RUGOP – the RUGby OPtion

  I have changed five masks, one BCD, two regulator, one fins and several wet suits in my ten years of diving. When I first started in diving, I did not have my own gear, and I was only renting from dive shops and sometimes from dive instructors, which was fine with me until an accident happened. The high pressure hose of my first stage broke and I was loosing air really fast, and at that trip I was the most experienced diver, while we were out in another island for a dive safari. My buddy did not understand me immediately when I signaled him that I was running out of air, and I was having trouble breathing, because he was fairly new to diving, so I had to grab the octopus from him and put it in my mouth to breath. With what happened and seeing it all, the divemaster assisted us in the decompresion stop and all the way to the surface and back to the boat. I was truly grateful for my training and did not panic and remembered what to do,though I have to admit it was one of the scariest moment in my life. The incident made me realize to buy my own gear, and so I did, and to make sure that everything is in good working condition before getting into the water. Getting the proper training first before doing dive safari and deep dives is what I always advice new divers, and to always pay attention during the training, ask question if you do not understand something, and to always have presence of mind every dive. Competing in diving is pointless since it is not a sport.