Scuba Diving Blog & Forum
You can set most drysuit exhaust valves to vent air automatically while underwater, but to do so the air in your drysuit needs to migrate to where the exhaust valve is located on the suit. You can adjust the valve and how much air is released, but it’s best to have the valve set to fully open.
For your own safety when diving in a drysuit you should leave your drysuit valve open, but close it a quarter turn from fully open to avoid any leaks. An open drysuit valve will then automatically vent if you ascend to let out the expanded air from your drysuit.
It’s best to use your drysuit and not your BCD for buoyancy when diving in a drysuit, as it’s better to use only one air cell for buoyancy to have only one to vent on your ascent. If you use your BCD for buoyancy you’ll need to use both, as you’ll have to add air to your drysuit to avoid drysuit squeeze.
When you are diving in a drysuit you still need a BCD to attach your scuba tank to your back and for buoyancy when you first enter the water.
The disadvantages of Nitrox diving include depth limits due to higher concentrations of oxygen and the cost of tank fills and specialist gear required to dive with Nitrox.
Pros And Cons Of Nitrox Diving: The top pros of Nitrox diving are improved diver safety and extended bottom times. Whereas the worst cons include depth limits and extra cost of diving.
How you deal with a down current is to swim at a 45° upward angle away from the wall whilst adding air to your BCD as you swim. If this doesn’t work grab a stationary object to stabilise yourself. Use other objects to crawl to the surface or wait until you’re ready for another attempt at a swim to the surface.
Force 4 to 5 with wind speeds of between 13 to 24 mph (20 to 38 km/h) can be too much wind for diving, as this can produce wave heights of up to 3 metres (10 foot). When you bear in mind that many diving operations will cancel dives with wave heights of 5 foot and over. So 10 foot waves are high!
For Maldives liveaboard tipping budget for 10% of the cost of the dive trip. This will cost between $150 to $300 for a week depending on the liveaboard. How much you tip a Maldives liveaboard crew is your choice and is not expected. But it is customary if you’ve had great service both on the boat and underwater.
The “rule of six” in diving is a guideline to help prevent decompression sickness, also known as “the bends.” It is a safety rule used to help divers plan their dives and avoid spending too much time at certain depths.
The 5 steps of diving are: Preparation which involves getting ready for the dive; entry which is entering the water in a safe and controlled manner; descent where a diver must begin descending to the desired depth; bottom time within no-decompression stop limits; ascent and exit after the dive.
The “120 rule” in scuba diving is a safety guideline that recommends that divers should not stay at a depth beyond 120 feet (36 meters) for longer than a total of 120 minutes in a day to avoid decompression sickness.
