Tips and Tricks for all divers

[Griffo]

Anyone yet mentioned putting your mask in the dishwasher to bring it up like new? Top shelf of course.

 

[DBPacific]

This was a 'comedy or errors' sort of thing. First I forgot my booties, so I had to rent fins. I had my lycra socks but still got a blister because I was using fins that really needed boots (they didn't have regular full foot fins but these fit ok). That's when I realized I hadn't brought my antibiotic ointment or bandaids I normally bring!! I ended up taping the toe and wearing a pair of thick athletic socks AND my lycra socks - and that worked well.

I'm already packing for our next trip - and my boots are in the bag - along with TWO pair of lycra socks!!

Doubling (or tripling) on wool socks is also a good method for forgotten/misplaced booties. Diver I work with unknowingly dropped a bootie while loading up the boat, so she spent a week diving in 49F water with one bootie and like 3 wool socks on the other foot. Apparently she barely felt a difference. Now I'm just hunting for inexpensive wool socks

 

[Mike1967]

Anyone yet mentioned putting your mask in the dishwasher to bring it up like new? Top shelf of course.

What are you doing with your mask for it to need to go into a dishwasher?

 

[TrimixToo]

What is the general feeling about bolt shackles or trigger shackles as compared to bolt snaps? If there is tension on the line attached to the hardware, is there value in having something where you don’t have to work against that tension to get the snap to release? Or is there more of a danger if accidentally releasing that outweighs any advantages? I am thinking specifically of what would work best for a reef hook attachment to a BC

I've seen people use trigger snaps. The ones I've seen I find a bit small for use with thick gloves in cold water, but other than that I personally can't see anything wrong with them. Bolt shackles are two pieces and hard to manipulate one-handed. I'm into "easy" underwater.

Until I read past your post, I had no clue what a "reef hook" might be. I have never seen one here in the Northeast, but maybe I just happened to never be on a boat when one was being used. If it's what its name implies, wouldn't it damage a reef, particularly a coral reef?

 

[chillyinCanada]

You're supposed to do your best to hook in on something dead or at least where you'll do the least amount of damage. It gets your body off the reef so that you aren't clinging on with all you've got

 

[chillyinCanada]

Not my photo, taken from Images on internet

 

[kablooey]

This may seem overly simplistic, but if you're going diving... Eat breakfast.

We do a lot of shore diving around here, and most of the spots require trail hikes up and down cliffs, and walks across soft sand or loose rocks in full gear and weights before we can get in the water.

I've seen tough guys half my age turn into weak little babies, because they had nothing in the tank to burn.
Sleep late, skip breakfast, and pay the price.

K.

 

[icechip]

+1 on being fueled up: a good breakfast. I also try to get to a site early to leisurely gear up and give me time to drink some G2 gatorade (less sugar) to hydrate and avoid cramping during the dive. Some trail mix or beef jerky after a dive helps too.

 

[AniMaL Diver]

Bolt shackles are two pieces and hard to manipulate one-handed. I'm into "easy" underwater.

Sorry, meant to say snap shackles. They are one piece and one handed to release under tension. But may be two handed to attach, so point taken.

 

[aviator8]

Anyone yet mentioned putting your mask in the dishwasher to bring it up like new? Top shelf of course.

Not yet. I am still waiting on the the results that @lowviz ran.