Why is my skin burning when I put my clothes on? Spilled sorb in suitcase

macado
rEvo in airport

I made it to Key Largo, Florida in mostly one piece with one small exception, one of the containers of Sofnolime (sorb) that I packed had somehow cracked and split open spilling sorb all over most of my clothes and towel that I used to pack them.  Not a huge issue but I had to mostly dump a couple pounds of sorb out of my suitcase and clean off all the dust from my clothing. Since I was flying Southwest I had two checked bags for free. I packed a…

Do you even work? Peirce Island double dip

macado

Just how many times can one dive the same dive site before you get bored?  Lots.   It’s no secret that I’ve been diving Peirce Island practically every other weekend this winter.   Unfortunately with most dive charters getting blown out or not enough people to run, boat diving can be challenging in New England winters.   Since one of my goals this year was so do more macro photography and practice with my camera I’ve been relegated to shore diving and Peirce Island provides endless subjects to photograph and is very…

Why does your dive gear smell like rotting fish?

macado

I noticed a faint smell emanating from my rubermaid dive bin on Thursday afternoon that deserves some mention. Actually perhaps the rubbermaid container deserves some explanation first. In New England and I presume lots of other places rubbermaid bins tend to be the ubiquitous dive gear container on most dive boats.  They fit nicely under most dive benches, have plenty of room for storage and all of your gear can easily be rinsed and washed out inside the container.   They also help keep your car dry instead of using…

The legend of the internet diver

macado

You’ve probably encountered this person online somewhere, mostly likely on Facebook or one of the numerous SCUBA forums out there.  Perhaps you’ve caught a rare glimpse of them at a dive shop or even struck up a conversation with them in the wild.    They may well even be an “advanced technical diver” or “experienced SCUBA instructor.”  Their title and knowledge has no boundaries just like their ego. Regardless, the last place you will catch these people are actually on a fucking dive boat or a shore dive..  They’ll often…

Gear Review: KUBI dry gloves system

macado

It’s been a year since I purchased a set of KUBI dry gloves.  I figure a year is plenty of time to run them through their paces and give an honest review.  From what I gather it’s a pretty popular system in UK/Europe but not so much in the United States.  Anyway, that seems to be changing fast..  I can’t say for sure how many dives I have with them since I switch back and forth between wet and dry gloves depending on the water temperature but I would conservatively…

Trip Report: Bottle diving, scallop diving & Chester Poling

macado

The weather this weekend turned out better than can be expected for New England winter boat diving.   With the winds blowing for most of the week I did not have high expectations for the conditions but I was pleasantly surprised when the winds finally laid down on Friday and I was greeted with flat and calm seas Saturday morning.   Although I have been diving most weekends in January and February all of these dives have unfortunately been shore dives since pretty much every charter has been blown out this…

How they “fix” split fins in Mexico

macado

I was looking through some old photos from a few years ago in Cozumel and stumbled across these gems.  One of the instructors I met, actually he might have been a DM, I don’t really remember..  Anyway, he wasn’t very happy with his split fins so he simply went to a local cobbler and had them sew a piece of rubber onto his fins to “unsplit” his split fins. I simply title this masterpiece “How they fix split fins in Mexico” or “Fixing split fins.”      Just another great…

Adding more video lights to your GoPro tray

macado

I’ve been using a Snake River Prototyping Tray with my GoPro tray setup for the last few years and it has worked pretty well however I found myself wanting more light coverage without necessarily spending the money on more expensive lights. Their boomerang tray is beautifully constructed and the bundle they sell comes with two loc-line 1/2″ arms and light mounts.   So far I’ve found that this setup has worked well enough in warm water with good visibility. I’ve even had acceptable to good results diving in New England…

Frozen dog shit, mud & Peirce Island nudibranchs

macado

The weather in Boston this weekend rivaled the arctic with air temperatures of -9F (-22C) and with strong winds making it feel closer to almost -20F (-28C!).   Not a great weekend for diving as you might imagine but few of us decided to brave it anyway and go diving on Monday (President’s Day) since it was holiday.  Unfortunately the air temperature on Monday wasn’t that much better than Saturday or Sunday; It was around 14F (-10c) when we entered the water if I remember but I think it finally…

Diving Peirce Island & nudibranchs

macado

One of my favorite shore dives in New England is a site in Portsmouth, New Hampshire called Peirce Island on the Piscataqua River.  The Piscataqua River is technically not a river at all but a tidal estuary that has some of the fastest moving currents in the United States (around 4 knots 7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph according to Wikipedia) at it’s full force. As such this dive site can only be dove at slack tide after carefully evaluating currents.  You typically can only do one dive here before the currents are too strong.…