AKSCUBA.COM NEWS

March 10, 2010

SITE MAINTENANCE Our old server was limiting and slow. In order to accommodate our changing needs, we have decided to move to a new address. Welcome to it! Unfortunately, the move has interfered with certain of the site's features, including the most popular feature (the forums). Please bear with us for the next few days as we work out some kinks and reenable these features.

With dry suits and all the gear used to get the most out of diving in Alaska, trim and buoyancy control become critical. You need to think about where to put all that weight so that you keep perfect horizontal trim in the water. Also, make sure not to over or under weight. The secret is to do a weight check whenever you change conditions or equipment, and then do another at the beginning and ending of every dive. It's quick - just deflate your BC and dry suit and hold a normal breath; you should have no trouble getting down, because you should be negative (because of the air in your tank). At the end of the dive, do a safety stop and watch your buoyancy while you do. If all goes well, then do a final check just before getting out of the water. You should be perfectly neutral (since you've used the tank air).

Diving in Alaska means diving in cold water. Thus, dry suits are generally not optional, at least for salt water diving. You should plan on getting some dry suit training.

That said, dry suit diving is not so different from wet suit diving that your training has to be tremendously formal, and you certainly don't need a plastic card to confirm that you can dive dry. Take a dry suit "adventure dive" if you are already an accomplished diver, or just do your open water dives up here if you aren't yet certified. You'll know what you need to know about diving in a dry suit, and the rest you'll pick up comfortably just by practicing.

Other Training

Alaskan diving may require other training, depending on what you want to do. For instance, hunting crab is not like hunting lobster, I'm told. And shooting fish can have a different meaning when the fish run to 300 pounds or more. Besides, you'll want to know how to prepare what you catch! Check with a trustworthy LDS to see what they suggest you do, then ignore it and buy a book.