2015 Dive Show 2015

Dive-In Larnaca will be on the Cyprus Tourism Organisation stand at the NEC Dive Show next weekend, 24th and 25th October.

If you are interested in working in the dive industry, are planning your next diving holiday or just want to come and say Hi come along and meet us.

Shore Diving

We are well known for diving the Zenobia wreck, but we also run regular shore diving trips to the coast between Xylafagou and Protaras.  At this time of year the water is a lovely temperature and the fishlife is at its most. Following some basic guidelines will ensure you have an enjoyable day:-

Assess the site before you gear up. You don’t want to get kitted up, walk down to the water and then find the sea is too rough.

DO not put anything down while you are getting in the water. Anything you put down will be taken away by the waves. Hold onto your mask and fins and lean on your buddy when putting your fins on.

Check you have everything with you. Before you get in the water check you have all your kit with you, so you don’t have to de-kit and go back to the car for something.

Practice your navigation skills before you go diving. Take a bearing and look at the prominent landmarks on shore, so you can find your exit when you need to.

Exit. This can be the hardest part of the dive sometimes. We do not tend to have much surf here so can usually walk out but in rougher conditions crawling on your hands and knees may be the best answer, so wearing a long suit and gloves is a good idea.

So get in touch for one of our Napa Safaris on larnaca@dive-in.com.cy or +357 24 627 469.

Summer is in full swing.....

....and so are we. Over the last few days we have completed a number of recreational courses including Open Water, Advanced, Nitrox and Divemaster.

The week concluded on Saturday with a dive and a Night dive over in Green Bay Protaras where we saw octopus, cuttlefish, 2 moray eels as well as the usual scorpion fish, pipe fish and crabs

It was a great fun evening and a first night dive for Mark and Steven.

If you are interested in learning to dive or continuing your diving education contact us on larnaca@dive-in.com.cy or visit our website at www.dive-in.com.cy 

A Quiet Day

Newly qualified Rescue diver Mark went with Instructor Darren and Open Water student Steven for the first day of his Divemaster course today.

Mark has been with Dive-In Larnaca for a few weeks now working towards his Divemaster, he is here as part of his resettlement from the British military, training for a new career. Dive-In is the only dive centre outside of the UK which can train UK military personnel on resettlement or who are using their Enhanced Learning Credits (ELCs).  See ELC in Cyprus for more details

Steven did a Try Dive last wek and enjoyed it so much he signed up for his Open Water course this week, using the eLearning to get all his theory done away from a classroom environment.

The rest of us spent the day preparing for the arrival of a group of DIR/GUE divers tomorrow and doing general maintenance in the workshop and cleaning up the boat after it first couple of months usage.

Windy June

It's been a windy few days, so we've been going out diving earlier than usual, but the strong afternoon winds have been a bonus for the kite surfers up at Faros beach.

Zenobia Mass Dive

We all took part in the mass dive to Zenobia today as part of the annual "Zenobia Week" celebrations. The organisers were aiming for 100 divers on  the wreck at about 8.30 this morning and we reckon they got that many - most of them with their own cameras intent on recording the event.

The Dive-In Larnaca team positioned themselves on the railings near the funnel, Darren, Fiona, Mark and Dan in the front row with Kelv and Sheri floating behind - and we didn't budge!! so we must have been caught on film/camera somehow - although it was impossible to know which of the photographers was the official videograher so we just smiled and waived at them all :-)

It was a great laugh and good fun - as well as being Mark's 35th dive and we are looking forward to seeing the results.

Hydration and Scuba Diving

It seems strange that a sport carried out in water can leave you dehydrated, but there are many ways divers lose water whilst diving. Dehydration can negatively affect diver performance and increase the risk of decompression sickness, so you need to know how to recognise dehydration. 

Why do we need water?

Water makes up over half of our body weight so our bodies depend on water for survival. Every cell, tissue and organ in your body depends on water for proper functioning.  Water is essential for joint lubrication, cardio-vascular efficiency, regulating temperature, and removing bodily waste.

Everyone has heard the advice, "Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day." That's about 1.9 litres. However, the Institute of Medicine advises 3 litres of water per day for men, and  2.2 litres of water per day for women.  But you may need to vary that amount depending on your environment eg warm climates, your age, the amount of exercise you do and your general health and fitness.

Why do you become dehydrated when scuba diving?

All the following factors reduce the amount of water in your body:-

Sweating (climate) – Diving often takes us to warm locations with the greatest abundance of coral reefs, as they are near the equator with good sun coverage and warm waters. Divers come to the Cyprus for their once-a-year dive vacation and they are not used to the heat or the need to keep hydrated. But even in cooler countries, divers may sweat just carrying gear bags and tanks and from kitting up for their dive.

Sweating (exposure suit) – Divers all over the world sweat in their suits – wetsuits or drysuits! Sweating underneath the exposure suit can be profuse, but it is hidden, making it quite deceptive.

Respiration – Our bodies naturally loose water as you breathe out. We breathe dry compressed air when diving so the water lost through respiration is even greater.

Sun – Our best dive locations have excellent sunlight.  Whilst diving we are often outside in the sun for prolonged periods. Even mild sunburn causes the body to send water to the skin which then evaporates leading to further fluid loss.

Wind – Not only is it windy in the afternoon in Cyprus but a quick boat ride to and from a dive site can remove further moisture from the exposed skin.

Salt – Our diving in Cyprus takes place in salt water.  So divers have contact with salt directly on their skin before, during, and after their dives.  Unless you rinse it off, the salt crystals will sit on your skin and absorb water from your skin.

Immersion Diuresis – As we dive, ambient water pressure and the cooler temperature of water may both have a role in shunting blood from your arms and legs into your main body.  When the body recognises the increase of blood around core organs, and the subsequent increase in blood pressure, it attempts to flush fluids by increasing urine output.  That is the reason for the frequent need to urinate during dives.

Vomiting – vomiting can leave the body in a severely dehydrated state along with a severe electrolyte imbalance.  The more you vomit, the greater the chance of severe dehydration.

Alcohol – Dive trips are often fun vacations.  It is important to recognise that drinking alcohol is quite common during dive vacations.  Alcohol is a diuretic, it makes you urinate more and so speeds up the loss of fluid from the body leading to dehydration.

Am I dehydrated?

There are several symptoms of dehydration that you should be aware of:

·        Little or no urine, or urine that is darker than usual – have a look at chart in our Wetstore toilet

·        Dry mouth

·        Headache

·        Extreme thirst

·        Sleepiness or fatigue

·        Confusion

·        Feeling dizzy or lightheaded

Do not wait until these symptoms appear before you take in water!  Drink early and often.  Also note that these symptoms may be hard to recognize when you are already dehydrated.

Why should divers be concerned about dehydration?

As the amount of water in your body decreases your blood gets thicker and so its ability to move gases around the body reduces. This can lead to muscle fatigue, cramping, high blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, confusion, and increased breathing.  The circulatory system is vital to the off-gassing of nitrogen, so nitrogen release may be compromised in a dehydrated diver.  Mild to moderate dehydration in divers can lead to the following:

·       Weakness and exhaustion

·       Poor air consumption

·       Cramping

·       Reduced awareness

·       Increased risk of decompression sickness

What can you drink?

Water is best.  If you don’t like plain water, add small amounts of fruit juice for flavouring.  Sports drinks like Lucozade® are also good for hydration when engaging in long-duration physical activity although they have a high sugar content, but they do contain sodium and other electrolytes. Energy drinks like Red Bull®, Shark® and Monster® contain high amounts of caffeine – a diuretic and so are best avoided before diving. 

How to stay hydrated

Here are some tips on staying properly hydrated when scuba diving:

1. Start drinking water hours before you go diving. DAN Europe also recommend drinking 200ml of water every 20 minutes after diving to ensure you stay hydrated.
2. Carry a re-usable, clear, water bottle so you can measure how much you are drinking and so avoid plastic rubbish.
3.  Hydrate during surface interval – use the water machine in the shop – if it is empty ask a member of staff to refill it.
4.  Fruit contains water, fructose and vitamins and is great both pre-dive and post-dive.
5. Stay in the shade as much as possible, especially when building your kit.
6. Don’t put your exposure suit on until the last minute, take your lead from our instructors.
7. Use sun cream to help prevent burning, wear a hat on the boat.
8. Cover up, wear a thin long sleeved shirt and trousers.
9. Rinse the salt off your skin as soon as you can after diving.
10.  Do your best preventing sea sickness.
11.  If vomiting occurs remember to replace fluids and electrolytes soon thereafter.
12. Avoid diuretics, especially alcohol. If you need to drink before diving we recommend no more than 2 cans of beer or equivalent the night before a dive. 
13. Plain water and sport drinks are good for hydration, energy drinks are not.

As you can see hydration is really important in scuba diving. 

Instructor Crossovers

If you are already a recreational diving instructor have you thought about expanding your teaching base?

At Dive-In Larnaca in Cyprus we run courses to cross over existing recreational diving instructors to all the following agencies:-

• Scuba Diving International (SDI)
• Technical Diving International (TDI)
• Divers Alert Network (DAN)
• PADI TecRec 

The requirements for each of the Agencies are as follows:-

SDI Open Water Instructor
Be a current certified Open Water Instructor with a recognised agency and not have any outstanding ethical issues or standards violation.

The Instructor candidate needs to complete the online familiarisation course which goes through  SDI standards, Instructor guide and SDI Open Water materials - it doesn't tell you "How To Teach Scuba" - you already know that!

SDI will also cross over 5 of your recreational specialities to equivalent SDI specialities at no extra charge.

TDI Instructor
The TDI Instructor framework is thorough in that it requires you to accumulate certifications at your current level before progressing to the next level - this ensures that TDI Instructors have a good solid grounding before moving onto the next level. TDI also require all their instructors to have completed the user level course too.

Most Open Water Instructors crossover at the TDI Nitrox level and then having successfully certified 10 Nitrox students (of any agency) then can start thinking about becoming an Advanced Nitrox Instructor etc

DAN Instructor
Most divers know DAN in the context of diving insurance providers. What they may not also know is that DAN offer a range of diving related training courses such as Oxygen Provider, Neurological Assessment, Hazardous Marine Life etc - there are currently 9 different courses. At Dive-In Larnaca we provide courses in user level of these courses as well as Instructor Levels. To become a DAN Instructor you must be a DAN Member ie hold DAN insurance and be an Active Scuba Diver Instructor (Divemaster is acceptable for some courses). DAN have recently opened up their courses to online study (D-Learning) also.

PADI (DSAT) Tec Rec
At Dive-In Larnaca we have our own in-house TecRec Instructor Trainer. To start any TecRec Instructor course you need to be a current PADI Open Water Instructor, a Nitrox Instructor and a Deep Instructor and before you can be certified you need to be a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (there are also additional pre- and post course requisites). You can sign up for a PADI Tec instructor who can teach Tec40, PADI Tec Deep Instructor and teach up to Tec50 or Tec Trimix.

All of the above courses add to your value as a Diving Instructor and make you more employable.
For further details contact Chris or Sheri on larnaca@dive-in.com.cy or visit www.dive-in.com.cy

Enhanced Learning Credits

If you are coming to the end of your military career and are looking for a new career in the sun, Dive-In Larnaca can help you train to become a Diving Instructor by using your ELC and resettlement grants. You will then have a new qualification which is recognised the world over. This couple came to us last year, They were already experienced divers and BSAC Instructors and we helped them expand their diving qualifications which enabled them to open their own dive centre in Tulum, Mexico.
They really are living proof that you can change careers and live the dream live in the sun. For more information about using your ELCs to become a diving instructor contact us at larnaca@dive-in.com.cy or call us on +357 24 627 469 and start planning your dream job.

Ex-Navy couple open dive centre in Tulum Mexico

PADI Advanced Open Water

The 2015 season is starting to pick up, in early February our new instructors Darren and Dan completed our first PADI courses of the year with a PADI Drysuit speciality course and a PADI Open water course respectively.

Dan's student enjoyed his course so much he has already booked onto his PADI Advanced Open Water Course. During that course he will get 3 dives in the shallow bays of Protaras; mastering his buoyancy with the Peak Performance Buoyancy Dive; getting more practice with his underwater compass on his Underwater Navigation Dive; learning more about our local marine life including vertebrates, invertebrates and plant life with a Underwater Naturalist Dive. 

 

Then he will be doing  2 dives on the wreck of the world famous Zenobia completing his Deep Dive where we have a look at the changes in colour at depth and the effect of diving deeper on your air consumption, and finally the Wreck Dive in which we identify the hazards on the outside of a wreck and navigate along the wreck back to a shot line. You can book today on any of these courses or many more by contacting us at larnaca@dive-in.com.cy or visit our website at Dive-In Larnaca

SDI Nitrox

We recently completed a SDI Computer Nitrox course for one of our customers, and at just 99€ you'd be mad not to book yourself on this course in the future. With longer bottom times, shorter surface intervals among the many benefits of diving Nitrox you can have some great times diving with us out on the Zenobia. Through SDI's on-line training program,  you can complete most of the required academic study in the comfort and convenience of your home or office. When you have done the self-study portion of the course, you will come to Dive-In Larnaca and meet with your SDI Instructor to review your final exam and to take part in a  brief practical application session. Here you will get hands-on experience with oxygen analysers, Nitrox dive computers, gas logging sheets and tank labelling. You can get started now on this course or many more by contacting us at larnaca@dive-in.com.cy or visiting Dive-In Larnaca.

 

 

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Our new bigger boat that can hold up to 15 people is almost ready to get into the water. The guys have recently been up to the dry dock to put the final touches of antifoul on. Now in the Marina awaiting final inspection. We are all excited to see her in the water for trips to Zenobia and beyond! You don't need to wait for our new boat, we are still running daily trips to the Zenobia, so book today by contacting us at larnaca@dive-in.com.cy.