Dive Ft. Lauderedale this Winter with Submerged, Inc.

Posted on October 12, 2012 by TK

Considering the “frost advisory” for tonight (brrr!), I think it’s safe to say that summer is officially over and winter is on its way. But that doesn’t mean the only options are hanging up our fins or huddling around a fire just trying to stay warm between dives at the local quarry! Why not just board a plane and head down to Ft. Lauderdale with us?! We’re headed down to sunny Florida for some diving over the holiday weekends in January and February. We’ve put together a base package of just $425 for the weekend for diving, accommodation, and taxes, and we can add afternoon dives, night dives, and/or additional nights. Family doesn’t dive? No problem – there’s tons for them to do in Ft. Lauderdale while you’re diving.

What’s the diving like?
Ft. Lauderdale boasts an incredible number of wrecks that were sunk as part of an artificial reef program. There is a lot of growth and marine life on all of the wrecks, which range in depth from 30-130+ feet. My personal favorite is Tenneco Towers, an old oil platform that makes up about 3 different dive sites. The shallow reefs are also great for  newer divers to gain experience, or for photographers to get a lot of bottom time for that perfect shot. There’s a lot of schooling fish and other marine life to enjoy on all of the shallow reefs, but the site that stands out in my mind is Fisherman’s Pedestal. Maybe we can make some special requests…

Do training or experience dives with a Submerged/UTD instructor
We have a couple of instructors on these trips too, so you can also conduct training dives on both of these trips. There are already a couple of open water students signed up to do their open water dives in Florida. For tech students, we will be offering “experience dives” on some of the deeper wrecks.

What else is there to do?
We will be right across the street from the beautiful Ft. Lauderdale beaches, and within a short walking distance of the plentiful restaurants, bars, and shops. Most importantly, though, we won’t be here in the D.C. area in the middle of January and February freezing at the quarry!

For more information, view the Ft. Lauderdale dive trip flyer here give us a call at Submerged (301-881-2831) or send an e-mail to info@submergedonline.com . For information about other upcoming trips, visit our Travel page.

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Class Report – Open Water Diver

Posted on August 11, 2012 by TK

This week we just completed another Open Water Diver class. We had three awesome students, only one of whom had ever been on scuba before. Everybody really embraced the team diving concept, and everything we did revolved around diving together as a team. By the end of their training, these guys were planning their own dives, calculating “rock bottom” gas, and conduct dives with good team communication and awareness.

By the end of their pool sessions, these students were confident and excited for their open water training dives. During our pool sessions we focused on learning what buoyancy control is – whether you want to go up, go down, or be perfectly neutral. They also spent a lot of time working on establishing and maintaining good trim, and having control over their position in the water while swimming and doing skills. Then we developed their personal skills and they gained total confidence with mask clearing, regular recovery, propulsion, and air-sharing skills, just to name a few.

When it was time for open water training, we spent a weekend camping and diving, and had a great time. Visibility was a bit challenging, but everyone just cranked up the team awareness and stuck closer together. At the end of the weekend, we decided one more day of diving would be good so that they could get some experience dives.

So, this past weekend we got together for two more dives. Let me just say that we had so much fun! It was up to them to plan their dives, do their pre-dive checks, and conduct the dive. I was so proud – they really took charge and stepped up to the responsibility of planning and conducting their own dives with me just as a shadow for supervision and in case intervention was necessary (which it wasn’t).

We put a huge emphasis on training the way we actually dive. These students completed their class with the confidence, knowledge, and ability to venture off and gain more experience and keep developing their skills. Their responses to changing environmental conditions, and the way they communicated with each other really demonstrated that they’re actively thinking about the dive, which is so important. I can’t wait to go diving with these guys again. Big congratulations to Santchai, Olga, and Darina, our newest Open Water divers!

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Does your deco/stage bottle ride correctly?

Posted on June 20, 2012 by submerged

Sidemount has taught us so much about how our stage/deco bottles should ride. The idea is to have streamlined bottles, almost parallel to our body, that break the water in one place. This reduces drag, which in turn increases the ease in which we move through the water. When we have multiple bottles on us like we do in traditional DIR, there is a great deal of drag that we are trying to reduce as much as possible. Our goal should be to have the most efficient configuration reducing drag as much as possible so that our gas consumption is also reduced.

UTD’s experience in both DIR and Sidemount has shown us clever ways of cleaning up our stage and deco bottles so that they hang better and ride on us in the most efficient manner possible. By now you are asking yourself “How?!” Well, the following three tips should clean you up quite a bit.

Step 1:
Make sure your neck (top) bolt snap is not below the bell of the cylinder. Also, ensure that this bolt snap is tight against the bottle and not all loose. (see photo 1)

deco bottle rigging

Photo 1: Neck bolt snap on DIR deco bottle rigging

Step 2:
Make sure the line is snug against the bottle. Keep it snug by NOT carrying your bottle by the rigging on land. Carry your deco bottles by the valve just like all of your other scuba cylinders. (see photo 2)

deco bottle rigging tight

Photo 2 – Tight line for deco bottle rigging

Step 3:
The bottom bolt snap needs to be able to have two positions. The first position is the extended and the second is the short and tight position. You can wrap the slack and shorten the length of the snap. (see photos 3 and 4)

Deco bottle rigging

Photo 3: Extended bottom bolt snap.

Deco bottle rigging

Photo 4: Tight bottom bolt snap

This last step is very important and affects how the butt of the cylinder rides while we are in the proper diving position. If the bottom snap is not tight then the bottle will hang low and swing under us while we are diving. Obviously this is terrible bottle placement and significantly increases drag and the bottles swing side to side as we swim (just plain annoying). The extended position is nice when you are carrying multiple bottles and “lengthening” the clip length yields better bottle positioning.

Rigging your deco and stage bottles with standard DIR style kits will allow you to make this modification on the fly while diving thus keeping your bottles as streamlined as possible.

If you have any questions or need help rigging your bottles come to Submerged and we will be glad to sort you out with what you need.

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UTD Open Water Diver Training Special

Posted on June 20, 2012 by submerged

Submerged training had such great success with our summer UTD Open Water Diver special that we are extending the offer for one more week. The offer expires 6/30 at 6pm so contact the store for more information and all of the details about the offer. 301.881.2831 or info@submergedonline.com

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June 4th Technical Charter – Radford – 3 spaces remain

Posted on May 30, 2012 by submerged

Hey guys, we got three spaces left on a charter for the Radford on June 4th out of Indian River, DE. We are planning on double dipping the site. This charter is open to anyone certified at the Tech 1 level or equivalent. The weather is looking great for Monday the 4th so anyone interested give Tanya a call at Submerged (301.881.2831) to sign up. Myself, Tanya, and Justin are on the charter so come join the fun and a great day of diving!

Email info@submergedonline.com for more information on the charter.

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UTD Essentials of Tech – Class Report

Posted on May 8, 2012 by David

Let me first say that I hold a professional certification from a large, mainstream scuba certification agency and actively introduce others to the sport I love so much.  I have always believed diving to be a safe sport (shoot, more people are injured by cows in a given year than diving), but the underlying goal of these agencies seems to focus more on certifying a large number of people with the most basic of skills, and not to certify them to be smarter, safer, team focused divers. This is what led me to UTD and to this class.

After months of coaxing from a close friend of mine, a few experimental dives and conversation over a few deco facilitating beverages at McLeary’s, I decided to venture into the world of technical diving by enrolling in the UTD Essentials of Tech training class being offered by Jon and Tanya at Submerged. I, like most divers, generally associated technical diving with caves, caverns, traveling to the deepest depths of the ocean, crazy breathing gasses, cold water and funny looking suits reminiscent of the Stay-Puff marshmallow man straight out of Ghostbusters, but beyond this I never really considered what the “technical” part of technical diving meant. Until now…

Over this past weekend, my classmates and I spent more than 10 hours in the classroom and nearly 2.5 hours (straight) in the pool practicing these new skills. The first thing I noticed about this course was the immediate focus placed on team diving. There was not one thing we were taught this weekend that was not for the sole purpose of being a functioning member of either a two-person or three-person team. We all learned the same skills. We all practiced them the same way, and we all held each other accountable for getting it right. This isn’t to say that the larger organizations do not focus on team diving. They do have the buddy system after all. I simply mean that UTD standards go far beyond conventional teaching. Everything revolves around the team, and that is a very big difference between UTD and the mainstream agencies.

We learned about a minimalist approach to gear configuration and the importance of everyone on the team diving with consistent configurations to eliminate the risk of not knowing where to find something if/when you need it. No more “Who’s got an Air2?” and who doesn’t. One of our classmates was on sidemount and despite his breathing system being different than a backmount configuration the skills he learned were EXACTLY the same as ours. Team diving + Consistentcy in gear and skills = SAFETY.

In the end I realized that everything we were being taught was for one purpose…to make us all safer divers. Safety was also evident in UTDs use of a concept called Rock Bottom, or the amount of air two divers need to ascend in an emergency situation to either the surface, or first gas switch, while doing ALL deco stops along the way. This amount gets reserved, and you plan your dive with the remaining gas. Ever been on a dive boat when the DM just tells you to start your 30m ascent with 70 bar? Guess what my friend, if you have to air share and do all the stops you will most likely not make it safely to the surface as a team. With RB, you might not get as long a dive, but you AND your teammates will make safely home, and isn’t that the point?

UTD, Jon and Tanya placed significant emphasis on teaching us why we were doing certain things. They didn’t read to us from a manual, or show us pretty pictures. Although they did video us “monkeys” in the pool, which led to some very constructive feedback upon review. This was serious business…and FUN. So, if you are already a diver, or if you are considering getting into diving, do yourself a favor and make the investment to become a safer, team oriented diver. Learn more about UTD at www.unifiedteamdiving.com and stop by the shop in Rockville to sign up for a class. You will be a more skilled diver, a more educated diver and, most importantly, a safer diver.

Happy diving!

PS – I still have my open water dives to do, so I will post an update to the class after that!

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Trip Report – Diving the USS Arthur Radford

Posted on April 30, 2012 by submerged

On Saturday six of our divers headed out to dive the USS Arthur Radford, and had a great time! The seas were mild, the visibility was decent, and the captain and crew were friendly and helpful, so it made for a fantastic day for some east coast wreck diving! Below is a message sent to us by one of the divers:

“Team Submerged-

Just wanted to drop you guys a line and let you know what a great dive we had on Saturday.  With seas under 3 feet, minimal surge, temperature in the 50’s, and visibility pushing 25,’ conditions were not the Atlantic I was expecting.  I arrived at the dock bright and early and was helped aboard the spacious vessel by our great crew.  We had six divers in technical gear and were not hurting for space.  After the catching up with everybody on the way out, we arrived at the Radford ready to go.  The vessel itself was massive and we didn’t even come close to covering the piece that we tied up to.  I can’t wait to go back and explore further.  Her spacious superstructure could be easily explored without getting too technical while the deeper holds promise to be exciting for long penetration dives.  Ascent was easy with minimal current well and getting back on the boat was no problem either.  I had a blast and can’t wait to make my way back out there; I feel like a fool for not knowing all this time that we had such rewarding dive sites so close to home.  See you guys at the shop!

-Chris”

There is still space on upcoming charters to the USS Arthur Radford and SS Marine Electric if you would like to join us. You can easily sign up for any of the remaining charters by calling or coming by the store, or through our online store by clicking here. These charters can fill up fast, so don’t delay!

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Season Opener – check your dive gear

Posted on April 21, 2012 by submerged

Since the dive season is almost in full swing now and most of you are thinking about your diving plans, here are a few simple things you can do to make sure you get the most out of your dive season and dive gear. Don’t let your dive get cut short because of an equipment malfunction.

1. Make sure your cylinders have a valid hydro & VIP (hydro date within the past 5 years and VIP within the last 12 months). Remember the VIP expires on the first day of the month not the last day of the month.

2. Ask yourself, “when were your regulators last serviced (rebuilt)?” Regulators need to be serviced annually to ensure proper function. Seats wear out and o-rings deteriorate over time. Make sure your life support equipment doesn’t fail during your dives by having Submerged check it out for you today!

3. Check your dry suit neck and wrist seals for dry rot, punctures, and rips. Dry suits seals need to be replaced at a minimum every two years. Seals break down over time due to UV light and other factors. Also, don’t forget to inspect the inlet and exhaust valves for proper function! A runaway or sticky inlet valve is just plain annoying!

4. An often overlooked piece of gear is the wing or BCD. Exhaust valves and inflators need to be serviced. How often do you wash your car? When was the last time you completely overhauled your wing or BCD and disinfected the bladder? 

5. Lights… A major storm hits the DC area and the power goes out… I know I will get my trusty flashlight out. Crap, the batteries are dead… I wish I checked these things out. Remember to put fresh batteries in all of your lights and check them often!

6. Check the basics… go over your masks, fins, and other personal gear to make sure nothing is in need of service or replacement. Nothing is worse than having to deploy a backup mask to find out that the strap is broken! Wetnotes are not endless, make sure you did not fill them up with all the scuba diving you did last year. Refills are always available at Submerged.

Submerged is not only known for offering the highest quality scuba diving classes and dive instruction in Maryland, but Submerged also offers exceptional equipment service too. We pride ourselves on offering the most reliable and fastest turnaround in the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC area. We are proud to offer the highest quality gear service, in-house service, and most importantly service done right the first time! We conduct both warranty and non-warranty service. See why other dive shops bring gear to us for service!

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Class Report – April Essentials of Tech class

Posted on April 11, 2012 by submerged
Essentials of Tech scuba class
Essentials of Technical Diving Class April 2012

We had a beautiful weekend for another Essentials of Technical Diving class. The students are pushing themselves and working hard. With a little more practice, we will soon be welcoming some new technical divers into the family. The water is warming up nicely in the lake (48F at 25ft) and the visibility is finally improving. We had over 30ft once you got below 25ft, but the temperature is still bitter cold barely breaking 38F. These guys are continuing to work hard and they are looking and performing better in the water every day. We’re looking forward to diving with them on some of our local charters and other dive trips this summer.

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Tech 1 & 2 Update

Posted on April 9, 2012 by JE

The UTD Tech 1 & 2 class has dates finalized now. Tech 1 is May 11, 12, & 13 and Tech 2 is the 18, 19, & 20 down in Key Largo. We have a few spots remaining so if you are interested feel free to give the shop a call.

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