Author: macado

Review of Thermalution Heated Vest (Yellow Grade)

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Thermalution heated vest

I wanted to wait a few months before finally writing a review for the Thermalution Heated Vest.  On a whim I purchased the Thermalution Heated Vest (Yellow Grade Plus) with the wireless remote controller.  I’ve been looking into getting an active heating system for use under my drysuit for some time but it has been hard to stomach the costs when I know the incredible markup on a lot of dive gear. The Thermalution heated vest is an intriguing one.  Thermalution is a Taiwanese company / manufactured vest that is…

Batman goes scallop diving and finds a torpedo bottle

macado
scallop diving

Although the weather this weekend was not ideal I managed to get out on a scallop charter on Saturday.   With my gear still wet from Scapa Flow I figured another trip into the salt wouldn’t hurt it.  I didn’t bother diving my rebreather mainly out of pure laziness since I didn’t feel like assembling it or filling scrubbers. Honestly sometimes single-tank dives are just easier especially on a 50ft scallop dive with lots of current. Me and Annie went out with Boston Scuba with Kim, Kevin N. and some…

Fall first-stage rebuilds that are O2 “clean enough”

macado

I discovered that my car battery was dead Thursday morning before work so I figured I would work-from-home and use that opportunity to do something truly productive. I figured I would catch up on a little scuba gear maintenance and rebuild some regulators, specifically first-stage rebuilds. All in all, it was a very productive day. I rebuilt a bunch of my regs that were well overdue.  I have a bunch more that I’ll save for a rainy/snowy day sometime this winter. Why Rebuild Regulators? My philosophy for most regulator rebuilds…

London Calling: Onward to Inverness, Scotland and almost missing my flight.

macado

Some last minute packing for Scapa Flow forced me to switch suitcases. The zipper on my big suitcase broke completely and I was going to have to split up into multiple smaller bags. Luckily I had a friend who let me borrow one of their large suitcases. Problem solved.  I am still bringing the same amount of checked bags but thankfully I have a little more wiggle room for souvenirs and a shitty re-packing job that I usually do.  It’s amazing how hard it is to re-pack bags exactly how…

Weekend of diving on Cozumel’s East Side with Aldora Divers

macado

Me and Annie hopped down to Cozumel for a long Columbus Day weekend to do some diving and lionfish hunting in Cozumel with Aldora Divers.   Because it was such a short trip I didn’t bother bringing my rebreather.  Back to single-tank open circuit for me I guess. 🙁     Even still that’s one of the primary reasons I like diving with Aldora.  With access to steel HP120s and HP100s (+ nitrox) and an experienced group of divers you can get some LONG single tank dives in. For 3…

Review of DeepBlu COSMIQ dive computer

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Deepblu COSMIQ on safety stop with a ceiling (deco stop)

I wanted to write a short review of the new DeepBlu COSMIQ dive computer since there is really not a whole lot of information about this computer on the Internet. A month ago I signed up to be a DeepBlu Ambassador so that I could evaluate this dive computer. The retail price of $299 puts it at a very competitive price point compared to other dive computers with color screens on the market.   It is also pretty small, slightly larger than most Android or Apple watches.  I could see…

Trip report: World-class wreck diving in Presque Isle, MI with Shipwreck Explorers

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Molly V

I will just start by saying it’s been a really busy summer and I haven’t updated this blog as much as I had hoped but I wanted to write a trip report as I just got back from 4 days of diving in Presque Isle, Michigan.  It was some of the best and well preserved wreck diving that I’ve ever done. Seriously the diving up in Presque Isle, MI and in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is so worth the trip that I’m already thinking of skipping a warm water vacation…

New York Central 14-II & Chester Poling with Daybreaker

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Matt on Chester Poling

I had two nice dives today on the Daybreaker.  We dove the Pug and the Chester Poling since Matt was doing a helitrox class with Sang and Eric on their rebreathers.  I think John may have been tagging along for Advanced Nitrox/Deco Procedures training as well. We had surprisingly decent visibility on the New York Central 14-II which tends to have crappier visibility in the summer.   The good thing about the New York Central 14-II aka Pug wreck is that the hull is largely intact so it’s an extremely…

Great day of lobstering and playing with seals at Dry Salvages!

macado

Me and Annie decided to jump on a charter with some friends on the Daybreaker (Cape Ann Charters).  The conditions and visibility were great.  Visibility was approximately 20-25ft+ with water temperatures in mid-50s at depth. We managed to hit our limit on lobsters (15..) very easily.   We also had a bunch of seal encounters. That is another reason I really like diving at Dry Salvages. The seals are always a lot more curious and friendly compared to Graves Light.

Rebreather surgery completed, kitten even tried helping..

macado

Because my rEvodream (secondary redundant ppO2 monitor) had died on me during my last dive I decided I would do the right thing and install a new one.  When I was in Florida in March I actually bought a brand new “used” rEvodream from AddHelium because I knew my current rEvodream was acting up.  It was basically brand new because someone had removed it to install a Shearwater NERD on their rEvo. It didn’t take very long to install. Hardest part was fishing cables through. Maybe 1 hour or hour…