HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: devetzis@dexter.bellcore.com (Taso N. Devetzis)
Subject: Buhlmann Tables: Source?
Followup-To: rec.scuba
Keywords: buhlmann tables source english
Reply-To: devetzis@bellcore.com
Organization: Broadband Network Management Research Group (Bellcore)
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 18:40:58 GMT

Does anyone know of a source for Buhlmann tables suitable for
carrying on dives?  The wallet-sized version that comes with
the Aladin Pro is less than ideal.  I'm looking for a large,
easy-to-read-when-narced table (preferably in English ;-).

I've set distribution to 'world' in case I have to send to
europe for the thing (1/2 ;-).

Please post as I did a scubasearch and came up empty, although
the question has been asked before.

Thanks,
--Taso

-- 
Taso N. Devetzis
Bellcore, 445 South Street, Room 2P-357, Morristown, NJ, 07962-1910, USA
devetzis@bellcore.com     ...!uunet!bellcore!devetzis
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
From: 6845400@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM
Subject: Info req on Belize
Organization: Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc.
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 92 17:59:51 GMT

On monday I'll post some info on Belize, a name of a book that my son said
was usefull when he went there on his Honeymoon.  I do know that they went
to Lighthouse Reef Resort for diving after approximately 3 days in Belize City
and surronding area.  They had a great time.

Thanks,

Kathy
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
From: guido@sun-3.cs.uct.ac.za (Guido Zsilavecz)
Subject: Re: mask strap
Organization: Computer Science Department, University of Cape Town
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 11:18:34 GMT

In <saitowit.15@underdog.ee.wits.ac.za> saitowit@underdog.ee.wits.ac.za (SAITOWITZ L S) writes:

>Are there any safety reasons for diving with a mask strap? I'm quite new to 
>diving, but find the strap and snorkel quite a bother. Is it unsafe to dive 
>with the snorkel say under your knife strap on your leg and to just clip 
>your mask to your BC when on the surface?

>Lesley

>P.S. Are there such things as contact lenses that are calibrated for the 
>refractive index of water?  

>'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
>Lesley Saitowitz
>University of the Witwatersrand
>Electrical engineering
>saitowit@underdog.ee.wits.ac.za

I don't know how you dive, but without a mask strap I'd loose my mask too
quickly under water... Once you are submerged where your snorkel is is of
no coincidence. The reason for a snorkel is to make breathing easier on the
surface, as lifting your head above water can be a major strain if done
for more than 5 minutes or so. On the surface you can do with your mask
what you want, as long as you don't drown. And if you feel like it you
may certainly dive without a mask, except that you won't see much, and even
if you have corrected contact lenses, I'd think they would dissapear quite
soon.

The moral is: get used to your mask, its strap and the snorkel. They are
there to help you and make diving more enjoyable. 
Cheers
Guido
--
                           __________.            
Guido Zsilavecz        _  /       /   \       Department of Computer Science 
Laboratory for        / \/             \/\___        University of Cape Town 
Advanced Computing   /   \   ..,|||.,  /     \      guido@uctcs.cs.uct.ac.za  
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
From: peterson@hpl.hp.com (Chris Peterson)
Subject: Re: ?diuretics and diving
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 19:36:09 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, California

The urge to urinate during a dive in cold water is an interesting 
phenomonon.  I rarely feel the need to urinate when using my dry
suit (thank God!), but it is certainly there when I use a wet suit.
I did some asking around and came up withformulated this *unofficial*
explanation (I am not a physician or a physiologist).

It seems that when a diver gets chilled, the body shunts the warm
blood circulation away from the arms and legs (and eventually the
head) to conserve heat in the critical organs located in the torso.
This process increases the blood volume and blood pressure in the
torso making the body think that there is too much liquid in the
circulation.  In response, the kidneys start pumping water *out*
of the circulation, producing more urine... thus, the increased
urge to urinate.

Since the diver (me) doesn't get as chilled in a dry suit, this
process is much milder, thus much less of an urge to urinate.

:-) Remember that even a "relief zipper" in a dry suit is useless
underwater.  Whatever you do inside your dry suit, you have to live 
with (until your buddy unzips you... poor buddy!) :-)

With the dry suit, I've also found far less need for a nap after
diving all morning.  A strong urge to nap is especially inconvenient
while driving home on the freeway!

Even when I feel "comfortable" in my wet suit, my body is burning
calories to make up for the heat lost to the cold water.
-- 
Chris Peterson                                     Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
                                                    Research Computing Services
                                                              Palo Alto, CA USA 
                                                            peterson@hpl.hp.com
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
From: peterson@hpl.hp.com (Chris Peterson)
Subject: Re: more BC questions...
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 18:41:11 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, California

In article <keulen.715499140@possum> keulen@possum.csu.murdoch.edu.au (Mike van Keulen) writes:
>leonglaw@hpsgm2.sgp.hp.com (Lawrence LEONG) writes:
>
>>IMHO this is only an issue on the surface.  About the only type of BC that
>>will reliabily float you face up is the horsecollar BC (ABLJ to our English
>>friends).  For this reason (among others) BCs are not certified as life
>>jackets.  Under water, as Chris points out, this face-down feature is less of 
>>an issue.
>
>Does this mean that horsecollars (yes - I'm a happy user of a horsecollar)
>_are_ eligible as life jackets?  I guess this differs from country to country.
>
	Mike brings up an interesting point for dive-boats in the USA:

	According to a recent article in _SOURCES_, no BCs (horse collar
	or jacket types) are approved by the US Coast Guard as life
	preservers.  Therefore all dive boats must carry USCG-approved
	life preservers for each diver, passenger, and crew member --
	*in addition to* all those BCs worn by the divers.

	Since life preserver and boat registration violations seem to
	be the most common citations issued by the USCG, this is an
	issue every diving, boat owner is likely to face.

	How do you boat owners *really* handle it?
-- 
Chris Peterson                                     Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
                                                    Research Computing Services
                                                              Palo Alto, CA USA 
                                                            peterson@hpl.hp.com
From: moliver@pyramid.com (Mike Oliver)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Re: mask strap
Date: 3 Sep 92 19:27:29 GMT
Organization: Pyramid Technology

In article <saitowit.15@underdog.ee.wits.ac.za> saitowit@underdog.ee.wits.ac.za (SAITOWITZ L S) writes:
>                                                       Is it unsafe to dive 
>with the snorkel say under your knife strap on your leg [...]

Personally I'd have trouble even breathing through a snorkel down there
(let alone finning at the same time) but if you're comfortable with it
then by all means do it that way.  I don't suppose you have any
photographs of this technique ?

>Are there any safety reasons for diving with a mask strap?

As opposed to, say, holding the mask on with one hand or by sucking
through the nose for the duration of the dive ?  You aren't by any
chance taking lessons from a mask manufacturer, are you ?  I'm
obviously missing the point of the question here.

If you're looking for safety reasons for diving with a mask at all
(that seems to be the thrust of the contact lens question below) then
discounting the obvious safety aspects of being able to see during the
dive I'd offer protection against grit as a big reason.  Diving at
sites like Monastery Beach (Carmel, CA, USA) results in pieces of
coarse sand being squeezed into places you wouldn't believe possible.
I don't relish the thought of fishing 1/4" chunks of granite out of
someone's eye socket with a dive knife.  I relish the thought of being
the fishee even less.

An additional factor might be the protection that a mask offers against
the inhalation of water through the nose.  While that's not normally a
problem (I imagine that everyone here has at some point used a
regulator without a mask, at least in pool exercises) it could
certainly occur in a panic or high-stress incident.  A lungful of salt
water at that point probably isn't going to help stabilise the
situation.  A noseclip (not plugs, obviously) would be a useful
accessory in this case.

>P.S. Are there such things as contact lenses that are calibrated for the 
>refractive index of water?  

Not that I'm aware of.  This would be a pretty fierce correction.

Cheers, Mike.

moliver@pyramid.com
{allegra,decwrl,hplabs,munnari,sun,utai,uunet}!pyramid!moliver
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
From: peterson@hpl.hp.com (Chris Peterson)
Subject: Re: gear carried on a dive
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 21:02:23 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, California

Lani's previous note reminded me of a handy trick with a snorkel keeper and
an octopus: one of the very stretchy, silicon snorkel keepers makes an
excellent octopus keeper. 

Slip the right-hand side of your BC chest strap through one end of
the snorkel keeper, and stretch the other end of the snorkel keeper around
the octopus mouth piece.  To avoid snagging during release, avoid slipping
the snorkel keeper over the tie-wrap that secures the mouthpiece to the octopus.

This will hold the octopus in front of you, within easy reach of you or your
buddy.

The more expensive, very stretchy, silicon snorkel keepers last longer, are
easier to use, and if snagged, will stretch enough to reach your mouth.

-- 
Chris Peterson                                     Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
                                                    Research Computing Services
                                                              Palo Alto, CA USA 
                                                            peterson@hpl.hp.com
From: schutz@rand.ORG (Karl Schutz)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Re: Information about advanced deep diving course wanted
Date: 3 Sep 92 18:48:20 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California

In article <Bu0K1B.9rF@apollo.hp.com>, daigle@APOLLO.HP.COM (Joe Daigle) writes:
> 
> [stuff deleted]  I just wish that PADI put the amount of effort into
> its specialty courses, although I hear that cave and cavern are quite
> good.                                       
> 

Woooooooh, PADI does not sanction cave diving, and therefore, offers no cave 
diving specialty.  There is a cavern specialty which does not include the rigors
and requirements for entering caves (which includes significant penetration
consideration, confined environment, etc.).

From following the tone of this, it sounds like you have found some PADI
instructor(s) who are only offering the minimum instruction defined by PADI
standards and procedures (which varies with specialty).  Seek out other
instructors, even if it means non-PADI instructors (ouch! ... that hurt :-) ). 
The PADI instructors I work with give a minimum of one classroom lecture, with
supporting literature (books, articles, etc.) for reference and home study.  More
lectures if dictated by standards or student interest in the subject.

The quality of a specialty course is not determined by whether it's a PADI, NAUI,
YMCA, SSI, CMAS, etc. course, it's determined by the instructor.  Find the 
guy/gal who loves diving, loves to teach, likes people, pursues their own 
continuing education ... and, stay away from those who are meerly trying to make 
a few bucks off diving.  

-- 
Karl F. Schutz
PADI DM-50321
From: dmk@noho.Eng.Sun.COM (David Kahn)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Mtn View area dive shop?
Date: 26 Aug 1992 11:13:15 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA
Distribution: ba
NNTP-Posting-Host: noho
Keywords: Bay Area Dive Shop Equipment

 >>>>> Note: "ba" distribution <<<<<<

I need a recomendation for a Dive shop in the Mountain View area.
(or anywhere reasonably near Mountain View.)

I need some simple equipment (strap for fins, booties, new mask, etc.) for
a trip to Kauai at the end of Sept.

Also, I have a rather old BC -- are these serviceable?  Can a dive
shop check them out?  I think the gas cannister is stuck in the
threads -- can it be removed?

Thanks in advance,
-David Kahn (dmk@Eng.Sun.Com)

Newsgroups: rec.scuba
From: CSMSETS@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (CSMSETS)
Subject: Re: ?diuretics and diving
Date: 28 Aug 92 15:54:41 PDT

In article <1992Aug28.193609.2345@hplabsz.hpl.hp.com>, on 28 Aug 1992 19:36:09 GMT,
peterson@hpl.hp.com (Chris Peterson) writes:

>
>The urge to urinate during a dive in cold water is an interesting
>phenomonon.  I rarely feel the need to urinate when using my dry
>suit (thank God!), but it is certainly there when I use a wet suit.
>I did some asking around and came up withformulated this *unofficial*
>explanation (I am not a physician or a physiologist).
>
>It seems that when a diver gets chilled, the body shunts the warm
>blood circulation away from the arms and legs (and eventually the
>head) to conserve heat in the critical organs located in the torso.
>This process increases the blood volume and blood pressure in the
>torso making the body think that there is too much liquid in the
>circulation.  In response, the kidneys start pumping water *out*
>of the circulation, producing more urine... thus, the increased
>urge to urinate.

I think another reason is involitary muscle contractions. Your
body regulates your body temp with muscle activity (this is why
we shiver when we are cold). When your muscles start contracting
they tend to contract in your torso putting pressure on your
blatter. Women are more susceptible to this "need to pee" because
their bodies tend to defend against a cold torso (because of
reproductive organs) more than men do (I used to have a girlfriend
that would always have to go to the bathroom halfway up the ski lift
on the first run of the day).

This would also explain the desire to take a nap after a bunch of
cold water dives (after physical exertion your body needs the rest -
I know when I lift weights and really go for it I feel the same
need for a nap).

>
>Since the diver (me) doesn't get as chilled in a dry suit, this
>process is much milder, thus much less of an urge to urinate.
>
>:-) Remember that even a "relief zipper" in a dry suit is useless
>underwater.  Whatever you do inside your dry suit, you have to live
>with (until your buddy unzips you... poor buddy!) :-)
>
>With the dry suit, I've also found far less need for a nap after
>diving all morning.  A strong urge to nap is especially inconvenient
>while driving home on the freeway!
>
>Even when I feel "comfortable" in my wet suit, my body is burning
>calories to make up for the heat lost to the cold water.
>--
>Chris Peterson                                     Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
>                                                    Research Computing Services
>                                                              Palo Alto, CA USA
>                                                            peterson@hpl.hp.com
>
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Newsgroups: rec.scuba

Pls ignore. This is a test

Newsgroups: rec.scuba
From: adb@herboid.uucp (Anthony DeBoer)
Subject: Re: Article in Current _SCUBA Times_
Organization: Linda's Dragon Memorial Society
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 23:06:22 GMT

A. Lani Teshima <teshima@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu> writes:
>... what do you do about irresponsible instructors who
>allow their newly certified divers to do things way beyond their
>capacity? My friend's boyfriend just got certified 2 weeks ago (4-day
>cert course), and the instructor was immediately inviting him to dive
>the _Mahi_, a 95' shipwreck dive on Oahu. After that, it was going to
>be a night dive one night, a thing another dive, so on and so on. I
>mean, come on! One of the students in the class was not doing anything
>correctly, but the instructor passed her ("If she doesn't get
>certified from me, she'll get certified from someone else."--sheesh!
>Sounds like a lawyer [okay, it's a stereotype--no flames from
>attorneys, please!]). Now the boyfriend has all these horrible habits
>and thinks he's Mister Supergills, even though he has no inkling of
>dive physiology, etc. I mean, what can you do?

Most certification agencies have some kind of recourse for complaints
about instructors; these things get investigated and instructors can lose
their cards.  In NAUI we have an Ethics committee, and I understand PADI
calls it Quality Assurance.  Find out which agency the instructor is with,
then check the list of agency phone numbers, which I believe is in the
FAQ.  A phone call or better yet a letter would be well-placed.

BTW, a night dive early on with instructor supervision is not a bad thing,
but 95' immediately after certification is pushing it.  That quote you
attributed to the instructor should also be grounds for some action,
although unfortunately what he said is the truth in too many places.  Even
if somebody can get their card elsewhere (I'm personally aware of one
individual who, upon being told at the beginning of a basic course he
needed to lose 50 pounds, get in shape, quit smoking, and resolve some
attitude problems before being considered as a student, responded by
pulling out his wallet and asking "How much?".  He was told to take a hike,
but got his card elsewhere.), I still wouldn't want my signature on the
card of somebody who didn't make the grade.
-- 
Anthony DeBoer   NAUI # Z8800, D5482 | Why watch TV, when Netnews provides
adb@herboid.uucp | adb@geac.com      | 100% of your daily requirement for
uunet!geac!herboid!adb               | trivia and meaningless entertainment?
From: millerj@belize.crd.ge.com
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Guanaja (Posada del Sol or Bay Island Club (?))
Date: 3 Sep 92 17:37:09 GMT
Reply-To: millerj@belize.crd.ge.com ()
Distribution: na
Organization: GE Corporate Research & Development


	Any new info on these places?  I have some stuff from the archives
that is about 2 years old.  For some reason I don't seem to be able to
mail to bywater!scifi!scubasearch@uunet.uu.net to do a search.  Is there
another way.  (I can't ftp either.)
	Thanks.


Julia
From: daigle@APOLLO.HP.COM (Joe Daigle)
Subject: Re: Information about advanced deep diving course wanted
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 19:11:04 GMT
Distribution: usa
Reply-To: daigle@apollo.hp.com
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Chelmsford, MA

In article <1992Sep2.143537.10082@mailer.cc.fsu.edu>, mayne@pipe.cs.fsu.edu (William Mayne) writes:
> 
|> PADI's "deep diver" specialty sticks with the air-only, 130 foot, no
|> decompression restrictions and hence is not worthy of the name, IMO.
|> 


I have a question about this that has been bothering me for quite some time if anyone would
care to comment on it.

I am a recreational diver with approx. 2 years of diving, and am PADI Advanced certified.  Since
I tend to like being around Wrecks, I tend to be in deep water quite often.  No penetration,
I just like to be in the vicinity of the wreck.  

Since I tend to be in deep water often, I would like to be trained a little better
on what to do in an emergency.  I have talked with many instructors about taking the deep
diver specialty, and most have said that what they do is take me down to depth (<130 feet,
which is fine by me).   I hate to say it, but big deal.  Unless the instructor is willing to
go down with me on all my dives I ever do, so what?  Now, I understand that it is
very helpful to have someone there to "catch me if I fall down", this does not necessarily
mean that I am now able to intelligently dive deep.

What I want to know is why PADI does not teach you what to do if you blow your NDL.  What
would be wrong with them teaching some light decompression diving?  If I stay down too long
(OK, I know, never let that happen), then I am SOL when it comes to knowing what the hell 
to do now.  Saying that I shouldn't have blown my NDL is simply not acceptable at that point.



Joe




Joseph W. Daigle
                          
DSEE Project Team
Open Systems Software Division   Hewlett Packard Company
MS CHR-03-DC                     508/436-4227
300 Apollo Drive                 EMail: daigle@apollo.hp.com
Chelmsford, MA 01824             HP TN: 436-4227


"We are only immortal for a limited time"   --   Rush
From: peterson@hpl.hp.com (Chris Peterson)
Subject: Re: BOUYANCY CONTROL WITH DRY SUITS
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 21:57:35 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, California

The safety issue in moving some weight from the belt to the BC is leaving
enough weight on the belt to provide sufficient buoyancy to reach the 
surface if the belt is ditched in an emergency.  This becomes more critical
with increasing depth since buoyancy changes per fsw are smaller as one
descends in the water column.

Once the weighting system is safe (quick, positive release, etc.), distributing
the weight around the belt, on the BC, or on the ankles can greatly improve
diver efficiency and comfort.
-- 
Chris Peterson                                     Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
                                                    Research Computing Services
                                                              Palo Alto, CA USA 
                                                            peterson@hpl.hp.com