Wetkiwi Clothing / Photograph by Andy MacDonald

Luckily for us New Zealanders that somewhere is pretty much everywhere and wicked is a major understatement.

Being world renowned for our underwater prowess, you’d think there’d be a funky clothing brand showcasing and celebrating it. There wasn’t.  That was until late 2009 when Wetkiwi showed up on the scene.

Wetkiwi started as a conversation on a long boat trip back from a day’s diving.
Noticing the distinct lack of said funky clothing, an idea was hatched, and in 2009 the idea was unleashed on the world.

Wetkiwi is about all things good underwater in New Zealand.

Wetkiwi pride themselves on supporting local events, people and charities.

Their business meetings happen on the way out for a dive, and product testing is before and after diving.
If you can’t tell already, being underwater is their passion.

Wetkiwi’s goal is to spread their love for New Zealand and the underwater world.
They strive to have the best customer service, highest quality clothing and stylish yet uniquely kiwi designs.

Wetkiwi was founded by Andy MacDonald.
Based in Auckland, New Zealand, the Wetkiwi team is a small dedicated group of divers, artists and designers all brought together by their love of being underwater.
When they’re not working on Wetkiwi stuff they’re either planning a dive or out there diving, using their underwater experiences to inspire their products and design.

We think there’s no better way to express your passion for getting wet than with a Wetkiwi T-shirt.

All Wetkiwi images copyright Wetkiwi.

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Scubapro Fusion: Dry Core technology - Hybrid Techskin 200D Bi-laminate membrane + 1mm neoprene shell, latex neck seal with additional cuff, latrex wrist seals with double wrist cuff, tough coat knees for abrasion resistance

Over the past month or so, I have been trying out the new Fusion Dry Suit from Scubapro.
And I was so impressed that I treated myself and bought one!

When Andrew first showed me the new suit from Scubapro, I thought it looked and felt like a giant condom!  Quite possibly it could be the sound that it makes whilst putting it on – little did I know how this would work to my benefit later on.
As I was also having a minor leak issue with my current suit so I took both dry suits on the July Three Day White Island trip. I decided to give it a good try out so I jumped in to the suit for the very first dive.

Before I had entered the water, I noticed that the flexibility in the suit was great.

Although it looks a little funny compared to the standard Trilaminate or Neoprene dry suit – yes I did get laughed at a lot – the Fusion is flexible and the ease at which I could pick up and put on fins even with my twin set on meant I could get my own laughs back from time to time.
I’m liking the idea of this as a working suit as often when you are teaching, there is no one there to help you and you need to be ready very very quickly in order to be able to help your students out.

On the first dive in the suit, the major difference I noticed was a slight decline in temperature.
The waters at White Island were pretty comparable to what I had been diving in the weeks previous, however my legs felt cooler.  This can be, and was, remedied quite easily with the addition of another layer or swapping back to my Fourth Element Artic leggings.

During the dive I felt comfortable with good trim.
I had been having a bit of a problem with my left shoulder for a few months and completing twin set gas drills had gotten quite hard.
Even with the telescopic body that I have in my current suit, I needed to tip forward quite a bit to grasp my left post valve.
I did not need to do this in the Fusion – there is just that little bit more flex with the neoprene duo of the super stretch and the standard neoprene.

Chalk another mark up for the flexibility of this suit!

So, I decided to write this Product Review after reading the details and information on the Scubapro Fusion website.

In fact the following two sentences were the ones that I really wanted to have proven wrong :

ONE;

Fusion is an exclusive hybrid suit by SCUBAPRO. It is a cross-over of the tri-laminated style, providing ultimate protection against water entry, and the neoprene style, providing maximum comfort. This unique combination is for incomparably comfortable dry suit diving.

TWO;

SCUBAPRO has incorporated DryCORE Technology, a patented, double layer system using: an internal dry core of tough 200D bi-laminate and latex seals with a sleek outer layer of soft 1mm standard and super-stretch neoprene, for the utmost in durable flexibility.

Streamlined for a hydrodynamic effect reducing friction and drag.
Fusion requires less energy both in and out of the water.

Having been very very very happy with my DUI for three or so years, I wasn’t ready to like another dry suit.
But the reality of being a Dive Instructor – and spending as much time in the water as I do – is that there are some pieces of your equipment that you just cant get too attached to.  And really, a dry suit is one of them.

I totally agree that the Scubapro Fusion is a very flexible suit.  It is very comfortable to wear both on the boat between dives and in the water.  I like the fact that I can take the neck off and still keep my arms in (no trying to tie it around my waist or stuff the wet arms inside the suspenders).
And as a working suit, I can see that this suit and its design is going to make quite a few tasks a whole lot easier.

The air distribution through the suit promotes good trim.
The outer neoprene layer helps to squeeze the air in an even arrangement around the suit.  I did not feel the collection of air in my ankles even when partially upside down checking out holes for crayfish in the Marine Reserve – the only time I check for them as I cannot be hassled about my lack of hunting skills!

I need to do a weight check to see whether there really is a difference for me and once I download my dive profiles tonight, I will be able to see if there is a difference in my SAC rate to justify the claim that the suit requires less energy.

However, as I mentioned already, I am sold.  My conclusion is that this is a great suit.
I bought a Scubapro Fusion Dry Suit and spent last weekend in it at the Poor Knights and I loved it.

Scubapro Fusion Technical Details :

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• Dry Suit Rental
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With airline baggage allowances getting tighter and tighter, the need for proper planning has become paramount.

My suggestions are based on my own experiences, there are of course many ways to skin a rabbit, I thought I’d just let you know how I go about my selection of gear, and how I travel with it.

The first place to start is to draw up a list of what gear I could take, then I go through the list and decide if it is really necessary and if there is an alternative.

The equipment I start with is mask, fins and snorkel.
As a drysuit diver here in New Zealand, I use huge fins that are open heel, meaning in the tropics I would need a boot to use them.
For overseas trips I chose a good quality pair of slip on fins, the type used by underwater hockey players. These are reasonably stiff yet considerably lighter than open heel fins and neoprene boots. I once tried cheap snorkeling fins but found them to be too unresponsive underwater and a real pain when swimming with a mild current.
Next is your mask and snorkel, this is easy, just take your favorite mask and snorkel. No reason to compromise fit and comfort here. One thing to consider is many divers do not use a snorkel at home, but may find many opportunities to use one on holiday.

Exposure suits will generally be thinner than domestic diving in NZ but one thing I feel strongly about is avoiding missing any dives due to being cold. I therefore suggest that you pack a high performance garment like a Fourth Element Thermocline or Sharkskin.
This will make a 3mm suit equivalent to 5mm and a 5mm suit more like a 7mm. The Polarfleece lining dries very quickly and the wind proof properties ensure added comfort when out of the water.
They are light, they pack easily and they keep the sun off your back when snorkeling

Regulators are often heavy, especially high performance models.
This is an area where you can save a lot of weight through the following tips. The first involves using one of the new breed of lightweight regulators such as the Aqualung Micron or Apeks Flight. These regs can save a couple of KG against your old reg, especially when you consider the following; take off your large twin gauge and replace with a compact SPG and wrist computer, then consider upgrading your hoses to the new lightweight Miflex style. Not only are they lighter, they are more durable, with a life expectancy of closer to 10 years than 5 with standard rubber hoses.

Your BCD gets a look at next.

Here again there are travel specific versions, or alternatively, what I have settled on is a lightweight wing system from OMS consisting of an aluminium plate, webbing harness and small single tank bladder. This gives me strength and durability all year round in NZ, with a small profile and light weight come holiday time.

Torches are often a standard piece of kit at home but I would usually consider just taking a small LED back up torch to the tropics.
If you plan to do a few night dives then you might consider taking a second light, but again I have found the large lights used domestically to be a luxury I can do without.
The other good thing about the LED’s is they are cool so can be used out of the water such as finding your way home after sampling the local nightlife or in case of powercuts.

Surface marker buoys and reels are another item that has to be considered.
They can be a life saver, yet often are bulky and heavy. I choose to take a small finger spool and a small marker buoy such as the 1m SMB by Halcyon. These take up no room and are very light. Anna and I relied on this combination in Papua New Guinea when we were caught in a massive current and aborted our dive. We were over a kilometer away from the live-aboard by the time we reached the surface, yet the tender had seen our marker buoy and followed us with the current. I would not like to imagine the consequences of us not having that marker and reel, my guess is we would still be out there!!

For the actual flight, I like to carry my regulators and computer, this started because of the high number of instances of lost or delayed luggage.

To use a loan bcd was in my opinion better than using a loan regulator or computer. The other benefit is these items are reasonably heavy so you can save some of your check in weight allowance. I use a specific regulator bag, which is light, yet padded to give added protection. It is worth mentioning here that you need to take care where you store your dive knife. I use a bcd knife, preferring the small size and weight, plus they are handy in there position either on your inflator hose or waist band.
Now care need to be taken so you remember not to carry your dive knife as hand luggage. Next time you are in the store, ask Anna about how she discovered she had done just this, through 3 different Airports!!

Some divers like to use a large wheeled bag.
My suggestion is to use either a lightweight dive bag, or a standard hold-all, with a light weight mesh bag inside. The mesh bags are not favoured through an airport as everyone can see your gear, however, once at the resort, they are great for transporting your equipment from room to boat. Then after the dives, your whole gear bag can be hosed down and then dried in situ.

Your mask can be protected in transit by either being stowed in the foot pocket of your fins, or a specific mask box/bag.

Photographers are probably the worst offenders for pushing the weight limits.
A couple of hints and tips here include carry as much of your camera gear as you can. Often Airport check in desks will allow you to carry 7kg hand luggage plus your camera.
If your strobes use Alkaline batteries, consider purchasing them in country or use rechargeable cells. It is worth noting that airline security now requires you to disassemble batteries from their strobes. I usually compromise my weight saving here a little by using a dry case for my camera, housing and lenses. It is a balance between protection and weight. In this case I go for protection first. The equipment is secure in a waterproof, shockproof case with foam padding.
This case is then also very usefull on the boat for storing any dry items you want to keep dry, such as your ipods, phones or even your favourite holiday novel. Another choice for your dry gear is a compact drybag. On one overseas trip we had an event where divers had to transfer from one boat to another, many of the passengers damaged cameras and ruined their paperbacks on the transfer.
Ever since, I now take a dry case or compact drybag on tropical dive holidays.

Dive Boats at Volivoli Resort / Photograph by Andrew Simpson

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On one day, around the world, 15,000 AWARE Divers in more than 100 countries around the globe will document every item found beneath the water’s surface to help prevent the marine debris epidemic affecting our ocean planet

At least 6 million tones of debris enter the world’s oceans each year, harming wildlife and underwater environments. The scuba diving community is influencing change by using their unique skills to remove underwater debris and gathering data to inform conservation.

Project AWARE Foundation tackles the devastating impacts of marine debris by supporting divers and volunteers in year round underwater and shoreline cleanups. In 2009, AWARE divers worldwide took the plunge and collected 555,000 lbs of debris that would have continued to be out of sight and mind for most.  

Global Dive gets organised for Cleanup Day by our Conservation Crusader, Instructor Alex, and this year is no different.

Register your details with the shop and come along for the day.

When: Saturday, 25 September 2010, 9:00am (divers to meet at 8:30am)

Where: Mission Bay

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• Club Night : Sharks and our ecosystem
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Here at Global Dive, we have scheduled training courses for PADI Open Water, PADI Advanced Open Water, PADI Rescue Diver, specialties and more.

We will also schedule courses for you –  when and where you want them.

Booking conditions

1. To book on to a dive course we ask for a $150 deposit. We also need your contact details.
   
2. Your deposit is non-refundable unless you fail your medical AND give us sufficient notice (see below).
   
3. The balance of your course is due when you start your dive course.
4. You must supply a dive medical signed by a physician before we can allow you to do your open water dives (i.e. you may do your dive medical after you start your course, but it must be supplied before you do your open water dives). It does not need to be from a New Zealand based physician, but must be on the prescribed diving medical form – which can be downloaded by clicking here – PADI Medical Statement.
5. If after booking your dive course and paying your deposit you fail your dive medical (i.e. you are found to have a medical condition that will prevent you from diving) then we will happily provide you with a refund, but you must give us at least 48 hours notice prior to the scheduled start of your dive course and provide us with a copy of your physician’s medical statement. Once you start your dive course, or if you advise us less than 48 hours before the start of your dive course, we are unable to provide refunds for failed medicals or other reasons.
6. If you miss a session or are late for your course you may need to do a catch-up session. Extra charges may apply.
7. If after you have booked or started a course you need to change your course dates, please speak with us as early as possible so we can try and accommodate your request.

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Check back here on a regular basis for a good idea on where we are planning on diving and when.
We have some brilliant destinations coming up – Shark Tank Dives, Fiji, White Island, Hunting and Photography at Little Barrier … don’t miss out!

We will also keep you updated with individual trip releases – either via the Trips board in store, email or our Facebook page

To hear about our trips as soon as they are released, you can subscribe to our RSS feed to make sure that you are right in the know.

PLEASE NOTE:

Your trip deposit or full payment secures your space.
Any outstanding balances are due a week before departure.

Generally trip payments once made are non-refundable, but most trips have a waiting list and we will do our best to find someone to take your space in the event you need to pull out.
You can help us, and improve your chance of a refund, by finding your own replacement.

If a trip is cancelled by us due to weather or for safety reasons, a full refund or store credit will be given.

Hanging around in Blue Maomao Arch / Photograph by Andrew Simpson

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With the latest busy lifestyles its amazing how quickly we can forget the basics.

As a divemaster I have been able to take people through the Scuba review and in the short 2 – 3 hour pool session it is amazing to see the student’s memory of skills suddenly flood back to them.
They start off quite rusty and nervous and after the first few basic skills of mask clearing, regulator recovery and snorkel to regulator exchange, it suddenly clicks and they start feeling more relaxed and comfortable being back in the water.

It can also be a great opportunity to pick up a few new skills or just meet other divers to buddy up with.

So if you have been hibernating for the winter or just having a break due to other commitments, remember, for your own safety, treat yourself to a refresher before jumping into the big blue again.

Leigh

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Apeks regulators always offered good options with hose routing and have recently stepped it up a notch with the release of the tech 3 specifically designed for double tank setup’s. Now they have taken it a step further. Many divers already have one reg setup for single cylinder diving and upon upgrading to twins realize that they need another first stage as opposed to two entire new sets of regs. Some divers will opt for a complete new setup as it allows easy changeability between singles and doubles, but for others they would prefer to just simply upgrade their existing setup. With this in mind Apeks have announced a 5th port upgrade kit for the DST first stage that allows both twin and single tank divers to re-configure the hose routing for a more user friendly and streamlined rig.

The 5th port replaces the HP (high pressure) balance chamber on the 1st stage with a new one which re directs LP (low pressure) gas to a new LP port for a regulator, without compromising the overall performance of the 1st stage. The new LP port is located on the lower end of the reg making it easier to use an under arm hose routing for a second stage eg. a 2m hose on a singles tank system. It also allows doubles configuration the chance to rout the backup regulator and BCD inflator neatly behind the neck (see pictures).

I have personally used this system with both the double’s and single tank system and found them extremely comfortable to breathe and wear in water. The upgrade must be installed by a Service technician but can be done while you wait as it is a 5 minute job. For anyone thinking of getting into double tank diving or simply want a 2m hose for short wreck penetration’s I would highly recommend this option as it’s simple, reliable and you won’t have to take out a mortgage to get one (or two).

Tom Crisp

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Some of it’s key features are:

• A full delrin body making the light extremely robust
• a heat dissipation tube giving it an extra two hours burn time (8 in total)
• and a fully floodable 4W LED module

The beam of the torch has a tight hotspot and wide halo making it perfect for signaling whilst still illuminating everything close by.

I initially bought these for cave and wreck diving, as you need good reliable backup torches. I have also used them comfortably as a primary on night dives several times. Another small feature which is a nice touch is they have an attachment point for a bolt snap so you can clip them off when you’re not using them. Personally I find this a little better than stashing them away in a pocket as you tend to loose things when there not clipped off (speaking from experience).

I guess I could rant on about how good these are but the only way for you to find out for yourself is to try them out or just come and have a look at them. For me these are a priceless piece of equipment as I regularly put my life in their hands and will continue to do so for years to come.

Tom Crisp

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There are many different reasons why people make the transition, including extending diving knowledge, reduced costs of deeper dives, additional bottom time or even for photography.

Most rebreather divers will tell you that when you start out on a unit it’s like learning to dive again.

My experience was completely different.

Personally I found the hardest thing to get used to was buoyancy, as you don’t expel bubbles you can’t use your breath to fine tune your position in the water column. All the other skills are just like learning new drills.

Once over the buoyancy barrier, diving my rebreather became much more comfortable and enjoyable.  For recreational diving, a rebreather is slightly more expensive per dive, as you have to buy sorb (CO2 absorbing compound) and oxygen instead of just an air fill.
Where you really start to see the advantage is on deeper dives not only for decompression reasons but cost. A twinset of trimix 21/35 costs around $170+ compared to a measly $15 needed for the same dive on a CCR.
For me this was the deciding factor in purchasing a rebreather as I do a fair amount of deep diving and have recently experienced the advantages of OC trimix beyond the 30m mark.
My trimix training on a rebreather is a little way off at the moment but I’ll get there soon enough.

Along with cheaper deep diving (in the future) I’m enjoying some of the other benefits of a CCR, none of which I really took into consideration when making the swap but just add to the experience any way.
It’s easy to see how photographers reap the rewards as it’s so easy to get close to fish, even the timid ones. By not making bubbles you blend right in with the aquatic realm allowing you to interact with it much more.
This means that photographers may be able to get closer to a subject allowing them to get that priceless shot.

Watch this space as I keep you up to date with my progress, sharing my experiences along the way.

Tom Crisp

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