Anyone Dive?

I know Hammer and FreeDiver 'dive'.
Anyone else?

If so - PM me and you are more than welcome to come down my part of the coast for some Diving.
I Dive through a nice cheap 'Privateer' operator - full air/nitrox set up for fills.
The operator is a superb self-taught naturalist and is used by Doco Companies: BBC, Japan and more.
Although she mostly does shore dives, she can spot stuff heaps more than most. Photographers love her for this.
Although she does teach beginners and cater to the weekend 'tourist' divers, she does cater to 'hobby' and more serious divers. A lot of 'experienced' divers go through her, rather than 'the shop' business (which is far more expensive).
There are many 'private' Divers who are more than willing to take you out on their boats as well (pay for petrol).
It's a nice 'private' set-up we all have here.

So if you're interested, give me a PM.

Even posts/questions about Diving. Just post them here as well and I will try to answer.
For the record - the term 'Privateer' kinda sums up a lot of Divers who have vast experience. Many have thousands of dives, are 'Tech Divers' who do deep and complicated dives...
...but are all still just PADI/SSI 'Advanced Open Water' certified. In other words - they didn't spend a lot of money just feeding PADI/SSI for certs that they didn't really need. They put their money into Diving where PADI/SSI don't go or can't go. It's the 'alternative' option, unless you do prefer to go through 'Shops' where they will charge you a fortune and put the hard sell on you to buy gear, stuff and do Cert courses galore.
I'm not 'anti-shop', but I do like the 'multiple options' available out there.

So, now you have it - a Topic on Diving!

Lord Herbert wrote on Jan 12^th, 2018 at 12:08pm:


Lol. Yes - you do get that sort of stuff happening. But its a very low percentage. It's mostly 'inexperienced tourism divers' under care of 'sausage factory' Tourism operators that things go pear shaped.  That's why I sometimes 'Solo' Dive. It teaches me to be self reliant (mindset,etc) - but the solo dive is always a more conservative dive than if I was with fellow Divers.
Don't worry about 'sharks' Herbie. That's why you carry a knife. So if a big shark comes along - you stab your buddy!   
Proper training (official) and wisdom given by experienced divers (common sense) goes a long way.
Rebreathers can be gnarly - but if you stay on the ball with proper maintenance and operation, then all should be well.
It's usually 'freak' situations (the hand of God) or simple mistakes of neglection that cause accidents. Panic also makes a problem grow.
I know of a few divers that are 'gun-ho' or push the envelope and as always 'problems or stressful' situations arise. Adrenalin junkies don't help.

There are four (x4) forms or 'cultures' of Diving.
Commercial Diving: Highly paid 'work' Diving.
Free Diving: Physiology Diving, Spear Fishing (no scuba)
Technical Diving: expensive Exploration, Scientific diving
Recreational Diving: Cheaper basic Diving for fun and social

All four sometimes blend into one another to some extent.

I'm a Recreational Diver. My deepest is 69m on Air (under good conditions). I dive with divers who are both Recreational and Technical. I also 'Free-Dive', as do many Recreational & Technical Divers. Free-Diving is 'breath (Apnea) hold' diving. I can just do 20m deep for a breath. Even this takes a lot of training.

Gordon wrote on Jan 12^th, 2018 at 2:28pm:


That's pretty good.
Occasionally I've had to puke underwater. I pull my reg out though to feed the fish. I'm a sucker for sea-sickness.
In fact, the SPAC Dive Club honoured me with an award for being a 'huge' vomiticulus achiever.
My avg FreeDive is just 10m. I snorkel often as I'm close to water. I especially enjoy it on those very hot days.
Diving on a hot day is great - go down 30m to a nicely 'chilled' 16C degrees and come out like a refrigerated wine bottle. Sure beats just splashing in the surf while still in the searing sun.

FreeDiving gives the ability to perform upon minimal oxygen consumption. It's different to the 'huff & puff' of most sporting activities. It's like the reversal of 'altitude training'. Some jobs I've done that are physical - people have commented on how I get around without looking 'puffed'. "you're not even breathing hard Jas!?"
It's all about 'relaxation' under exertion. It's about making the most of your oxygen usage, consumption and percentage.
I would recommend FreeDiving to anyone.
I've been up the Himalaya's too - its a similar experience doing something with very 'thin' air.

I like spearfishing close to shore and have surfed some spooky places, diving out in the middle of nowhere and coming face to face with a great white shark would not excite me at all, they say the one that gets you you will not see anyway.

Gordon wrote on Jan 12^th, 2018 at 8:40pm:

That was probably the worst thing you could do, splashing around would only attract attention, you may have been lucky in this instance, i know about the heebeegeebees and trust the hairs on the back of your neck, you were like burley. learn from your mistakes sonny.

Gordon wrote on Jan 12^th, 2018 at 8:53pm:

You may have appeared like the young or weak stray, easy pickings for the predators, 250 meters out is risking it a bit without a spear or a flotation device, not that would probably help.

I've only been scuba diving once, in Vanuatu. It seems a bit like taking a bicycle up a mountain. On a good day I'll spend 6 or 8 hours in the water, waiting for a mackerel to swim past.

freediver wrote on Jan 13^th, 2018 at 8:28am:


There's a good dive in Vanuatu - the Wreck known as the President Coolidge.

8 hours in the water FD - I'm impressed!