Decompression

Do you understan what Decompression is?

Decompression illness, or DCI, is a term used to describe illness that results from a reduction in the ambient pressure surrounding a body. A good example is what happens to your body when you're surfacing after a dive. DCI encompasses two diseases, decompression sickness (DCS) and arterial gas embolism (AGE). DCS is thought to result from bubbles growing in tissue and causing local damage, while AGE is caused by an overexpansion ­injury to the lungs, resulting in gas ­bubbles ­entering the circulation and ­blocking blood flow to vital ­organs.

Symptoms include difficulty ­breathing or respiratory failure, sudden loss of consciousness and cardiac arrest. Gas expands during ascent, so if a diver fails to exhale ­properly, air spaces in the lungs may overexpand and rupture. Gas can then move via the bloodstream to critical organs like the heart, brain and ­kidneys.

An AGE is an emergency ­situation, and often the only way to stabilize a diver is ­recompression in a hyperbaric chamber while ­administering pure oxygen. AGE is considered the more serious form of DCI. In some cases the diver may have made a panicked ascent, or he may have held his breath during ascent. However, AGE can occur even if ascent appeared completely normal, and pulmonary disease such as obstructive lung disease may increase the risk of AGE.

The most dramatic presentation of air embolism is the diver who surfaces unconscious and remains so, or the diver who loses consciousness within 10 minutes of surfacing. In these cases, a true medical emergency exists, and rapid evacuation to a treatment facility is paramount.

A diver who ascends ­rapidly while holding his breath is ­certainly at risk; additional risk factors for AGE include asthma and ­emphysema. Buoyancy control and comfort in the water go a long way toward preventing AGE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_Vmr-QJ7yM

Peak Performance Buoyancy

BUOYANCY

Why to improve it?

Improving your skills in buoyancy isn't simply a convenience for divers, but also brings significant practical benefits that make diving more fun.

Wen you take a PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy course; you'll find six reasons for fine-tuning your bouyancy skills.

1. You dive with less effort. You are in control, you swim, descend, ascend and make safety stops with reduced energy expenditure. You're more relaxed and the dive is more fun.

2. You dive longer becouse you reduce gas consumption. The less energy you expend, the less hard you breathe. By diving more effortlessly, your cylinder lasts longer so you get to dive longer.

3. You have more positive interactions with aquatic life. Divers who control their bouyancy well move in a calm, precise and fluid manner, just like natural aquatic animals. You fit in better and get closer to aquatic animals without disturbing them.

4. You better preserve fragile underwater environments. When you say off the bottom and avoid unintentionally kicking or brushing against sensitive organisms, you pass through with minimal effect, and preserve the underwater worlsçd for future visits and other divers.

5. You preserve the visibility. Divers with poor buoyancy control kick up the bottom and reduce the visibility - in some dice environments, the primary cause of poor visibility is kicking up silt. By mastering peak performance buoyancy, you avoid this problem.

6. You prolong the life of your dive equipment. Divers who control their buoyancy are way easier on their gear. You avoid scrapes, tears and punctures that result from dragging gear across the bottom. You don't have as much weight, so you're not as hard on knees and elbows during entries and exists.

If you are interested on getting your PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy course and becoming a better diver; contact us!

Info via PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy manual.

Bull Shark Season

Mama Viña Ship Wreck

Mama Viña Ship Wreck

Playa del Carmen

This former ship boat was sunk in 1995 for divers. Since then, the coral growth has proceed rapidly on this artificial reef. With a maximum depth of 30 m. (100 ft) and the possibility of strong currents, this dive is for the experienced diver.

Jump into water south of the wreck and maintain a depth of 110 m. (30 ft) untill you see the bow of the wreck, which is easily seen from a distance. Once close, descend to the bottom and drift along the side of the wreck until you reach the stern where you will find the propeller.  

From here it is recommended to move up into the lowe deck and explore the inside rooms. To your right hand side there is an air pocket where you can ascend but dont remove your regulator. Afterwards move to the top leve, lean on the ceiling, and enjoy the schools of fish.

When it is time to ascend simply let yourself go with the current including your safety stop.

Location: South Barracuda Reef in front of Xcaret Park.

Conditions: Midle to strong current.

Min. depth: 18 m. / 60 ft.

Max. depth: 30 m. / 90 ft.

Avr. visibility: 21 m. / 70 ft.

If you want to scuba dive into the Mama Viña Wreck; just get in contact with us!

e-mail. info@phantomdivers.com

web. www.phantomdivers.com

Facebook

Twitter

Trip Advisor

The bulls are arriving!

Night Dives

Night Diving

Like a brush on black canvas, your light sweeps across the night reef, igniting a vibrant spectrum that somehow eludes you by day.

If you are like most of thr divers, you'll find night diving mysterious, yet alluring. Familiar dive sites take on a new adventure. Even the flora and fauna differ as underwater life switches to nocturnal behaviors, and as nocturnal creatures emerge.

Why dive at night?

The first ir natural curiosity. To many divers, a night dive spells adventure and a chance to explore the unknown. They hope to discover things they wouldn't during the day.

Aquatic life provides a second reason for night diving. At sunset, animals active during the day retire, and night creatures emerge. Lobster, crabs, mantas and octopus enjoy the darkness while feeding.

Other reason is that many divers enjoy the vibrant colors that characterize a night dive. Water absorbs color from light passing through it. First red, then orange followed by yellow and green a good bit deeper.

Finally, you'll encounter many people who night dive becouse it gives them more chances to dive. Likewise, on a dive trip, night diving means one more dive bofore bedtime.

And now...

If you are interested on diving; don't hesitate on getting in contact with us to know the options for nigh diving, certifications and specializations. 

For certified divers:

• Specialize as PADI Night Diver. 
• Get your PADI Advanced Open Water Diver.
• Join us for a night dive at Playa del Carmen reefs.

Cenotes

CENOTES

A cenote [seˈnote]; plural: cenotes; from Yucatec Maya dzonot or ts'onot, "well" is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. Especially associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, cenotes were sometimes used by the ancient Maya for sacrificial offerings.

The term derives from a word used by the low-land Yucatec Maya — ts'onot — to refer to any location with accessible groundwater. Cenotes are common geological forms in low latitude regions, particularly on islands, coastlines, and platforms with young post-Paleozoic limestones that have little soil development.

Formation

Cenotes are formed by dissolution of rock and the resulting subsurface void, which may or may not be linked to an active cave system, and the subsequent structural collapse. Rock that falls into the water below is slowly removed by further dissolution, creating space for more collapse blocks. The rate of collapse increases during periods when the water table is below the ceiling of the void, since the rock ceiling is no longer buoyantly supported by the water in the void.

Cenotes may be fully collapsed creating an open water pool, or partially collapsed with some portion of a rock overhanging above the water. The stereotypical cenotes often resemble small circular ponds, measuring some tens of meters in diameter with sheer drops at the edges. Most cenotes, however, require some degree of stooping or crawling to access the water.

Penetration and extent

In the north and northwest of the Yucatán Peninsula, the cenotes generally overlie vertically extensive voids penetrating 50 to 100 m (160 to 330 ft) below the modern water table. However, very few of these cenotes appear to be connected with horizontally extensive underground river systems, with water flow through them being more likely dominated by aquifer matrix and fracture flows. In contrast, the cenotes along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula (within the state of Quintana Roo) often provide access to extensive underwater cave systems, such as Sistema Ox Bel Ha, Sistema Sac Actun/Sistema Nohoch Nah Chich and Sistema Dos Ojos.

Freshwater/seawater interface

The Yucatán Peninsula contains a vast coastal aquifer system, which is typically density-stratified.^[5] The infiltrating meteoric water (i.e., rainwater) floats on top of higher-density saline water intruding from the coastal margins. The whole aquifer is therefore an anchialine system (one that is land-locked but connected to an ocean). Where a cenote, or the flooded cave to which it is an opening, provides deep enough access into the aquifer, the interface between the fresh and saline water may be reached. The density interface between the fresh and saline waters is a halocline, which means a sharp change in salt concentration over a small change in depth. Mixing of the fresh and saline water results in a blurry swirling effect caused by refraction between the different densities of fresh and saline waters.

The depth of the halocline is a function of several factors: climate and specifically how much meteoric water recharges the aquifer, hydraulic conductivity of the host rock, distribution and connectivity of existing cave systems and how effective these are at draining water to the coast, and the distance from the coast. In general, the halocline is deeper further from the coast, and in the Yucatán Peninsula this depth is 10 to 20 m (33 to 66 ft) below the water table at the coast, and 50 to 100 m (160 to 330 ft) below the water table in the middle of the peninsula, with saline water underlying the whole of the peninsula.^[5]

Types

Radar topography reveals the 180 km (110 mi) ring of the crater; clustered around the crater's trough are numerous sinkholes, suggesting a prehistoric oceanic basin in the depression left by the impact (Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech).

In 1936, a simple morphometry-based classification system for cenotes was presented.

• Cenotes-cántaro (Jug or pit cenotes) are those with a surface connection narrower than the diameter of the water body;
• Cenotes-cilíndricos (Cylinder cenotes) are those with strictly vertical walls;
• Cenotes-aguadas (Basin cenotes) are those with shallow water basins; and
• grutas (Cave cenotes) are those having a horizontal entrance with dry sections.

The classification scheme was based on morphometric observations above the water table, and therefore incompletely reflects the processes by which the cenotes formed and the inherent hydrogeochemical relationship with the underlying flooded cave networks, which were only discovered in the 1980s and onwards with the initiation of cave diving exploration.

Prevent seasickness

Preventing Seasickness can save your day.

Seasickness or Motion Sickness – featured from DAN (Divers Alert Network)

Seasickness is a condition individuals may experience when on a moving platform. It involves a general feeling of illness, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. It is also called motion sickness. Passive motions disturb fluid movement within the labyrinth and affects one’s sense of balance and equilibrium. It is exaggerated when the brain receives conflicting messages delivered from the eyes, muscles and joint sensors (proprioceptors). In a closed room, the view indicates that the surroundings are still, while the signals from the labyrinth indicate that the body is moving. Motion sickness can occur when traveling on a ship, plane, train, bus or car. Some people are more sensitive than others, but if the motion stimuli are strong and the exposure lasts long enough, nearly all individuals will experience it.

Symptoms

The symptoms of motion sickness include dizziness, sweating, nausea, vomiting and a general feeling of discomfort or illness. Symptoms can strike suddenly and progress from simply not feeling well to cold sweats, dizziness and vomiting. Motion sickness is more common in women and in children 2-12 years old. Individuals who suffer from migraine headaches are also more prone to motion sickness. Motion sickness lasts as long as the motion lasts. Once the motion stops, symptoms quickly subside. Some people feel “sea legs” after a long sojourn at sea.

Prevention and Management

If you know you have motion sickness or might be prone to it, consider this advice:

• On a boat: Stay on deck and focus on the horizon. Avoid inhaling exhaust fumes.
• In a car: Sit in the front seat. If you are the passenger, look at the scenery in the distance.
• Do not read in moving vehicles. Reading makes motion sickness worse.
• Avoid heavy meals prior to diving.
• Drink plenty of water.
• Avoid alcohol the evening before you travel.
• If possible, stand up. Sitting or lying down can make you feel worse.
• Eat dry crackers to help settle a queasy stomach.
• Avoid others who have become nauseous with motion sickness.

Treatment

Motion sickness can be treated with over-the-counter and prescription drug products.

• Over-the-counter products: Antihistamines are commonly used both to prevent and treat motion sickness. A side effect of antihistamines is drowsiness, which is exaggerated when alcohol is consumed. Drowsiness may adversely affect diver safety.
• Prescription products: The scopolamine skin patch (Transderm Scop) is a popular option. The patch is applied to the skin area behind the ear at least eight hours before exposure and can help prevent motion sickness for up to three days per patch. Scopolamine may cause dry mouth, blurry vision, drowsiness and dizziness. Patients with glaucoma, enlarged prostate and some other health problems should not use this drug. Be sure to tell your doctor of your existing health problems to help determine which drug is best suited for you.
• Alternative remedies: Various alternative remedies have been promoted as being helpful in relieving or preventing motion sickness. In most cases, the evidence of efficacy is missing. However, if you have mild symptoms, you may try ginger or peppermint products to ease your symptoms without risking side effects.

To learn more tips, visit the DAN Health & Diving library at DAN.org/Health.

Buceando en Playa del Carmen

Tiburon Ballena

DEFOGGING YOUR MASK

DEFOGGING YOUR MASK

If you find yourself underwater with the fog closing in, there are ways to remedy the situation. However, the best solution is to take steps before entering the water to prevent a fogged mask from becoming a nuisance during the dive. 

Preparing Your Mask

A newly purchased mask usually needs attention before it is ready for diving. During the manufacturing process, most masks are coated with a protective chemical. Unless this film is removed, it’s practically impossible to keep the mask from fogging underwater.

Before its first use, you must scrub the mask window(s) with a mild abrasive such as nongel toothpaste or a gritty cleanser that won’t scratch the lens. Apply it with your fingers or a cloth and rub thoroughly. It might take more than one treatment to completely remove the film.

Unless you’ve invested in a nonfogging mask, an antifogging solution should be applied to the inside of the mask window before diving. Fog is actually made up of thousands of tiny water droplets that form on the internal surface of the glass. A “no-fog” or “defog” solution reduces the surface tension so that droplets can’t form on the glass and helps remove microscopic particles that give the droplets additional surface on which to adhere.

Most divers rely on a commercial no-fog solution. There are several on the market and not all work the same way. Some require reapplication before each dive; others are intended to last the entire day. All work most effectively when applied according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Following the instructions on the container, apply one or more drops to the inside of the mask window and spread evenly. The appropriate time to apply is generally just before donning your mask to enter the water. Read the directions carefully — the solution you’ve chosen may require rinsing the mask with water before donning. Failure to do so could result in eye irritation.

Individuals with a sensitivity to commercial no-fog preparations have found that baby shampoo rubbed on the inside of the glass and then rinsed off can also help prevent fogging during a dive. You’ve probably also noticed a hard-core group of divers who swear by the superior fog-preventing powers of their own saliva.

Preventing Fog

No matter how well you prepare your mask, it will fog up before you even get into the water if you handle it inappropriately. Once you remove the mask from your gear bag, keep it out of direct sunlight. If you are not going to don your equipment immediately after assembling it, tuck the mask inside the buoyancy compensator or put it somewhere out of the sun where it won’t get damaged.

When it’s time to gear up, do not place the mask on your head — front or back. That is the surest way to cause it to fog up immediately. Fog is caused by condensation of water vapor due to a difference in temperature between the inside and outside of the mask window glass. Your forehead and hair can radiate enough heat to create instant fog. Once a mask has fogged above water, it becomes more difficult to keep it from fogging up again during the dive.

Instead, clip the mask onto your BC, carry it over your elbow or hang it around your neck until you are ready to don it for entry. Avoid exhaling through your nose into the mask — hot breath also encourages fog formation.

Defogging Underwater

Despite all the right preventive measures, masks still sometimes fog up during a dive. On a number of occasions I’ve seen divers suffer through their entire bottom time peering through the blur rather than execute the simple steps necessary to clear the fog out of their mask.

Step 1. Introduce a small amount of water into the mask. Place a thumb on each lower outside corner of the mask frame and your forefingers on the top corners. Carefully pull the top of the mask away from your face just enough to break the seal, allowing sufficient water into the mask to form a small pool in the bottom of the air pocket, but not enough to reach eye level. Let go and reseal the mask to your face.

Alternatively, some divers prefer to introduce water by sticking a finger under the mask seal on one side. Others lift the bottom of the mask off their face with their thumbs. It doesn’t matter how water gets into the mask, as long as you control the amount. You may even flood your mask completely if you like. However, a sudden rush of cold water onto your face can trigger a gasp response that adds to the discomfort and disorientation caused by the fogged mask.

Step 2. Bend your head forward so the mask window is horizontal and the water runs over the inside of it. Move your head to swish the water around and ensure that it covers the entire glass surface (photo 5). Lift your head to verify that the fog has been rinsed off — if not, try swishing again.

Step 3. Clear the water out of your mask. Exhale through your nose while tilting your head backward and pushing inward on the top of the mask frame — or for a mask with a purge valve, tilt your head forward and exhale.

Once your mask has been cleared of water, return to exhaling through your mouth instead of your nose — or you’re likely to cause the mask to fog up again.

Defogging your mask underwater is effective, but unfortunately the relief may be only temporary. If the fog returns, try removing your mask and cleaning the inside of the glass with your fingers. You can also minimize the annoyance of persistent fogging during a dive by leaving a small amount of water in the bottom of your mask. Then you simply swish as needed.

Mask Maintenance

Over time, your mask may begin to fog regularly despite your best preventive efforts. Periodic scrubbing with a mild abrasive removes the invisible film that builds up from mineral-laden rinse water and chemical leaching.

After each dive outing, rinse your mask thoroughly in fresh water and wipe the glass with a clean soft cloth or chamois, or place the mask in a well-ventilated, shaded area to dry. Store it in a box or bag to separate it from the rest of your scuba equipment.

Use the proper preventive measures and maintain your mask with care, and you may never have to worry about diving in a fog.

Caballito de mar

Diving with Phantom Divers

I WANT TO DIVE! 

You have already spent several summers visiting the beaches of Mexico; and you have gotten to know many beautiful snorkel areas with turtles, whale sharks or maybe you just  spent some time looking for fish in the waves; then maybe its time to go to the next level ...     

Imagine that you could breathe underwater, swim for a long time with large schools of fish, turtles or even bull sharks; and have the opportunity to observe how the inhabitants of the Mexican Caribbean reefs live.    

Many people have the idea that scuba diving is very difficult and then just let pass by the opportunity; however is very easy and fun. With Phantom Divers you can try!
 How is a Discover Scuba Diver experience?
 Your diving instructor will spend time with you, to explain the basic principles of scuba diving and to give you a general idea of ​​your scuba gear.  Once you feel comfortable, your instructor will take you to a couple of reefs on Playa del Carmen, where you will be diving within 12 meters / 40 feet.

 Most Discover Scuba Diving experiences last two to three hours.  The exercises you learn during this experience can be use as a credit for the full PADI Open Water Diver certification.   

 Discover Scuba Diving experience is a great way to find out if scuba diving is for you. Contact us for an appointment and try scuba diving in the reefs of the Riviera Maya. Or start your diving lessons online now and finish your certification dives at our center.

 For more images, see our facebook page, twitter and instagram.