Sidemount diving has arrived at PCAR. I have completed the Instructor Sidemount training course and can offer students training in that specialty.

So what is Sidemount diving? It was largely practiced as a specialized form of technical diving used to access tight areas of caves or ship wrecks. In recent years it has caught on as an alternative to back mounted tanks in the open water community. Manufacturers have begun producing BCDs for sidemount with the broader OW diver community in mind.

So the real question is why do it? Sidemount offers a way to carry fully redundant gas underwater without the heavy burden of wearing two tanks to the waters edge. The diver's tanks can be small than AL80s and are usually donned and removed in the water. This can save a diver stress on their back and knees when climbing boat ladders or wading into the water.

Open water divers can use setups as small as twin aluminum 40 tanks. One woman reported using twin al30s and experienced diving as if she didn't have tanks at all!

Sidemount equipment is also easier to transport in general. There is no requirement for a backplate or banded and manifolded tanks. There is a downside in that two regulator sets (first and second stage plus a SPG) are required. But if you already dive with a pony bottle, you'll fine the equipment transition easy,

You must be an OW diver at least 15 years old to participate in a sidemount course. Sidemount training can be taken in conjunction with other specialties such as Advanced or Rescue Diver.

NOVA has produced a TV show called Extreme Cave Diving. It discusses the Bahamian Blue Holes and their value as an archaeological time capsule.

The show was excellent in that it did show some very skilled cave divers doing their thing in a challenging environment. The downside is NOVA overstated the hazards and used creative editing to produce the final product.

Kudos to the divers for their fine work and one thumb up to NOVA for bringing it to the screen. PBS - Next time let the divers have input on what hits the TV screen.

For inside commentary on the show by the divers that participated go to The Deco Stop website and search for "NOVA Cave Divers".

I left the cold grey skies of Maryland for the warm sunny beaches of Aruba. This was an exploration for me since I had never been to Aruba.

I did seven dives while there, four wrecks and three reef drift dives. The dives werwe hosted by Mermaid Divers. Visit their website for details on dive schedules and pricing. Mermaid caters to tourist divers and offers full rental gear. I prefer my own toys so I brought everything needed except tank and weights.

The dives were easy and lots of interesting fish life was available for photo and video buffs. The crew made entry and exit from the water easy.

The dives are guided and you are expected to stay with the main group for the duration. Depths seldom exceed 80' unless the boat is full of more experienced divers. The exception is the shipwreck Jane C. at about 95' to the sand.

Sea life was moderately present with a number of angelfish including Queen, French and Rock Beauty. Pleanty of the more common carribean fish are also there. Look for a variety of fish from the tang family as well. Two turtles were present briefly. I also saw an octopus on the video that I took but was unaware of during the dive. Camouflage works well underwater. Be prepared to see HUGE green morays. I saw three of them during the week.

The island itself was impressive in that it was clean and looked very safe in all areas we saw. This is in sharp contrast to reports I have from other carribean islands. English was spoken everywhere and dollars were accepted without problems.

Car rental and return on Aruba was a nightmare. Allow at least an hour and a half for each visit to the car rental shop. Also, the airport has US Customs and Aruban security. Give yourself about four hours to clear everything there. It was a bit of circus when the time came to leave the island. 

So I found myself in northern Florida again. This time the trip was with buddies I had never met before. I logged into www.thedecostop.com and www.cavediver.net and located a few willing tech guys to go with.

My three buds for the trip were Bob Bailey, Dave Berman, and Mark Vlahos. All three impressed me with their skills and emphasis on safe diving practices. I look forward to diving with them again.

We dove a few days at Peacock Springs (Peacock I and Orange Sink) and then Ginnie Springs, Little River and finally Madison Blue. I separated from the group to dive Ginnie while they went to Marianna Florida fro some caves near Jackson Blue. My objective was to refine my abilities on the Armadillo sidemount rig. I was successful after swapping some hoses around.

Sidemount diving is not well codified. The rigs are generally tweeked to the diver and that can be an annoying process. Never-the-less, it is nice to finally have mine where I can comfortably dive in an overhead environment.

The trip was great as usual. One new item was the cottage I stayed at. Randy Thornton has a place in Ft White, www.cavecountrylodging.com which was absolutely awesome. I recommend it to anyone heading that way. I stayed there with his son, Joshand his student Doug.

Josh is a CCR instructor. He was very patient and answered my constant flow of questions about the Hammerhead CCR and rebreathers in general. Josh is based out of Utah and involved in some exploration of a virgin cave system out there. Look for Josh at www.utahdiveinstruction.com. He is definately top notch.

My last note for this trip is my battery pack for the Salvo 35 watt HID light died on me. I tend to be tough on gear and my light is no exception. Salvo is no longer in business but Corey and Joel at Light Monkey are running their own show now. They are former Salvo guys. Let me tell you, if Joey and Corey are on it, the gear will be fixed right. While I waited, Joel tore apart my existing battery pack and diagnosed it as shot. He showed me the corroded cells. Unfortunately I was there when they had run out of batteries. The next shipment came in Thursay and by Friday, I had a killer light again. Find Corey and Joel at blog.lightmonkey.us.

PCAR spent three days diving at Peacock Springs, Little River (county park), and Eagles Nest in Florida.

All three days were excellent dives with very clear (50'+ viz) in 70+ degree water. The locals were complaining about the viz here and there, but based on my Maryland standard, it was great. I wont bore you with details. Cave divers know how nice the caves are and recreational guys need to stay clear of them until they get proper training.

One note of caution to cave divers... Eagles Nest is 110'+ to the top of the mound. Tunnels are entered at over 200'. Do not dive here unless you you are trimix certified. Also get a guide for your first trip. I recommend Tampa Adventure Sports. They are safe, experienced, and have all the gas and technical diving supplies you'll need for the trip.

PCAR did a short exploration dive at Devils Fork State Park. It is a day's drive from Maryland, but could offer a warmer water alternative for training.

The park features a small cove that has an easy entry ramp and bouys to keep boaters out. Their are showers and restrooms available a minute away by car so take advantage before you get to the dive entry. There were no port-a-johns.

The bottom was silty and was a nice 71 degrees at 80'. There were lines and some objects there to find but for the most part is is featureless. All I found was an airplane wing and a (alas) a toilet. I will say that I did not use their lines. More items are supposed to be in the cove.

I was provided directions by Upstate SCUBA in Clemson, SC. They were helpful and have a well stocked shop for recreational supplies. I did not see much in the technical diving gear and recommend you call for more info.

Off the Wall Diving in Salem SC might be a better bet if you want to take advantage of Jocassee's deeper areas for trimix.

PCAR hosted an experience SCUBA program. This allows potential students to try SCUBA in a pool environment. Contact info@pcar.com if you would like to participate in a future session.

PCAR taught an Introduction to Technical Diving class at Lake Rawlings. The class was hosted by Lancaster SCUBA in Lancaster, PA.

Areas covered included use of backplate and wings for bouyancy as well as lift bag deployment, 7' hose air sharing, use of reels and double tanks.

The class consists of a day of tech diving equipment and techniques discussion, followed by a weekend at the quarry to explore the techniques discussed.

In spite of the rain and mud on the second day, everything went well. The course is a broad overview and as such no new certifications are conveyed. Never the less, new skills are imparted and the students gain a lot of confidence in operating their technical dive gear. Congratulations on the course completion to the new tech divers in training.

PCAR was at Fantasy Lake SCUBA Park, just outside of Raleigh-Durham NC. We did not do as well as usual with our objectives, but had a great opportunity to scout this area.

We were primarily interested in diving the lake. Equipment issues plagued my dive buddy and we were forced to shorten the dive on Friday and abort on Saturday. We were unable to do a complete survey of the lake.

See my Local Dive Sites page for a complete description of site and surrounding area. In summary, the dive site is larger than Lake Rawlings, but lacks shop and Nitrox fills. The lake has poorer visibility and feels oddly colder. There are restaurants and hotels nearby.

PCAR was at Lake Rawlings.  We accomplished most of the objectives of the trip and had a great time as well.

Lake Rawlings is an exellent training facility. I almost hate to say that because I'd like to keep the site to myself. But the manager, Kevin is a friend of mine and I'd like to see him have all the business he can stand. Somedays it gets so busy I think that's the case there!

This trip we took some video of the sunken plane and a few of the boats and miscellaneous items on the bottom. Unfortunately my dive buddy Mark, flooded his digital camera. So not many still picts from this trip.

The water temp was low 50's to high 40's below the token thermocline we found. Viz was excellent (up to 40' at times) until the OW classes splashed. Then it rapidly degraded.  But we all had to learn sometime, so we'll cut the students slack on the silt.

I am starting a technical diving class session this Spring. This is being run out of Lancaster SCUBA in Lancaster PA but I will also work locally in Laurel with interested Maryland divers.

Pleas email me at info@pcar.com or call me, Gary Truslow, at 443-604-7747.