It’s always nice to get something new. My favourite old mask had seen better days. Its silicone skirt had yellowed and stiffened with time and probably too much exposure to tropical sunlight, so I got hold of a new one. I’m very lucky in that I seem to have a face that gets along with … Read more
by Lada Simek A long time ago, when I was still teaching chemistry, Rob Weintraub, the owner of New York Scuba showed me a mask that he called ‘the mask from hell’. Neither the original owner, nor he himself, was able to clean it sufficiently to keep it from fogging. He offered it to me … Read more
My previous underwater camera, trusty companion for 22 years of diving deeper for longer, weighed over 15kg out of the water. In its prime it was coupled to a pair of huge Ikelite 150 strobes with rechargeable battery packs. Its mass stabilised my photographs. Its solid metal housing chipped shark teeth. It had momentum. I … Read more
“The reliability of a decompression table or procedure is not determined by any mathematical process, but by what works in practice. What works…is what works!” — John Crea III “Any passive decompression device can only inform the diver of his or her decompression status. How that information is used is the responsibility of the diver.” — … Read more
Well – maybe it shouldn’t have taken me by surprise. But it did. A communicating New England area dive shop told me, “It’s OK to sell integrated weights BCs because divers don’t drop their weight-belts anyway.” An honest peddler – at least honest in describing his outlook. Almost as bad as, “I have insurance for … Read more
