Scuba Matt

Welcome back!

Advanced Student David Herzog on DPV

Skillfully operating a diver propulsion vehicle (DPV) is a skill every advanced diver should master.

These “scooters,” as they’re commonly known, are primarily used to transport scuba divers at double or triple their normal speed underwater.

Requiring little effort, DPV divers also use less energy, save air, and are able to survey wider sections of the reef. When divers add Enriched Air Nitrox to the mix, they’re often able to double their bottom time.

P.S. They’re also good for James Bond-style getaways

Check out this video student David Herzog getting AOW certified on DPV with Island Divers Hawaii.

Tags: HI, honolulu, scuba, waikiki

The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)

is looking for interesting new divers to appear in their print, online, and media publications.

PADI, I think picking ME (Scuba Matt) is definitely a good choice!

Scuba Matt photo courtesy Larry Benvenuti

Originally from Minnesota, I learned to SCUBA in a cold, freshwater lake.  I was 16 years old and could barely clear my ears! Now, as a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, I live in Honolulu, HI, and teach dozens of students each week. My favorite scuba activities are Drift Diving and Digital Underwater Photography.

Starting my journey as a PADI Pro, I traveled to the beautiful Florida Keys and became a PADI Dive Master at the age of 18. Fascinated by coral reefs, I learned to take  Scouts diving at the Florida National High Adventure Sea Base. Here I truly learned to love the ocean.

Hooked on scuba, I traveled back to Minnesota, donned a dry suit for the first time, and scored a job as a Dive Master near Lake Superior. Talk about getting “Wrecked!” Some of my most exciting dives were to the well-preserved wooden shipwrecks of the “Big Lake.”

Writing the Weekly Dive Report was my next job (along with teaching open water students on the weekend) when I became a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor and got my next gig as a scuba newspaper reporter in Marathon, FL. Here I worked for over a year writing about the unique people, places, and diving back in the Florida Keys. Hoping to start a journey around the world, I left Florida to document my adventures on Scubamatt.com.

Scuba Matt friends, what do you think? Show your support with some positive comments!

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After my Midwinter  journey to Minnesota, Scuba Matt is now back in action on Oahu!
Check out the newest dive report at Island Divers Hawaii for a mutant sea turtle!

These guys were the most fun I’ve had in weeks!

Thanks for all your hard works Brad, Mike, April, Chad, Pooja, and Missy

P.S. I’ve been looking for this sweet picture for almost two weeks.  It’s a classic Oahu turtle discovery.

- ScubaMatt

I like big seashells. This one had a tenant. I took his picture.

Location: Hawaii Loa Reef

Tiger Cowrie. Roar.

Tags: hawaii, island divers, oahu, scuba

The skilled diver knows how deep to go and calculates his bottom time accordingly while planning for rapidly changing environmental conditions.

Here in Oahu, the task can be as simple as monitoring your bottom timer on a shallow reef dive with 100 foot visibility at slack tide with no current. However,  it can be as hard as a leading a group of 6 divers to a deep shipwreck with ripping currents, limited visibility, and (inevitably) feelings of anxiety coupled by nitrogen narcosis (The rapture of the deep).

I typically run into both situations on a weekly basis.

Here’s a story:

Last week, when debriefing a shaken-up diver who had run short on air during his deep dive, I explained that he now had a firm grasp on his Personal Depth Limit.

All joking aside, I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic in any way, or meanly criticize the guy.  I simply stated the obvious fact that he now better knew how deep he could comfortably go. This, I explained was doubly useful.

“First, you know yourself and what to expect when going deep,” I said. “Second, you can test your limits and someday go beyond them, if you want.”

The diver then explained to me that his mistake had been in thinking that diving an extra 40 feet past the 60 foot open water mark would be a rather insignificant change.

In retrospect, we agreed that what he failed to do was take in consideration the effects of dissolved nitrogen, increased air consumption with depth, and current.

Nitrogen narcosis: Due to the effects of pressurized N02, I mistakenly overexpose my camera while taking a “prove it” picture of my dive computer at 135 feet.

Putting it all together

When divers master their buoyancy and trim, calculate their Surface Air Consumption Rate (SAC rate), they’re already well on the way to a numerical baseline that helps take the guesswork out of scuba while making it safe and fun.

In the same way, finding and testing your personal depth limit is a crucial skill that can improve a diver’s confidence level by establishing a safe maximum depth.

For scuba divers,  it comes down to what my crazy Divemaster friend Perry says to the girls in Waikiki: “Hey baby, it’s all about your comfort level.”

Yet another fun online rampage with “Yet Another Stupid Dive Organization.”

But for now ….

Here in Hawaii, the friendly Green Sea Turtle or “Honu,” is seen as a symbol of good fortune, beauty, and conservation.

Underwater, they’re almost like friendly puppy dogs who gaze  at divers through huge, seemingly introspective, and certainly loveable eyes.

In ancient times, Honu were revered as an “Aumakua” or guiding animal spirit for sea-dwelling people.  Rarely were the turtles hunted; and if so, they were always harvested with great attention to the “kapu” or rules concerning the take, time, and season.

According to modern Hawaiian law, it is illegal to poke, prod, touch, ride, feed, or  harass turtles in any way!

However, most surfers, skin divers, and scuba enthusiasts will testify to the fact that turtles usually approach people to investigate them.

Here’s a picture from today of a curious turtle who definitely wanted to know who was interrupting his underwater nap time (by the way, turtles with large tails are male).

who's watching who?

It’s almost like the turtles want to know who’s on their “turf,” so to speak.

In the spirit of turtle conservation, a number of organizations exist here on Oahu in support of Honu and their relatives the Hawksbill and Kemps Ridley Sea Turtles.  Some take monetary donations, others organize volunteers for outreach programs and even help protect fragile sea turtle nests.

 For more information, visit the following websites and do your part to respect the ocean.

NOAA Turtle Volunteers!

Report an injured sea turtle / illegal turtle harassment

Malama (protect)  Honu

- Scuba Matt

Jobs for puke lovers

• Elementary School Janitor
• Gastrointestinologist
• Barf Bag- ologist
• SCUBA Instructor in Hawaii

Imagine if your job involved constantly dealing with people who ralfed up their guts.

Like mine.

It could just be the seasickness getting to them, but ….

I’m assuming most of these corn-fed, Montell-Williams-Show-worshipping, megachurch-attending muppets from Illinois with names like Clancy and Buck feed each other Syrup of Ipecac before coming out on my boat.

Just to torture me.

Like so many creatures of the sea, the obscure filefish has a story to tell.  Peering at you over its razor-sharp eye hooks, the creature retracts its fan-like tail and pops it back open again.

You are reminded of a Shaolin Kung-Fu Master who has perfected the elegant yet deadly fan-form.

Florida legends tell of sailors would dry the filefish’s skin and use it for sandpaper in woodcraft.

A unique feature of the animal is its blue-green glowing spots.  Used as a type of neon camouflage, I like to imagine that this fish listens to hardcore industrial music while freaking out in a fit of glowing sub-sea ecstasy.

My advice: don’t mess with it. Underwater, it’s way cooler than you.

-Scubamatt