Scuba Bonanza

At long last I have taken possession of the last of my scuba gear. Of course when I say "the last" of my scuba gear I really mean "the last of the scuba gear that I need right now in order to swim and breathe under water without presenting an unnecessary danger to myself or others." In actuality I'm quite certain that there will be many more fun scuba things that I'll want to buy. Fortunately for my wallet, they can all wait for a time and I can focus on actually diving.

Shown here is my new Dive Rite Transpac BCD with Trek wing. On the floor in front of the BCD you'll see my regulator, octo, and SPG. Note the nice big clip on the SPG which will allow me to clip it off with minimal loose hose floating about. The pockets on the sides of the BCD are the TransWeight 16 pockets. As their name might suggest, they hold up to 16 pounds of weight (lead weight, there's not nearly enough room to pack in 16 pounds of feathers in there). The two weights sitting on the floor to the right side of the pic are trim weights which mount to the back of the BCD. They reduce the amount of lead I'll need in the weight pockets and should make it easier to maintain good trim.

Our next picture is a rear view of the BCD which gives you a good look at the Trek wing. The wing provides 40 lbs. of lift and can handle single or double tanks. Our final pic is of my Suunto Vytec computer. The computer came in a rather large wrist mount which I replaced with a very nice, very small mount from DeepSeaSupply. The new mount comes with great mounting holes which have been threaded with two pieces of 1/8th inch shock cord. The shock cord is compression compensating (fancy way of saying it's elastic which is good when your wetsuit compresses under the weight of several atmospheres of water). I used two pieces so that if one should somehow break my computer won't end up in Davey Jones' Locker.

I also received my Open Water certification card. On the bright side the card is very nice looking, it has a picture of a cool dolphin on the front, and it has a not entirely scary picture of me on the back. On the down side my name is spelled incorrectly. I called PADI earlier today and they said they'd correct the info and send a new card directly to my house. I was a bit surprised since I figured they'd make me go through quite a bit more red tape. I'm tentatively impressed with their willingness to rectify the problem. I'll be very impressed when the card actually shows up. In the interim I'm fairly certain that all but the most intransigent dive operators will let me use my existing card.

All in all, I'm very excited. My stuff is here, I'm ready to dive, and I wish it wasn't November. Fortunately I'm planning a trip to Fort Lauderdale to visit my good friends. It should be great fun!