Hooka Dive System - Hookamax

To say Val and I are avid SCUBA divers would be an understatement. In addition to having dived in waters all over the world (including Truk Lagoon, the Mediterranean, Roatan Honduras, etc.) Val and I are both Master Scuba divers, with ratings from both NAUI and PADI. It gets even more extreme. 8 years ago, I took a 1 year sabbatical from consulting, obtained a mixed gas card from IANTD and became a PADI certified Divemaster. With the professional rating, I worked aboard boats in Florida taking tourists down (and up!). It was an awesome year to say the least.

When we make the boat our full time home, sailing around the world, our basement will be the environment we love so much. It will be temping to strap a tank onto our backs, and go in .... everyday. Alas, SCUBA gear, tanks, refill compressors, and all the maintenance that comes with the equipment just doesn't fit into our KISS principle. Plus, our boat is simply too small for all the stuff.

Being on the ocean and not diving won't work, and taking all the equipment needed to dive won't work. Our solution is to get a Hooka dive system.

A hooka diving system is a surface supplied air system. Hoses from a compressor, resting above the water, carry air down to a diver. Hooka systems have been used for a long time. You can get gasoline compressors, you can get 120V/240V systems, and you can even get 12VDC ones. Each with varying diver capacity. The obvious limitation is that the diver is always tethered to the air source above the water.

Some of the systems can provide air down to a diver at 100 feet! Others are only good to 20 feet. Some can support two divers, and others four.

With our particular boat configuration, we've decided a solid 12V DC system would be best. They are light weight and can run right off of our batteries. This implies the time under water is limited by the capacity of our batteries (and other physiological constraints). However, 12V DC systems are typically the most limited in terms of diver capacity and depth. 2 divers, 20 feet deep, is about all one system can handle at a time. We suspect, though, that such limitations will not impede our enjoyment. Much of the oceans brilliance happens in less than 20 feet due to the penetration depth of sunlight. Will there be those times that Val and I want to go deeper? Yes, but we simply won't be able to go deeper short of a free dive or renting some SCUBA gear from a local SCUBA shop. It is a trade off.

After reviewing all I can on the Internet, including the potential of building my own Hooka system (plenty of DIY plans out there), the system we are interested in buying is the Hookamax Dive System, the E2005C-12V 2X50 model. It seems rugged, fairly priced, fully featured, and the photos on the site are great!

In addition to just exploring reefs, Hookah systems are also great for staying down to clean the underside of the boat and for spear fishing as you can just hang under the water for hours.

Underwater world, here comes our family!

Microcruising

There is a very interesting niche in boating called Microcruising. In my own words, Microcruising is going to the absolute minimalist edge of boat size, and/or money, and/or features.

There is a whole community of people that make long voyages on boats that run in the 15 foot or less range. These microcruisers have a ton of practical knowledge that can be applied on bigger boats. As with many areas of life, simply taking another perspective (such as imagining you were living on a 15 foot or smaller boat and crossing oceans) and applying it to your situation highlights new possibilities.

One site I particularly enjoy is www.Microcruising.com. It is the site of Dave and Mindy Bolduc, whom have made the 65 miles of open ocean crossing between the Bahamas and Florida 7 times on a boat less than half the size of ours! Their boat, Little Cruiser, is 15 feet in length and has a beam of 4.5 feet. Checking out the pictures on their website, you get a feel for their world. Plus the pictures of the beaches feels oh so good.

Some of the quotes from their website that resonate with me include:

• We consider the anchors our most important safety equipment and our only insurance. Therefore we carry three, which might seem like a lot for such a small boat. They consist of a 4-pound Fortress, a 9-pound Danforth, and a monster 25-pound take-apart Luke storm anchor.

• One of the most important [considerations] is to be as self sufficient as possible and keep things simple. We carry almost everything we need to make repairs ourselves. Our boat is relatively simple, and we have no refrigeration or ice chest.

• We've found most produce keeps quite a long time in baskets. The rest of our food is in cans or dry form. Whenever we want a treat, like fresh meat or ice cream, we buy it locally and eat it right away.

• Be cautious and use common sense. The ocean can be a very beautiful place, but it also can be quite treacherous when conditions are wrong. Always be conscious of the weather.

• If it looks as if bad weather is on the way, stay in port until it's over. There's a big difference between venturing out in ten-foot breaking seas and sailing along comfortably in 4 foot swells a day or so later. It's better to postpone one's trip than become a statistic.

If you visit their site, also be sure to check out the section called "Famous Small Boats." It is full remarkable small vessels that have made incredible journeys.

Atlanta Boat Show

Tomorrow we are going to the Atlanta Boat Show! KJ and I went 2 years ago and we had a blast. There were tons of freebies for kids, and I was in sponge mode. Everything was new.

This year will be different. We now have a boat. We have acquired a lot of knowledge. We have very specific items we are looking for, like a Luke anchor, Decca batteries, 200 feet of 3/8 anchor chain, a D-400 wind generator, a Raymarine radar system, auto-inflating life vests, hundreds of feet of lines, a 5 hp outboard engine for the dingy, and so much more.

While the show has lots of focus on power boats and freshwater, there are seminars for sailing and much of the gear applies to either method of propulsion. We will be walking into the show with a list of about 30 items that we still need to acquire for our journey, along with the best price we can find the item on the Internet for. If a boat show price, along with the shipping or lack there of, beats what we can find, we will drop some coin.

We will blog on some of the interesting things we find at the boat show. Heck, even Spongebob Squarepants side kick Patrick will be at the show. How can this not be good!