Scuba Diving Equipment – an overview

Scuba Diving Equipment – an overview

Scuba diving equipment is designed to overcome the limits of human physiology in the submarine world and although the number of items may seem daunting to the beginner, everything has a clear purpose. Below we look at the main items of scuba diving equipment used in recreational diving.

Mask
Divers wear a face mask for the simple fact that it allows them to see underwater. The human eye is not designed to see in water, which has a different optical density to air. By simply having an air space between eyes and water the mask allows the diver to see, although the optical density means that all objects appear larger or closer when underwater. Traditionally masks were constructed from neoprene, which tended to age relatively quickly. Today's scuba masks generally consist of a lightweight plastic frame, glass lenses and a silicone rubber skirt that seals against the face. Modern masks also allow a smaller volume of air between the water and the face, which is an advantage because it means it is easier to equalize the pressure in the mask and simpler to clear of water.

Wet suit
While a wet suit is the most common type of suit worn in recreational diving, it is not the only type. Primarily to prevent the diver from losing body heat to the water, which conducts heat from the body at a much faster rate than air, a wet suit consists of a layer of low density neoprene which acts as an insulator and traps a thin layer of water between the neoprene and the diver's skin, also helping to minimize heat loss. The secondary function of a wet suit is to protect the diver from abrasions and other injuries, including stings and venoms.

When the water is too cold for a wet suit to be used divers can wear a dry suit, which as the name implies keeps the diver dry by sealing at the neck and wrists, while in warmer water divers can wear a lycra body suit which provides no thermal protection, but prevents against scrapes and stings as well as sunburn.

Fins
In the same way that fish glide through the water by moving their fins, scuba divers are able to propel themselves through the water by kicking their fins. Usually made of neoprene for the foot and rigid plastic for the blade, there are two main types; full foot and adjustable. With the former the diver simply places the boot of the fin over the bare foot, while adjustable fins have an adjustable heel strap and are usually worn over wet suit boots.

Scuba tanks
The scuba tank – also commonly known as a cylinder or a bottle – contains the divers breathing gas at high pressure. Usually the breathing gas is air, although in some circumstances other mixtures are also used.

The standard configuration in recreational scuba diving today attaches the tank to the BCD (buoyancy control device), often known simply as a jacket. The tank is attached to the rigid backplate with an adjustable strap and the BCD is then worn like a waistcoat and fastened at the front with a cummerbund.

As well as providing harnessing the scuba tank, the BCD is designed to allow the diver to adjust buoyancy in the water by either adding or reducing the amount of air held inside. Many modern BCDs also have pockets to hold lead weights, traditionally worn on a belt around the waist.

Regulators
The first stage regulator is attached to the top of the tank and reduces the pressure from the tank to supply the second stage as well as providing the air for BCD inflation. The latter supplies the diver with air at ambient pressure and is located in the mouthpiece on most modern equipment.

Scuba diving computers
Until relatively recently divers used tables to plan their dives, designed to reduce the possibility of decompression sickness. A depth gauge a dive watch were essential items to ensure the dive was within the limits of the table.

While divers are still taught dive table theory, most recreational divers quickly move on to buying a dive computer, which effectively calculates a custom table for each dive. More sophisticated models also connect to the air supply, so that they act as timer, depth gauge and air pressure monitor all in one.

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How to choose scuba diving equipment – selecting a scuba mask

When selecting a scuba mask it is essential that it fits your face well to ensure that it is both comfortable and leak free. Without a good seal against the face you may spend much of your time clearing the mask of water, while an uncomfortable mask detracts from your diving experience – both lead to enjoying your dives less but because they distract you from your environment they are also potentially unsafe.

Finding a mask that fits your face well is a simple matter and can be tested with the following three-step procedure:

1. Place the mask on your face but with the strap placed out of the way.
2. Inhale slightly through the nose so that the slight vacuum holds the mask on your face.
3. Test the fit by gently moving your head and it should remain in place if you gently try and pull it away from your face.

At the end of this test you will have determined whether a scuba mask fits your face well or not, so now it is time to examine other features.

Style

Most masks on the market today have low internal volume, which means that the mask is more comfortable to use since the diver won't experience much mask squeeze during the dive. This style of mask is now usual and features a pocket for the nose that protrudes forward of the lenses and as well as low volume the large lenses allow for a wider field of view, but models to look for include Cressi Big-Eyes, although it is not suitable for all face shapes.

Colour

This is purely a matter of personal preference and you may not have any preference at all. The traditional colour for masks, and all dive equipment in fact, was black due to the use of neoprene. These days silicone is used instead for masks, which is more flexible and less susceptible to sun damage. Silicone can be supplied transparent or in a multitude of shades due to the use of colouring agents, but many people still choose black. However, some people claim masks made with transparent silicone give better visibility due to the greater amount of light allowed to enter.

Skirt

High quality scuba masks feature a silicone skirt that thins towards the edge, allowing for a better and more comfortable fit against the skin of the face. Often you'll see a second skirt inside the upper edge of the skirt that allows a better seal. Its absence at the bottom is to allow water to drain more easily from inside the mask.

Strap

There are many occasions when you'll need to adjust your mask strap and so ensure that you find the mask easy to adjust. If you wear gloves when diving then make sure you can adjust it quickly and easily with gloves on. And while on the subject of mask straps, remember to always carry a spare – it is one of the more common equipment failures and the lack of a spare may mean you have to remain on the boat when everyone else is enjoying the submarine world.

Those are the most important factors to consider both when buying a new scuba mask or using rental equipment from a dive centre. By ensuring a good fit you ensure your own comfort and safety while a combination of the other factors will mean you get many happy years of service from your scuba mask.

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eBay’s Most Watched Scuba Gear

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Subsidizing our Scuba Trips - Part II

Here is how we are making money on eBay

When you hear "eBay" and "money" in the same sentence your probably think of becoming an eBay seller.

You place product listings in the eBay marketplace, buyers bid, you pay your eBay seller fees and what you have left is your profit margin.

There is, however, another way to build a business which still revolves around eBay but which doesn’t involve you selling a single thing in the eBay marketplace.

This alternate opportunity is based on the eBay affiliate program.  It is a great tool which makes entry into this opportunity not only possible but also super easy. This tool is called "Build A Niche Store".

Now if you don’t know – an affiliate program enables you as an individual internet entrepreneur to promote the products of a company in exchange for a commission on all sales that you refer.

You are basically operating as an internet middleman and connecting internet browsers to particular products and companies through your own network of websites and marketing methods.

If we return to the eBay affiliate program, eBay actually invites you to promote all of the product listings in the eBay marketplace and, in exchange for your efforts,  we will pay you up to 75% of the revenue they make from each sale you refer.  In addition, you will receive up to $35 for each new active eBay member you refer.

You can read about the eBay.com affiliate program here

What this means is that you can earn up to three quarters of eBay’s revenue simply for connecting people to the products listed in the eBay marketplace.

Not only do you get to partner with the best branded marketplace in the world, you also get access to and control over ALL of the products listed in this marketplace. The eBay product inventory becomes YOUR product inventory and yet you do NOT have to stock items, deal with customers, organize shipping or process refunds.

You are no longer limited to selling only those products which you can buy and sell for a profit margin. You can choose ANY niche market and promote those eBay products relevant to your chosen niche outside of the eBay marketplace, funneling targeted traffic through to eBay and into your own affiliate commissions.

Baby clothers, SCUBA gear, golf equipment, automobiles, sports memorabilia.....

If you know eBay you know how BIG it is – there are NO limits.

At this point you might be thinking - well this sounds interesting but in reality is there any money in it? Well, here’s the shocker – eBay's top affiliates make over 1 million dollars a month. That’s right – 8 figures a year without stocking, selling or shipping a single thing!

Now eBay does provide some basic free tools to help you succeed as an eBay affiliate and build an affiliate business BUT it has been the development of a tool outside of eBay that has really opened this up as a legitimate business opportunity.

The tool, as we mentioned earlier, is called "Build A Niche Store" and what it enables you to do is build eBay affiliate websites targeted to any eBay niche you want. These act as the medium through which you funnel targeted visitors to eBay.

Here are several live store that  we built targeting Several Different niches.   Not all of our stores are listed.

• Fin For Yourself.com - Scuba & Camera
• Sports Memorabilia - Sports Store
• This Way Baby - United States Baby Store
• This Way Baby - United Kingdom Baby Store
• Bogey Beater - United States Golf Store
• Bogey Beater - United Kingdom Golf Store

As you can see, these are professional looking websites that contain all of those eBay products related to their target niche inside a searchable store format, each of which automatically contains our eBay affiliate/Partner id.

These stores then automatically update as new products are listed for sale and old listing expire from the eBay marketplace.  The software has built in development features which enable you to create new store pages, add content to these pages, create content pages, modify your template etc etc.

Basically, in the space of about 10 minutes (once you are familiar with how the software works) you can create a fully functional eBay affiliate website targeted to the niche market of your choice.

Your store content is all search engine friendly.  This will provide the foundation for attracting targeted traffic from the search engines.  You can then use the development features to attract more targeted visitors which will in turn mean more eBay affiliate commissions.

It really is a brilliant concept.  We've been hearing great things about the team behind the project and the member forum which you get lifetime access to when you purchase the product.

Build A Niche Store comes with a step by step user manual which will walk even the most technically inexperienced through setting up their eBay affiliate website.  The software has nine professional template layouts which can be customized (from inside your admin panel) to match your target niche, lifetime member forum access, comprehensive product support and possibly most importantly – an UNLIMITED domain license which means you can build as many of these niche websites as you want for the small one time fee.

Think about how many niches eBay caters to!

How big could your eBay affiliate business be?

This product gets our full recommendation –  we recommend you check it out today…
Click Here To Read More About Build A Niche Store

We just want to provide you more details behind our eBay affiliate niche stores.   We personally created several templates which are based on one or more of the many templates that the Build A Niche Store software provides.

We advertise some of our niche stores with Yahoo's Publisher Network, Google Adwords, and Microsofts Ad Center.   Most of our BANS stores are hosted  with HostGator.

All of our hosting domains have been purchased through www.GoDaddy.com. I also purchased a hosting package where we host a few niche stores.

What is a domain name? A domain name is a Web address, such as godaddy.com, that is linked to an IP address (which represents a physical point on the Internet). When someone types a domain name into a Web browser, the requested Web page displays.A domain name consists of a top-level and a second-level domain. A top-level domain (TLD) is the part of the domain name located to the right of the dot (godaddy.com). The most common top-level domains are .COM, .NET, and .ORG. Some other popular top-level domains are .BIZ, .INFO, .NAME and .WS. These TLDs have certain guidelines but are, for the most part, available to any registrant, anywhere in the world. The part of the domain name located to the left of the dot — "godaddy," in this case — is called the second-level domain (SLD) name. The second-level domain name is the "readable" part of the address and refers to the organization or entity behind the Internet address. Second-level domain names must be registered with an Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)-accredited registrar.

Copyright © 1999 - 2007 GoDaddy.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

Our next article will include information regarding publisher networks, and placing ads within our niche stores.

Thanks!

Mike and Shannon

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Subsidizing our Scuba Trips - Part I

One of our most recent endeavors was looking into ways to make extra money to subsidize our SCUBA trips.  There are so many places we have yet to visit!  Unfortunately, SCUBA can be an expensive endeavor.  We decided to research ways we could use the world wide web to assist us.  The journey started in February, 2008.  After much searching we stumbled across a software package for an Amazon affiliate store called Associate-O-Matic.     The cool thing about Amazon is they have an affiliate program where anyone can earn up to 10% for every sale generated through their web site using this Associate-O-Matic Software.  Associate-O-Matic offers a free version of this software which is not as flexible as the full version.   We opted to invest in the full version.   The cost is not bad.   It is $99 for the first year and $20 per year thereafter.   Essentially this is pretty much a lease.   This full version does include unlimited email support and forum access.  If you start a business, all related expenses are tax deductible.  Also of note,  Associate-O-Matic allows you to create unlimited stores without additional purchases.

Getting started was amazingly easy.  This was the path we followed to creating our first successful store.

1. We registered with the Amazon affiliate program here.
2. We then purchased our first domain called finforyourself.com from GoDaddy since they were inexpensive.
3. We purchased a hosting package from GoDaddy.
4. We uploaded the  Associate-O-Matic software to  GoDaddy and configured our first Amazon Affiliate store called Fin For Your Self.

We really like our store.  We posted the store link in the  Associate-O-Matic forum and asked the members to critique it.  Several members provided great feedback.  We received very helpful information on how to improve the aesthetics of our site to potentially attract more customers.

The beauty of it is that we do not have to worry about many of the things a typical store would.  As with most retail stores you are required to have inventory, order processing and fulfillment systems.  With this software, and being an affiliate of Amazon, you don’t require any of this.

No programming experience is required to use the Associate-O-Matic software.   The installation procedures are easy to follow and can be found on their web site.

We have gone on to create several other Amazon Affiliate stores with this software.   These stores are:

• Fin For Your Self - US Scuba Store
  
• Your Sports Support - United States Sports Store
• Your Sports Support - United Kingdom Sports Store
• Christian Books - Christian Book Store
• This Way Baby - United States Baby Store
• This Way Baby - United Kingdom Baby Store

Even now, we continue to brainstorm for new store ideas.  Future articles will discuss another affiliate program which offers services similar to Amazon.    Until then, thanks for the read, and safe diving.

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