Choosing your Mask, Fins and Tuba

One might think that any pair of fins or mask will do the trick to dive but this is not really the case. It is important to choose your equipment so as not to be bothered during your dives. Since there is nothing more annoying than to realize that its new material does not satisfy us fully we offer to help you in your choice. Of course our advice is not gospel law but we hope to guide you by sharing our underwater experience. There are two main types of palms. It is better to avoid for the scuba diving long and rigid fins of apnea or underwater hunting that are not adapted to all types of palmage as well as split fins (cf. article "The palmage frog Or frog kick ").

The first type is that of the footwear; These are the most accurate to palm and the most effective to swim (wading); We advise you even in warm sea or in the tropics to use them with neoprene slippers because the rubbing on the feet can end up hurting you. The second type is the family of adjustable fins. For the shoes it is necessary to use neoprene booties equipped with sole or shoes intended for (rock boot). These are in our opinion the most suitable for diving with bottle. First of all, because during your travels before and after the dive you will spoil too quickly the slippers, you will be in addition badly protected from the rocks or corals when departing from the seaside; Moreover we are not under water to carry out a race so the foot fins are in our opinion a choice of second intention.

As far as the models are concerned, it is necessary to avoid having too soft fins whose ratio of energy expended on developed power is too low; Also avoid all gadgets, the simpler the better. The Avanti Quatro brand Mares light enough if you are in wet combination and the fine Jets of Scubapro or assimilated if you dive in waterproof suit (cf article "The waterproof suit") remain safe values. Be careful with the size, you have to take one size or several above the usual one to compensate for the thickness of the thermal protection. The ideal is to test directly with the bootie or the boot in the store so as not to have a bad surprise when launching.

For your mask, What is paramount is that it is at your size, ie suitable for your face. A simple test is that it must fit on your face without passing the strap around the head while inspiring through the nose without the air passing; It must be completely watertight. Color is also important; The most effective is black; It is also necessary to avoid the transparent skirts that let the light rays pass and can disturb a little the sight. We recommend to choose masks studied for underwater hunting; They are particularly suited to underwater vision and the low volume of air they contain makes them more comfortable and cause less phenomenon of "plating" of mask on descent. A little advice to avoid fogging: lightly burn the surface layer inside the mask glass with a lighter by removing the soot immediately with a wet cloth. Be careful not to damage the glass by heating too firmly; It is necessary to walk the flame over the entire surface. Then just rub it with his saliva a few minutes before launching and rinse it just before diving. No more diving where all the fish and mask dumps are missed because of the fog!

For the tuba ; some will say that it is useless ... Even if it is very rarely useful and that one can do without diving, we think it is not disturbing to have one (It is indispensable in walking); We shall no longer enter into controversy. It can be stored in one of the pockets of the stabilizing jacket (what we advise), or keep it hanging on the mask on the left side so as not to be hampered with the hose of its regulator but the probability of loss if it goes off is High and it disturbs strongly in case of current by starting to vibrate. There are two kinds of tuba, with or without a valve. Although quite pleasant, the valve may be defective (gravel or breakage); We advise something simple like underwater hunting tubas that are cheap and will always be operational when you need them. You just have to learn how to blow hard to eject the water on the surface. We hope you enjoy shopping and hope that these tips will help you select the right products.