No weight! I'm been wrestling with my weight while diving. I'm never sure just how much weight to take. Conventional wisdom says take 10% of your body weight. The back plate on my Halcyon BCD weights 6 pounds but when I add anything else to that on a weight belt, I feel over-weighted at depth. I'm constantly "yo-yo'ing" off of bottom while trying to stay level at few feet off the bottom.

If I do carry extra weight, I enevitably wind up putting some air in my BCD to offset it. So why carry the extra weight at all? Well on this dive I finally resolved to not carry any extra weight beyond the 6 pounds of my back plate.

It was great. I felt far more in control of my bouyancy and could regulate my level entirely with my lungs. Even at the safety stop maintaining my level was no more difficult than when carrying weight. I'm not saying this is for everyone but so far it's working out very well for me.

Today I went for an afternoon dive too. On the way out I got a shot of one of the Cozumel monuments.

Cozumel Tower

We went out to the relatively shallow Paradise Reef and the place was positively rotten with crustaceans. My favourite arrow crabs were there along with many crabs and a family of lobsters.

Crustaceans

Our divemaster showed us how you can get a rise out of a snapping shrimp. If you listen closely, at the 10 second mark you can make out the sound of the claw snapping shut. The little creatures pack a mean punch.

Snapping Shrimp

I even managed to catch a hermit crab contemplating a new home. Too bad it was already taken! Too bad I didn't quite catch the other hermit crab rebuffing this guy's advances.

Hermit Crabs

We ascended and set out for the pier. A long day of diving was over.

Location: Cozumel, Mexico

Dive Number:   83 Bottom Time: 1h 9m Time In: 3:08 p.m. Tank In: Max Depth: 39.00 ft Table Used:

Mix:   Air Safety Stop: 3m Time Out: 4:17 p.m. Tank Out: Average Depth: 32.00 ft Start Pressure Group:

Surface Interval:   2h 13m End Pressure Group:

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