- REBREATHERS - SPORT DIVERS ... - Stingray Divers

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No Cloak of Invisibility Which brings me to the first myth, or misunderstood concept, about rebreathers and marine life. One of my most favorite whoppers is that diving with a rebreather gives you the ability to sneak up to anything. The reality is rebreathers are not Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility. Furthermore, fish are not blind, they know you are there! Last time I checked, the big stuff on the reef didn’t get big by letting even bigger things go unnoticed whenever it enters the picture. How it works is all marine animals have a comfort zone. Because you are not making any noise, you stand a better chance of being accepted or at least tolerated as another, be it somewhat deformed looking, marine creature. True, there will always be fish, sharks and sea turtles that just don’t care what equipment you’re using! But if you’re good with fish on conventional scuba, you will do even better in most cases on a CCR. Which is one of the reasons why more serious professionals in underwater photography and television production are switching to these specialized pieces of equipment. Large goliath groupers like the one above may be slowwitted, but they are are not blind to our presence. There are times when silence really counts for getting the shot, like approaching this sleeping reef shark under a ledge. www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
About Time The other reason is time. That is, the ability to stay where you are longer. For example, the gas supply from a fourteen cubic foot cylinder of oxygen can easily provide a rebreather diver with four hours of dive time. While most of us will never do a four hour dive, it’s very nice to be able to make two one hour dives on a two tank morning dive charter and then repeat that on the afternoon charter without ever having to change tanks. Additionally, since you are always minimizing your nitrogen loading you have much longer no decompression limits, such as over two hours at 60 fsw! This can mean longer recreational dives and shorter surface intervals. More time in the water - - isn’t that why we all got into diving in the first place? Finally, my Sport Kiss complete only weighs 38 pounds. That’s the weight of a single aluminum 80 cubic foot cylinder! The second myth regarding rebreathers is the thought that you need a master’s degree in physics just to understand the technology. All that is really required is an understanding of enriched air nitrox. In simple terms, a rebreather is like breathing into a paper bag while adding back the oxygen your body consumes and removing the carbon dioxide it produces. Of note, the chemical reaction that occurs with removing the carbon dioxide provides a warm, moist breathing gas. No more of the “cotton mouth” of open-circuit diving. The carbon dioxide scrubber is good for several hours based on workload and water temperature. Diving a rebreather simply means filling your scrubber and keeping your PO2 at a reasonable limit such as 1.2. Beyond that, just enjoy your dive. 7 Douglas Ebersole and Alan Studley investigate the coral-encrusted bridge of the RSB wreck off Pompano Beach, Florida - without stirring up the dust for the photographer. From your basic nitrox course you will remember that the maximum PO2 for recreational diving is 1.4. The value of 1.2 would be the equivalent of breathing EAN 30 at 99 fsw (4 ATA) or breathing EAN 40 at 66 fsw (3 ATA). While closed-circuit dive computers are available, for recreational diving, you can still get away with your old, trusty nitrox computer and set it like the examples above. Finally, just like driving an automobile, diving a rebreather is as safe as the person diving it. A third myth is that maintaining a rebreather is complicated and time consuming. Basically, at the end of the dive day you simply rinse everything with fresh water and a small amount of disinfectant. Let it dry and you are ready to assemble it and dive again! For me, it takes no longer to clean it at the end of the dive day than www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Page 1 and 2: Issue 3 June/July 2007 - RebReatheR
Page 3 and 4: An Uncertain Future During my trave
Page 5: By Douglas Ebersole ClOSEd-CirCuiT
Page 9 and 10: Dive Computers for the Recreational
Page 11 and 12: Adventure Diving It’s four thirty
Page 13 and 14: make maintaining a specific depth i
Page 15 and 16: pangas, the Solmar V positions its
Page 17 and 18: Left: For underwater photographers,
Page 19 and 20: The comfortable main salon features
Page 21 and 22: Stepping off the Republic IV, I beg
Page 23 and 24: In the waters of Florida’s east c
Page 25 and 26: Back in the Day When I hear some di
Page 27 and 28: 27 NEW Freeport, Grand Bahama Depar
Page 29 and 30: “It’s not a just a fishing prob
Page 31 and 32: What Are You Doing This Summer? You
Page 33 and 34: • Bahamas • Saba/St. Kitts •
Page 35 and 36: For rinsing the inside of your BC,
Page 37 and 38: the simple solution Left: The man b
Page 39 and 40: Dive Florida America’s Underwater
Page 41 and 42: Hooked on Many a diver has a favori
Page 43 and 44: Like all polycheates, marine worms

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