Last August, just before another trip to Cozumel for my birthday I decided to give myself a generous birthday present (other than the actual trip). I decided it was time for a whole new set of dive gear. Everything I was diving with was more than five years old, but most still in decent shape. However, one trim pocket on my Mares Dragon BCD was ripped out at the bottom. It was kinda sketchy about holding the weights in with just the strap. Another issue I was having was the weight pockets not releasing. Here is Gulf Shores, we do a lot of beach diving. Sometimes if the surf gets up, I often find myself in the sand. When that happens and sand gets into the latch mechanism, they will not release as designed. Then I have to take them completely apart and clean out the sand. It’s not a huge danger not being able to pull my weights out in the surf zone. But then it’s also not a good look, rolling around in the surf struggling with one’s gear. As an instructor, that’s a bit unprofessional. Of course more leg strength would help. But knee replacements suck and that’s a whole other post.
First up was a new BCD of course. I chose the ScubaPro Hydros X. Still a jacket style which I prefer. I usually wear a xl but it only comes as a XL/XXL size which has created some problems. I added the Air II as all of the shop gear is rigged with them. Next was the MK 25 EVO/S600 regulator. Since we do dive in some cold water at times, I wanted some with better performance that my old SubGear outfit (which they don’t even make anymore).
Picking a new computer was probably the hardest decision of the whole set. Some of the other shop personnel were pushing the Galileo 3 with the transmitter while I could get it at a significant discount. Well, I checked the features and it was way more computer than I would ever need. In addition, I am wary of anything needing a transmitter underwater. I’ve personally seen them fail miserably. Maybe they are better now but I just don’t trust them. Another deciding factor was the kind of diving I do. I’m not a cave diver, ice diver, tech-40 or whatever and don’t plan to be. I dive and instruct open circuit recreational gear with air and Nitrox. And I’m good with that. So I wen with the ScubaPro Aladdin Sport. It’s very similar to my SubGear XP-10 but with bluetooth. That was always an issue I had, downloading dive data.
New fins were also in order. The red ScubaPro twin jets this site is named for are starting to break down they’ve been used so much in the past 10 years. But I just love them. With bad knees plus a TKR, they have been great with plenty of power. So now, it’s bright yellow. But I’m not changing the site name for them.
One thing I ordered though was a real disappointment. I tried a zip up neoprene jacket. I ordered women’s size 3xl. That’s the size of my Henderson shorty. When it arrived, it looked more like a small to medium. My 120 lb grandma couldn’t wear it even if she was still alive. There’s a full 8 inch difference in the width compared to my Henderson. I was so pissed I complained in the review section of the ScubaPro site. But then as I have fond out, only skinny women scuba dive, swim or ride motorcycles. Not!
The Red Fins 