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Scuba Diving TECHNICAL


The Scuba Doctor is the leading source for equipment for advanced and technical divers. We have supplied thousands of experienced tech and rebreather divers worldwide with quality scuba diving equipment from the finest manufacturers.

Every year experienced divers die in diving related avoidable accidents that should not have happened because the victim was "always so careful". One of the more common examples is a failure to analyse gas before diving, but there are many different types of avoidable accidents. The usual explanation put forward is a lapse in following their training, typically as a result of complacency. The victim is blamed for becoming complacent, the dive community is again reminded to be vigilant against complacency, and then another avoidable accident occurs. Perhaps a different way of explaining the cause of these predictable accidents could help effect a change in this unfortunate cycle.

The concept of Normalisation of Deviance has been used to describe the cause of NASA's flawed decisions that led to the Challenger space shuttle disaster. Normalisation of deviance from dive safety begins when the diver has a lapse in one or more safety protocols (often as a result of time and/or financial pressures) and nothing bad happens. The lapse reoccurs without incident and slowly the diver grows more accustomed to the deviant behaviour. Eventually the diver becomes so accustomed to a deviation from dive safety standards that they consider their unsafe behaviour to be acceptably normal. Ultimately one or more safety protocols are permanently deleted from their routine; enabling the diver have a serious, perhaps fatal, accident. To other divers, the accident is bewildering because the behaviour seems obviously unsafe and the victim had enough training and certainly enough experience to "know better".

It's clearly not productive to keep blaming the victim for these avoidable accidents. We can't solve this complex problem in a Tech Tip but a step to addressing this dive safety issue is to begin a discussion within the dive training community. Do we need a different educational approach that formally recognises and addresses normalisation of deviance as an underlying cause of many avoidable accidents among experienced divers? If you are an experienced diver, or dive professional, The Scuba Doctor urges you to raise awareness of this issue among your peers.



The Tech Diver Gift Guide

Holiday Gift Guide - The Tech Diver

Gear and equipment are vital to any technical and cave diver's adventures. Thanks to their advanced-level dives and pro-level expertise, the right gear will keep them safe while moving through small spaces. Here are some of the most tech-forward pieces of equipment for technical and cave divers this holiday season.

Apeks VX1 Mask with Apeks RK3 Fins and Snorkel Apeks VX1 Mask with Apeks RK3 Fins and Snorkel
RRP: $446, Our Price: $399, You Save $47 (11%).
We've taken our best selling mask and fins for technical divers and combined them with a roll-up snorkel to create this highly desirable package. The Apeks RH3 Fins were designed in collaboration with the US military and are renowned for outstanding performance and reliability. The Apeks VX1 single lens mask is lightweight, frameless, with a premium silicone skirt for exceptional comfort and fit. The Aqualung Nautilus Roll-Up Snorkel can be carried in a BC pocket or hung from a D-ring. It's a great combination for technical and advanced recreational divers.

Sonar Finger Spool Reel with Snap - 15/30/45 Metre Line Sonar Finger Spool Reel with Snap - 15/30/45 Metre Line
RRP: $35, Our Price: $30, You Save $5 (14%).
A spool reel is essential for cave diving so that the divers know how to get back to where they started. Many technical divers prefer to use a finger spool reel to shoot the DSMB towards the end of their dive. This spool comes with your choice of 15 metres (50 ft), 30 metres (100 ft), or 45 metres (150 ft) of standard cave linea, with a corrosion-resistant, double ended stainless steel bolt snap, and fits nicely into most pockets. It can also be clipped easily onto a D-ring so it can be found quickly, without getting in the way.

Mares XR-REC Silver Single Backmount Set Mares XR-REC Silver Single Backmount Set
RRP: $1,399, Our Price: $1,259, You Save $140 (10%).
This harness, backplate and wing package is part of the new Mares Extended Range (XR) Gear Line. This one size fits all (fully adjustable harness) is perfect for travelling. The 16 kg (35 lb) lift, rear buoyancy, single cylinder wing offers ample freedom of movement, ideal for both technical and recreational dives. This Hogarthian configuration bridges the gap between recreational and technical diving.


We partnered with Cressi Australia to come up with everything required for breathing from scuba cylinders in a twin-cylinder manifold configuration. It's based on the award-winning Cressi AC25M Master Cromo Regulator Set — ScubaLab Regulator Best Buy 2020.

Apollo Edge Drysuit with Boots - Unisex Apollo Edge Drysuit with Boots - Unisex
RRP: $2,699, Our Price: $2,429, You Save $270 (10%).
There's nothing worse than being too cold on a dive. This dry suit keeps divers warm for hours. It can be used with or without an undersuit, and gives maximum range of motion. Your tech buddies will stay toasty in this men's dry suit. It's also available in women's sizes, plus with socks instead of boots.

Underwater Kinetics HangAir Drying System Underwater Kinetics HangAir Drying System
RRP: $159, Our Price: $143, You Save $16 (10%).
A hanger? No, a Hangair. Yes, you're correct, it's a hanger with a built in fan. It sounds ridiculous but it's actually incredibly useful, particularly for drysuit divers with limited space. They simply hang their drysuit up and turn on the fan, no more stinky wet boots that never dry out!

Apollo ATB Pro Dive Boots - Unisex Apollo ATB Pro Dive Boots - Unisex
RRP: $129, Our Price: $116, You Save $13 (10%).
Sometimes divers must walk over rough terrain before jumping in the water, so it's important they have comfortable dive boots to protect their feet. These all terain boots from Apollo are comfortable, durable, and are reinforced with rubber caps to protect both boot and foot. They can be used with a wetsuit, or with a drysuit that uses socks.

Apeks RK3 Fins - Open Heel Apeks RK3 Fins - Open Heel
RRP: $250, Our Price: $229, You Save $21 (8%).
Designed in collaboration with the US military and boasting optimum thrust and maneuverability, the Apeks RK3 is a rugged thermoplastic rubber fin featuring an oversized foot pocket to accommodate drysuit boots and a spring strap for easy donning and doffing. These jet-style fins allow easy finning in confined spaces, making them perfect for cave divers. With a vented blade design, and spring heel fin straps, these fins raise the bar for dive equipment. The fins come in black, orange, yellow or white and are available in four sizes.

Garmin Descent Mk2i Watch Dive Computer with Black Band Garmin Descent Mk2i Watch Dive Computer with Black Band
RRP: $2,499, Our Price: $2,299, You Save $200 (8%).
This dive computer from Garmin is one of the best on the market, featuring several dive models including multiple gas dives, and a rebreather. Other key features include a surface GPS, plus a transmitter can be added to easily keep track of air consumption, SubWave sonar technology, and a replaceable battery. This would be a real treat for tech divers.

Shearwater Research Perdix AI Dive Computer Shearwater Research Perdix AI Dive Computer
RRP: $1,540, Our Price: $1,499, You Save $41 (3%).
The Shearwater Research Perdix AI dive computer incorporates a powerful feature set, easy to understand menus, and easy to read full-colour display. This version also supports optional wireless transmitters to display the cylinder gas pressure without the use of hoses. It's our most popular tech diving computer solution.

Faber Twin Steel Cylinders with Manifold - 232 bar - 12.2 litre Faber Twin Steel Cylinders with Manifold - 232 bar - 12.2 litre
RRP: $1,889, Our Price: $1,699, You Save $190 (10%).
This is by far the most popular Faber steel cylinder package for technical and cave divers. It's great for wreck diving, cave diving and almost any other kind of diving you can consider. Technical divers going deep and wanting longer run times often twin up two of these Italian made Faber cylinders.

Catalina S80 Aluminium Cylinder - 11.1 litre (80 cuft) - 207 bar Catalina S80 Aluminium Cylinder - 11.1 litre (80 cuft) - 207 bar
RRP: $525, Our Price: $500, You Save $25 (5%).
This cylinder is used by more divers, dive operators and retail dive stores than any other type of cylinder available. It's buoyancy characteristics make it a great stage cylinder for technical and cave divers.

Mares Diver Marker Buoy Set - All In One SMB Kit Mares Diver Marker Buoy Set - All In One SMB Kit
RRP: $109, Our Price: $103, You Save $6 (6%).
This 'All in One' set combines a SMB, Finger Spool, stainless steel Double Ended Bolt Snap, and a storage system. It's a lightweight combination, and the SMB has reflective writing, plus Solas reflective tape, and it stands at 180 cm tall for high visibility!

Dolphin Tech Thigh Storage Pouch Dolphin Tech Thigh Storage Pouch
RRP: $49, Our Price: $39, You Save $10 (20%).
Many tech divers today require a thigh pocket to hold the reels, spools, backup lights, slates, backup masks, etc. that are essential for underwater safety in any environment. Need a great utility pocket? Look no further!

IST Proline Ceramic Line Cutter Dive Knife IST Proline Ceramic Line Cutter Dive Knife
Our Price: $75
Line cutters are key in diving situations where the diver or buddy gets tangled in something like a fishing line. A line cutter will help them cut themselves free. Nothing fancy here, but this award winning ceramic line cutter really gets the job done.

Dolphin Tech Underwater Notebook Dolphin Tech Underwater Notebook
RRP: $50, Our Price: $39, You Save $11 (22%).
With this notebook taking notes underwater and diving to your plan has never been so easy. This high quality wetnotes design provides easy access to pencils, notes, tables, and accessories. The wetnotes also come with a graphite pencil which can be attached and easily replaced. There is a shock-cord closure loop to keep the diver's notebook closed.

AquaSketch Minno Scrolling Wrist Slate AquaSketch Minno Scrolling Wrist Slate
RRP: $91, Our Price: $78, You Save $13 (14%).
They may have a slate and they may have wetnotes but do they have a scrolling slate? We doubt it! The Aquasketch can live on their wrist like a curved slate but gives you a much larger scrollable writing area. This is a smart compact solution.

Our favourite books for technical divers include:

Deeper into Diving (2nd Edition) Deeper into Diving (2nd Edition)
RRP: $89, Our Price: $79, You Save $10 (11%).
The second edition of John Lippmann's popular book on deeper diving is for the diving enthusiast, the experienced diver, the technical diver, the dive instructor, as well as other diving and dive medical professionals. It contains information on a variety of decompression procedures and technical information that is not easily obtainable.

Under Pressure: Diving Deeper with Human Factors Under Pressure: Diving Deeper with Human Factors
RRP: $60.50, Our Price: $49, You Save $11.50 (19%).
Most incidents and accidents are down to 'human error'. Unfortunately, 'human error' is normal and we can't get rid of it. However, we can reduce the likelihood of one of those, 'Oh s***t moments' if we have an understanding of human factors and develop our non-technical skills.

Still Not Sure? Get Them Gift Certificates

The Scuba Doctor Gift Certificates The Scuba Doctor Gift Certificates$5 to $1000
If you still can't decide on a gift for the diver in your life, then why not give them a Gift Certificate from The Scuba Doctor. You may think they already have all of the dive gear they could possibly need, but they WILL be hankering for something. This way they get to choose what's most important to them.

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500 PSI Adrenalin Air Dive Equipment Alpha Diving Products Analox AOI Limited AP Diving Apeks Apollo Scuba Aqualung AquaSketch Atomic Aquatics Atorch Lighting Australia Post AVATAR Backscatter Bare Barfell Best Divers Catahoula Manufacturing Inc Catalina Cylinders CDAA CineBags Cressi Cressi Swim Custom Divers DAN DiCAPac Dive Alert Dive Perfect Dive Rite Divesoft Dolphin Tech E-Shark Force Eezycut Faber Cylinders Fourth Element Fred & Friends Garmin Gear Aid Gear Keeper Glo-Toob H2Odyssey Halcyon Hi-Max Hollis Hyperion i-Dive (i-Torch, i-Das, i-Pix) Intova Isotta IST Proline IST Sports Kraken Sports Land and Sea Light & Motion Mac Coltellerie Mares Medical Developments Metalsub Miflex Hoses Nautilus LifeLine Neptune Sports New Holland Publishers NiteCore Northern Diver Ocean Design Ocean Hunter Ocean Pro Oceans Enterprises Omer OMS OrcaTorch PADI Performance Diver PowerDive Predator Probe Wetsuits Reef Line Salvimar Sammy Glenn Dives San-o-Sub Scuba Capsule Scuba Ninja Sea & Sea Seac Sub Seaka Shark Shield Sharkskin Shearwater Research Si Tech Sonar SteriGENE Sterling Leisure Surf Lock Suunto Tektite Termo Industria The Dive Spot The Scuba Doctor Tovatec Tribolube Trident Diving Equipment Tusa Tusa Sport Underwater Kinetics Unoflow Victorian Fisheries Authority View Swimming Gear Waterproof X-Adventurer XS Scuba

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