Hi blog buddies!

This week I’m in High Springs, Florida working with the incredibly talented Jill Heinerth. We have an exciting, activity-filled week of adventures here cave training and filming for the upcoming We are Water movie. Jill is an icon in our industry exceptional for her exploration, conservation, and communication savy. Jill and her husband Robert have so much passion for experiencing the world and also bringing others along to experience it with them. I have been looking forward to coming up here to visit since April when we met at Beneath the Sea!

I started our adventure together learning to dive sidemount doubles, an emerging field throughout the scuba industry. Traditionally scuba tanks are worn back-mounted like a backpack. Divers typically wear one tank, but don two, three, four or more when doing technical, deep, or exceptionally long dives. That’s a lot to carry and a huge glob of equipment to move through the water!

Sidemount systems move the tanks down off your back and rig them along your side instead. Tanks clip into a backpack style-BC with the valves near your chest and the tank bases clipping off near your hamstrings. There are many benefits to this configuration: better balance, stream-lined profile, greater kicking efficiency, adaptable rigging for single or double tanks, and probably most importantly the ability to look down and actually see your tanks in the event of an issue or entanglement. If you’ve ever had an unreachable itch on the back of your shoulder, you can sympathize with a traditional doubles diver reaching for their air valves.

Sidemount is the progressive future for the scuba diving industry. I am thrilled to announce a new sponsor who is committed to keeping scholars on scuba’s cutting edge. Last night I opened a box from Hollis Gear with my very own SMS100 sidemount system inside! The Hollis brand has always been innovative. Today they’re leading the industry bringing sidemount technology forward for recreational and technical divers. Today, I felt at ease in the cavern of Blue Grotto dressed in drysuit and sidemount. It’s cozy to be tucked in between two cylinders, and relaxing to hang so effortlessly in a trimmed position. Introduction to cave class starts this week and I’m really excited to spend time underground, underwater with Jill and my new Hollis gear.

 

 

Stay tuned for more!