How to keep diving CLEAN - or - Our stuff don't stink...

Hi folks, it's Mark here for a change!

I finally got Suzy to let me write a Blog post, because I was thinking about something the other day whilst scrubbing our rental masks with a toothbrush. 

Here's what I was thinking about.

Suzy and I rented dive equipment on a recent vacation. As we'd only planned on one day of diving, we didn't want the hassle of hauling all of our equipment with us on the flights. And we figured: how bad could it be, just for one day?

As soon as we were handed our rental wetsuits, we instantly regretted our decision.

You know there are 2 types of divers:

1. those who pee in their wetsuits
2. those that lie about it

Clearly several of the previous occupants of the rental wetsuits weren't liars. The stench was overwhelming and revolting - and we were outside at the time.


So what I was thinking about was:

That doesn't happen at my dive shop. 

So, how many dive vacations have you taken when you've rented dive equipment?

Do you ever ask how often it's cleaned / when it was last cleaned..?

Or does the excitement of getting your hands on scuba equipment again after a year-or-so's break override over that part? (Closely followed by trying really hard to remember how to set up all your scuba equipment!)


The Dive Bus Crew combined has several decades of diving industry experience, and we've all worked at shops that don't pay anything like the attention to cleanliness that we do.  

With people generally concerned about cleanliness during our day to day lives, like having antibacterial hand wash available, why wouldn't we make sure our rental gear is taken care of - and why wouldn't you ask or check?

So that's what I was thinking. And that's why I wanted to write this Blog post, so you know what we do at my dive shop, to keep diving clean - because apparently it's not something you can take for granted.

So here you go:

1. One of the many weekly checks we do is a thorough clean of all our rental equipment.

 2. Regulators and snorkels are cleaned with antibacterial mouthwash before being used, every time. And the mouthwash is readily available for divers to use. As well as mask defog, and vinegar for those pesky little stings you get every now and then on a dive.

 3. We take our rental masks apart to be cleaned. With toothbrushes (dedicated ones, not used ones) to get rid of all that dried, crunchy stuff.

4. We add antibacterial disinfectant to the equipment rinse buckets, so our BCDs and wetsuits are soaked and cleaned every time they're used.

5. And wetsuits also get treated to their additional clean:

So the next time you put a rental regulator in your mouth or wriggle into your rental wetsuit, you may want to consider: just how clean is it?

(Unless you're diving at my dive shop. Then you don't need to.)


Laters!

Mark

P.S.If you're a pee-er not a liar, it's ok, it's normal - check it out here.  But maybe you should think about buying your own wetsuit ;)

#divecuracao #divingcuracao #divebus #scubaequipment #rentalequipment #scubagear #keepingdivingclean