Re: Hookahs & Spareair

"BrianM" <bmorris@nilads.co.nx> wrote in message
newsan.2004.02.14.02.14.46.738519.2661@nilads.co .nx...
> Couple of things I would like to discuss:
> A Spareair bottle is a Self Contained Underwater Breathing
Apparatus.
> If I used one eg in a shallow lagoon to video the coral & fish,
would

It wouldn't last for very long at all. I'm not sure how many litres
they hold, but they are only for a few breaths...

> I need a current SCUBA certification to have the bottle refilled at
a
> dive shop. If not, how would dive shop operators feel about filling
a
> bottle for someone whose diving experience/skills is not recorded.
Is there
> a liability issue here? To take it a bit further, would I need
> certification to have a standard bottle onshore, or in a boat (out
of the sun)
> for doing self-refills with the Spareair.

I imagine most dive shops couldn't care less about filling it.
There's not much diving you can do on a spare air anyway... as for
keeping a standard cylinder in your boat, well I imagine they'd expect
a certification for that. But if you were going to all the effort of
keeping a full size cylinder for filling your spareair, why not didtch
the spare air and just use normal scuba?

> The other one is about diving Hookahs. This site is an example
> http://www.seabreathe.com/
> Again, should there be (or is there) some kind of certification for
diving
> using this type of equipment, for safety reasons.
> Hookahs have been around a long time - I used one from a Navy diving
> tender back in 1965 - they utilised the same pump used for hard
helmet diving.
> SCUBA was Aqualung with twin Heinke tanks and regulator at the back.

I don't believe there is a cert process for hookah. Funnily enough,
AFAIK the risks are greater, and there are more of them. On hookah,
that is. Ultimately, do a scuba course - it's only $200-300 and a
small price to pay.

Cheers
David M