Waves

I don't know who would buy a DVD with sounds of waves but it seems really relaxing...

Color me pink

I have many friends amongst divers. We often discuss diving related topics, like new equipments, exotic destinations, courses. A lady said recently after an intro to tech diving course her instructor declared: 'The divers' color is the black!' She told me whatever the big bold technical divers say she keeps her pink fins.

I approve of her decision. I feel I must support all those people who want to show their personality even on a dive boat. This lady has her own style, she prefers colors like pink. Why should she choose a black set of diving equipment just because somebody somewhere suggested this? I know many rules in diving which I found useful and important. The right color of your wetsuit or fins isn't one of these. I'm sure there are extra trained guys who would be able to tell a hundred reasons why to wear black all the time but I don't care about them.

Diving for me is the perfect recreational activity where everybody can find joy and excitement. And as everywhere, we feel much better if we are proud of our stuffs. Somehow the scuba equipment manufacturers seem to go back in time and black is the dominating color as it was 50 years ago. There was a short golden age of fancy colorful suits in the '80s. Some of them were funny, other ones are stylish- the divers had plenty of choice.

Now they can choose black-blue or greyish-black designs. Only the minority of the brands offer suits with small pink (shock! horror!), red, yellow or white color panels. I remember when we bought a wetsuit this spring to my girlfriend. We thought there is only one color design, the gray-black but I found the red-black ones in the manufacturer's website. In the shop they didn't have any of this style, they needed to order it from the factory! A tiny red panel on the upper body would make it impossible to sell for Hungarian diver ladies? I don't think so.

I'm the advocate of the diverse color pattern equipments. I don't think we should look like twins under water in our black suits and BC-s and yellow fins- I know what I'm talking about, whenever I browse my dive trip photos I find dozens of 'men in black'. Just have a glance at the picture below of a dive boat and count those wetsuits which primary color aren't black. I remember Henry Ford's words about the Model T: 'you can have it in any color as long as it is black'.

So I recommend at least special accessories. I even had a bright pink weight belt, a friend said Hello Kitty fans would fight for it. Some people thought I looked damned funny but when in a crowded dive boat they tried to find their weight belts amongst the similar ones I felt I didn't look laughable but they did. Hopefully my friend won't sell her pink fins and someday she can buy pink suit, hood or boots as well. We are not the same. We don't like the same colors. And the most important: we don't want to do the same dives. When I hear 'black is compulsory' from an instructor I worry about my beloved fun dives. Who knows if he tells next time I need to dive exactly the same way as he does? Color me pink but I vote for bright colors, exciting designs and everybody's unique approach, pace and style of diving.

Paris under water

Paris Hilton is everywhere. Scuba divers thought being underwater isn't attract her as she doesn't able to share her wisdom with a regulator in her mouth. When I saw a series of photos in 2009 where she made an intro dive with his boyfriend (sorry, I can't remember his name and maybe even Paris wouldn't be able to call up) I confess it made cheer me up. Paris was the first person who felt important to wear stylish sunglasses when they were standing in the water before submerging. All of us know her typical smile and basically the scene seemed very typical too except she wore a scuba tank. There were some other photos when she tried to survive under water in 2-3 meters depth but I thought it's only a nice media event from the glamor girl. She's young, sexy, blond and rich, so she gave a try. She didn't have to take up scuba as a hobby and luckily scuba didn't need to take up Paris as a diving celebrity.

Later I saw some new photos from her newer scuba adventures. (I'm not sure if she appeared on them, the mask on the face of that lady covered too much.) When you browse the photos first you think about how did you find them? There are millions of websites which worth visiting, a diver visits pages about exotic destinations, resorts, dive centers and which do I remember? The one where I saw a photo of the celebrity member of our community, Miss Hilton.

I'm trying not to be too sarcastic. I remember what Tiger Woods said about scuba diving: 'The fish don't know who I am.' I imagine what Paris said: 'The people need to know I'm a diver.' Or something like that. Paris and her PR-team use our prejudice when they post those news and photos. What if she really likes diving? If she would be a nice travel companion on a liveaboard trip? Who knows? I think the Paris Hilton who we see in the magazines is not the same Paris when there aren't any cameras. She looks pretty while posing in her wetsuit. Her team knows most of the fans and readers don't know scuba diving isn't that extreme sport, even people in their sixties enjoy intro dives. So the fans feel Paris is special, extraordinary, wonderful and heroic and doesn't matter if all of the photos were taken during a single shallow dive.

We know some celebrities who really adore the ocean and its animals. And there is she who plays the role of the spoiled Hilton-girl. I'm not crazy, I don't say I feel sorrow for Paris who is quite successful in his special profession and doesn't lack my sympathy. (By the way I wish her many nice dives as everyone who share the same passion for underwater world.) I'm just thinking about my relationship with diving. I'm feeling lucky because I don't go under water to play a role for anybody else but to have a great time. Nothing more. And if I'm a celebrity or not I enjoy being under water because the fish don't know who I am neither. (The same apply for our Paris as well, so when she dives she is simply one of us- I love diving democracy.)

Fun, fun, fun

Everybody knows PADI's "Diving is Fun" motto but how can we show it to somebody who isn't a diver? Well, one of my friends made a really nice, lively video of a liveaboard trip to the Egyptian Red Sea. He's a brilliant camera operator and editor, but even better, he was able to make his buddies to be crazy and insane under and above water in the second part. I envy this guy who can make so entertaining videos, but instead of being sad because I'm not that talented I'm proud to have such friends like him. Watch this awesome short movie and feel the atmosphere of a great week long dive trip in the wonderful, warm Red Sea!

Is diving sexy?

If we think about the wet t-shirt scenes of Jacqueline Bisset in The Deep the answer is definitely yes.

After many dives with photo or video camera I realized there are some people (mainly women) who simply look better under water. (Ok it doesn't mean only sexy, they can look simply cool or charming.) I don't know the reason but it's not related to their surface look. Doesn't matter if they aren't so slim, doesn't matter the face (the mask and the reg cover a lot). The big eyes will look nice if I make a portrait but usually the models are not that close. And some of them swim and move a special, more natural way, they seem to feel so comfortable under water. They look cool in a wetsuit. They are the people who can wear pink or bright yellow mask and fins and they won't seem funny but stylish.

So diving does some of the lucky buddies better suit. But it's okay for the other ones too: they can make nicer photos or videos if this kind of diver appear in them.