Learning to dive doubles?

[DuboisP]

The "taco" photo is amusing, too. Lots of dangling stuff, poor trim, taco'd wing, etc. To a DIR guy that would cause a nervous breakdown.

no problem to cause a nervous breakdown to a DIR, that's his problem.

Study more the photo. You judge people too fast.
What's is the correct trim of a guy taking photos underwater ?

 

[CarlGH]

In my experience swimming through a wreck like the Spiegel Grove, the doors are tall, but narrow. I personally wouldn't want to be any wider. But I'm not familiar with sidemount so the actual reason may be different.

For me the best part about two tanks is that you have twice the amount of air on the first dive when accidents are most likely to happen (from what I've read in scuba magazines). On the second dive, you have the reserve from the "first tank" plus the entire second tank. Whereas the single tank divers left their first tank reserve in the boat.

So, are you telling me that when you "dive doubles" you are diving INDEPENDENT doubles? Typically doubles are connected by an isolation manifold and the isolator is left in the OPEN position UNLESS one of the tanks loses air for some reason. So, you ALWAYS have access to ALL your air.

 

[down4fun]

Why do you recommend back mounted doubles for wrecks (I'm guessing over sidemout) Any reason?

IMHO if you are going to be doing wreck penetration you will want a redundant air source, hence the doubles. It is an overhead environment and you need to be able to isolate and preserve whatever gas you can for exit should you have a catastrophic failure. I would recommend back mounted as they make for easier entry into a lot of wrecks. you can fit thru the average ship door in doubles with out having to flip up on you side, you would not fit in sidemount without flipping to your side to make entry. Also depending on where you are diving and the conditions, side mount may not be feasible. In flat calm seas I am sure that gearing up is not a problem. But here in florida where 2-4 foot seas are common as well as current strong enough that you hot drop the wreck as opposed to descending a line. You need to be able to gear up, walk to the back of the boat and drop in on the captains signal.