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😄😄😄 I wish! No, please take a look at the caption - it's the MV Karwela in Gozo, Malta

Thank you! Videos will soon become more regular again

The AP was and is my first 'baby, and I still have my Evolution Plus with me in Gozo. As far as traveling goes, I tend to travel without cylinders, and many dive centres in Malta and Gozo can cater for that as well as sorb. Let them know whether you need 2L or 3L and roughly how much sorb you need, so they can make sure they have everything you need. If you like, take a look at our website for private CCR guiding.

@@darkhorizondiving I seen at the end of your video about your website so once I finish my shift I’ll take a look. I could well be interested in booking with you for a few dives. I don’t want to just book any normal dive shop what I seen most of them just catered for open circuit dives. How busy are you? My issue is I work offshore so if I was to book something it would be very last minute sort of thing would that be something you can do or are you booked up?

@@rednissan001 what can I say - some weeks are full, others not. So I guess, the best thing would be to get in touch when you know that you have time off and see what my availability is like then. Put it's not like my schedule is completely packed.

@@darkhorizondiving cool mate. Ill be in touch 👍🏻

Tec. Are you undecided between the two?

@@darkhorizondiving yes I’m trying to decide which one to get. I’m extended range so I’m certain I’ll carry a few extra bottles. Everyone is telling me the rec has enough lift for two or three extra s80s. What do you think?

@@NirbhayKuppu definitely the Tec if you want to carry four or more tanks. You don't need to take my word for it - just check the comparison page on the XDeep website: www.xdeep.eu/compare-stealth-2-0-sidemount-nsc-15.html?product=16&1=16&2=18&3=20. You'll need to scroll down quite a bit to get to the capacity. (And just in case it's relevant - we are XDeep dealers and can often arrange direct shipping, depending on where you are.)

Vielen Dank, Ermes!

Hi Matt, thanks for commenting on my video. Can I ask if you actually stayed at the Blue Lagoon? It sounds like you didn't. I've stayed twice, in 2018 and 2023, so my comments in the video are from experience. Granted, it's not a luxury resort or the perfect hotel, but having lived in remote places for a decade, I wouldn't call it a dump. The rooms are spacious, there is generally warm water in the bathrooms, and I do prefer having the space to stretch my legs between dives or at the end of the day as well as plenty of power outlets for charging things. Both times that I stayed at Blue Lagoon, the staff was really quick about fixing any problems or offering alternative rooms when there was an issue.

I'm going to say 'just get one, you know you want to!' ;-)

Yes, we all heard today. Very sad news, sincere condolences go to friends and families

Love that comment and the fact that you enjoy our videos!

Thanks!

It's definitely worth it...and more than once in a lifetime just because of the sheer number of wrecks!

Thank you so much. Glad you liked it!

Thank you!

Yes, it's really noticeable in the video as well. Personally, if I know I need to keep the stages for the entire dive, I try to mount them a little tighter. Does take more time if you're dropping them, though. Decisions, decisions...

CCRs have the potential to transform your diving. Have you considered specific units already?

@@darkhorizondiving Yes, going to train next spring on the Dive Rite O2pitma

@@darkhorizondiving Their are three main reasons for the choice. Easy to travel, front mount allows me to use my backplate and wing and the available cartridge which improves work of breathing and no fuss with sorb.

@@kenmh7357 enjoy the training and your CMOptima journey

@@darkhorizondiving Thanks, will let you know when I get Certified

Hi, I don't know. This video was taken in January 2024. I'm just a bit behind on editing. It's called 'Return to Cenote Nariz' because I posted a video of a DPV dive there a few weeks earlier. Sorry for the confusion!

@@darkhorizondiving That's ok. There was a fatal accident in the beginning of february and it was closed during my stay in Mexico.

@@analogbrother I knew about the accident. It happened just a few days after I last dived there. Hopefully heading back to Mexico this winter.

Hi Mike, not much of a change - 17 degrees C on the surface and 15 degrees on the bottom

Not sure I understand?

Looking forward to it!

Hi Robert, thanks for asking. There are plenty of different ways of backing up your bungee. Paracord around the neck of the cylinder and a double ender or bolt snap would work, for example. This is simply one way to deal with this problem, assuming you have a prepared spare bungee with you.

Well, compared to other areas, the Mediterranean is not exactly known for having a lot of fish. There's potentially been too much fishing, but then it's had to argue with people whose livelihood depends on it.

@@darkhorizondiving our livelihood in florida does not depend on it and we have destroyed the fish population and ecosystems in multiple regions (SW FL, SE FL). They have a minute fraction of the life that lived in the waters just a few decades ago.

@@josephshultz6726 that's very sad to hear. I haven't had a chance to dive in Florida yet. Is that your main diving ground?

Thanks

Yes, I loved getting that shot! Took a few dives, too, because congers can be shy.

Well, it's easy to travel to Croatia... just saying. ;-)

Will be there in August actually. Two weeks on Rab

@@DarkSideDiving Might just have to come and join you ;-)

@@DarkSideDiving oh damn that makes me double jelly 😀

LOL! When you're diving in Asia, there's no choice. And that's where I was at the time.

@@darkhorizondiving yeah I get it sometimes we all have to like when on holidays. Never by choice IMHO though heay ;) Cheers guys and keep up the great content!

Well, in this case, there were no lives lost. The wreck was scuttled deliberately to create a place for training and an artificial 'reef' for divers to explore. Here's a link to more of the Karwela's history: maltadives.com/sites/mvkarwela-xattlahmar/en. But you're right, of course, many shipwrecks tell very sad stories.

True, but hey, the wreck has already happened. Why not be fascinated by it, from a scientific and archaeological standpoint?

Hey, not a silly question at all, and I guess I need to give some more context here. First of all, this is a private fun dive between friends rather than training or anything else. The diver had recently completed his Triton course and wanted to try the rebreather with different types of bailout configurations. So ... the isolator valve is closed because there is air in one cylinder and a deco gas in the other. The handwheel has been removed to avoid accidental opening/mixing. Both cylinders and regulators are labeled to avoid using the wrong gas at the wrong depth. Why not take out the manifold completely then? Because this was a trial to see how hose routing and other things would work before going to the (somewhat larger) effort of dismantling the twinset. Now for the 5,000 lt question - maybe you've seen some of my Kiss Sidewinder videos? Taking the Sidewinder into long but not necessarily deep caves would warrant that volume of a single bailout gas, for example, because you may not be deep and have a deco obligation that requires a higher O2 concentration, but you may be far from the exit and need to cover that time.

@@darkhorizondiving Awesome, that make total sense. Love youre work and thank you very much. I'm starting down the sidewinder path but a long way to go yet. Only recently gave my bands away and now clipping my steels to my new Stealth 2.0 - never going back I'm loving it. Cheers!

@@asecret900 Geat, glad it makes sense. There are many different ways to handle bailout. Anyway, I'm actually getting ready for a Sidewinder dive this morning. Shout if I can help with your 'Sidewindering' at all.

I did last year. The first time was certainly more entertaining than effective, but as people have said below 👇 after some practice and probably changing the technique (I wasn't in cold water long enough to really work on perfecting it) to a degree, it's possible.

Hence why I am not a cold weather Diver

@@darthknowl9222 I'm tempted to say 'where's your sense of adventure?' But you're right, most things need a re-think when you head from warmer to colder waters.

Thank you for taking the time to comment. And yes, the underwater world truly is a gift 😊💙

You know what - I agree. At the start of an actual dive, with thick gloves, and perhaps even stage tanks, it would be a time-consuming exercise. In fact, you would maybe choose to unclip the cylinder and bring it forward. Now, during a course, I teach the entire skill because it increases opportunities to practice. I also now teach stowing in a team vs on your own. At the beginning of dives, I use the partial deployment method. So, where does that leave us? The video was filmed in Bali, no gloves, warm water, aluminium tanks only - all making it easier to perform this drill. Over the past few years (note the video was posted 4 years ago), my diving and teaching has developed, both with different environments and influences from other divers and instructors.

@@darkhorizondiving Funny you should say that. I practice complete long hose deployment and restow with steel tanks quite often but on an actual dive I never do it, even with aluminum tanks in warm water I only do a partial deploy with a team inspection. th-cam.com/video/6l1vioRpSCM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ltYmkXyux63dtVEQ

@@thedivesmith8838 I'm going to say 'great minds...' ;-)

Hi Roslina, I guess that depends on your diving experience, training and what you're comfortable with. The diver shooting the video is a cave diver and has spent hours underwater working out what space is acceptable and when things become too small. Even when you're in a group of divers and considering going in a space like this (this was filmed coming out), you can always say no and continue the dive on the reef outside instead. 😃

Glad you like it!

Glad you like it. In this video, I am using a cam band with triglide and boltsnap. Now, I am mostly using metal clips (jubilee clips) and a boltsnap. Favourite boltsnaps are those made by XDeep, easy to use with and without gloves. Does this help?

@@darkhorizondiving definitely! Any advice from you is always helpful and really appreciate it v much.. But apologies for my incomplete question.. I was asking about what you use after you tidy up your long hose and shift the right post to your rear D ring. Do you use an extra bolt snap and from which part of the tank valve do you clip it from?

Ah, toward the end of the video! In this case, there is a boltsnapprepared around the neck of the tank on a thick bungee. If you feel the boltsnap would get in the way during the dive, you could always prepare a cord / bungee around the neck and bring a spare double ender

@@darkhorizondivingthank you so much Yvonne! :)

I watched the video and read the comments. I am even more of a newbie and didn’t understand the video. Some narration would have been helpful in explaining what is being done and why.

Thank you so much - glad you like it!

It is a very nice dive indeed. As for Scapa comparisons, it's been more than a decade since I dived there, so I'd rather give you Fumitzuki facts than real comparisons. At 38 m to the seabed, the Fumitzuki is a little shallower than the large Scapa wrecks. You'd spend most of your time between 30 and 33 m. The whole wreck is just around 100 m long but nowhere near as large as the merchant ships. That's good and bad - if you find the merchant ships overwhelming, this is a little easier to grasp and spend time on details. On the other hand, you could say there is less of a 'wow' factor, but that's really subjective!

Thank you!

Sure. The reason behind blowing bubbles is to avoid lung overexpansion. That can only happen when you're ascending without breathing continuously (or blowing bubbles when there is no regulator in your mouth). If you are stationary in the water column, blowing bubbles would decrease your buoyancy and you would sink. So, why teach new divers to always blow bubbles? Because we expect new divers to absorb a lot of information within a few days, in most cases. Trying to understand the finer points of buoyancy may be a little much for some. But when you are looking to finetune your diving skills, then it's time to think about why you're blowing bubbles and when. So, to summarize, if you are neutrally buoyant in the water column - not going up, not going down - then there is no reason to blow bubbles. That doesn't make it wrong to stick to the habit - it just means that you will need to correct your buoyancy once again.

You could definitely tidy up the hose. Clipping the cylinder to the back d-ring would also work, BUT it would sit at a different angle. How different and what angle would depend on the gas and the type of steel cylinder you're using. Sorry for the vague answer!

@darkhorizondiving it's ok lol I understand, that's technically a full answer, all things considered 😅. I'll be diving 12Lx232bar, Air. So I'll assume they will have a heavy bottom and sink. It might actually be better in some cases.

@@TheAMGReviewers I'm afraid the answer is still 'it depends.' Here's an example: I have a set of 12 l 232 bar steel tanks with a concave bottom. They're super convenient because they stand by themselves, but they're heavy in the water, and they remain heavy throughout the dive. I also have a set of 12 l 232 bar steel tanks with round bottoms. Those are about 0.7 kg lighter than the concave-bottom tanks, and they act a lot more like aluminium tanks in the way their buoyancy characteristics change throughout the dive.

@@darkhorizondiving Faber steel, convex bottom cos I need a cylinder boot 😆

@@TheAMGReviewers let us know how it goes!

Never ever do you want to find yourself in a cave without a continuous guideline back to the surface, whether it's a line you lay yourself as you're exploring or a line that others have laid in an already explored cave. So, in this video, you can see the shadow cast by the line in the bottom left quadrant right at the beginning. After about 10 seconds, you can see the shadow of the line in the bottom right quadrant. Once you see it, it becomes easier to find, I think. It's actually one of the toughest things about taking video during a cave dive to watch the line, avoid missing markers, while staying on top of a rebreather - oh, yes, and also trying to shoot a decent frame! 😅

Thank you! Glad you enjoy them!

Thanks so much Gavin. We love to hear that our videos are inspiring your dives!

Well, you should totally join in 2025. A year and a half to build up to it...

Glad you like it, Eddie. We'll still set up a WhatsApp call to talk in more detail, if you like.

Glad you enjoyed it. It's certainly a spectacular dive!

Hi Isabela, glad to see you liked the video! Now, I use the smart seals with dry gloves, and I found that adjusting the position of the external riing on the sleeve makes a difference for me. Even moving it by a millimetre or two made the gloves go on easier, and they stayed on, too. Other systems might have a safer connection, but that often means they are harder to put on.

Thank you!

Hi Andrew, thanks for your comment. The first thing I want to say is that I don't think it's necessary to use that sort of language to get a point across. Aside from that, have you done much technical diving in tropical destinations? In places where outside temperatures are around or above 30 C and sea temperatures even at depth can hover around 28-30 C, many technical divers opt for wetsuits over drysuits to avoid overheating. (Yes, there are other ways to mitigate those risks, but using a wetsuit is one of them.) Which then leaves you with options including a dual bladder (this adds potential additional failure points as well as backing up your buoyancy control device) or a liftbag / DSMB. Of course, you could deploy the DSMB all the way to the surface and just hang from it. Personally, I don't like the strain on my shoulders and elbows over a long period. All of those add to the diver's mental and/or physical workload.

Glad you like it!