Rebreathers

Aloha.

Dan and I went searching for close photo's of the Hammerheads on Tuesday morning, with no luck!  We're going to keep trying, and we'll obviously post if we get any.  We have a few ideas in mind to get closer, one involves rebreathers.

If you don't know much about scuba diving, you probably won't know about rebreathers.  Rebreathers are a different way of being underwater with the fishies, totally different from Scuba Diving.  Without getting very technical, rebreathers allow you to stay underwater longer and they are silent because there are almost no bubbles escaping, so fish and other marine animals are not scared away.  Normal Scuba, as you see on TV, is called Open Circuit scuba diving, and that is basically exhaling bubbles out into the water, which is very loud and we think it might scare the animals away.  Obviously, scaring animals away is not ideal for shooting photos' and video underwater.  So we're working towards using rebreathers!

So, yesturday (tuesday) afternoon we met up with our friend Todd, who owns North Shore Explorers, and he took Mike and Dan out diving on rebreathers.  I have dove them before and can actually teach a semi-closed circuit system, so it was more fun for Todd and I to watch Mike and Dan try them out for the first time.

We used an Inspiration System and another Navy Seal type rig called a Lar V.  They are both rebreathers, but very different.  The Inspiration is huge, and it looked hilariously overwhelming when Todd strapped it on Mikes back, plus it weighs a ton.  It's a great rig for going deep for a long time, which we think might come in handy down the road, especially when we want to sit down at 100 feet waiting for some Hammerheads to show up.

Dan was diving the Lar V, which is very small.  It's a chest mounted system that enables you to breathe 100% oxygen, which means you can only go 20 feet underwater.  (too much oxygen isn't good for humans, and depth underwater makes the dosage of O2 go up)  At first Dan was scared because Todd did a great job telling him how he could die if he goes to deep, or how he could die if he takes his mouth off the rig to breathe normal air then breathe off the rig again, or how he could die, etc, etc...  The whole system is pretty simple when you're actually using it, but it sounds pretty scary when you hear about the 15 or so ways you can die on it.

Todd and I were using regular scuba so that we could help Mike and Dan if they had any troubles, and we went on a shallow dive (obviously above 20 feet) to test these things out.  After breathing on each rig for about a minute, Mike and Dan were hooked.  They were swimming around like happy little fish, amazed at how silently they could move through the water.  Todd was so impressed with their skills, that he had them switch rebreathers underwater, it was awesome.

Long story short, if you have any interest in trying a rebreather, do it!  If you are on Maui, call up Todd over at North Shore Explorers and you will have a blast.  Tell him that we sent you and maybe he'll call us and we can all dive together.

We're hoping to get certified to dive rebreathers soon, and I will keep you posted on the progress.  I might film some clips to share the experience next time.

Thanks for reading!

Oh yeah, there is a chance that you can see some of our work on T.V.  I guess there is even a chance that you will see us on T.V. too, but mostly our work.  In one of the next few episodes of America's Next Top Model, see if you can figure out what we shot.  It should be fairly obvious.  I think it will be in about a week or two, I'll keep reminding because we're kind of excited about it.  I hope it doesn't end up to be nothing.

Also, our friend Todd posted a short video he made on Youtube called "Hoover gets sucked," its pretty funny and amazing, check it out!

Stay in touch.

Talk soon,

John