Dive planning I recently came across John Chatterton’s blog. You might know him as the host of Deep Sea Detectives. For the last several weeks, I’ve been thinking about dive planning and how to convince my recreational students how valuable it is to follow an established dive plan. Then, I read this post by Chatterton: […]
Scuba diving specialty certifications every mountain diver should have. As much as we all love to get into the deep blue, warm water of the tropics, for most of us the majority of our diving takes place near where we live. I feel lucky in that great diving is close by. Lake Tahoe is just […]
Any time of year, Lake Tahoe is a great place to dive. We brave the cold water to experience Lake Tahoe’s amazing visibility, and fabulous underwater topography. Many of Tahoe’s dive sites, like the Sailboat in Hurricane Bay are located on drop-offs that reach into extremely deep water. Diving these site safely requires skills beyond […]
Last week, after literally thousands of dives in drysuits, I decided to buy myself a little something for my birthday; dry gloves. Specifically, I bought DUI Zip Gloves in the standard, heavy duty (blue) version. I know DUI was/is changing to black, so mine may have been hanging around the shop a while, but I […]
SCUBA diving in Lake Tahoe is very popular. The water is clear and generally calm, although it’s a very big lake and can be pretty rough when the weather is bad. The thing about diving in Lake Tahoe, though, is it lies at a little over 6200 feet in elevation. That means for the purpose […]
For many, Fall means hanging up the swim fins until warmer months next Spring. Sure, you can always take a vacation, but even that leaves an awful long surface interval before the snow melts. With that in mind, let me offer a few tips for making year-round diving not only possible, but fun. 1. Embrace the season. […]
I just finished with a PADI Altitude Specialty Course in Lake Tahoe earlier today. It was a spectacular day at the lake. The water temperature was 64 degrees and we made dives to 50 feet and 30 feet. The Altitude Specialty Course is valuable to any diver that visits high altitude lakes since the […]
The subject comes up in every class we teach, at dive sites and on boats. That is, which regulator to tank fitting should I choose? There are basically two that we use in SCUBA; DIN and yoke. If you are new to this then check out what is a regulator. DIN valves (Deutsches Institut für […]
Now that Summer’s finally here, I’ve been doing a lot of teaching, which I love. Even better, I am generally able to adjust my schedule so that I can teach dive classes during the week, giving me the chance to dive with people who come to Reno from all over the country. I had that […]
Of all the issues I encounter as a dive instructor, one stands out above them all. It is widely known that perfecting buoyancy control adds to the safety and enjoyment of the sport as well as minimizing damage to delicate reef systems. But how does a diver get there? Here’s my SCUBA buoyancy control top […]
