Background:
I have been diving since late 1995. I got certified through the Scuba
Shoppe (now defunct) in Medford, Long Island, New York. By the end of
my advanced class I was hooked on local wreck diving. I think it was
two years before I build up enough nerve to attempt a beach dive of any significance.
500 plus dives and counting . . .
Diving Long Island:
It is an island! There is some really good diving up here but most
people get scared off by stories of lousy visibility and cold water.
Our local marine life is varied: seahorses, nudibranches, sea robins, sculpin,
blackfish, fluke, eastern torpedoes, and dogfish are just some of the creatures
you may encounter. No, it is not the Caribbean, but it has its own
beauty.
The wreck diving here is fantastic. The number of artificial reef sites
is growing, but we still have a large number of "natural" wrecks. The
experience of diving a wreck is enhanced when it has a history attached and
even more so when the ship and the circumstances of its sinking are a mystery.
The typical visibility we encounter adds to the sense of exploration;
unlike locations with unlimited visibility where you can take in the entire
wreck at once.
Underwater Photography:
I started out with an Ikelite Aquashot using Fuji disposable cameras.
This worked fine for a number of years - then Fuji went and changed the
size of the disposables. All good things must end!
The next step was a Sea & Sea Motormarine IIEX. The YS60, that
I got with the camera, has been replaced by a Sunstrobe 200. I shoot
slides almost exclusively, but am playing with black and white.
I purchased the Aquashot just before my first trip to Cozumel. However
unlike most people I know, I started dragging my camera along on my local
dives. My intent was to become more familiar with the camera, as I
found that invariably I would blow the first two rolls of film after any
length hiatus. I soon realized that there are just as many things to
take pictures of locally.
Diving with a camera tends to focus you on searching for subject matter.
As a result you tend to see more. The down side is that you have
towork extra hard to remember your buddy skills and visa-versa.
Underwater Photographs
- an assortment of photos with neither rhyme nor reason.
D.I.R. - Doing It Right:
It is all about the buddy! For a number of reasons our surface reactions
just don't work underwater. If something goes wrong on a dive it has
to be resolved there and then. DIR promotes the team diving concept; it is not just about the gear.
My initial exposure to DIR was on the Techdiver and Cavers lists way back
in 1999 - or so. The gear began changing a year later when my BCD began
falling apart. The total gear conversion took about a year. The gear
setup was not the only attraction; even thought I understood the reasoning
behind the gear, the philosophical aspects of the system were of more importance.
One final thing: the gear setup is mostly driven by the way the long-hose
is worn.
At the time, the established technical diving agencies and their instructors
were (and probably still are) advocating the need to dive deep on air
(6 atm or greater) prior to getting trimix certified. This was just plain
stupid; if you took a look in any of the Advanced Nitrox texts they (especially
IANTD) made it a point to preach about the inherent dangers in breathing
oxygen at high partial pressures.
In early 2002, I volunteered to travel to Fort Lauderdale with another
local to take the GUE Tech level 1 course. After some scheduling changes
(the deposit was in already) I ended up in a course with a local Floridian
and a British expatriate. It was a real eye-opener; and that for the
first two days I was really concerned about finishing. At the time
the Fundamentals was only a strongly recommended prerequisite; which I hadn't
taken. For me, performing the line drill made it all worth it; in that
it made me realize how much you can accomplish underwater without the aide
of an air supply.
Global Underwater Explorers
- THE DIR certification agency. Also a source of literature and decompression
software.
The Woodville Karst Plains Project
- The organization that standardized the gear. Take a look at the
gear configuration photos on the equipment page.
Frogkick.nl
- "Frogkick.nl is DE online informatiebron voor Nederlandse en Belgische
duikers." Ok, so it is not in English; it still has some of the better DIR
video clips around.
Companies, Shops, and Products:
Other People's Stuff:
