Sometimes having a compass with you while scuba diving is extremely handy. And some of the electronic compasses that you find on higher end dive computers (electronic compasses) need to be calibrated too often in order to be useful if you forget to do so right before your dive.
I ordered one of these ScubaPro compasses and it’ll be here in a couple of days. After I receive it, I’ll take some pics and edit this article with their addition. Also, we’ll get these into the water soon and check them out and report back.
Precise Navigation Anywhere in the World
The FS-2 compass provides a unique tilt angle of up to 35 degrees, making it easier to read and operate in almost any position.
With a floating magnet separate from the compass rose, the FS-2 has greater operating freedom than conventional compasses. This means you can use the same compass for both Northern and Southern hemispheres, making it the perfect navigation instrument for traveling divers.
Technical Information
Scratch-resistant and durable oil-filled polycarbonate case.
Highly luminous dial for easy reference in low light conditions.
Side view window for easy and accurate navigation.
The build quality and feel of the Phantom Aquatics Compass is decent. -Not great. Not terrible. I like that it’s made in Taiwan as opposed to being made in China. That usually means better build quality and attention to detail IMHO.
-Nobody likes to hear about them when they’re swimming, let alone see one in the water with you. But, when you’re scuba diving, MOST of the time, it’s cool to see one or a few or even a bunch! Non-hungry, small and timid sharks don’t often eat scuba divers and that’s just science. My how scuba diving can change the way people think about the ocean’s treasurous creatures. And in a good way! Myself included.
Before my thinking was changed, my family and I went on vacation to Akumal, Mexico years back. None of us were scuba certified at the time, other than my show-off wife! So, ocean activity comprised mostly of snorkeling and swimming in really close to shore. And during one exciting time while we were splashing around in the very warm sea as I remember clearly, my daughter right next to me, let out a piercing and crisp shriek…, “SHARK!”; then proceeded to hop onto my back, with her legs and arms locked around my neck and torso for protection selfishly all her own. That word, screamed in that manner, about made me come out of my skin. Mind you that the movie JAWS screwed up my psyche along with any chance of me having a long distance ocean swimming career. I wasn’t going to be much help to my daughter or myself if I didn’t quickly get a grip with calm perspective and fast restorative action back to clear thought and surroundings analysis. Also, reminding myself here, that Akumal, Mexico is an absolute haven for sea turtles to do their egg-laying, hanging out and swimming around very close to the beach. I mean that these turtle creatures are all over the place. We saw many dozens of them, may over a hundred. Daily! -These last sentences being the important bits of information my brain was able to process which was able to bring me worry-relief during my body’s fight-or-flight computational environmental triage. Were we about to get eaten by a big ass scary shark or not?! The answer after about five seconds of wonder while my daughter was hanging for dear life around my neck was… nope. My learned offspring followed up her one word of information for me, “shark”, with a comment that it must have been a turtle that bumped her. No shark after all. After hearing that new info, I began to nervously laugh and happily torture my kid for having put me through shark fear. All’s well that ends well!
Fast forward to today. I actually want to see sharks while I’m in the water,,, scuba diving! -Still not while I’m swimming though. I can’t stand the thought of being a tasty fishing bobber just hanging out there waiting to get bump tasted by an inquisitive sea cleaner. Yuck! Bad thoughts. Having the scuba gear on and hopefully a camera rig with defensive big flash system in my hand out in front of me, brings me a minor sense of invincibility to shark attack. I much prefer the latter feeling. Sharks are extremely well designed and awesomely cool animals that nature got right. They’ve been around for millions of years and hopefully they’ll be around for millions more.
If you want to feel better about being in the water with sharks and want to enjoy Shark Week on the Discovery channel during the summer time much much more than you ever have, you need to run out and get yourself certified to scuba dive! I’ve never ever met a diver that thinks that diving is JUST OKAY. They all LOVE it. See what all the craze is about, settle your shark fears, enjoy Shark Week more. These are all valid reasons to go scuba diving. I can’t wait to do it again.
So, is it worth it to go through an Enriched Air Diver course to be able to suck on Nitrox while scuba diving? We always see those alien yellow and green stickers around on tanks that usually Instructors and Divemasters like to wear on their back. What the hell are they? -They’re tanks that are filled with Nitrox (A mix of Nitrogen and Oxygen). Well, my tank of AIR is also filled with Nitrogen and Oxygen, what’s the difference between their stickered up tank and my plain-Jane regular ol’ aluminum missionary style beige tube thingy, you ask? Their Nitrox tanks are filled with a different mix of Nitrogen and Oxygen, more Oxygen than what you find in regular AIR. The benefit to rocking Enriched Air = Nitrox while SCUBA diving is that by increasing the Oxygen in the Oxygen to Nitrogen ratio, you’re taking in LESS Nitrogen and extending your allowable bottom time. Cool, huh?! Absolutely! What an awesome tool to have in the box when you’re on a nice long dive trip racking up the day-after-day two tank and three tank dives! Lessening the Nitrogen load on your body during such a holiday is a good thing. However, there is some give and take to keep in mind when scuba diving with Nitrox so, don’t ever think about diving with Nitrox without taking an Enriched Air Diver class and getting yourself certified. And hopefully no reputable dive operation would ever sell or rent you a Nitrox setup without verifying that you’re indeed certified. None of us would do something idiotic like that anyways. We’re all extremely respectable Salty Dogs here wanting to keep our families and ourselves safe to dive and have fun another day!
Also, you should use a dive computer when running Nitrox. Remember this article I posted a little while back…
The PADI Enriched Air Diver course took about 2.5 hours of study and another 2.5 hours of classroom work including exam. I went through the class with my daughter and had a good time talking about getting too much Oxygen and SCUBA diving. Also had a fun lunch with my kid afterwards. Not a bad day in my logbook.
Go out and get your Nitrox cert! It’s a good time.
I love knives! We use knives on a daily basis so we should all be appreciators. Maybe you like spoons more than knives… me, I’m a knife guy.
Here’s a knife that I recently took diving with me in my BC, in the Caribbean for two weeks. On purpose, I never rinsed the knife with fresh water. WHOA! Who would do a crazy thing like that?! Me. But only because of the manufacturer’s claim that the knife does NOT rust. The knife we’re talking about here is the Spyderco Salt H-1 Steel Knife and it’s a helluva blade for under a hundred bucks! I liked it so much, I bought my brother one. If you’re looking for a great knife for scuba diving, look no further. Here it is.
-saltydog@sd
Knife after two weeks of diving in the Caribbean and not rinsed with any fresh water!
Everybody knows that it’s not a good idea to drink (alcohol) before going diving. But, what happens when you eat a LOT of food before you go?
Remember how our moms always used to tell us to wait thirty minutes after eating our lunch/snacks/dinner/whatever before going back into the pool? Back then I always seemed to have a super natural ability to detect when my mother was full of shit with her notes on what’s best for child rearing. That bit about how I shouldn’t go back to my fun swimming activities until the stroke of thirty minutes later was no exception. Somehow science or natural selection successfully debunked that silly 30-minute-no-swim-rule over the years since I’ve been a kid and I do feel vindicated! Well, I felt vindicated until scuba diving during a food mishap this last Summer while on vacation with my family.
It was after the first of a two tank dive afternoon that my kids reminded me that we all needed to go eat some lunch or we might all expire from Bataan Death March type malnutrition. Being on the water does make you hungry! So, we all decided to try out the menu at Ramon’s dive center/hotel/restaurant which is on Ambergris Caye in Belize. The menu there looked really good and the food turned out to be excellent! We were so hungry that I ordered what seemed at the time to others seated at the table, dishes from every part of the menu. -I consider myself to be a food snob and really, every item that we ordered was exceptional and impressive… So, I ate what I considered to be my fair share of what was delivered to our food huddle, A LOT OF FOOD! That turned out to be a DUMB DUMB DUMB idea to eat so much!
Right after lunch I paid the check and gathered my Salty Dogs dive group in order to muster for our next diventure, the second tank exploration of our two tank afternoon. I felt like a whale I was so full. Miserable full. Instead of concentrating on the fun of the upcoming scuba dive, slipping into a full-on food coma was all that was on my mind. Oh, another thing to tell is that I like spicy food. I mean I like really really spicy food. Thai Hot when it’s appropriate! At that lunch it wasn’t a Thai Hot day, but it was locally Belize grown chili pepper day. Habaneros get hot, don’t they??? I screwed myself royally with that lunch. Me being a glutton purchased me the life-like feel of what a manatee must go through when pregnant and experiencing a severe case of HEARTBURN! Trying not to burp and throw up repeat chili offenders into my reg at 65 feet on that second dive of the day, reminded me that eating right before swimming AND scuba diving, should be managed properly by smart mom types and not by Gore-Garth type ravenous neanderthals like myself! Remember to watch what you eat and drink before each dive. Like my mother told me many times before, don’t do as I do, do as I say!
Yesterday was my Mom’s birthday. She’s not around anymore to read this so, I think it’s safe to put down on the Internet for all to see here… My Mom really did know best. Happy Birthday Mom. We sure do miss you!
Have you ever been cage diving with Great White sharks? Sounds crazy doesn’t it?! Well, there are dive operators around the globe that specialize in showing you JAWS up close and personal and in 3D. One such operator is SharkQuests.com and for only $86 USD, they’ll do their best to show you a Great White shark and a great time. Talk about a rush! Shark dives are the new roller coaster rides!
Why choose them to take you cage diving? Here’s why:
No diving certification or previous experience required.
We offer the option of air supply into cage for qualified divers during the winter season.
Groups are limited to no more than 18 so that we can maximize your diving time.
A safety record spanning more than 15 years.
The option to be picked up and dropped off from any address in the Cape Town area.
Find a better price? We promise to match any written offer that you bring to us before booking.
Most importantly, we are so confident that you will see Great Whites that should there be no sightings, we will give you a voucher to come back and try again, free of charge.
For more information on this dive operator, hit up their website at:
Here are some cool up close videos of a flounder off Grand Cayman. Videos were shot with a SeaLife Micro 2.0 (before it leaked water into the housing) and SeaDragon 2500 light. Dive operator was DiveTech.
A couple of weeks ago, we tested out some new dive computers / dive watches from a few different manufacturers. What we found during our tests was certainly surprising to us. Those results may surprise you as well.
The testing place: About a mile off the west coast of Grand Cayman about 65 feet down.
The weather: 84F / 29C and mostly sunny.
Water temperature: 81F / 27C
What a decision it is when it comes to choosing a dive computer. Some people like the pure dive computer, bulky, big numbers so that I can see the readout from ten feet back type big. Some folks look for a more stylish everyday watch-like dive computer that they can wear around on their wrist and not look too much like a total dive nerd; the key being that the unit can’t be TOO bulky. I personally am in the second class (do you ever get that second class citizen feeling like I do?) just described when it comes to picking out a Star Trek technology Tri-corder level dive information device. These dive systems are meant to give up some very important information when you’re below the ocean’s surface and you can’t just rush back up to ask for a spare if yours fails. Diving is kind of like flying in that a lot of the time when you’re doing either, it’s just not feasible to coast off to the side of the road if your equipment fails. Unwavering faith in my gear and that of my family/friend’s that I’m diving with, is paramount to my enjoyment of the dive! Dive computers have no exception in my book. There just shouldn’t be any failure in your dive computer with a reasonably fresh battery installed in it. Not that the world will blow up if there is a failure with your dive computer, it’s just that it’s NOT LIKELY to happen. It’s just not a piece of equipment that has any mechanical or electronic reason to fail often. That all being said, let’s list the reviews of these dive computers/watch types. This list is by no means exhaustive of all the choices that are out there and available to us, in fact we only tested three different dive computers, three cool (at first) computers that we were excited to dive with and put through their paces.
Let’s start with the Mares Smart Dive Computer and Watch: The Mares Smart is by far the least expensive of the dive computers tested here and frankly we had the least expectations for this computer/watch before beginning these tests. However, it turns out that the Mares Smart is an extremely functional and functionally intuitive unit that I would highly recommend to others, my family and friends included! This watch does a super fine job under the water and does it just as well as it does on top of the seas. The Mares Smart is even kind of stylish and comes in many different color combinations. However, I’m certain that the Red/Black color combination is somehow faster and more powerful when it comes to shooting out sticky web in order to catch the bad guys. If it’s good enough for Spiderman to use, then it’s good enough for me is what I guess I’m trying to say here. Also, red and black are the SaltyDogs.com colors so, it’s a big win owning this diving workhorse!
Build Quality: 4.5 stars out of 5. It’s made out of plastic and rubber and a less expensive stainless steel strap buckle. All in all, it’s a decent build and the computer goes for under $400.
Price: Under $400 USD. That’s an exceptional deal in my books. Great watch/computer!
Conclusion: The Mares Smart dive computer and watch is a great unit! I highly recommend it and trust it to assist my family members with their dives and daily lives. My wife and son both wear a Mares Smart daily.
Next up for our Dive Computer review is the Oceanic OCL Dive Computer and Watch: The Oceanic OCL is a middle of the road dive computer when it comes to function and price. I wore this unit daily for five months before it malfunctioned and gave me errors on two consecutive dives. It seemed unbelievable to me at the time that my Oceanic OCL could malfunction on me during a dive and after those two occurrences, I lost faith in the Oceanic OCL dive computer and watch model. I won’t ever dive with it again, even after it’s ‘repaired’. Just can’t trust it. Also, there’s no way in Hades that I would ever give even a repaired version of that computer to a family member or friend with which to dive. There’s also no way that I’ll sell the Oceanic OCL to another unsuspecting diver. After writing these words, it occurs to me that I guess I could sell the computer, with an asterisk on the sale that the buyer needs to promise me that the Oceanic OCL dive computer is for shore use only, NOT FOR DIVING. Then MAYBE I’d sell it. Or maybe I’ll just flush my Oceanic OCL and see how deep it really can go.
NOTE: I had the Oceanic OCL in AIR Mode, I wasn’t sucking NITROX at the time, otherwise TECHNICALLY according to PADI’s Nitrox lessons, I would have had to cut my dives short immediately after receiving the malfunction and error from the Oceanic OCL computer.
Build Quality: 4.0 stars out of 5. It’s a great looking watch and solidly built but, the rubber watch band doesn’t fit me well. -It pinches too much at the top of the wrist and computer. Also, the strap holder keeps sliding up on the band and becomes useless with not much assistance from me.
Price: About $600 USD. That’s NOT an exceptional deal in my books. Beautiful watch/computer that malfunctioned on two consecutive dives.
Conclusion: The Oceanic OCL dive computer and watch looked like it was going to be a great everyday watch and dive computer. After the Oceanic OCL malfunctioned and locked up on two consecutive dives, I just can’t trust it. Oceanic Malfunction FAIL.
Last but not least in this test review is the Suunto D9TX Dive Computer and Watch: The Suunto D9TX is a very high end dive computer and daily watch that does exactly what it should do. It works and it works extremely well. Looks great too! This is the kind of drop the mic type dive computer and watch that Poseidon himself would wear daily. It’s made of titanium and so is the band. It just all works. And I believe it will work EVERY TIME I dive in the water with it. Works great on the surface too. This is the dive computer and watch that I now wear daily.
Here’s the SaltyDogs.com Scuba Dab team in action under water… Tough conditions demand tough equipment!
Build Quality: 5.0 out of 5 stars. It’s a very sexy looking daily wear watch and it’s built like a nuclear sub. Suunto even uses the same material to build these D9TX’s that the Americans and Russians use to build their nuke submarines… Titanium. This dive computer might even be able to calculate missile launch trajectories and figure out launch codes, haven’t gotten to that part in the manual yet to be certain. The device is a looker and worker for sure.
Price: About $1,500 USD WITH the tank pressure transmitter and USB information transfer kit.
Conclusion: I have zero buyer’s remorse. There wouldn’t be any such thing as product reviews if everything were built like the Suunto D9TX. It’s stand up and clap grade equipment. Lastly, I’ve seen a couple of the stainless steel versions that having pitting all over them from hard ocean wear. Do yourself a favor and get the Titanium version!
When on a dive vacation, one needs to dive! In my family’s case, we need to dive A LOT! Both of my kids along with my lovely wife and myself enjoy the hell out of the whole dive experience. It’s a ton of fun to actually go diving but, it’s also exciting to think about and prepare for the next day’s/week’s/vacation’s dive. Kind of like SCUBA Christmas Eve, the night before every dive. I just love it and it makes me smile wide when my dive crew gets excited about the upcoming awesomeness as well. If you don’t yet dive or haven’t yet finished up your Open Water Certification, BY ALL MEANS, get your rump down to your local dive shop and sign up for or finish your dive classes. Or you can do like my family did, (except for my wife, she’s been Advanced Open Water certified for many years, even since before she met me – one of the reasons I married her, how cool to meet a chick that’s already dive certified right?!) get your Open Water dive certification in a warm water location! We did ours in Belize which took about three days total with book work, watching PADI learning videos and practical dive training. I’m not much of a cold weather guy, let alone a cold water guy so, the Belize option was absolutely perfect in so many ways for my sensitivities and needs! If you’ve ever wished you could just jump in the aquarium and swim around with all your new cool colorful fish friends, Scuba diving might just be your ticket to adventure.
Another great dive off the west coast of Grand Cayman! This green moray eel was modeling for our camera…
We took the pics but not the following video, great catch on the video guys! Check out what a Moray can do, he sets his chopsticks down and then goes to work…
Do you have a dream to one day drop everything you’re doing at your real-life day job and move to some place tropical? How will you make money in paradise? How will you live??? Well, here’s a couple that’s figured out how to do just that. Gary and Liz Frost, are the owners of Living The Dream Divers. They moved away to the tropical delight of an island, Grand Cayman and setup a dive company! It seems like they’re Living The Dream to me!
Some members of our small Salty Dogs team decided to check out Grand Cayman over the holidays and while there, we hooked up with Living The Dream Divers on the west coast of Grand Cayman. There the water is mostly calm and clear and extremely enticing to any traveler from the cold climates that’s aching to jump in and go diving! The dives were a lot of fun and we would like to send out a thank you for all the memories, to our friends, Gary, Liz and especially to Scott Hartwell our dive guide, who is an outstanding human being and representative for Living The Dream Divers! Happy New Year, friends!
