​When you start buying your own gear, it's a never ending story ;)

Even if you are supposed to get one as soon as you become an advanced open water diver... it might not be the first thing you'll think of.
​
The main point to understand is that a dive knife is not a weapon, it is a tool. It should never be used to harm or touch aquatic creatures or deface the underwater environment.
The most important use of it is to free yourself or your buddy  in case you get stuck in a fishnet or with vegetation.

But you can also become a heroe  by freeing a poor entangled animal ... or removing an abandoned fishing net from a dive site.

​There are so many ... how to choose?
​Here are some tips to help you to find the one which will work best for you, depending on your needs and the environment you are diving in.
​What should you pay attention to ...

​
​Material

Stainless steel or titanium?

One advantage of the titanium is that it pretty needs no maintenance. The knives do not rust and are corrosion resistant. They are lighter, more flexible and harder to break.
Titanium is the high level choice so it is significantly more expensive.

Stainless steel will need maintenance not to rust. It needs to be cleaned with fresh water, dried and oiled or rubbed with silicone after each dive. 
You'll have to choose between 300 or 400 series. The lower the number, the more resistant the blade is to corrosion. However, a lower number blade will loose its edge faster.

Shape

The extremity of the blade can be blunt or pointed.

​For most recreational divers, blunt tip should be fine. And better not to puncture your air hoses or wetsuit!

A blunt tip is great for prying, digging, hacking and chiseling.
A sharp tip is great for puncturing and cutting.

You can also choose a dive knife with both straight and serrated edges, for more adaptability! 

Size

Despite what people may say ... size does matters!

You should rather go for a medium size (4 inches).
Smaller ones can fit anywhere but make sure you can grip the knife securely.
Bigger ones can be too cumbersome and dangerous.
The medium ones are the more practical, and they can be strapped to a variety of easy-to-reach locations.

Attachment

​Your knife can be strapped almost everywhere ...

​On the calf "James Bond" style, on the leg "Lara Croft" style ... or more simply on your BCD pocket or inflator hose . In this case, make sure it is a medium blunt one!

Wear the knife where it is easy to be reached with one hand.

Other features ton consider ...

• line cutting notch
• finger grips
• security lock
•  fixed or foldable blade

And remember to use your dive knife safely and responsibly!

Want a knife for your next cruise with us? Check out our catalogue.

Another trip 4 just ended perfectly in a taste of great bubbles, great food and  as always good laughs.

Small team of 7 divers from Germany, Switzerland, France, United States and Philippines for 8 wonderful days going up north to Black Rock. The weather was good and the diving conditions almost perfect.

We had some nice encounters during this trip; one eagle ray in the secret cave, a marbled ray during the safety of a night dive, and specially two leopard sharks playing together around us for few minutes in front of our cameras.

We were lucky to spot a total of 17 different sea horses including a baby one during the whole trip ! 3 well hidden ghost pipe fishes and 11 cute frog fishes. Bunch of all different kind of shrimps, squat, boxing, durban, cleaning, marbled and the tapestry, quite a rare specimen endemic to the region.

And its not all about diving during the cruise, a minke whale was intrigued by the boat and went to welcome us around Western Rocky. But it was too shy to let us approach underwater, only teasing us with its songs during our dive.

Stay connected for our next trip and take a look on our facebook pages for all the underwater pictures.

" thanks for 5 unforgettable days. Great dives, splendid scenery, very good food, great relaxed and that special atmosphere that you only find on a boat (not too small, not too big"
"thank you for diving safely all the time"
"the food and service onboard was fantastic"

More reviews in our blog |  on tripadvisor | pics from our last diving trips

Here are a few reason why you should avoid drinking alcohol and scuba dive


1. You're risking Decompression sickness

You get more nitrogen in your system: Through an increase in peripheral circulation

Because alcohol increase blood flow, you could be absorbing 

You get rid of it slower: Through dehydration
How funny that while being in water, dehydration is probably the number one risk factor for DCS and is already a problem for divers who did not consume alcohol: the pressure, the cold and the tight suit make you want to pee all the time! -> you’re losing liquid= dehydration
Alcohol has diuretic properties (makes you urinate even more) 
Haven’t you wondered why pub’s toilets are always packed?
Hence you pee twice more and get dehydrated twice more.
Your blood is thicker, its circulation slower and the elimination of nitrogen bubbles altered.
That’s also why you should not drink too much alcohol even after dives as you are in the process of getting the nitrogen out of your system.

What should you do to stay hydrated?

When you go diving: before and after a dive, especially when you are on a liveaboard trip and do several days of diving, Drink plenty of water before feeling thirsty.
Attention: Drinking coffee, tea or sodas (or beer!) are not as good as drinking water.
It has been said that ideally we should drink one liter of water after every dive.
Eating yogourts, fruits and vegtables rich in water helps you fight dehydration as well as food rich in potassium such as bananas.
It is recommended to stop drinking alcohol (moderately) at least 8 hours before your next dive.
Avoid doing sport or sun bathing after the dives as they also make you more dehydrated.

2. you get cold faster

For a diver, body heat loss is of significant concern. This is because in water, the body loses heat 25 times faster than in air. Alcohol is known to be a peripheral vasodilator; it makes blood vessels to widen more than usual.  As blood flows into the dilated vessels, it withdraws heat from the core to surface of the body; although this may bring about a flush of warm feeling, it is short-lived and predisposes the body to hypothermia. Research conducted recently out of Canada indicate that nitrogen narcosis is responsible for delay in shiver response, an important indicator of a considerable heat loss from the body, alcohol is also known to depress the response; complicating the heat loss problem further.

3. Drunken effect of alcohol and depth combine: you're losing it

The danger imposed here is that, a diver may be unable to deal with an emergency, something which may land the diver into an accident.
Have you heard of the “martini’s law”? It states that every 15 meters a diver descends is equivalent in effect to drinking a glass of Martini. And of course both alcohol and nitrogen narcosis combine.

More Safety advice for divers?

19th of December, It is time now for our newbies to experience current, like strong current! The Mergui archipelago is an awesome place to dive and it has this particularity to have a lot of current, and open water divers certifying there are far more advanced than the ones learning in quiet waters…

The current is strong enough, that day, to decide to go down grabbing the anchor line; we are like flags onto that line, pretty fun. Once we are at the bottom we let go of the line and find a place to hide from the current, so we can admire the barracuda hunting on the spot in the blue, where the current is the strongest, very impressive… We have a chance to look for macro life as well and we find a magnificent partner shrimp, inside an anemone with some squat shrimps. A little further there are many clown fish and a super nice hawk fish. When the air supply got low we went up and got caught in the current which was a lot of fun to see the rock passing by, I deployed the SMB and the dingy came to pick us up, great fun and good experience for my students.

One of the most common injuries while diving is a painful Middle Ear barotrauma, I’m sure you all felt a squeeze in your ears, even when only snorkeling and trying to go a few centimeters below the surface without equalizing, while diving, your ear are subject to the pressure around you and this squeeze can become very painful and cause serious permanent damage to your ear.

As you might know, pressure increase when going deeper below the surface. Your middle ear is a dead air space, connected to the back of your throat by the normally closed Eustachian canals, if you fail to fill up this space with air when the pressure around you increases (this is called equalizing) this is what’s happening:

-          Only 30 CM below the surface, your drum flex inward and you should feel pressure in your ear (you feel about the same when landing in a plane)

-          About 1 Metre below the surface, your eardrum swell up and mucus starts to enter your Eustachian canals making equalization difficult. Your ear nerves are stretched and you start to feel pain.

-          At 2 meters deep, your ears tissues begin to tear causing inflammation which might last for up to a week. Equalization is pretty much impossible as pressure forces soft tissues together shutting the canals ends.

-          At 3 meters deep, blood and mucous is sucked from surrounding tissues to fill your middle Ear, this is called Middle Ear Barothrauma. Pain decreases and you feel like water came filled up your ear. Don’t try to get the water out, no way, it will be reabsorbed by tissues within a week.  This is if you are lucky…

-          If you aren’t… At 4 meters, your eardrums may break. And water from the outside fill up your middle ear. This might cause vertigo, especially if the water around you is cold as the brain doesn’t know how to interpret this unbalance between your two ears. If you blow too hard to equalize, you also may rupture the round window membrane between your middle and inner ear, this is called inner ear barotrauma and may cause temporary or permanent hearing loss…

Ok, as you see things go very quickly and you realize that equalizing in necessary. Open up your Eustachain tubes and let the air flow in from your throat.

Be careful, you just emptied your BCD and you are subject to negative buoyancy! You don’t need to make any effort to fall like rocks without even noticing that you are going down. If you are going down with a line or against a wall, its pretty easy to see if you are going down, if you are going in open water, look at you gage.

The most common way of equalizing, tauch during PADI open water is Valsava Maneuver: pinch your nose and blow gently, increased pressure in your throat will automatically open your canals. This might be more difficult if it is not done early enough as increased pressure around you will lock the passage.

To avoid problem using this technic, don’t blow to hard, don’t maintain the pressure for more than 5 seconds and if you still can’t equalize, go up a bit until canals unlock.

Other methods to practice and combine:

-          Swallow while pinching your nose. This will activate the muscles below the tubes and pull them open while air compressed by your tongue goes in.

-          Bring  your jaw forward and down : like a yawn (be careful to keep a good seal around your reg if you don’t want salt water in your mouth) moving your jaw from side tto side might help

You can use each technic alone, alternate or together. With practice, some divers manage to keep their canals opened while descending, which lowers greatly the stress on its ear while diving.

If you keep your nostrils pinched, you will also feel a mask squeeze, letting some air through your nose fill your mask will be enough to avoid it.

You should equalize as often as needed (more often than you feel the need for).

When going down, don’t wait to feel pressure in your ears to equalize as pressure only make it more difficult. If it is blocked, don’t force it, it’s the best way to break something. Keep steady (don’t let yourself sink any deeper!), go slightly up to unlock your canals and try again. If you can’t equalize, you can’t go down! Take your time… Listen to the “pop” or “click” when your tubes are opened.

When you reach the bottom depth, equalize once more as you may not feel a small pressure unbalance but it might still hurt your ear with time.

Tips: It is easier for some divers to descend feet first with your head above. Looking up also helps as it tend to open the Eustachian canals. If one technic doesn’t work, try to use another or combine two (swallow while blowing your nose or yawn while blowing your nose). Be careful of mucous, which can block your tubes:  don’t dive with a congestion (cold), keep your mask clear of water, avoid tobacco, alcohol and dairy if you are prone to ear problem while diving. Equalizing at the surface before descending might help. Chewing a gum before your dive might also help.

When you ascend, the air in your middle Ear expends and must exit the same way (through your Eustachian canals. This usually goes without you even noticing and doesn’t require any action from you.

If you feel pressure in your ear or sinuses while ascending from your dive, you are experiencing a reverse block. A reverse block is caused by mucus preventing air bubbles in your middle ear, tissues or sinuses from escaping our body.

DOs and DON’Ts in case of reverse block

Be careful, while you feel about the same pain as with a normal block (going down), this problem is about the opposite so DON’T: go up to release pressure: go down! Don’t blow your nose as it will only increase the air pressure in your middle ear and increase the pain/ damage.

DO: Yawning or swallowing technics can help but if it doesn’t, stay still and take your time. Slow down your ascent. As long as you have air in your tank, no need to force the way. The last 10 meters will be the hardest so go slow. You can even try to go down a bit to lower the pressure (and pain) and let the air goes out slowly.

Again the most important is to take your time, some reverse block take 10-15 minutes to clear, but at low depth, you should have enough air to stay that long so relax and try to enjoy your extended dive…

How to avoid reverse block: don’t dive with a cold or sinuses problems and if you use a decongestant, make sure the effect will not wear off during your dive.

Happy Diving!
The Smiling Seahorse

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While diving is now a days a safe enough sport, accidents do happen!

8 divers were lost during their dive off Nusa Lembongan a little island a few kilometers away from Bali last Thursday.  The weather was not at its best with reported waves of 3 meters and it would have been safer to report the dive for the following days but divers and the operator didn’t exert prudence this time!

Read the article about the 8 missing divers.

Thankfully, a fisherman boat had decided to change its route that day and found the eight divers floating between the waves some 6 hours later! All of them were safe if not shaken by the experience. They can consider themselves VERY lucky! Read the article. I’m sure they’ll check the weather next time!

Safe diving everyone!

Your turn: Have you ever been lost during a dive? How did you deal with the situation?

You might have heard the news of a new tsunami coming into Thailand. An earthquake off the coast  of Sumatra, around the same place than in 2004 and some were expecting a tsunami of the same dimension to touch Thailand.

We heard the news over the radio, Pong came to tell us the news and we immediately cancelled the following dives for the day and left the island side for a deeper sea.

We immediately felt quite safe, knowing a wave doesn’t break until it reaches shallower grounds but we felt quite worried about what we would find back on the land.

Our phones didn’t have much connection but just enough to reassure the family members which needed it most.

News were slow to come over the radio, in Thai and then in English. We first heard of the earthquake, followed by a rumor of a 18m wave, 30 minutes later we listened in silence the news of the wave reaching Phuket and Koh Lanta and only 20 minutes later were we reassured of minimal damage. We were waiting to see the wave pass us by but to no avail. After two hours of stress, we set the cap to Richelieu Rock and celebrated onboard the good news: No Tsunami, we are the Tsunami survivors!!!