DGX Gears XTRA Regulator Review
Like everything Dive Gears Express sells, DGX Gears XTRA regulators are not only a great value, but great gear. Given my experience so far, I have no hesitation recommending them to even the most demanding diver.
Author Archives: Joe Ross
Hawaii Reopens for Dive Travel
After two frustrating years enduring questionable “science” and outright hostility, I am thrilled to learn that Hawaii will once again be open to divers. I guess it has been for a while, if required testing and mask mandates don’t bother you. However, beginning on 3/26, that’s over.
Dive Planning Apps For Technical Divers
Review of decompression dive planning mobile apps for technical divers Recently, I started down a path of discovery into the prehistory of technical and decompression diving. Nitrox only became acceptable in recreational diving around the mid-to-late nineties. A small group of divers, mostly in Florida, had already been experimenting with exotic gases by then. Here’s […]
Diving at Riding Rock Resort – 25 Years Later
When I was young, I did a fair bit of traveling to dive destinations. I had opportunities to scuba dive in as far away destinations as Japan, the South Pacific, much of the Caribbean and elsewhere. It is hard to recall all the places I’ve been diving, but one destination that has always stood out […]
Settings for Perfect Underwater Photos
Camera setting for perfectly exposed underwater photographs I won’t lie. The photography on my JoeScuba blog hasn’t exactly been spectacular. Mostly, this is because my focus for the last several years has been technical diving and instruction. Not a lot of camera equipment can survive technical diving depths, and underwater photography isn’t an option at […]
Roatan Diving – Experience the Remote East End
Roatan Diving: A Week at The Reef House Resort Roatan diving is renown world-wide for it’s year-round great conditions, unspoiled reefs and diversity of marine life. The tiny island makes just about every list as a premier diving destination. My first Roatan visit was about a month ago. Roatan lies about 60 miles from mainland […]
Why Dive Sidemount?
Why dive sidemount scuba when there’s nothing wrong with back mount? The average recreational diver probably doesn’t give much thought to sidemount scuba. Many divers are completely unfamiliar with sidemount. Others know it as a thing tech divers do. There are, however, circumstances where the everyday diver could find sidemount scuba and attractive option. Sidemount […]
Traveling Light With Scuba Gear
How to travel with your diving equipment. Take everything you need without hassle and excess baggage fees. Traveling light with scuba gear is an art. Reasons for keeping your dive travel gear as compact and lightweight are obvious. In my case, I’ve been doing a good bit of teaching and writing in and about dive […]
The Best Underwater Camera, I hope
What’s the best underwater camera? There are lot’s of action cameras available to divers, so it is all but impossible to choose the “best underwater camera.” The most popular is the GoPro, followed by countless rivals like Intova, Sony and i don’t know how many others. It’s a very competitive space, so standing out is […]
Recreational DIR Diving: A Good Idea for New Divers?
Recreational DIR Diving: Good or Bad Is DIR really “doing it right” for recreational divers? About a two years ago, some of my dive instructor buddies were at a very popular California dive site. As they were gearing up for a dive, chaos erupted just outside the entry point. A diver was missing. Very quickly, […]
My Transition to Sidemount Scuba
Sidemount Scuba When and why I became a believer in sidemount scuba. If you are thinking of making the transition to sidemount scuba, read on… It’s been several years since I first starting seeing divers using sidemount scuba. My first thought at the time was, “gee, that looks stupid.” From the beginning, I understood the […]
Dan Orr Presents Data on Diver Fatalities
Preventing Diver Fatalities Diver Fatalities Happen But, DAN research clearly shows the majority of diver deaths could be prevented. As a diving instructor, the worst thing imaginable is the thought of a fatal incident involving a student. I obsess over diving safety, not only during the dive but before and after as well. I try […]
COSMIQ Dive Computer Review – Part I
Deepblu Introduces the COSMIQ Dive Computer UPDATE 10/24/16: The v.9 COSMIQ firmware update includes a setting for freshwater. There are a few other updates since I wrote this article. I’ll do my best to keep it up to date. Like most divers, I am an absolute dive gear junkie. I love dive gear. I love […]
In-Water Recompression
In-water recompression: Good idea? Bad idea? What is it anyway? A few weeks ago I came across the following article: Take Me Back Down: One Diver’s “Over The Counter” Remedy For DCIs If you have any deep diving training at all, chances are the topic of in-water recompression has come up at least once. The concept […]
SubGravity 6mm Stainless Steel Backplate Review
As mentioned frequently, the most popular local dive spot here is Lake Tahoe. We dive others fairly frequently as well, like Donner Lake, Pyramid Lake (although I personally find Pyramid creepy), and if the planets align and we get ice, several smaller lakes come into play. What they all have in common, even in the […]
Are Welded D-Rings Really an Entanglement Hazard?
In the diving community, especially the technical diving community, there are a lot of “facts” thrown around related to best diving practices, equipment, training standards, etc. If you do a little research, much of what is stated as “fact” isn’t supported with much, if any, verifiable data. There are many examples: “Bungeed wings catch on things, […]
DUI Zip Seals on Viking Drysuit
It’s been probably 5 years since I sent my DUI CF200x drysuit to DUI to be retrofitted with Zip Seals. Since then, I’ve made about 500 dives using them. Zip Seals give you the ability to save a dive by having spare neck and wrist seals, gloves, dry hood, or whatever around in case of […]
Dive Rite XT vs. Apollo Prestige Dive Fins
Someone named Laura disagrees with me, but I have long maintained that the best dive fin ever made is the Apollo Prestige. I love it for many reasons. Being made of monoprene, as opposed to polyethylene, it a not only more durable than most dive fins, but also much snappier. That means when you put […]
Project Baseline
In recent months, I’ve had the good fortune to be introduced to Project Baseline. Project Baseline is a not-for-profit, conservation organization that has involved thousands of divers all over the world. One of the goals for Project Baseline is to document the condition of aquatic ecosystems over time, to chronicle changes that might be occurring. […]
Scubapro Seawing Nova Dive Fin Review
The Scubapro Seawing Nova It is with a heavy heart that I recently made my first fin change in over 20 years. For decades, I’ve been diving in what I believe is the best dive fin ever produced; the Apollo Prestige. It’s perfect in nearly every way, but when Apollo began producing their wildly popular […]
Pacific Grove Hyperbaric Chamber Fund
Monterey Divers: Please help keep the Pacific Grove Hyperbaric Chamber in business I dive in and around Monterey fairly frequently. I have for decades and I love it there. As divers, we always have in the back of our minds, that there exists the possibility of getting bent. But, since diving injuries are rare, we tend […]
Tiny Doubles, I Second That
My first set of scuba tanks was a pair of “tiny doubles” (1800psi 38’s, or so I’m told). I suspect they are actually 45’s, and, when filled 10% over, 50’s. They were manufactured by ScubaPro in 1972, but I got them used about 10 years after that. I was really excited to get them because […]
Everybody’s an “expert” on diving message boards…
Don’t believe everything you read on scuba diving message boards I hate to be negative, but some of the most ridiculous things I have ever read about diving come from diving message boards. This is especially true at the technical level. For example, I read a lengthy thread a few nights ago where someone posted a […]
Is Diving The SS President Coolidge Safe?
I just came across a blog by a diver in Australia (Read it here). He’s an interesting guy, with obviously a lot of experience. Initially, I stumbled across it trying to find out how much actual diving experience Dave Shaw had prior to losing his life in a South African cave. Turns out, not a […]
