any courses, they just wanted to dive... As there were no courses we did some diving ourselves.

Nautica Croatia is located in Stari Grad on the island of Hvar in Croataia.

View Larger Map

Sealife in waters around Hvar is not as rich as in Egypt (the water is much colder, around 15 degrees Celsius), but still you can find some interesting fish, like the angler fish below



Apart from that you can find lots of nudibranchs, urchins and other fish typical of the Mediterranean.



Almost all of our dives were boat dives, we did however 4 dives from the shore during the Map Making assignment of the DM course (we had to do something to push things forward!).




Additionaly we did the PADI Deep Diver course, so I'm expecting a new card to my C-Card collection :)

Divemaster demostration quality skills - passed

Yesterday we've completed the demonstration quality skills part of the divemaster training. It was strange to practice demonstrating the '20 basic skills' - normally you don't think about each step of the skill, you just do it. But now you had to think and emphasize each and every step of the activity (eg. mask clearing), so that it would seem easy to perform. I know it is easy, I've done it a thousand times, but it was completely different to make it seem easy. Moreover you have to score at least 3 point (out of 5) for each skill (you can score better on some and worse on others, the mean has to be at least 3 points). Nevertheless it's done, I even had quite a good score:) Below is a video of an instructor doing 'mask removal and recovery' in demonstration quality.

Hańcza lake diving

This weekend we were diving in the Hańcza lake - Poland's deepest lake (108 m).


View Larger Map

The weather was fair which was very nice as we were diving in wetsuits and the water had temperature of 4 degrees Celsius (39 F). We used 7+7mm wetsuits and still it was pretty damn cold down there. This dive was also a test dive for our new jackets, and a flashlight I bought the day before the trip (Princeton Tec Rage). The BCD's (Magda's Cressi Aquapro and mine Tusa Liberator) turned out to have a bit too small buoyancy for fresh water, apart from that they did good. The flashlight turned out to be total crap, even for a backup light I intended it to be. It didn't give enough light, was hard to turn on in 5mm gloves and died very fast:(

We did 5 dives during two days to a maximum depth of 30 meters. At this depth it was pretty dark, fortunately we borrowed a bigger flashlight from our friends. Nitrogen narcosis kicked in at 30 meters (probably because of the darkness and water temperature), we started feeling a bit anxious so we turned back and started our ascent. Despite that dive dive was great and we took some interesting photos :

My own jacket - Tusa Liberator

I finally managed to save up enough money to buy a BCD (jacket). I've chosen Tusa Liberator (BCJ-3200) mainly because of the price.



So far I've made about 10 dives with it and it seems to be a good and durable jacket. It's quite comfortable and it has an integrated weight system (Tusa's AWLS). The quick release mechanism of the weight system has a rather secure fastening which does not open unexpectedly. The BCD also has some accessory holders and, ofcourse, pockets. On the down side it has few steel D-rings (only one) and small buoyancy (10 kg for the European S size - my size). All in all I'm safisfied with this jacket - I can start saving on the equipment rental :)

Swimming often is... bad or your ears?

I go to the swimming pool quite often, especially now, during the divemaster training. Apart from the divemaster course we also have our regular freediving trainings and try to swim at least once more a week.
During the last two months i've developed some recurring pain in my ear. Initially I thought it was because of the winter and not drying my ears after swimming so I started paying more attention to that. Last weekend my ear started hurting badly so I finally went to see a doctor. It turned out that I had some ear infection because of frequent swimming. And they say that sport is good or your health....

PADI Divemaster exam passed

Yesterday evening we wrote the Divemaster Exam, all 8 parts of it. I must say that this was the hardest PADI exam I wrote so far, probably because of knowledge you have to take in. The exams covered the following topics:

1. Physics
2. Physiology and First Aid
3. Equipment
4. PADI Divemaster Conducted Programs
5. Decompression Theory and the RDP
6. Dive Skills and the Environment
7. Supervising Activities for Certified Divers
8. Supervising Student Divers in Training

For me the PADI Divemaster Conducted Programs was the most difficult one. Despite that I passed scoring rather well:). Magda had less luck, she failed the Equipment part and she'll have to retake it. It's good she only failed one, because if you fail 3 or more you have to write the whole exam again:/

The questions were not very hard, some of them could have been answered with only some common sense and little thinking. That said, if I wouldn't have studied for 3 evenings, I wouldn't have passed the exam...

In the begining of May we're going diving to Croatia and by that time we need to complete the Water Skills and Stamina and Demonstration quality Basic Skills parts of PADI Divemaster course. Otherwise we will not be able to do the Internship part there...

Wind and Water boat and diving show

Last weekend was the weekend of Wind and Water Boat Show - the biggest Polish water sports fair, and that's why we have spent a major part of Saturday at Warsaw Expo Center where it took place. More than 230 companies from sailing, motor yachting, windsurfing, kayaking and diving industry presented their products. Unfortunately diving industry had the smallest representation. This was made up for by several extremely interensting presentations and exhibitions related to diving.

There was a team from the Polish Navy who gave a very interesting presentation on discovery and indentiication of Graf Zeppelin. Graf Zeppelin was Germany's only aircraft carrier. She was launched in 1938, however she was never fully equipped nor used because the aircraft carrier project was aborted. During the war Graf Zeppelin served as a warehouse and infantry barracks. She was sunk by the Soviet Navy in mid 1947, probably during explosion resistance testing. The wreck has been discovered by Petrobaltic (a Polish oil&gas company) 30 miles north of Polish port of Władysławowo, resting at about 85 meters. Immediately it was closed for divers.

A model of Graf Zeppelin

In October 2007 Polish Navy conducted a series of exploration dives on the wreck in order to confirm its identity. During the presentation a number of images were shown, including images from a side scan sonar survey conducted just after the discovery of the wreck, photos and films from the Polish Navy innovative 3D underwater vision system mounted on an ROV. The main purpose of the dives was to identify the wreck and gather some seafloor samples to check wheter the wreck contains dangerous items such as ammunition or chemicals. Despite these threat the divers considered the dive a recreational one. That tells much about how their regular dives look like...

Another exciting exhibitior was the Military Aquanaut Group "Błotniak" and their reconstruction of a miniature submarine Błotniak. Błotniak, (Polish for Harrier (the bird, not the Harrier Jump Jet :)), was a code name for a project which aimed at developing a one man submarine for conducting underwater reconnaissance and transport of diversion divers or explosives. The outcome was a wet-cabin craft that could be deployed from a helicopter. Błotniak was designed in Poland and was considered very innovative due to technologies and solutions it used. However only 5 prototypes were built, the last one in 1983.

Me leaning against the rear side of Błotniak

You can read more on Błotniak on wikipedia or on Military Aquanaut Group "Błotniak" site.

Back to diving business

I've had quite a long sick leave (some damn infection), but now I'm back:) As I wrote some time ago, we've also had a month break due to the fact that our instructor was away in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt teaching technical diving. He was also planning a dive to 180 meters, which unfortunately he did not do because of some formal problems.

But now we've resumed our divemaster training: we're attending lectures, doing homeworks and practicing basic SCUBA skills demonstration at the pool. It turns out that demonstrating a skill is something quite different from just using that skill. At some point in your diving career you stop thinking about all the things you have to do to get water out of your mask, and now you must show this skill step by step, emphasizing the most important phases... it's very easy to mix things up. I hope the good old practice makes perfect still applies...

One more bad thing about being ill is that I've had a break in breath hold training and so I'm forced to put my plan to do 75 meters DYN back:(

My first regulator - Apeks ATX-40

My regulator finally, after a month of waiting, arrived. It's my first regulator so im very excited about this. I bought a set of two ATX-40 second stages (one black, one yellow), one DS4 first stage and a small SPG. A driver CD was also included... ermm... cross that out, I think I bought too many computer parts recently:) Anyway the whole set is on the picture.



This regulator set conforms to the EN250 standard, which means it is suitable for cold water diving. There are also two solutions that should reduce the possibility of the regulator freezing: the first stage is environmentaly sealed and the second stage has a heat exchanger mounted on its hose. However, in my set the heat exchanger has not been mounted on the octopus' hose, which is bad, as the person who will be breathing from it is likely to breathe rapidly which in turn is likely to freeze the regulator and cause freeflow.

The regulator has one knob you can turn - the Integrated Venturi System (IVS). The IVS uses the Venturi effect to make breathing easier, however it may also cause freeflow.

I ordered that regualtor online and I forgot to check if it has all the hoses. It turned out that it didn't, the inflator hose was not included, but I've sorted it out.

Now I can't wait to try my new regulator out :) :)

New personal DNF record

Today I've set my new record in Dynamic Without Fins (DNF). It's now 50 meters on one breath:) This was a part of my plan for February, now I must do 75 with fins...

PADI online course evaluation

Today I got an email from PADI asking to fill in an online course evaluation questionnaire about my nitrox course. This seems to be a big step forward for their QA - online questionnaire is more likely to get filled then the printed one and because of that they'll more information on who is training according to what standards. So far I received 2 or 3 printed forms and haven't sent back any...

The questionnaire itself was a bit buggy. For example there where many questions about dives conducted during training, but the new standard for PADI Nitrox training doesn't require any dives...

How do you make a dive computer?

Actually it is very easy. You only need a depth gauge, a timer, decompression tables (such as the RDP) and a brain:). You must also figure out how to carry all these instruments - my forearm is too short, especially when I also take a compass and a slate... The picture below shows the equation for a dive computer.

The first thing is my depth gauge. It's a capillary one, it consists of a tube open at one end and a scale. You read the depth by checking where the water that's in the tube ends. This particular gauge is 20+ years old, got it from my uncle (the same who found the SCUBA unit). My watch is Timex Ironman, its 200m water resistant (watches must be at least 100m water resistant), and has a timer. The deco table is, obviously, the PADI RDP. These items sum to a dive computer, in the picture you can see a Suunto Vyper that Magda got for Christmas.

Diving with such a dive computer makes you a more conscious diver, however recalculating your No Decompression Limit underwater is more error prone. It's also impossible to get a detailed dive profile, the water temperature etc. That's why the next piece of diving equipment I'm going to buy is a diving computer, probably the Vyper.

Bargain of the month

Yesterday I've traded an old SCUBA unit for an inflator hose:). I got the SCUBA from my uncle who dug it up somwhere. Our diving instructor, Janusz, collects old diving gear (he has a small museum) so I've asked him if he would accept this unit as a "donation" for his collection, and he was more than happy to.
Then it turned out that the Apeks ATX40 regulator I've ordered recently, though it comes with an octopus and an SPG, doesn't have an inflator hose attached. So I asked Janusz if he could "pay" me with an inflator hose. He again agreed. And that's how the contract of the month was agreed upon:)

Apart from trading yesterday we had another lecture of our Divemaster course. We sat from 18 till 22pm and tried to gain some understanding of the decompression theory. We failed, lost somewhere between M-value and halftime...
But that's OK - we have a month to think about it. Janusz, who is also a technical diver and instructor, is going to Egypt to teach technical diving. He also plans to break his depth record by descending to 180m! We're going to keep our fingers crossed!

Book: The Dive. A Story of Love and Obsession.

The Dive is Pipin Ferreras' autobiography. As in most biographies it describes his life:) This turns out to be a very interesting life as Pipin (that's his nickname, real name is ) is a freediving champion in no limits category, who set many world records. Pipin started freediving when he was a child. Actually he started spearfishing, which then became a way to earn his living when he was older. His record setting started as a way of attracting attention to Cuba in order to boost it's tourism and economy which was in serious trouble after the fall of USSR.

The book is not only a biography but also a tribute to his fourth wife, Audrey Mestre, who died while trying to set a world record in no limits freediving.

This is a sad book. Come to think about, it's a second book that is about an extreme diver who died during diving that I've read recently. The other one is The Last Dive by Bernie Chowdhury.

It's a good book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in freediving. The film Ocean Men directed by Bob Talbot, starring Pipin, Audrey and another freediver, Umberto Pelizzari, is an excelent complement to this book.

James Cameron is planning to film this book, however I haven't found information on when it's going to happen.

What it takes to be a PADI Divemaster

In order to qualify for the course you have to:

• Be a Rescue Diver
• Be an Advanced Open Water Diver
• Have at least 20 logged dives
• Be in good health
• Be at least 18 years old (that's in Poland, I'm not sure about other countries)
• Have CPR training, such as the Emergency First Response course

During the trainig, as we've learned yesterday, it takes a lot of reading:) All the books you've read so far and 3-4 more, all the PADI videos plus some more. Apart from that it takes good swimming skills, proficiency in basic diving skills, rescue skills, some instructor training, decompression theory.

You should be able to swim the following distances in given times (that's an average, you can be faster on one and slower on other):

Distance	Time
400m swim	< 11 min
floating on the surface	15 min
800m swim in ABC	< 18 min 30 sec
100m diver towing	< 4 min 20 sec

Basic diving skills include for example: mask removal and replacement, entering the water, breathing from a freeflowing regulator etc.

56m Dynamic With Fins - New Life Record

Today I've set my life record in Dynamic With Fins (DYN). This is a discipline of freediving in which you swim the longest distance you can on a single breath. It is one of disciplines recognized by AIDA - the international freediving association. There are also other disciplines, you can read about them on AIDAs site. Some of them don't appeal to me, the ones I consider fun are: DYN, DNF, CNF, CWT:

DYN

Dynamic With Fins - swimming the longest distance you can underwater on a single breath

DNF

Dynamic Without Fins - like DYN but no propulsion aids are allowed

CWT

Constant Weight - descent and ascent with fins only

CNF

Constant Weight Without Fins - descent and ascent without any aids

The world records (men) in these discipnes, sanctioned by AIDA, and my own pathetic records are (this is true as of 22.01.2008):

Discipline	World Record	My record
CWT	83m	5m(max pool depth)
CNF	112m	5m(max pool depth)
DYN	244m	56m
DNF	1865m	25m

Of course I also keep track of what's going on in the other ones, you can check current AIDA records here.


A picture of me going for the surface, taken last summer in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt
We train at our local pool and at Warsaw's deepest pool in The Palace of Culture (PKiN). Trainings in PKiN are supervised by instructors from our dive center, Nautica Warszawa, whereas at our local pool we have to rely on the lifeguards who also watch other swimmers. They tend to get very anxious each time we put on our fins and masks, they even require us to inform them if we plan to swim more than 25m (I already wrote why). This is a bit of a nuisance , but safety's first:).
As for the record - I plan to reach 75m in February.

Divemaster training starts...tomorrow

Tomorrow at 1900 we are starting our divemaster course. We'll get the books and other stuff... oh, I can't wait.
I haven't done anything connected with diving since the end of the nitrox course (apart from reading books and freediving training at the pool) and it's killing me. Magda is in the same condition... she even started talking something about going to Marsa Alam in february:) Unfortunately that's not doable:/ Anyway we're starting tomorrow :D

Book: The Last Dive

As I've mentioned earlier we recently came into possession of a book The Last Dive by Bernie Chowdhury. I, of course, read the book almost instantly as I thought it would be at least as good as Robert Kurson's Shadow Divers (both books touch the same topic). Unfortunately I was disappointed. You see, in Poland these books where published by two different publishers - a small one and a big one, The Last Dive by the former. It seems that the publisher did not have enough resources to get things done right. The translation is pathetic and so is the copy editing. Apart from the technical issues the book itself is badly written and chaotic. Nevertheless there's lot of interesting information contained in it.

The Last Dive is a history of a father's and son's (Chris and Chris Jr. Rouse) diving careers, from their first diving lessons to the tragic end. If you treat the book as a collection of anecdotes it might be readable. I wanted to read it because I've read Shadow Divers which was a very good book and wanted to see that story from another point of view.

The book is full of information on diving in the late 80s and early 90s especially about cave and wreck diving. It's also a great overview of the beginning of technical diving. The stories that constitute the book are, when treated separately, also quite interesting.

I would recommend this book, as you probably won't have problems with the translation :)

Swimming headaches:(

Recently I've been having headaches after swimming freestyle for longer distances or swimming underwater. I supposed this might be related to CO₂ buildup and today I've read an article on freediver training methods describing this. It also turned out (after a few visits to the local swimming pool) that the headaches started receding. That's probably due to my body recovering its CO₂ tolerance after the Christmas and New Year break laziness period:)