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Underwater World Articles
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Diving And The Web
I was recently reviewing some sales statistics compiled from several sources. We found some interesting facts. Many people believe that they can find cheaper airfares on the web. Studies show something different. For instance, Topaz International did a study from January to June, 2002. It studied over 19,000 itineraries on various internet sites including Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, and the airline sites. They found that the average travel agency booked fare was $116 lower than the average internet fare. That’s not what the internet companies want you to believe, is it? Topaz is an auditing firm so is not prejudiced one way or the other.
In a different vein, I recently had a customer tell me that he could get a Scubapro regulator off the web cheaper than we were selling it for. We explained to him that the regulator he was purchasing did not come from an authorized dealer and did not come with a Scubapro warranty. Although he was told it came with a warranty, a little further research showed it was not the manufacturer’s warranty. It came with a warranty by the on-line company. Instead of a limited lifetime warranty, you get a 14-day satisfaction warranty which reads in part "Equipment must be returned in brand-new condition, with no wear at all (if it is used even once, we can’t take it back.)" So you can’t try it before you decide if you want to keep it. It further states that returned items "must be in original factory condition, including all packaging materials, inserts, and manuals, warranty cards (not filled-out) and all accessories with a shipping carton. Do not write anything on the item or box. We will charge for replacement of damaged, altered, missing, written on, or taped contents. We reserve the right to refuse and such returns. Equipment that has been assembled will incur a $25 disassembly fee. " Are these the people you want to buy your life-support equipment from? It is a little different if you buy from Underwater World. If you are not happy with it, we will take care of you. And you will have a manufacturer’s warranty. This will save you real money when you have your equipment overhauled. For instance, a warranted Scubapro computer has a lifetime battery replacement policy. If it is not covered, it can cost you big time. We just got back a computer the cost us $88 for the battery replacement. Then we had to add on our charge. These are the deals that the web has to offer. We do an outstanding business with thousands of customers who have figured this out. You don’t want to spend too much money on something, but if saving a few bucks today cost you more in the long run, then you haven’t saved anything. If it sounds too good to be true........
Seven Reasons To Travel This Year
by Larry Bleiberg - The Dallas Morning News
It is easy to stay at home
As a new year begins, travelers face continuing economic uncertainty and security concerns. Many wonder if it is worth the expense and challenge of venturing to unfamilar places
Just in time, Arthur Frommer, the man who helped invent modern travel with his book, Europe on $5 a Day, has reasons we must set aside our doubts and go see the world.
"Travel is not mere recreation," he said at a conference in New York's Hudson River Valley area. "It is not trivia. It is education and perhaps the most important education."
Frommer, 75, had returned from his first trip to China just 36 hours before speaking. He was fighting jet lag, but the former lawyer made a clear case. Travel teaches seven important lessons, he said.
Read his list and feel the pull of the road.
1. Travelers learn that all people in the world are basically alike.
We all care about family and protecting our loved ones. Frommer said. During his trip to China, he and his wife met an elderly woman. She didn't speak English, but when she saw Frommer's gray hair, she insisted they wait while she ran to get something. She returned a moment later with pictures of her grandchildren.
He recalls sitting in a mud hut years earlier and hearing a young African mother confide her wish to learn to read. She wanted to understand government pamphlets about health care so she could protect her children.
"Aside from all the exterior differences, we all share the same basic urges and concerns," Frommer said.
2. Travelers discover that everyone regards himself or herself as wiser and better than other people in the world.
Once while visiting Amsterdam, Frommer spoke to a friend the day after a nationwide telethon had raised 60 million guilders (about $27.5 million) for cancer research.
"Only in Holland!" the friend bragged.
Frommer resisted a smile.
"When you travel, you get rid of smug chauvinism," Frommer said. "All people believe themselves the best."
3. Travel makes us care about strangers.
A famine or disaster is not distant, abstract suffering if you visited the region. "We become concerned for other people," Frommer said. "Travel makes it impossible to pay no heed to others."
4. Travel teaches that not everyone shares your beliefs.
In issues small and large - from child-rearing to politics - a traveler learns that there are many ways of thinking. "You become a larger person when you confront your opposite", Frommer said.
5. Travelers learn that there is more than one solution to a problem
Whether it is the surprise of learning about Asian medical practices in Hong Kong or seeing Scandinavia's liberal social policies at work, a traveller discovers that there are many ways to address the issue.
6. Travel teaches you to be a minority.
While traveling in Africa, Frommer was keenly aware that he was different. Even African-Americans are a minority in Africa, he said.
Finding yourself suddenly the odd man out is healthy and eye-opening, Frommer said. "You become fully aware of whatever racist impulses exist in your own subconscious."
7. Travel teaches humility.
"You become a quieter American as a result of travel, and in my opinion a smarter and even, perhaps a more thoughtful one," Frommer said.
Travel, he said, is something we all must do. "It is key in developing a civilized society."
It is a worthy goal for a new year. May the coming year open new horizons for all of us.
The Art of Travel
Cairo to JFK - 11 Hours; Philly - Houston, Houston - Guam - 18 Hours; Philly - Atlanta, Atlanta - Bonaire - 7 hours. And that's only one-way. Ironically, the most dreaded part of most trips in the journey itself. That should be part of the fun. Remember when we were kids, taking car trips with our friends and having a ball. Today, we are smarter and wiser and yet we dread the journey. It is time to put our thinking cap on and reverse this process.
The Plan
First of all, we need to realize that the road to our destination has many paths. Do you fly Philadelphia - Charlotte -
Miami - Grand Cayman or do you fly Philadelphia - Grand Cayman direct (USAir - Saturdays only). That's just one example.
I could name many more. Eliminating stopovers is not usually a possibility, though. You can, however, minimize them.
Attitude about a stopover is also important. Everybody dreads a two-hour stopover, and they make every effort to find
the 45-minute stopovers. That seems like a great idea until the announcement is made that "our departure will be delayed
about 30 minutes" and we watch that stopover start to evaporate. Remember, if we were only going Philadelphia - Miami,
it may not be much of a problem. But when we need to connect with the only flight that day to Ecuador to meet out boat
which departs the next morning, that two-hour stopover is much more comforting than missing the boat.
Packing For The Trip
Packing in itself is an art most of us never master. And the airlines are getting more difficult about excess baggage.
This is especially true in more remote locations like Fiji and Tahiti. We know it is much more comfortable to dive in
our own gear, so we don't want to give that up, but is it really necessary to pack that extra mask (unless it is optical)
or a 3 pound toolbox. I don't even carry an extra camera strobe anymore. But our real downfall is clothes. Most people come
back having worn only about half the clothes that they brought with them. They will pack a shirt for everyday and a couple
of extras. Then they will buy a couple more during the trip. Know that you are going to buy some and pack that many less.
(You could even wear the ones you buy as gifts and wash them before you give them away.) Another mistake people make is
packing the things they like, instead of figuring out when and where they will wear them. And three pairs of shoes or two
pairs of long pants is just overpacking for the islands. Finally, if you take an hour and a half and a good book in the
middle of the week, you can launder everything you wore the first half of the week and wear it again on the second half.
That means packing half the clothes. (How do you think we do it on a three-week trip?)
Packing For The Journey.
This is the most important part because this is the part most people hate. Here again, most people overpack. Even on an
eleven-hour flight, we do not need three magazines and two novels. But we do want something to read. And more importantly,
we need something to listen to. I never travel without a CD or a tape player. CD's are great because they take up less
space than tapes. You do need to pack extra batteries. Invariably, if you do not, it will get turned on accidentally and
the batteries will be dead when you go to use it. Also, buy headsets that are just the little nibs that fit into your
ears. Radio Shack sells sets that just wind up into a little round case the size of a cookie. If you use a headset with
fixed earphones, they will not survive the trip unbroken. You should also pack a water bottle. Air travel is very
dehydrating and a 4-oz. glass of water from the stewardess is not enough. Pack eye drops. Look for some travel games.
Nothing makes a flight go faster than a game of travel Scrabble. Pack a deck of cards. Wear loose, comfortable clothing,
especially loose fitting shoes. Pack a clean shirt and change shortly before you arrive. And one thing I never travel
without is a travel pack of baby wipes. It feels great to just wipe your face and hands once in a while. And finally,
you need an inflatable neck pillow, earplugs and a couple of aspirins and decongestion tablets. (If you cannot clear
your ears, the only thing they will give you is a Tylenol, which does nothing.)
Making Space
The smart traveler figures out where to sit on an airplane. I prefer a window seat, although if you have a small
bladder you may prefer an aisle seat. Don't show up 30 minutes before the flight and expect to have any choice. I
always try for an exit aisle seat because there is more space between your seat and the seat in front of you. However,
some aircraft have the two wing exit aisles in a row. Be aware that the first row (and any row in front of an exit aisle)
does not have reclining seats. They would recline into the exit aisle. Ask the ticket agent which seats on that particular
aircraft have the best legroom. Then board the flight early enough to find space in the overhead racks for some of your
carry-on. However, if you have short legs, you may want your carry-on under the seat so you can put your feet on it and
change your sitting position. Get the things you need out of your carry-on (your music, your earplugs, your water), take
your shoes off and settle in with a smile on your face.
The Stopover
The first thing must be to go immediately to your next flight and check in. Make sure that your boarding pass is in order
and you have the seat that you want. If you have a boarding pass that was issued weeks earlier or in another city,
it may or may not be valid. Get those ducks in line first and then go find the frozen yogurt place. Go light on food
and alcohol, and heavy on water. Take a walk and get the blood flowing again. Be back at the gate in plenty of time for
boarding and remember the paragraph above.
Being There Ah!! This is the goal. The easiest way to make this effortless is to let us do it for you. Join us on an Underwater World trip. Most destinations that we use know us and take good care of us. They will give us preferential treatment and go out of their way to make our trip enjoyable. They will discuss with us the dives planned each day and make our requests the plan of the day. This all adds up to less work for you and a more enjoyable and memorable trip.
Ten Commandments of Traveling
1. Don't Expect to find things are they are at home. You left home to find things different.2. Don't take anything too seriously, for a carefree mind is the beginning of a vacation.
3. Don't let other tourists get on your nerves, for they, too are paying good money to have a good time.
4. Remember your passport and know where it is at all times. A man without his passport is a man without a country.
5. Take half the clothes that you think you need, and twice the money.
6. Do not Expect to stay in one place. If man were meant to be permanently planted, he would have been created with roots.
7. Do not worry. he that worries has no pleasure. Few things are ever fatal.
8. Do not judge the people of a country by one person with whom you had trouble.
9. Do not make yourself so obviously a foreigner. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
10.Remember that you are a guest in a foreign land. If you treat your hosts with respect, you will be treated as an honored guest.
Diving and Digital Cameras
As the digital revolution has descended upon us, we get more and more questions about digital underwater cameras. Unfortunately, the dive industry has been a little slow embracing the new technology. But that is all changing now. First of all, let me say that you are unlikely to see a true digital underwater camera, ala the Nikonos. The technology changes too fast for a company to invest that much R & D into that kind of a product. But what we are seeing is some nice housed cameras coming out in smaller and less expensive housings. Housings are generally available from Ikelite, Light and Motion, and Amphibico for a number of cameras on the market. Sea Life has had a digital camera (1.2 mp) out for just over a year and they are about to come out with two more versions, a 2.3 and a 3.3 megapixel. And Sea & Sea has a very nice camera and housing, 3.3 megapixel, which we now have in the store. Obviously, prices vary depending mainly on the number of megapixels. You can get into the Sea Life Digital for just over $400. That is a pretty good deal. Since it is a housed camera, you can take the camera out and use it for anything.The big question, of course, is how many pixels do I need? The generally accepted answer is that a 1.2 megapixel will be fine for 4 x 6 inch prints. You would want a two megapixel for 5 x 7 prints. A three megapixel does 8 x 10 prints best. Now you can do an 8 x 10 from a one megapixel camera and you may not notice the difference, but if you were to crop that picture first and then try to take it up to 8 x 10, it is going to start to fall apart. The truth is, though, most people have most if not all of their pictures printed as 4 x 6. Look around your house. How may enlargements do you have of pictures that you took? (Don’t count the kids photos from the school photographer.) The point being, don’t spend too much extra on capability that you probably are not going to need.
How about getting prints of your digital images? It has gotten much easier than it was a very few years ago. You can actually take your camera or storage card to K-Mart and get prints for about 35 cents each. Or you could come here and we can get them printed using Sea Processing which is the way to do it for underwater images.
Whether you are ready to embrace the new technology or want to stick with film we have what you need and can help you make the right choice. Come on in.
Nitrox - A Primer
There are many misconceptions about Nitrox, especially with new divers. Let me attempt to clear it up a little for you. First of all, Nitroxd is just air with a little extra oxygen add to it. In doing so you are reducing the amount of nitrogen in the mix. Many people believe that this would allow them to dive deeper. In reality, it makes deep diving impossible The real use of nitrox is to extend our diving time at our normal diving depths. It is true that by reducing the nitrogen in our air, we are absorbing less nitrogen, and therefore can dive longer. And you would think that you could dive deeper also. The proble arises with the oxygen that we add to the mix. Too much oxygen causes oxygen poisoning. This is a real possibility when the mix is too rich (i.e. too much oxygen) or is used too deep. As we go deeper, we must reduce theamount of oxygen in themix. We may be diving a 36% mix on a 90-foot dive, but by the time we get to 130 feet, we want the mix down to about 30%. Eventually you reach a point where it now longer makes sense to pay for a special mix. (Of course, 130 feet is the limit for sport diving anyway.)So does diving make sense? It is great for diving on a live-aboard, where you may be making four or five dives a day. It works well above 130 feet to extend your bottom time without decompression or to shorten your required decompression stop. It is sometimes used as a decompression gas in mixes as rich as 50/50. But a mix like this can only be used in shallow water. Of course, this requires a computer capable of handling two different gas mixtures on the same dive. This can be done with computers such as the Suunto Vytec, which is what I use.
Another advantage of nitrox is that many people believe do not feel as tired after using nitrox although there is some dispute in the medical community. As nitrox becomes more available, wse see more and more people interested in it. Let me give you a couple of statements to remember.
- Nitrox does not allow us to go deeper.
- Nitrox is not safer than air (although it can give us a greater safety margin.
- Nitrox does not require that your regulator be oxygen compatible or oxygen cleaned (unless the mix is greater than 40%.)
- Nitrox may require that your tanks anD valves be oxygen cleaned.
- You do need to be certified to purchase and use nitrox.