Coral Reef Travel

“Aw, come on. Don’t be a wuss!” To which we reply: “Better a wuss than a pretzel.”

Amazing, isn’t it? How divers can make a supposedly relaxing, recreational activity so darn competitive. Who surfaced with the most air? Who bagged the most game? Who went deepest? Sometimes the contests are harmless: “You mean you didn’t see the 12-foot moray?” Sometimes motivational: “You mean you haven’t been to Palau?” And sometimes downright dangerous: “You mean you only did two dives a day?”

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• Are you diving with a Hoover? Your preparation to share air begins well before you enter the water. What do you know about your buddy’s air consumption? Does he suck it up faster than a vacuum cleaner? Or does she seem to sip air like a fine wine, always ending a dive with more air than you? This isn’t a competition, but knowing your buddy’s rate of air consumption can help you make better decisions under water and possibly avoid having to share in the first place.
• Does it work? One of the problems with an alternate air source is that we tend to ignore it until the next annual tune-up–or emergency. In the meantime, it may have lost performance, become full of sand, developed a loose mouthpiece or a frozen purge button, etc. A low-on-air situation is not the best time to find out your alternate air source is non-functional. A good habit is to occasionally complete your safety stop breathing from your alternate air source.
• How long is your hose? Having an alternate air source is one thing; having it or your primary on a hose long enough to reach your buddy without a struggle is another. While it doesn’t have to be as long as a caver’s or wreck diver’s hose (capable of being passed ahead or behind), it should extend approximately two to three feet in front of you and allow the second stage to fit comfortably in your buddy’s mouth.
• What’s your tank pressure? Surfacing with at least 500 to 700 psi in your tank already makes a lot of sense: You might just need that air if something unexpected happens–a reverse squeeze, rough surface conditions, heavy kelp or a rescue for instance. But here’s another reason: As tank pressure decreases, the work of breathing for many regulators increases. (Indeed, the U.S. Navy originally set the 130-foot depth limit in the 1950s because of the poor performance of that era’s regulators below five atmospheres.) If your regulator is not designed for high performance–the ability to continue delivering the air demanded of it despite increased respiration and lowered tank pressures–or if it has lost performance due to poor maintenance, the stress of a second diver on it could cause overbreathing: the inability of a reg to deliver the air demanded of it. Being prepared to share air means having a well-maintained reg as well as an adequate supply of air.
• So what is your regulator’s performance rating? You can’t find it out from the manufacturer, the internet, other divers or other dive magazines. The only independent regulator tests done in the U.S. for consumers are by RSD’s ScubaLab and published here. Our evaluations are based on laboratory and ocean tests. Why? You can’t determine a reg’s true performance potential by breathing on it in a dive store or on a relaxed recreational dive. You must stress-test regulators on a breathing simulator and in the ocean at depths greater than 130 feet. Only in this manner can you find those regs with the back-up performance you may need one day, whether in a low-on-air situation, sharing air or in some other unforeseen emergency.
• Are you prepared for non-textbook air sharing? During pool practice, the low-on-air buddy calmly approaches you, calmly gives the “let’s share air” signal, and calmly takes your proffered second stage. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case in a real emergency in the real ocean, where the low-on-air buddy is more likely to swim furiously to you and, without giving a polite hand signal, snatch your second stage right from your mouth. That’s why to be truly prepared to share air, you must be ready to find and use your own alternate air source and be ready to take control of a buddy who may be panicked.

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A tiny, quaint French-Canadian village laid out along a half-moon of rocky seacoast, Les Escoumins might seem at first merely a hideout for honeymooners and thieves. But this diminutive settlement on the banks of the tidal St. Lawrence River is one of the Northeast’s best-kept diving secrets.

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Like a giant can opener, the rock called Nova Scotia has split the hulls of even the stoutest ships daring to challenge its shallow, jagged coastline. A graveyard of 5,000 vessels clutters the scenic shores of this 350-mile-long Canadian peninsula: the highest density of shipwrecks per linear mile of any location in the world.

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You hearty adventurer types who leap at the chance to submerge yourself in water so cold it would freeze solid if not for the currents, read on. The rest of you, hop a plane for Hawaii.

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Ghostly plumose anemones shroud the peak of Tyler Rock, glowing in the diffuse emerald light. Descending through the narrow canyon that splits the crest of the reef, we drop quickly to a sandy ledge at 70 feet. Suddenly, a massive shark appears, swimming straight toward us. Twelve feet long and as big as a barrel, it moves with effortless grace, closing fast. In seconds it’s within touching distance, near enough that I can count the six distinctive gill slits and stare into coal-black eyes as the Volkswagen-sized shark cruises by, leaving us in its powerful wake.

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As we arrived in Bamfield on a cool October morning, the rain started to pour and a violent wind made it seem all the colder. Tired, dirty and wet from a four-hour cruise along Barkley Sound by packet freighter, we were still too excited about diving this wild coast to be discouraged by the weather.

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The Adams River is running red against the current. Upriver as far as I can see, the shallows seethe with the violent splashing of ragged fins, green toothy beaks, decaying corpses and wriggling scarlet bodies. This October, Nature is on schedule for sockeye salmon spawning. And in this seeming chaos, everything is as Nature intended it to be.

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A playground for the wealthy since the 1700s, Newport, R.I., is better known for its annual jazz festival, sailing competitions and rows of stately mansions than for its diving. However, if you’re invited to “go for subs” while in this New England resort hamlet, grab your dive gear, because it probably isn’t a lunch date.

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Willow Springs Park offers a unique opportunity for anyone who ever fantasized about being the plastic hard-hat diver at the bottom of a home aquarium. On two weekends each year – Memorial Day and Labor Day – this Richland, Pa., quarry hosts rallies by real hard-hat divers, the Northeast Working Equipment Group of the Historical Diving Society – U.S.A.

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