Scuba Diving Equipment

Scuba Items Overview

Well, we thought we would get you involved in our trip since we get to go because we have such wonderful customers like you.  The first thing about a trip is you have to get everything packed.  So, Cheryl found out she doesn't get to take a pair of shoes for everyday.  Wendy says she can ONLY take 3 pairs of shoes.  We'll let you know how that works out.  The reason why we don't get to take everything is this pile of stuff you see here.  This pile of stuff is only part of what we need to go SCUBA diving.  We will be renting the Oxygen Tanks, the BCD and the Octopus while we are down under.  The Octopus is actually what you use to breathe.  It has 4 lines coming out and that is what you use to breathe in and you have an extra one for your buddy.   Here is a great picture from scubacenters.com of all the equipment needed to go scuba diving.

Scuba-diving-equipment-is-essential-for-a-safe-fun-adventure-300x276

We have wetsuits and boots.  Cheryl has to have gloves and a hat.  YOU know how Cheryl is always freezing and she is also freezing underwater so she has extra layers to keep her warm.  In the corner of the picture, you can see her pink mask because she is a little girly.  The big watch in this picture is actually a dive computer that we are using because we do not want to do the math on every dive because we are doing Nitrox dives.  Nitrox is enriched air to make it easier to breathe.

Scuba Items gear

If you look close at the following picture you can see the new underwater camera that Wendy has.  The actual camera is the tiny little thing in the middle.  The rest of it is the underwater housing and light to keep it safe underwater.  Wendy has been taking classes in Sun Prairie to learn how to use it.  You can see a blue square that looks like it is just a box of something.  That is our multi level recreational dive planner.  That means it is a computer that does the math for us.  There is a lot of math in SCUBA diving.

 Scuba Items Camera

We have special bags to carry all this gear.  You can see the blue square in the left hand side of the picture above.  That's Wendy's bag.  Cheryl's is pink.  They fold up really small for travel but expand to hold all this gear on the boat.  We will have another bag too to hold the rest of our gear because we will be on a boat. 

Scuba Items bag

Clothes?  No, clothes are not going on this trip.  We have to use 2 suitcases just for all the dive gear!  That leaves just 1 suitcase a piece for everything else.  Cheryl is sure she will be able to fit more than 3 pairs of shoes!    And this is not all the gear that most people normally take along.  Most divers bring their own BCD (which is the big vest you see people wearing) and weights.  Believe it or not, we do not weigh enough to stay underwater and have to add an additional weight belt too.

Scuba Items flipper

Here are our fins that we use.  Someone was over at our house and was amazed at the size of the fins.  And these are only small/medium fins.  Some fins are even bigger.  We put one of our purple pens next to it so you can see how big the fin actually is.  Wendy's fins are blue and Cheryl's are red.  Cheryl has a quick release on the back of her fins because she uses what is called concierge diving.  Which means she doesn't have to stand up with her tanks on her back at all.  She puts the gear on in the boat and then steps off into the water while they are holding the tanks for her.  They then help with the tanks and BCD.  And when Cheryl is done diving, she just needs to release the vest and they lift it and the tanks out of the water for her.  Cheryl is a little on the spoiled side and has never had to brave cold water or help with her own equipment.  Wendy is trying to get her to dive in Wisconsin this summer.

So what do you think?  Everyone keeps saying we could pack them in our suitcase and they could go with us.  The only problem is we don't have enough room in our suitcases for clothes much less Cheryl's shoes because we are taking our diving gear.

We just want to thank you for being part of this wonderful vacation.  Without such great customers like you, we would not be able to do this wonderful vacation.  We are so excited to be going to Fiji with Stampin'Up and the extra trip to Australia as long as we were in the neighborhood.    Look for pictures on Facebook and the blog.  We are going to try to get pictures posted while we are on vacation, but that will depend on the internet we have available to us in Fiji and Australia.

If anyone has any idea how to pack all this stuff AND get clothes too, let us know!  Have a wonderful time while we are gone and I hope everyone takes advantage of the specials while we are gone.

Happy Stamping!

Wendy & Cheryl