I seem to have a problem with claustrophobia, but from past experience snorkeling I think I can deal with wearing a mask. What I don't think that I can deal with is wearing one of those thick rubber hoods. I've watched divers trying to deal with them, and it looks terrible, especially when wearing wet suit gloves. Watching one student who was fumbling with her hood, I even overheard the instructor say that hoods were hard to use and get used to, and made equalization difficult. I can't imagine how wearing a hood must feel underwater with all the pressure. I'm wondering do I really need to use a hood to dive locally if I limit my diving to summertime? Or, am I just making too big a deal out of this?

Hoods are probably one of the least favorite equipment items for most new divers, but they really don't have to be. I taught diving for many years in environments where you couldn't even think about getting into the water without wearing a 7-mm hood. I've found that the problem often isn't the hood itself, but when students are introduced to them. And they're typically introduced to them too late in their training, most often not until they reach open water and are already stressed by the new environment. In my classes I always required my students to wear both hoods and gloves during their last two pool sessions. Granted, it looked more than a bit odd with everyone wearing bathing suits yet sporting neoprene hoods and gloves, but it did the trick. Students got used to the fit of the hood, and became familiar with how to seal their mask around it using bulky gloves. So, by the time they got into open water, it was no big deal.

Another trick is making sure that the hood isn't too small. In fact, if someone has trouble clearing because of their hood, as the instructor you witnessed indicated, then it's definitely too small. Equalization should never be a problem with a properly fitting one. Also, the idea of going without a hood is probably not possible in a place like northern Alabama, even during summer. The reason is that the temperature below the thermocline (a phenomenon you'll learn about in your training) is likely to be in the 50s Fahrenheit even if the surface temperature is in the comfortable 80s F (27-31 C) range. Water that cold absolutely, positively requires a hood.

I'll tell you one more story that may come as a surprise. I haven't dived in water below 70 degrees (21 C) for over two decades. Yet, on probably 30 percent of my dives I still wear a hood. In fact, I commonly wear a 3-mm hood-attached vest under my 0.5-mm wet suit. Because of the disproportionate amount of heat we lose through our head, wearing a hood is the best thing that you can do to stay warm. Don't worry, you'll get used to it.

I recently added St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands to my list of diving locations. I spent about 4 days diving with

Being chewed up and spit out onto the beach by a thundering wall of turbid water is not what I call a fun dive outing. Entering and exiting through the surf zone can be a tricky and sometimes punishing scuba experience, but with training and the proper technique, anyone can determine if the surf is manageable and get through safely.

Mom and dad diving with a shark friend of theirs...

And yes, this is fake. Apparently it's a bonified urban legend.

photo by: doug.deep

What is Visibility?

Visibility, quite simply, is the prevailing distance at which an object can be seen when looking horizontally underwater. Of course, there are factors that influence the visibility of an object underwater including its size, shape, and contrast against the background. And visibility is affected by light levels and depth so even really clear water will have poor visibility if the sky is cloudy and you're at 100 feet.

There's no question that scuba diving is an expensive hobby. The expense is on-going too with every dive requiring a fee for the divemaster, the boat, and the tank(s) of air. One question that I think most divers contend with is, me included, is whether it is better to buy or rent. I think the answer depends on the particular item being considered. For example, I don't think anyone but the most enthusiastic diver should buy scuba tanks and that's assuming diving doesn't require a flight somewhere. Here's my take on other scuba diving equipment for warm-water diving.

Without special equipment you're not able to verbally communicate underwater. So it's a good thing that the various scuba organizations such as PADI have standardized hand signals for communication. Here are the basic ones (click on the image for a larger view):

Source: Pages 4 and 5 of Scuba BSA

Under the right circumstance, the very air we breathe can actually kill us. Well, not the air so much as the oxygen component within it. If you're a seasoned diver, particularly if you hold a nitrox certification, you may already know that. But if you're new to diving, the fact that the gas we depend on to sustain life can, under the right conditions, become deadly poisonous may come as a real shocker.

There's already a lot to remember when scuba diving so it's no surprise that divers, especially new ones, struggle with navigating underwater without a compass i.e. natural navigation. Fortunately, natural navigation isn't all that difficult -- it merely requires knowing a few things to look for and paying attention to underwater cues.

If you haven't bought any scuba gear yet, you may be in for a surprise. And if you have bought gear, you've likely already realized that it is an expensive sport. In fact, I don't know any other popular activity that costs as much. And it's not just a one time cost when you buy your gear. Instead, there are on-going costs every time you go out for a dive such as the boat ride and an air-filled tank.

When using a BC [buoyancy compensator] with an integrated weight system, is it better to put more weight in the upper back weight pockets? Especially for wreck diving where losing a front weight pouch that could cause a rapid ascent.

I didn't look into the truth of the statement, but my dive instructor said that it was mandatory to own a compass to become open-water certified. I was annoyed by this for two reasons: 1) compasses are expensive and 2) I knew that long before I did a dive where navigation by compass was necessary, I'd have a dive computer. I guess it's the cost of playing the scuba game.

photo by: arno gourdol

Choosing the right buddy for a dive can be an important aspect to the enjoyment and safety of diving. By choosing a buddy who shares our ideals, goals and values, we are more likely to have a truly compatible buddy, and more likely to enjoy sharing a dive together. Pairing up with an underwater photographer could be great for a diver who likes to take it slow and draw in the details. On the other hand, for the type of diver who likes to cruise the reef, this might not be a good match.