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Tag Archives: Education

When is Your Child Old Enough to Certify to SCUBA Dive?

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When is your child old enough to certify to SCUBA dive?

This is a question that you should take honest consideration in before enrolling your child. As a SCUBA instructor, I teach a lot of younger divers. A child can become certified to SCUBA dive at the age of 10 years old. But, is that child really ready to take this course.

These are things to consider when making that decision.

  1. The classroom work that they complete is the same course that the adults take, can they read and understand what they have read to answer these questions?
  2. There are dangers involved in SCUBA, can the child comprehend what these dangers are and understand how to avoid them? Continue reading→

National Boating Safety Awareness May 19-25, 2018

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National Boating Safety Awareness Week

Most people mark the beginning of summer as Memorial Day Weekend. Did you realize that we are just three short weekends away from that? Summer is quickly approaching and after the spring we had here in the Midwest, I’m not sure anyone thought it would ever come.

This last week though the sun has been shining and the temperatures have been on the upward rise. Now would be the perfect time to discuss National Boating Safety Awareness Week which just so happens to fall next week, May 19-25, 2018.

Things to consider when entering your vessel:

  • Safety Checks. What do they include?
    • Fire extinguishers
    • Backfire flame control
    • Sound producing devices
    • Visual distress signals
    • Lifejackets Continue reading→

#BlogApril 2018

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A turtle swimming in the ocean

Happy Monday! I hope the weekend treated you well. Normally I would do this post on Sunday, however, this was a busy weekend so Monday it is. Let’s recap last month’s blog posts! Who’s game? {raises hand} I am! I am! Okay, maybe that was a little too excited… Especially for a Monday morning when the coffee hasn’t kicked in yet.

Top 5 April Blog Posts

  1. 2016 – Hydros Pro Review
  2. 2017 – Mantis M2 Personal Dive Computer
  3. 2018 – 2018 Annual Spring Sale
  4. 2017 – Seawing Nova Fin
  5. 2018 – Cozumel Group Trip February 2018 tied with April Extreme Dive Club Meeting Minutes 2018

Honorable Mentions:

Continue reading→

5 Reasons to Buy from a Dive Shop vs Online

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5 Reasons to buy from a Dive shop vs Online

Since the invention of the internet, everyone has the world at their fingertips these days. You can do anything from research to reviews to buying and anything in-between. With everyone buying on the internet these days, why not buy SCUBA equipment too? Here are Five reasons not to buy online. Continue reading→

March 2018 Post Recap

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Hoppy Easter! Happy April Fool’s Day! Happy Sunday!

Just quickly checking in to let you know that we are now in a new month if you didn’t realize that. No fooling there. We’re already on the 5th month of the year. Okay, okay, I joke… it’s just the 4th month. Last month we mentioned that we were going to keep tabs on the top 5 blog posts in March as well as the honorable mentions. Honorable mentions aren’t exactly one right after another, instead we’re trying to make sure we mention the 2018 posts. Same way with the year to date posts.

Since it is Easter, we won’t take up much time, but be sure to check out the great posts of March, as well as the top 5 of the month and the year. And Happy Easter from our house to yours! Continue reading→

Hydros Pro Review

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Hydros Review

At the November 2015 DEMA show, I saw my first Hydros BCD prototype. I thought that it looked really good and that it should make a great BCD. I didn’t need a new BC at the time, as I had an X-TEK BC that I was perfectly happy with. Two years later I started thinking that I need a new BC for travel and warm water. I signed up for a two-week dive vacation in Cozumel and I really needed to reduce the weight of my luggage. I decided to go ahead and purchase the Hydros.

Fast forward a few weeks and I’m sitting in the lobby of Hotel Cozumel & Resort. More than 40 dives later and I’m getting ready to return home. I think that I gave the Hydros Pro BC a good work out. Overall I’m very happy with the BC.  The fit of the BC is superb, thanks to the way the BC conforms to your body. Even with my 19cf pony tank attached to the tank strap, the BC did not roll around. The BC I purchased was a large and it was more than big enough for my frame.

Features

One of the features of the Hydros BC is that is customizable. You can adjust it to custom fit you.

  • add pockets
  • attachment points
  • change color schemes

Continue reading→

SCUBAPRO Seawing Nova Fins Review

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White Seawing Nova Fins on a diver

I became a certified SCUBA Diver in 1990 as I have shared many times throughout the blog. That means that I have been a certified SCUBA diver for 28 years this year. In that time, I have had the opportunity to dive with multiple different dive gear combinations. Last year we did a feature of our favorite SCUBA Products. One of my favorites was my Black Twin Jet Fins.

A few years ago when the Seawing Nova fins were offered in purple, Nicole bought a pair. Around that time, I started thinking I needed to try them again. They had recently been redesigned, so it was time to give them a try again. Eventually, I bought myself a pair in white. After using those Twin Jet Fins for over 10 years, it is really hard to use a different pair of fins.

As many of you may know, we just returned from a 15-day dive trip to Cozumel in early March. Before I left, I decided to take the White Seawing Nova Fins to try as well as my trusty Black Twin Jet Fins. Continue reading→

Underwater Statues in Cozumel – Ramón Bravo

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Today, let’s cover the last installment of the statues located just off the coast of Cozumel and just to the right from Cozumel Marine World. The first statue we discussed was that of none other than Jacques Cousteau. The Second statue was none other than Sylvia Earle. Finally, the third statue is Ramón Bravo. So sit back, grab a cup of coffee or beverage of choice, and let’s learn about Ramón Bravo.

Underwater Statues in Cozumel

Statue of Famous Diver Ramón Bravo in Cozumel

Ramón Bravo

Ramón Bravo was a Mexican SCUBA diver, photographer, and underwater filmmaker who was born October 21, 1925. Bravo got his claim to fame initially being a famous Mexican swimmer who competed in the 1948 Olympics at just 23 years old.

This love of the water soon brought him to the sport of SCUBA diving. Once he was hooked, he became an underwater photographer, gaining both fame in American and Europe as an oceanographer. An oceanographer is involved in the study of the oceans physical and biological features. Continue reading→

Underwater Statues in Cozumel – Sylvia Earle

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For those of you who went to Cozumel, did you have a good trip? We can’t wait to hear all about it!! Today, I figured we might stay in Cozumel. Last week we discussed the Statues that are underwater near Cozumel Marine World. In fact, we focused on Jacques Cousteau. After that post went live, I got a message that they actually dove that site last Wednesday. How fun is that? Today, let’s look at another one of the statues. Today we’ll focus on Sylvia Earle.

Underwater Statues in Cozumel

Sylvia Earle Statue in Cozumel Mexico

Sylvia Earle

Sylvia Earle was born August 30, 1935, in Gibbstown, New Jersey. As a young child, she and her family moved from New Jersey to Florida. Her parents were outdoors fanatics and ecstatic when she showed an early interest in outdoor exploration. That love led her to earn an associates degree from St. Petersburg Jr. College, a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida State University, a Master’s of Science and Doctorate from Duke University. Continue reading→

February 2018 Post Recap

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If you’re keeping track, we’ve now finished the month of February. Gosh, where is the year going? Before you know it we’ll be bringing in the New Year. Time, please do us all a favor and SLOW DOWN! If you remember in January we did a Post Recap, mainly because we had 31 blog posts for the month. However, we thought it might be fun to track our posts throughout this year.

Here we are, doing a blog recap for February, that way if you missed a post, they are all right here at your fingertips! Now, compared to last month, we had considerably less blog posts. For one… there are only 28 days in February, but for two we didn’t blog every day. This month we had 5 blog posts with 2 reposts to Facebook. Links to all 7 posts are below. Click on the picture to read them in case you missed out!

Now let’s look at the top 5 blog posts for February:

  1. 2016 – Scubapro Hydros Pro BC Review
  2. 2017 – Mantis M2 Personal Dive Computer
  3. 2017 – Seawing Nova Fins
  4. 2018 – Hello from Cozumel
  5. 2015 – Chili Cookoff Official Rules and Silent Auction Items

Honorable Mentions:

Continue reading→