Dive Shop

I visited Columbia Scuba (http://www.columbiascuba.com/) today. One of the pieces of equipment I decided I wanted to take with me is a small underwater flashlight. The flashlight would be useful for looking into crevices and nooks. When I tried turning the flashlight on, it wouldn't come on. I assumed the batteries were dead so the next day, I drove to Safeway and bought some new batteries. I installed them and the flashlight still wouldn't come on. I decided to take the flashlight to Columbia Scuba and see if they could figure out what was wrong with it. If they couldn't, I'd buy a new one. It turned out that a) I put the batteries in wrong and b) the bulb was burned out. The flashlight didn't have any kind of diagram showing how batteries should be put in. As far as the bulb, the only thing for that was replacing it. To my surprise, it cost over $20.

Another diver was at the time shop while I was there. Unlike me, he had gone on a number of dive trips. I asked him what he could think of that I might need. He came up with 3 things. The first two were standard: mask defogger and ear drops. Mask defogger keeps your mask from fogging up once you get in the water. Ear drops keep you from getting an ear infection while diving. I learned the hard way how important these were. The last item he came up with was a whistle. Why would a whistle be important? It would be very important if you surfaced away from the dive boat you're using. Blowing a whistle would help you get the attention of the people on board. The whistle the dive shop sold me reportedly can be heard up to 1 mile. Another item the fellow recommended was spare fin and mask straps. These can break and there isn't any guarantee the company you're diving with will have replacements. Unfortunately, there are specific straps for specific masks so I'll have to go back to Columbia Scuba tomorrow so they can match up my mask with the right strap. Concerning the fin straps, I thought I had spares of those but, it turned out I was wrong so, I'll be buying some of those tomorrow too. Lastly, I plan to buy some electrical ties so I can secure my diving bag. If the TSA folks want to check something in my bag, they can easily cut the tie. The securing the zippers on my bag, I'll make sure some baggage handler doesn't get tempted to help themselves to a free diving knife or fins.