DiverVillage

2006-11-29T09:27:00.000-05:00

Next time you're in Atlanta you should check out the Georgia Aquarium. Fast Company had an article on the 1 year old facility, which cost over $250 million to build. They have approximately 120,000 animals in 50 display tanks, including beluga whales, sharks, and rays. They have some cool pictures on the web site slide show. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's visited.

2006-06-19T17:53:00.000-04:00

DiverVillage
Here's an excerpt from one of my dive articles, on the benefits of Enriched Air diving...
"The primary advantage of enriched air is to extend the no stop limits beyond the normal no stop limits associated with air. Since enriched air has a lower level of nitrogen than air, you absorb less nitrogen while your body is able to metabolize the extra oxygen, assuming you are diving within recreational enriched air limits. This results in longer no decompression limits while diving on enriched air. The primary disadvantage of diving with enriched air is potential exposure to oxygen toxicity. Oxygen can be toxic based on depth and duration under water, and by increasing the level of oxygen in the gas you breathe, you are constrained by your depth and duration. This is why you must calculate both your no decompression limit due to nitrogen, and your oxygen exposure limit called partial pressure. For most non-repetitive dives under 100 feet, you will be limited by the amount of gas as opposed to either the no decompression limit or the partial pressure limits. Enriched air is particularly effective in enhancing the frequency and duration of repetitive dives, since nitrogen buildup is lessened."

2006-06-15T17:20:00.000-04:00

This is the first post on the DiverVillage blog, the complementary site to DiverVillage.com, which contains diving related content such as articles, dive site fact sheets, and discussion groups.

I intend to use this blog to document my diving adventures, starting with my trip to the Florida Keys in July and early August. I currently have an open water certification from PADI, as well as Nitrox certification. I'm scheduled to do my checkout dives for my Advanced Open Water certification in early August, off Key Largo. These dives will be sandwiched between sportsman lobster season and the opening of full lobster season on August 6th. I'll be hanging out with my brother and a bunch of other friends for the first three days of the season, catching many lobsters, spearfishing for grouper, snapper, and hog fish, and maybe some off shore dolphin (mahi-mahi) fishing.

That's it for now, will post again when plans for the trip are finalized.