Introducing the scuba gear guru

I’ll kick off this scuba gear blog with a short blurb about me. I’ve scuba dived for 30 years, since 1979 when I was in the navy. I’ve scuba dived in each of the world’s four major oceans. That includes the Arctic Ocean and yes it was really freaking COLD! (I was wearing a dry suit). After mustering out of the navy, I started working as a professional firefighter and I spent the next 20 years wearing, inspecting, using, maintaining, training with and relying on SCBA equipment. That is Self Contained Breathing Apparatus that a fire department uses, as opposed to the Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus of SCUBA.

Then in 2004, I was diving in the Northern Pacific, near Vancouver, when my rented scuba diving gear catastrophically failed at a depth of 100 feet. I drowned on my way up to the surface and I was dead for about 8-minutes. Fortunately, my diving buddy knew what to do. I was pulled back onboard the boat and revived. I still dive but now this is one guru who is far more careful about his scuba gear package.

I live to travel and I don’t believe that any trip is complete without a few adventures under the waves. There are many dive charters at most seaside destinations and a traveler can always rent some gear. That is fine for beginners and for taking lessons in shallow water. But when you’re ready to go deeper and to take on challenging trips like diving to wrecks, you’ll want to be certain that your diving equipment will perform well for you.