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Adventure Sports

June 24, 2008 By

Since we are affiliated with Adventure Sports of Kansas City, I would like to share some information about our local dive shop.

Adventure Sports is a full service dive shop servicing the Kansas City Metro Area.   The shop services anyone who wishes to pay a visit, schedule a class, or even participate in SCUBA travel.   They opened in 1987 and have been offering scuba training, travel, repair service, air fill station, rentals and equipment sales ever since.  They offer certifications in PADI, SSI, and NAUI.

Both Shannon and I are from the land locked Midwest.  To get our diving fix we often make short trips to the Adventure Sports lake house on Beaver Lake in Rogers, Arkansas.    Beaver Lake is actually in a dry county so the boating traffic is generally at a minimum. This enables divers to experience relatively clear water, and safe diving conditions.  The lake house can sleep about twenty-five people (maybe more).   They advertise that they can sleep twelve comfortably, but if you willing to pack the sleeping bag you can bring 24 more of your favorite friends. :)      The dive weekends include lodging, and diving comfortably from a 40' barge style dive boat with plenty of room for divers and all their gear.    If you wish to find out more information about Beaver Lake, wikipedia.org has some great information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_Lake_(Arkansas).

For more information about Adventure Sports, please visit http://www.adventuresportskc.com.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: , , , , ,

Scuba Cat – Outfitted in a Scuba Setup

June 23, 2008 By

Here is an interesting video of a cat outfitted in scuba gear.   Quite interesting.

-MJ

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With:

Back in the Swing of Things

June 23, 2008 By

It has been a while since Shannon and I have been in the swing of things.    I will not blame it on the over inflated gas prices....I wish I could.    To be honest, we have just been so busy as we purchased a new home.

Next weekend will be the first weekend in a while that we will be assisting future divers in the pool.  We are excited about it and can't wait to get suited up and in the pool to start assisting the instructor with his students.   What is even better, we will be heading down the Beaver Lake with Adventure Sports to assist divers in the open water in August.   Not only is this fun for us, it will get us prepped for our upcoming trip to Curacao in the fall.   We do plan on assisting in more pool classes this year.   We will keep you posted.
-MJ

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Why Learn to SCUBA Dive?

June 22, 2008 By

by Javier Melendez

Have you ever considered taking up SCUBA diving? Perhaps you are thinking about it right now? Or maybe the thought of taking up such a dangerous activity has never crossed your mind? Why would you seriously want to try diving or much more actually learn how to do it? Who can do it? What qualifications do you need? Where can you do it? And what can you actually get out of such an activity?

These are all valid questions. So here's where I try to answer them!

Why Learn How to Dive?

SCUBA diving offers a multitude od benefits to its participants. You can dive all over the world, in all types of climate and in all temperatures of water: although extremely cold water diving is probably best left to commercial divers, researchers and lunatics! As a result you can dive in some very exotic places, which tend to provide the most stunning underwater scenery that you could possibly hope to imagine.

As with any physical sport (and SCUBA diving in my opinion is a sport, albeit not a competitive one), diving helps to keep you fit and healthy, although of course you do need to be in a relatively good state of health and relatively fit in order SCUBA dive.

SCUBA diving will bring you into contact with people from all walks of life from all over the world. Dive training teaches you that you should never dive on your own as you never know when you might need a helping hand. Diving then is a recreational "team" sport, and so is a great way to meet people and get to know them really well in a relatively short period of time.

You do not have to be a strong swimmer to become a SCUBA diver, however you should be able to swim to some degree. If you cannot swim you should definitely consider learning how to do so if you want to become a recreational diver.

Recreational SCUBA is also accessible to most people: most recreational "open-water" dive training courses are open to people from the age of 15 through to seniors (assuming they are fit and healthy). Diving is also open to all sexes, offering no performance advantages to either its male or female participants. Also as diving is not a competitive sport, there is nothing to win or lose making it a much more enjoyable shared experience for everyone.

What Qualifications Do You Need to Dive?

There are several bodies that offer varying degrees of certification. The main recreational diving bodies are PADI, NAUI, CMAS and BSAC. The most widely recognized diving qualifications are awarded by the PADI organization (PADI stands for the Professional Association of Diving Instructors). Most dive comapnies the world over will accept PADI accreditation as proof of your ability to dive and most of them will also be able to put you into contact with a PADI approved training center if you want to learn how to dive or you wish to upgrade your existing qualification and/or level of ability. Most intensive learner diver qualifications can see you ready to dive within a couple of weeks whereas a part-time course might take a couple of months.
The cost of diving courses can vary enormously depending upon the part of the world in which you are learning to dive. One thing is for sure though: cheapest is not necessarily the best. Make sure that you learn with a reputable, approved organization and that you are confident that they can deliver the kind of training, safety precautions and equipment that you require. As a standard kit requirement, you will need a mask, snorkel, weights and a weight belt, bouyancy control device dive tables and of course your sub-aqua breathing apparatus. Your training center may include this as a part of the cost of your course or they may change an additional rental: always make sure you know exactly what you are paying for when you sign up to your course.

I think the best reason for learning to dive is that it can open up an amazing world full of color and wonder, where you will encounter nature at its breathtaking best. SCUBA diving for many is an almost spiritual experience providing a relaxing break from the over-water world. If you have never considered SCUBA diving, now might be a good time to think about it. If you have considered it before... what are you waiting for?

Javier Melendez writes for many websites including Try-Diving. His recent articles concentrate upon PADI schools.

Article Source: http://www.articlegarden.com

Filed Under: Articles, Scuba Tagged With:

DrySuits for Scuba Diving

June 22, 2008 By

by Abir Roychowdhuri

Exploring the world under the sea is always fascinating. But to move freely underwater is not so easy as to move on the land. To be alive under water one has to carry a tank full of oxygen as breathing is not possible under water for human being. Beside that the tremendous pressure and different temperature of the water in deeper are much more different from the land.

For Scuba (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving the divers, boaters, sailors, swimmers, Water Adventurers, surface-water sports persons often use these things besides the full tank of oxygen:

1.    MASK
2.    FINS
3.    SNORKLE
4.    DRY SUIT and so many things.

Maintaining body temperature is one of the biggest problems for the divers. Dry suit is a kind of apparel, which gives the wearer protection from the water to his skin. Dry suits are used to prevent the water entering. Drysuits are used where the temperature of the water is between –20c to 150c.

There are three types of dry suits:

1.    Membrane dry suits
2.    Neoprene dry suits
3.    Hybrid dry suits

1. Membrane drysuits - are mainly built of thin materials of vulcanized rubber or a compound of nylon and butyl rubber. These types of dry suits do not give any real thermal protection in colder water. And these dry suits do not stretch, and needed to be oversized to the joints to give the wearer flexibility at the time of movements. Sailors and boaters who are likely to be out of water prefer these membrane dry suits. Membrane dry suits are easy to wear and put off. Membrane drysuits are mostly used in the spring.

2. Neoprene drysuits - offer the thermal protection in the colder water, keep the buoyancy. Neoprene is thermal insulating material, made of heavy-duty fabric and that fabric is coated with rubber or Polyvinyl chloride better known as venyl. The neoprene dry suits are considered better in comparison to membrane dry suits. Neoprene has some better properties, which make this more useful, chemical-resistant, more stretchable buoyant and waterproof. Neoprene drysuits give greater thermal protection even if there is a leak. Neoprene drysuits are mostly used for water surface sports and in the cold water.

3. Hybrid drysuits - are made by the combination of the membrane material and neoprene material. In hybrid dry suits, the upper part of the suits is made of membrane material and the lower part starting from the waist is made of Neoprene materials. So that the tight fitting lower part of the dry suits gives the comfort to the wearers to kick the water to move a distance when they are swimming. And the loose upper part of the dry suits lets the wearer to free movement of their arms. Hybrid drysuits are mostly used for water surface sports and in the cold water and where the divers are going deeper.

Modern drysuits are having a waterproof zippers & hydro gloves. The zippers are mostly located across the shoulder lines or in the front of the torso, to wear the dry suits easily. Drysuits may have the hydrogloves, permanently attached to the drysuits or with attachment rings. Modern drysuits have the air inflation valve, which empowers the diver to control the buoyancy of the suit by injecting air from the diving regulator to get rid of squeeze under deep water. A drysuit is worn over an insulating undersuit.

A modern drysuit has an air ventilation valve, which allows the diver to release the higher-pressure air from the suit when they are coming out of the water. Ventilator valves may be automatic or manual. It is used as the pressure relief valves. Most of the automatic ventilators are located at the shoulder of the dry suits and the manual ventilators are located at the wrist.

A modern version of the two-piece drysuit is manufactured at Customworks at Idaho. These two-piece drysuits give all sorts of comfort to the divers, boaters, swimmers, sailors, cave divers and the water adventurers. They are making the drysuits considering the needs of its users.

About The Author:

Abir Roychowdhury is a professional Internet Marketer & Sr. Executive SEO of KarmickSolutions.com. WWW.Hydroglove.com is the online resource for Scuba Gears, Diving Equipments and provides an expanding line of Rubber Molded DrySuits, Dive Kits, HydroSuits, HydroGloves, wetsuits, snorkles, masks fins, all are made for collectors, surfers, swimmers and vintage divers.

Article Source: http://www.articlegarden.com

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