Scubaland Adventures Dive Club Newsletter

Dive Club news
Here's a re-cap of what the Scubaland Dive Club has done for the first half of 2010!

We kicked off the season in May with our annual Meet and Greet at the Oasis, Spring Fling, and restarted our bi-weekly local dives. In June, we had our first club drive and dive to The Clipper off South Padre and held a Buoyancy/Underwater Navigation clinic at Lake Travis. July brought us back to the lake for the Diver Challenge, giving recreational divers a chance to show off their diving skills. Congratulations to teams Jeff and Karl and Ren Jy and Chris for 1st and 2nd place (photos at right). As always, we continued with our bi-weekly dives at Windy Point Park and Mansfield Dam.

Though the first half of the season has ended, the weather and water are warm and there's plenty of diving planned. We're driving and diving to the Valhalla Missile Silo near Abilene August 13-14. We're also hosting a Discover Technical Diving clinic at Aquarena Center. Join us for diving the Oriskany in Florida in September. Returning to home, we'll host the Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest in October. Throughout the rest of the season, we will continue with our bi-weekly dives at Windy Point Park and Mansfield Dam.

Please send us suggestions for diving and non-diving activities that you would like the club to arrange. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your ideas. To keep current with activities, visit our Facebook group page and check your email for Dive club newsletters.

—Doug Harder

Island time
Need to get away? Try Bonaire - the "B" of the ABC islands, which include Aruba and Curacao. Bonaire is located in the Caribbean Ocean, 50 miles North of Venezuela. It's 24 miles long, 7 miles wide and has no traffic lights. The air and the water are warm and clear and the pace is laid back and relaxed.

Bonaire diving is first rate. The waters surrounding the islands of Bonaire and Klein Bonaire are protected marine sanctuaries. All of the dive sites are accessible by boat but many (53) on the main island are also accessible from shore. Several of the local resorts/dive shops offer unlimited air and Nitrox packages which allow you to dive as often as you like, even right outside the back door! The islands offer plenty of diving opportunities for beginner divers as well as more experienced divers. One of the unique features of Bonaire is its "Double Reef" along the Southwest side of the island. Bonaire also features excellent night and wreck diving.

When you need a break from diving, there's plenty to do on land. Take a drive to the North end and explore the park. Drive to the east side to relax on a beach, cruise along in a kayak, or try windsurfing. When you get hungry, try one of the many local restaurants. The food is good and the drinking water is excellent.

Remember to pack light, bring your passport, and your dive gear. Need more info? Need a night or nitrox diver certification? Call or stop by one of the Scubaland stores or Travel Masters at the north store.

Why tech?
Technical diving has evolved into a significant part of the recreational diving business.

Equipment manufacturers have focused on developing equipment beyond what a typical recreational diver requires. However, technical diving is more involved than specialized equipment. It is a philosophy that requires a high level of training and discipline, and a substantial investment in personal preparation that includes equipment. Before taking the leap into technical diving, explore what is involved in technical dive training.

Technical diving is scuba diving's "extreme sport," taking experienced and qualified divers far deeper and further than in recreational diving. Technical diving is distinguished by significantly more equipment and training requirements to manage the additional hazards inherent in this type of diving. Technical diving isn't for everyone. It is for those who want to explore further and may provide the challenge you seek.

A technical dive is a self-contained untethered dive in which the diver switches a breathing gas during the dive. The diver typically uses a "bottom mix" followed by one or two intermediate decompression mixes of enriched air and oxygen. These types of dives typically extend beyond the no-stop time limits of air or enriched air diving tables and may involve overhead environments such as wrecks, caves, or the use of a rebreather.

Dives that prevent the diver from having a direct ascent option to the surface are more dangerous. Training agencies define this type of diving as recreational technical diving not to diminish the significance of the dive challenges, but rather to distinguish them from commercial diving and to allow for insurance purposes. Recreational technical diving meets any of the following conditions: depths beyond 130 fsw (40 msw), enriched air mixtures with oxygen fractions greater than 41%, or any other non-air mix (trimix), or planned decompression.

Divers can work toward many levels of technical training, as with recreational programs, since the high end extreme technical diving may not fit a diver's needs. What are your goals with technical diving? Do you just want to go a little deeper, or stay a little longer? Or, do you aspire for extreme dive conditions?

Technical diving offers you the ability to see what's just beyond, whether it's black coral formations on a Cayman Wall or the pristine wreck of a 3 mast schooner at the bottom of Lake Eire. For any technical diving goal, you must start at the bottom and slowly work your way up. The Scubaland Dive Club is offering a Discover Tech day at Aquarena Spring August 8 starting at 10 a.m. Come try out the gear and talk to the tech instructors and divers. It's a good way to safely experience technical diving from the bottom up.

— Mike Lutz

Wings and things
Back plate, wings, and doubles, oh my. In the previous article, we overview technical diving. Here, we'll talk about some of that specialized equipment. I was overwhelmed by the specialized gear I needed to invest in for technical diving. Your gear is more than a tool in technical diving; it protects your life.

Technical gear shares similarities with recreational gear. Your backplate and wing are equivalent to your bcd. The backplate is a steel or aluminum plate that bolts to your tanks. The wing is your buoyancy device. You need a backplate instead of the tank bands on a bcd because you will be attaching it to different tank types. In this case, you'll be bolting the backplate to doubles. Doubles, depicted at right, are connected to a backplate and wing and may be either aluminum or steel tanks.

Buoyancy is mentioned a great deal in technical diving because it is imperitive that you maintain perfect buoyancy to conduct dives safely. Hence, much talk about technical gear surrounds buoyancy characteristics. Your backplate may either be made of aluminum or steel, with steel being heavier. This can be advantageous if your goal is to remove weight from your weight system, but might be a poor choice if you are diving heavy steel tanks that prevent you from needing additional weight.

Another major contributing factor to buoyancy is your wing, the buoyancy control bladder. Wings can be identified with pounds of lift and shape. You need to select a wing with enough lift to support your load bearing needs, but not oversized. Oversized bladders can create drag and add to buoyancy difficulties. The cut and style of the wing is functionally determined. Will this wing be used on a single tank, with side mount, or within overhead environments? All gear is highly personalized.

Scubaland helped me navigate this hornets' nest of gear and identify which gear would work for me within my budget and quality needs. Technical gear is customized to your fit and usability. As an entry level tech diver, I found that the Dive Rite backplate and the Oxycheq wing served my needs well with aluminum 80 doubles. Since purchasing my gear, I have dove a range of tank types. All tanks have varying buoyancy and size characteristics.

—Jennifer Idol