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Top underwater photos of 2013

8 Most Spectacular Underwater Photos from 2013

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This year has proven that you, like us, love diving and the demand for a new, personalised way of exploring the underwater world is increasing significantly. To celebrate this incredible year we’ve put together what we believed are the 8 most representative picture from our travels. We hope that this will, for many of you, remind great moments, and, if you didn’t dive with us yet, it will be a nice motivation to join one of the upcoming holidays. 1. A great white shark jumping In South Africa, in False Bay and Gansbaai it’s easy to spot these marvellous creatures jumping out of the water try to catch one of the seals swimming around. READ ON: Cage Diving with the Great White Shark in South Africa 2. Close up of a Grouper Or potatoes bus as they call them in Umkomaas, in South Africa. These huge fish are very common around the in the Produce wreck and more and more often you can see them also during the baited dives. READ ON: Sardine Run 2013 3. Manta – the queen of the ocean One of our favourite sea creature. Mantas look at you in the eyes, come close and play…

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6 different types of scuba divers

6 Types of Divers – Which Group are You in?

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Have you ever asked yourself “What kind of diver am I?” We did, and this article wants to be a witty way to divide us in different groups. Read the various descriptions and then write in the comments which group fits you best. Don’t take it too seriously of course ;) The deep diver The blue is what fascinates you, you’re always the first to start the descent and the first to hit the bottom. In shallow dives you always hope you had taken with you a shovel to dig a bit deeper. Narcosis is like a drug for you, it doesn’t scare you, you need it! Your ideal diving curve is around the 0 minutes to the no decompression time. The tech diver You have a mathematical mind. You’re probably the only diver who likes tables and decompression theory. You read all the articles you find on the argument, keeping updated. Even when doing recreational dives, you like to show off your peak-performance wing bcd and your DIR setup. You take diving seriously and, let’s admit it, patronising a bit the recreational divers. The gadget diver The part you most like of your scuba gear is without any doubt…

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How Long does a Scuba Tank Last?

Differences Between DIN and INT / Yoke Valves

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All modern SCUBA tanks use one of two kinds of valves: DIN or INT (“yoke”) valves. Regulator first stages have corresponding connections, and one won’t fit on the other regulators and adapters. What is an INT / yoke valve? INT is an abbreviation; it stands for ‘International’ and it’s by far the most common type of valve you’ll see in recreational diving (outside Europe). You can easily identify a yoke valve by the o-ring seal on the front of the valve and dimpled guide for the yoke on the back. The regulator is screwed, yoke-style, onto the valve where air pressure (and a properly-greased o-ring) maintain a tight seal. What is a DIN valve / adaptor? DIN is an acronym – Deutsche Industrie Norm. Unlike yoke valves, DINs have a threaded opening where a regulator screws into the valve, and no o-ring (it’s found on the first stage in DIN systems). DIN valves are rated for higher pressure than yokes, making them indispensable for technical/deep diving. Almost all tank manufacturers offer both tank valve systems, and DIN/INT adaptors for your regulator are readily available – it’s easy to switch between the two while travelling.

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How Long does a Scuba Tank Last?

How Long does a Scuba Tank Last?

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The simple answer: “about an hour”. But it’s more complex than that: how much air a diver consumes obviously depends on their level of physical exertion. But how long a scuba tank lasts also directly depends on the depth at which it’s used. There are varying sizes of cylinder, of course, and the size you choose will affect how much air it can contain and how long the tank will last at a given depth, but the most common you’ll encounter are standard 12L, 200-bar scuba tanks. The deeper you dive, the denser gases become (the more molecules are required to fill a given flexible space). Double the pressure (at 10m seawater) and it takes twice as much gas to fill your lungs with each breath. Triple the pressure (at 20m seawater) and it takes three times as much. Thus, the deeper you dive, the faster you consume air from your scuba tanks, no matter how much air it holds to start with. So how long does a scuba tank last? The average beginning diver’s air consumption in calm waters runs a tank close to empty in around 1 hour at 10m depth (compared to just a few minutes at…

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Scuba Tank Gas

What Scuba Tank Gas Mixture do Divers use?

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Most divers use scuba tanks filled with simple compressed air (filtered and dehumidified). This is safe and standard within recreational diving limits – breathing other gasses or exceeding depth/time limits requires the use of specialised gas mixtures: primarily Nitrox, Trimix and oxygen. What is Nitrox? Nitrox, also known as ‘Enriched Air’, is a blended gas consisting of pure nitrogen and oxygen. The air we breathe normally is ~21% oxygen and ~79% nitrogen (with other trace gasses mixed in); Nitrox (generally) has an oxygen percentage between 22 and 40%. Recreationally, diving with Enriched Air Nitrox allows longer no-decompression limits (although it restricts maximum diving depth due to oxygen toxicity) by reducing the amount of nitrogen your body absorbs, thereby reducing relative risk of decompression sickness vs comparable dives using scuba tanks filled with air. Diving with Enriched Air Nitrox (EANx) requires special safety training, a scuba tank gas analyser and a scuba tank fill location with a compressor (and gas blender) capable of both producing and ascertaining the desired gas mixture. What is Trimix? Trimix is a mixture of 3 gases (nitrogen, oxygen and helium) used to increase depth limits and/or dive times. Whatever its percentages, this scuba tank gas mixture…