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Sunday 5 April 2015

Not looking after my dive gear

How could I be so stupid? What was I thinking? I had been diving in October, the second week was in Anilao, been there plenty of times in Anilao, I know the routine well.


My normal mode of operation for Friday is two dives in the morning, wash gear, hang in the sun to dry, lunch, shower, pay bill, catch lift to jeepney pick-up point, cramped jeepney ride, bus to Manila and walk to hotel room. This takes hours to execute, but it is the cheapest way and I get to Manila with time to spare in daylight hours.

Of course, once in the hotel room, I pull my gear from my bag to air out. Ok, that is my first mistake, I forgot Friday - probably too keen for Friday night drinks. So Saturday morning, too hungover to care, Saturday afternoon - just forgot. Sunday forgot and Monday flight, not thinking of dive gear.

Ok, arrive home Monday night well after midnight and need to be up 6 am, maybe 4 hours sleep if I'm lucky. Normally I pull my gear from my bag and hang out, instead I didn't unlock, I just threw the bag in the shed.

So here we were in December, I unzipped my bag and much to my surprise, not only is everything still wet, the mould growth is impressive. A brand new regulator (second time used), brand new wetsuit and new bag all looking like 10 years old - my BCD, boots and fins hold up surprisingly well.

I was supposed to be diving in Bali with this gear - a slightly marginal proposition now. An overnight soaking in the bathtub full of detergent, a fresh water rinse out in the morning and some drying off time outside. Breathing from my reg might could have been a bit iffy, I shudder to think what the diaphragm and inner casing looks like - maybe a second soak in detergent is in order.

The inflator is jammed, but not to worry, it hasn't been working properly for over five years now - maybe closer to eight to ten years. I purchased the BCD in about 2003, done about 1000 open water dives with it and countless confined water pool sessions. Oh well, better give it a go, nobody likes a winger.

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