Rebreather Experience Pensacola, Florida

[blondie]

On Saturday, September 19, 2009 Dive Pros in Pensacola, Florida is hosting a rebreather experience with the assistance of Gregg Stanton of Wakulla Dive Center. There will be 2 four hour sessions in Dive Pros custom training pool, as well as lunch. We will have at least eight different units on hand, and space is limited to 10 divers per session. Cost is $20 per person.

For more information contact me or Dive Pros at (850) 456-8845.

Hope to see you there!

Heather

[LCF]

Oh, wish I could be there! I keep trying to get to one of these.

[kidspot]

Thanks for Sharing - What an opportunity - I don't remember anything like ever being offered in my area.

Lynne - curiosity can be a dangerous thing... next thing you know there is one strapped to your back on every dive

Aloha, Tim

[LCF]

No, I'm not worried about getting tempted. But I would like to learn -- I don't think you can ever know too much about this sport. And I think the experience of bubbleless diving would be an interesting thing to have.

[kidspot]

agreed ...

[Ron Parker]

If my unemployed retirement budget hold outs.

Apr 2009, I had the opportunity of stopping by the Dive Pro Shop, CJ, Owner provided a warm welcome to this California Diver traveling to Tampa. I mentioned to CJ that I would return to dive the Oriskany, this may be the perfect time, knockin off two bucket list items at once.

[Benthic]

If my unemployed retirement budget hold outs.

Apr 2009, I had the opportunity of stopping by the Dive Pro Shop, CJ, Owner provided a warm welcome to this California Diver traveling to Tampa. I mentioned to CJ that I would return to dive the Oriskany, this may be the perfect time, knockin off two bucket list items at once.

Come on up! You can check out the CCRs on Saturday and the Dive Pros crew can put you on a charter with Capt. Dave to the Oriskany on Sunday. As you say, two birds with one stone.

Brian

[blondie]

If my unemployed retirement budget hold outs.

Apr 2009, I had the opportunity of stopping by the Dive Pro Shop, CJ, Owner provided a warm welcome to this California Diver traveling to Tampa. I mentioned to CJ that I would return to dive the Oriskany, this may be the perfect time, knockin off two bucket list items at once.

Cool! Please let me know when you finalize your plans so that we can reserve a spot for you!

Thanks!

Heather

[Dive-aholic]

So, Jen and I made it over to Pensacola for this event today. We had a great time. Greg Stanton is very knowledgeable about rebreathers and did a 45 minute presentation at the beginning of the session. There was some repetition of information we already knew from our previous rebreather experience and independent research, but we did learn some other things about RBs.

After the session, we changed into our shorties and headed over to the pool. The session we did at Dutch Springs was better in that we got to do an hour + long dive to a maximum depth of 30' on the KISS Classic. However, the advantage to this experience was being able to look at and experience more than one RB. This made the session very much worth it.

Jen and I started off on the Optima and Meg. Jen went with the Meg first and I had the Optima. We spent about 20 minutes swimming around the pool checking out the was they work. Both of these RBs are electronically controlled, but can be manually overridden, which we both did. We then swapped RBs and headed underwater for another 15 minutes. Both RBs breathed much easier (for us) than the KISS. Buoyancy was easier to control, but I attribute that to having already had time on a RB and knowing better was to expect. We are both leaning toward the Meg at this time. The controls just seem to be positioned a little better and the O2 valve is a little easier on the Meg than the Optima, although I can see the advantage to having the type of O2 valve the Optima has on it. We both flipped on our backs and head down in the RBs and WOB didn't change a bit, unlike with the KISS. We also talked to Brian and Heather quite a bit about some of the different features they've chosen for their Megs. They provided us with some great information and advice.

Jen finally got on an Apocalypse RB (yes, that's the name!). I chose to try the KISS Classic that was available there because Jen said she didn't feel the WOB on the KISS she had at Dutch was all that bad. My experience on this KISS was unchanged from my last. Don't get me wrong. It's not a bad RB, but I just don't think it's the one for me. Back to the Apocalypse...this is a new RB that is supposed to run in the $2500 range. It is completely automatic. It runs itself through 55 checks, including filling the loop, testing it for leaks, testing the sensors, etc and won't stay on if any of the self tests fail. It basically takes care of the pre-dive check list for the diver. It's not something we're interested in, but everyone that tried it at this session seemed to like the simplicity of it. Too simple for going into a cave with, though.

All in all, it was a good day. We got to try a few more RBs and have narrowed I choices down even more. We still want to try a rEVo when/if we get an opportunity. But at $15,000-20,000 for 2 RBs, plus training, we probably will have the opportunity to try one before we buy.

[kidspot]

Glad you got to try out several. Sounds like the Meg is a really nice machine ... of course I'm really glad to hear that the Apoc was there ... might mean mine will be shipping soon [fingers crossed]

Aloha, Tim

[KMD]

Rob,

Have you looked at UTD's version of the CCR? I believe they call it the M90 or some such.

I have had Andrew explain some of the nuances of the system, and it seemed well thought out. (though I freely admit knowing only very little about rebreathers)

Kevin

[blondie]

Rob-

It's the Cis-Lunar Posiedon MK6 Discovery that is fully automatic and does the 55 checks, the Apoc is fully automatic, but a little different.

Brian and I enjoyed yesterday. It was nice to poke and prod at a lot of units other than our own. In addition to playing safety divers we managed to get on almost all of the units there. Mostly that reaffirmed for us that we like the Meg best.

Thanks for coming and glad to hear you enjoyed it!

[Dive-aholic]

Thanks for clarifying that, Heather. I remember now, the Apoc is the one that looks like a leaf blower, isn't it...

[blondie]

Thanks for clarifying that, Heather. I remember now, the Apoc is the one that looks like a leaf blower, isn't it...

Yup.

[LCF]

Apart from not liking the unit doing the thinking for you, what were the objections to the Poseidon? When I read about it, I thought it sounded quite intriguing for the kind of RB diver we have a lot of here locally -- somebody who's basically doing recreational dives but wants to get rid of the bubbles and extend gas supply.