Going diving in Hawaii for the first time. Are there any differences in eqipment, wet suits, weights ect. Will be first time diving in saltwater.Usually dive in lakes and rivers in South Dakota. Thanks for any info.

Your mask, fins, snorkel, BC and regulator will work fine in Hawaii. Be sure you rinse your gear well at the end of each diving day to prevent salt crystals from building up, and that includes rinsing/draining the inside of your BC. If you use a dry suit, you can take the inflator hose off your regulator and put the plug back in the low pressure port since it would just be a dangly hose that you won’t need in warm water. At the end of the trip give your equipment an overnight soaking in clean fresh water to dissolve any salt crystals that may have formed.

Since you will be diving in warm water I imagine you will want to use much less exposure protection than you do in the fresh water lakes and rivers at home. The amount of exposure protection you will need to stay warm depends a lot on your personal tolerance to cold, but most people would find a 3mm full length wetsuit fairly comfortable.

If you are moving from cold water exposure protection such as a dry suit or thick (6.5mm or more) wetsuit, you should expect to use much less for weights in Hawaii while wearing a lightweight wetsuit. Even though saltwater is denser, your buoyancy will be affected much more significantly by the change in exposure suit thickness and so you should expect to need much less weight to get off the surface. I usually advise people moving from cold freshwater diving to warm saltwater diving in a 3mm wetsuit to start with 1/2 the weight you would use at home and then adjust as needed. I would highly recommend doing a buoyancy check before your first dive if possible to help you dial in your exact weighting requirements.

Safety equipment that may come in handy which you probably aren’t accustomed to carrying at home include a safety sausage, a dive whistle, a small mirror, and a small dive light. If you should surface away from the boat, such items can help alert the boat crew to your location in case you can’t swim back to the boat. Otherwise a diver’s head & shoulders is kind of a small dark speck on a big blue ocean and can be difficult to see from a distance, especially in any kind of wave action.

A small dive knife might also be handy to have if there is risk of entanglement, but you can leave any big pigstickers at home. You should be aware that more and more popular diving spots are developing into marine parks, and one of the common rules in a marine park is no gloves and no knives (to discourage touching anything). I don’t know if Hawaii falls into that category or not, so by all means bring along a small knife but just know that you may end up having to leave it in the bag.

Have a fun time.

What are the bends in scuba diving and how do they relate to Scuba diving? Please answer in a two or three paragraph response.

The bends are also known as decompression sickness and happens when you descend to depths too rapidly and your body struggles with the process of adjusting to the different environment under water. This allows for gas bubbles to to develop in the blood stream.

These gas bubbles occur when an ascent is made too quickly and the body cannot handle the speed at which the transition happens, which is why divers practice ‘decompression stops’ to prevent the process of decompression sickness. These bubbles which contain high levels of nitrogen then reach the divers lungs.

So, i’m new to scuba diving, but i enjoy it a lot so I plan on buying some gear. And I just had a few small questions.
How accurate does a regulator need to be? How can I make sure that the regulator is
reading correctly, like a short test or something?

Are you talking about regulator or pressure gage? Regulator is a part that connected to a air cylinder. It has 2 type of outputs. 1 HP : to connect pressure gage to see how many bars you have, 2 LP connects to maps, inflator, horn etc. On LP circuit there is approximately 8-10 bars. There is no need to be accurate, because on the maps, which you hold in your mouth, air is regulating again according to the current depth.

I think you should wait and get experience. Because diving is very enjoyable, on the other hand very serious sports. Small mistakes may kill you.

Scuba diving on a ship wreck in the Cayman Islands. Sponsored by www.caymanvacation.com

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WOW! What a great scuba diving learning and vacation opportunity for families. Kids Sea Camp offers events in Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Bonaire, Belize, FIJI, Galapagos, Costa Rica, Palau, and Silver Bank

Kids Sea Camp is a fun-filled vacation for families who love the ocean. A full week’s schedule of events and educational programs promises great times and learning experiences for families with kids age 4-15. Each week includes 7 nights accommodations, diving, meals, excursions, activities for both adults and kids including, diving, snorkeling and many PADI Specialty courses.

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PADI Snorkel and SASY training: This program is for kids age 4-7
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PADI Junior Open; This program is for kids age 10-14
PADI Jr Advanced Open Water; This program is for kids 12 and up provides a depth of 65 feet.
PADI Open Water. This program is for kids and adults age 15 and up

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