What is the best dive computer?

Another newby asking for help...

Hi everyone. I apologize if this is a redundant topic - I did a brief search, but didn't see any recent posts for such a basic question as mine. I'm a pretty new diver - I have about 40 dives under my belt. I have an extraordinarily busy work schedule, with little time to 'research' dive equipment, but i'm in the market for a good entry level type of computer that I could grow into for casual dive use (eg, for beginner to intermediate divers - I'm probably never going to do mixed gas diving or technical diving - if I do, i'll buy a new computer if needed). I was hoping that some of you may be able to narrow my search by listing 5 to 10 dive computers that would be worth looking into, preferably in the $300 dollar range (a bit more or less is okay). Thanks, in advance!

And my reply:

Some dive computers are more intuitive than others for different people. Therefore - it is hard to make a blanket statement about any computer that would best fit you. I would suggest stopping into your LDS and trying them out. Push the buttons & try the dive planning features. See what you like best (without spending hours reviewing the manuals - the manuals are kind of hard to take underwater anyway). Many of the manufacturers have on-line simulators where you can download and try out how the computers operate before you buy.

Nitrox compatibility up to 40% is almost a standard feature nowadays. Dive downloading (to your PC), deep stops and gas switching are becoming popular extra-cost options, along with wireless transmitters for gas pressure and air consumption
monitoring. Some of the features are out of your price range.

For me, I like the Suunto line. Not only is the information easy to understand, the way the computer works is very similar with all models. Also, the Suunto tissue saturation models are a little more conservative (err of the side of safety) than other manufacturers. Scuba Diving Magazine does regular comparisons of the aggressive vs. conservative nature of the different manufacturers, and I think you will find the results interesting, and this may sway your decision. Can't tell you the specific month/year of the last review - maybe somebody on the board can help. I think the Gekko, and the Vyper might be within striking range of your target price.

Hope this helps, and dive safe!

Can I rent everything at first?

Recent Post on Scubaboard:

"Can I rent everything at first? My wife and I start our first scuba class in Minnesota next week and will be going to Cozumel first week of April for the open water certification dives. We have mask, fins and snorkels and have snorkeled in (off?) Coz. I've read numerous posts saying we should try many kinds of equipment before buying our own. And a number of posts that if you do own equipment, you should take it ion the trip rather than renting on location. My specific question - is there anything (apart from the mask) that we absolutely should buy ahead of time? I believe the fee for the open water dives includes equipment. I expect we'd have to pay a rental fee if we dive more after the certification dives. Thanks!"

My response:

many good points so far. here's my $0.02 for your first big dive trip in 3 major groupings:

Mandatory (take with you):

• Mask, Fins, and Snorkel - always the first set of personal gear recommended!
• Wrist Mounted Dive computer - tracks your personal dive profile and Nitrogen Loading. Essential for multi-day trips with multiple dive operators. Set your personal dive preferences, and know the features & dive planning capabilities!
• Wrist mounted dive compass.
• Safety Sausage & signaling device.
• Mask defog
• Mesh dive bag to haul your stuff!

Optional (Rent until you know what you want & can afford):

• Reg Set (First Stage, Second Stage and Octo).
• BC (often purchased at same time as reg set, and computer).
• Exposure Protection that fits - falls in the priority here closely.
• Lights (start with a small BC mounted, then add a primary). If planning to do night dives on your trip, move this item up to mandatory!
• Knife/cutting device (EMT Shears work great)
• Emergency Kit - first aid kit, O-rings, straps, tools, etc. (Hopefully your operator will have all you need - but you never know.)

Really Optional! (not practical for Travel):

• Tanks - rent! (until you are ready to afford steel!)
• Weights
• Reel(s)
• Spare Mask
• Pony Bottle/Redundant Air Source - for deep dives

Hope this helps.

Dive Safe!

Lake Jocassee Water Temperature

Quick report from my dives yesterday at the Divers Ramp at Devil's Fork State Park, Lake Jocassee.

• Surface temps in the upper 70's/low 80's.
• Mild thermocline starting at about 20'
• Water temps at my max. depth of 111' at about 55 degrees F. Hood and gloves recommended (unless you really like ice cream headaches!).
• I wore a 7mm with a hooded vest, and was toasty warm.
• If you are planning to dive shallow (say less than 50'), you could probably get away without a hood and gloves - but that is a personal preference. Several people were in shorties.
• Dove fairly early yesterday morning, and not too many other divers. Visibility was stirred up as usual around the guidelines down to about 40 feet. Going beyond the fiberglass boat, Bones family, and past the Cattle Gate into the "Haunted Forest", the vis cleared up considerably. Carried my HID can light, but more for signaling than anything.

Hope you find this useful!

Dive Safe!

Review of OxyCheq 30# Mach V Wing

Short review of the Oxycheq 30# wing. My LDS started carrying these wings and I have heard great reviews of them, so I decided to take the plunge. Mounting was easy with my Fred T SS backplate with STA. No issues. Bolt holes matched perfectly. One modification that was necessary was that I had to replace my 30" LP inflator hose with a 22" hose. The OxyCheq Inflator corrugated hose was much shorter than my previous wing, and therefore this was necessary as my old hose was an entanglement hazard.

Now have about 30 dives on the wing, and have been very pleased. The wing makes a very tight package, and I hardly notice that it is on my back. I have sensed considerably less drag in the water, and also a reduced amount of air that has to be be added or purged from the wing. This has resulted in lower air consumption, and a much more stable horizontal diving position in the water.

For reference, I am about 185#, 6', and usually dive fresh water in Lake Jocassee in the beautiful upstate of South Carolina. With a 7mm Bare Arctic, and a HP 100 cubic foot Worthington Steel Tank, I carry no additional lead.

Here are a few shots of the the Wing:

Photo 1: OxyCheq wing in place on Backplate (partially inflated wing to provide better visibility for the picture).

















Photo 2: Front view of wing. Notice K Inflator, and also the amount of wing extending below the backplate. The wing has a "doughnut" shaped bladder, allowing 360 degree transfer of air top and bottom unlike traditional wings.

Photo 3: Back view of wing. Note ScubaPro Cincher Bands (really like these bands by the way - never had them slip).

Conclusion: I really like this wing, I think that it is an affordable, well-made compact single tank wing. 5 out of 5 Seahorses.

Dive safe.

Caribbean Blue

Converting a Sartek Light from Backplate to Belt mount

Finally spent about 30 minutes converting my 10W HID Sartek Cannister Light from Backplate to belt mount (See my previous Blog for SS Quick link connection to Backplate).

Photo 1 - The SS bands have been loosened and removed from the cannister.

Photo 2 - a 10 inch piece of webbing has been cut and the ends burned to prevent fraying.

Photo 3 - The webbing is folded in half, and looped over the top band, and then both ends under the bottom band. Note that the switch (top of light) is to the left on the photo. The SS bands were placed approximately 3 inches apart, and then tightened.

Photo 4 - The Cannister placed on the right side web belt with a second delrin buckle holding the light snug against the right side D-Ring. Light Switch is in the up position.

Photo 5 - Inside of waist belt showing Cannister and second buckle.

The bands may be spaced just a little bit too wide, but after I dive this setup a few times, I will evaluate if the webbling gets too flexible to hold the light firmly in place. If so, I will slide the bottom SS clamp a little closer.

All in all, a very easy conversion.

Dive Safe.

Caribbean Blue

The Bones Family says hello

Shot taken today of the world famous Bones Family at the Divers Ramp - Lake Jocassee, Upstate South Carolina. Did a couple great Solo dives today with the Standard Gear, and Pony bottle.


Conducted thorough pre-dive check (since solo), and gave me an opportunity to practice running guideline, finning and bouyancy. Carried new Sartek light as blogged previously.

Only highlight of the day was when I was reeling in on Dive Number 1, noticed that I seemed to have something tugging on the other end of my guideline. I thought for a second that maybe I might have caught a fish, but you guessed it, some stroke was trying to pull himself along my line.

Remember the guideline rules of etiquitte:

1. If visibility is good, there is no need to ever touch a guideline.
2. You should never pull or tug on a guideline.
3. The guideline is meant as a directional reference, not a means of propulsion.
4. If visibility is bad, you should circle your index finger and thumb around the line, managing your bouyancy by touch contact on the line.
5. Finally, never remove or cut a guideline that you have not personally placed.

Over 3 dives, max depth was about 80', and bottom temperature 61 degrees F. The Bones Family was in full force today, and asked me to pass along the important message above to the diving community!


Until next time - Dive Safe.


Caribbean Blue.

Diving the "Haunted Forest" - Lake Jocassee

Training dive yesterday at the Divers Boat Ramp at Lake Jocassee.

Equipment for the dive as follows;

• Fred T SS Backplate with STA, Hog webbing
• 100 cuft Worthington HP Steel Tank (31% Nitrox)
• 30 cuft AL Pony (slung left side) - Bailout Bottle
• Mk 20/S600/R190 Long hose configuration
• 7mm Bare Fullsuit with Henderson 3mm Hood
• Salvo 400 foot Primary reel
• Brand New Sartek 10W HID Canister Light - more on this later!
• Scubapro Jet Fins
• Suunto Vyper Computer

Dive profile as follows:

• Depth: Max - 130 feet, Average - 68 feet
• Dive time: 33:40
• Temperature: 68 degrees surface, 52 degrees bottom
• SAC Rate: 0.7 SCFM (a little high)

Buddy and I did a training dive yesterday to practice some of the cavern skills from the NSS-CDS course earlier this year (see blog below for review). We started off in the water with a match check, bubble check, S Drill, then checked gas and calculated turn pressure. I was diving a 100 cuft tank, and buddy was diving a 130 cuft, so my turn pressure ruled. Objective was to do a deep dive into the "Haunted Forest" on the North side of the divers boat ramp, and I was going to practice tie-offs and running the guideline. The Divers Boat Ramp is located in Devil's Fork State Park on Lake Jocassee in the beautiful upstate of South Carolina.

First time diving with the new Sartek 10W Canister light with 2 Lithium Batteries (CBPS4.5LIH10MRFS - burn time 8 hours). The light has a high quality industrial feel to it, and all cords, connections, etc. look like they are made for the long run. I believe this light has the new Brightstar bulb, but have not been able to confirm this fact. A lot of discussion and Pro's and Con's about the Brightstar vs. Welch-Allyn bulbs can be found on the web. The light came with 2 110Volt wall chargers, 2 car chargers, and also a light clip and brass snap-link, but no handle. Instruction sheets are bare bones, and included with each of the components. Would be good if they included a little more instruction for the care and feeding of the Li-Ion batteries. Batteries as delivered were nearly full, so just topped them off and connected them for the dive.

I connected the light directly to my backplate with 2 SS links. The band spacing on the light matched the hole spacing on my backplate, so this worked well. I do not like the metal to metal connection in case I need to hand off or ditch the light, but I will eventually change the canister to belt mount when I get some time to reconfigure. Mounted the canister switch down, and was easily able to reach and turn the light on and off. This light has the newer rotating white on/off switch.

I ended up going with the Dive Rite elastic hand mount handle. It was substantially cheaper than Sartek Goodman handle which is made from milled aluminum (about $18 vs. $65). The clip from the handle to the light head light perfectly, if not just a little bit loose. One disappointment was that the dive Rite handle has two screws attaching the clip to the handle, and when I first attached the head to the handle and rotated the head, the exposed screws scratched the black anodized light head. Oh well - knew it would happen sooner or later.

So how does the light work? I bet you were wondering when I would get to this. The light beam at depth is very bright, with a slight bluish tint. The beam was able to penetrate a considerable distance, and it did not pick up much backscatter from the suspended silt particles. The light has a focusable head, and I tried various settings at depth in the woods, but really didn't see much of a substantial difference. I'm sure at night this would be more obvious.

I have read all the debates about Right hand vs. left for carrying the light head, but used the light head on my right hand for the majority of the dive. Even with deploying my Primary reel also in the right hand using my thumb to control line tension, no issue at all with controlling the reel and light together. As you can imagine, reeling the line in was a little more interesting since I was holding the reel in my left hand, and was reeling in with the right. However, since the Salvo reel is "ambidextrous", I may try reeling in with the left hand just for fun. As a side note, I also have an OMS Safety reel, and I find the reeling action of the Salvo reel substantially smoother.

Weighting - just a short comment about this critical topic. With the Pony on the left, and the canister on the right, weighting balance was about right side to side. I was concerned about this initially, and in the end decided against wearing any ballast to offset. If I am wearing the Pony alone, sometimes I will wear a 2 pound weight on the right side to offset. So, no additional weight on this dive.

After reeling in, I was at turn pressure, and Buddy and I turned the dive. Did a slow ascent, deep stop, and safety stop. Finished the dive with about 700 psi. SAC was a little high as noted above, but considering the task loading, depth, and temperature - was OK. Temperature was a brisk 52 degrees (buddy recorded 50 degrees) at depth, but I was fairly warm with the Bare 7mm Arctic Full suit. I have blogged about this before, but this is a great affordable suit with wrist and calf seals inside the suit to limit the water exchange. I was diving 31% Nitrox, so was limited to about 132 feet at 1.6 PPO2. Don't usually like to dive at 1.6, but as the dive profile indicates, was at this depth for a limited time. At depth, minimum NDL time from going into Decompression was 3 minutes, so didn't push it too close to the limit.

Duke Power formed Lake Jocassee in the early 1970’s as they were creating the nearby Oconee Nuclear Plant, and a considerable amount of land and forests were flooded to create this lake (along with Lake Keowee and Lake Hartwell). The tree trunks at depth are a stark contrast against the sepia colored water, and give the dive site an interesting composition where you would expect to see the "Headless Horseman" come riding through at any minute. The remaining tree trunks and branches give the site an eerie other world feeling. This interesting contrast is why I like to call this dive site the "Haunted Forest".

Until next time - Dive Safe.

Caribbean Blue.

Diving the "Hot Hole"

1/14/07 - Dove the "Hot Hole" at Lake Keowee today. So named because this is the outflow from the cooling water from the Oconee Nuclear Reactor. In the winter this spot is popular due to the warmer water conditions (at least 15 degrees) compared to other upstate lakes. We loaded the boat at Warpath Landing, then took the short ride over to the structure. After mooring the boat, the group got ready and splashed in. We navigated around to the edge of the headwall structure underwater, and then literally climbed our way to the middle of the spillway over the rocks at a depth of about 35' in the face of the current.

Water was blasting out of the structure, and this will literally rip the mask off your face if you do not face up current as you are moving to the center of the structure. After you are in the middle of the current, it is simply a matter of letting go, putting a shot or two of air in the BC to get slightly higher in the water column, and turning 180 degrees to let the current take you downstream for the ride!

After a couple minutes, a noticeable thermocline confronts you, where you take a 90 degree turn to the right (150 to 180 degree compass heading) and the eddy currents will take you back around for another ride.

Dive profile/conditions:

Max Depth - 44 feet
Avg Depth - 33 feet
Air Temperature - 70 degrees F
Water Temperature - 68 degrees F
Dive time - 31 minutes (for 3 circuits) - (Also did a second dive of 15 minutes)
Air used - 52 Cubic Feet

Equipment:

SS Backplate & Deep Outdoors 34# wing
100cf HP steel Tank
7 mm Bare Arctic Fullsuit + 3mm Bare Thermal vest with 7mm hood
5mm Instadry Gloves
ScubaPro Jet Fins

Great dive - highly recommended.

Vyper Computer Wrist Mount Review

Test dive yesterday with the new Suunto Vyper wrist mount from Deep Sea Supply (purchased 12/06, $18.00 USD). The mount is similar to the Compass mount in my previous post. Probably the hardest part of the conversion was getting the Vyper out of the old factory wrist band. Since I had already changed the batteries in the Vyper last year, I had some experience with getting the Vyper out of its housing. Once I had the Vyper down to bare bones the installation was really easy into the Deep Sea Supply wrist mount, and the computer sits very securely in the new housing . I really like the fact that the computer actually has a lower profile in the new wrist mount than in the old factory wrist band. As noted with the SK-7 compass mount, the mount allows dual bungee bands (3/16" bungee, 1 on each side), and there are also 2 mounting holes in each corner which allows the computer to be mounted slightly rotated making it easier to view while on the wrist. With the dual bungees, I could eliminate the leash that I used to wear connected to the Suunto wristband in case a pin broke. Also, like the compass mount, the bungee (purchased separately) was a little tight getting over the hand, but was just right in the wrist over my 7mm Bare Artic full suit. After the dive, returned home and downloaded the dive data via the Suunto Dive Manager package. There is a slot in the bottom of the Deep Sea Supply mount that accesses the data connection, and the transfer data went without issue.

Overall very pleased with the mount, and give it 5 out of 5 Seahorses.

Pressure Guage Review

Installed new Scubapro pressure gauge to replace my old Aeris 3 Gauge Console (Pressure, Depth, and Compass). Installed on a 32" hose, and found the length was just right so that it reached my left hip D-ring. Used cave line and bolt snap to finish out the installation.

Worked very well, and the pressure reading was very legible during the dive. Very clean installation.

Only issue was that with 5mm Henderson Insta-Dry gloves the bolt snap was a little hard to operate!

Deep Sea Supply SK-7 Compass Mount Review

Test dive today with the new compass mount. Pictured is the Deep Sea Supply wrist mount for the Suunto SK-7 Compass (Purchased 12/06, $12.00 USD). I had a major problem converting the compass from the factory wrist band to this new mount, and actually destroyed the rotating silver bezel on top. This will have to be replaced, and the new part is on order from my local Aqua Lung dealer (who services Suunto equipment). I may have been able to avoid the damage if I had of soaked the compass in hot water as recommended before I attempted to remove the bezel - who knows!

Also installed some 3/16" bungee cord (purchased separately - note very small size) for the wrist mount, and the mount has 2 redundant straps in case one should break. I found the bungee very tight, and does not give very much when putting the compass on over the hands. Hopefully this will stretch a little more when the bungee gets broken in. The marks on the bungee strap in the photo were made to indicate band sizing without wetsuit, and were used to help me determine length to cut the bungee.

A neat feature of the device is that it has 2 mounting holes on each corner which allows you to offset the mount slightly to orient it closer to your eye without having to bend the arm too far to get the compass aligned properly.

Finish of the mount is fairly clean molded black plastic.

Overall I would rate the wrist mount 4 out of 5 Seahorses. Suggested improvements would be larger holes in the corners so that standard rubber surgical tubing could be used.

New dive gear configuration test tomorrow

Heading to Lake Jocassee tomorrow to test some new equipment configuration as follows;

• Replaced Aeris SPG (with Depth Guage and compass) with Scubapro Guage (no boot) on 32" hose. Have a bolt snap attached to SPG with cave line.


• Moved Suunto Vyper computer and Suunto SP7 compass to bungee wrist mount (from Deep Sea Supply) with dual bungees on each device. Typically mount the computer on left wrist, and compass on right wrist.


• Old computer configuration is shown above - with wrist slate and trusty dive watch. (also note Henderson 5mm Instra-Dry gloves - very warm!)

Expect water Temperature in low to mid 50's, so will be interested to see how the wet suit combination performs (see previous post for 61 degree dive). This is not a major gear change, but want to test the configuration to see how things work. Also plan to deploy my reel and run some line for fun. Looking forward to NSS/CDS Cavern Course inFebruary 2007, and trying to get my gear in shape!

Will post an update afterward to let you know how things worked!

Dive Safe!

Quick tune-up dive at Lake Jocassee (upstate South Carolina) today. Water temp was a brisk 61 degrees, but I was generally fairly warm. Used a Bare 3mm Thermal Vest with 7mm integrated hood, and also a Bare 7mm Artic Full suit. I really like the way the suit fits (kinda tight), but also limits water circulation (= warm). The hood has a skin-type seal around the inside of the face, and the vest and suit are made to go together with a small flap covering the neck of the full suit. Also used 5 mm Henderson Insta-dry gloves (really warm as well), and Henderson 3mm boots.

Overall dive was about 40 minutes, with max depth of 57'.

At the end of the dive, decided to deploy my Surface Marker Buoy (SMB - actually an OMS 75# Lift Bag) since I had not deployed it in over a year. Bag deployment was a little tricky because of the thick gloves. I keep the SMB rolled up and bungied under of my backplate and clipped off to the rear D-Ring and my OMS Reel inside my right BC pocket. At about 30 feet, connected the reel to the bag, shot some air into it, and off it went. Noticed that it did not seem to keep much air in it, and when I surfaced after my safety stop I noticed that the exhaust valve had popped loose, holding only a small amount of air in the bag.

The important lesson is that you should set training objectives during your dives to test your equipment and make sure that all components function properly. The SMB can serve as a critical piece of rescue equipment during emergency situations (as an alternate flotation device), or when you need to surface away from the boat and are in current and off the Mooring Line.

Dive Equipment that I use

Dive Equipment selection is very personal, and there is a lot of very good, safe, dive gear on the market today. My equipment has evolved over time, but here is what I trust to Dive with (in alphabetical order):

• Buoyancy Compensator Device: Fred T Stainless Steel Backplate with Single Tank adapter, Single piece of webbing harness, Deep Outdoors 34# buoyancy wing, Deep Outdoors D-rings on harness and left and right waist, OMS BCD pocket on right side of waist strap. Also have a Zeagle Ranger (used infrequently).
• Compass: Suunto D7 (Right Wrist Mount)
• Computer: Suunto Vyper (Left Wrist Mount)
• Cutting devices: EMT shears (right BC pocket), Wenkona Blunt Tip Knife dual edge with normal and serrated edges (inside left calf)
• Dive Timer: Waterproof Dive Watch (left wrist).
• Exposure Protection: (as needed) 0.5mm Scubapro Steamer, 3mm Henderson Hyperstretch, 3mm Bare Thermal vest with 7mm attached hood, 7mm Bare Artic, Henderson Hyperstretch wetsuit boots, Henderson 3mm hood, various gloves.
• Fins: Scubapro Jet Fins, also Scubapro Twin Jets, both with Spring straps.
• Lights: Primary - UK eLED, Secondary - Q40 mini, Strobe - Tecktronics T200
• Mask: OMS "ICU" Mask
• Reel: OMS Primary Reel (right BC pocket)
• Regulator: 1st Stage - Scubapro MK20, 2nd Stage - Scubapro S600 (7 ft long hose), Alternate second Stage - Scubapro R380 (over right shoulder, bungied around neck), Pony Bottle - MK2/R190 (bungied to tank until deployed)
• Surface Marker Bouy: OMS 75# Lift Bag (bungied and clipped to the bottom of Backplate).
• Tanks: 2 X Worthington X7-100 HP (3,447 psi) Steel, Pony - Luxfer 30ft Aluminum. All Oxygen cleaned for Nitrox compatibility.
• Weight system: Weight pockets on BCD tank bands, and weight belt with necessary weight based on dive configuration and exposure protection.

Equipment Part 1 - Mask, Fins & snorkel - Dive Gear 101

Assuming you have saved enough of your hard earned money that you are considering getting into Scuba and buying your gear, the first purchase is typically Mask, Fins and Snorkel. This is the basic staple of dive gear, and many times is a required purchase as part of Basic Open Water Scuba Certification. If you have been diving awhile, you may want to skip this post since it is a basic overview of this equipment intended for the new Diver.

With Dive Masks, these should be purchased from a quality scuba equipment manufacturer, and you should avoid purchases from your local discount stores. The mask should fit comfortably to the shape of your face. Many masks also have prescription lenses that can be fitted, or "Gauge Reader" lenses that allow magnification of the lower portion of the lens similar to a bifocal. With the Dive Mask, the major option today is purge vs. non-purge. The purge valve is a small device located below the nose with a one-way valve that allows the diver to clear the water from his/her mask without tipping the mask away from the face. Although these masks are popular for the recreational diver, this purge valve does pose a possible failure point. As a personal note, one of my first masks was a purge mask, and due to the shape of my nose, the valve rubbed the bottom of my nose raw. On repetitive dives, this became very irritating and before long I purchased a non-purge mask. Look for a comfortable low-volume mask that allows rapid clearing.

The major Fin options are either full foot or strap-on fins. Full foot fins provide less water resistance, and are preferred for warm water diving where the shore entry is relatively smooth. The advantage of these fins is that they do not require wetsuit boots. Wetsuit Boots have soles similar to tennis shoes that can aid in a rocky shore entry situation where bare feet may pose some risk to injury. After the boot is put on, the fins are secured to the feet using adjustable rubber straps.

The next big discussion with fins is the split fin debate. If you are interested in researching this topic further, please see some of the fin reviews in Scuba Diving Magazine or search Google for more details. Personally, I find that Split Fins provide better "top end" speed, but suffer in slow speed maneuverability. I own 2 sets of fins, a pair of Scubapro Twin Jets, and also a pair of Scubapro Jet Fins (both in black). Both pair are the strap-on style fitted with Spring Straps for easy of donning/doffing.

Finally, the snorkel is a very useful device for surface swimming, and conservation of air in your tank. These typically have a flexible lower section to allow head movement, and most have a very convenient purge at the base to assist in removing water from the snorkel before use. As divers become more experienced, the snokel typically gets relegated to the gear bag and not used. I personally carry a small flexible roll-up snorkel in my BC Pocket on all my dives.

The colors of gear is only limited to your imagination, and a great way to make a fashion statement.

Although this first gear post is very basic, I hope that you have found it useful.

Dive Safe.