Bar Exam and Mares BC

Good morning! Over the next three days, Kari, Traci, Zee and I will be taking the California bar exam. As soon as this is behind us, I'm heading off to Cozumel to go diving, and I have just purchased this Mares BC. As you can see, it's great for travel because it folds up into the size of a handbag, and it even has a handle so you can carry it easily. It's full back inflation, and I've never used one like it before. People say it takes some getting used to - so I ask you - have you ever used a back inflation BC? Have you ever gone diving in Cozumel? Any dive site recommendations?  

Hope all is well wherever in the world you are today, and please wish us luck!

Hugs and fishes,
Jenny Mo

scuba skivvies

The end is near...less than two weeks away from the CA bar!

I found these fabulous boxers for the man who loves scuba and wants everyone to know.


Check 'em out at: http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/MensBrowse/Men_Feature_Assortment/NewArrivals/boxers/PRDOVR~94536/94536.jsp


hugs & fishes,
traci

***bonus - you can have them monogrammed!***

My vacation: COZUMEL?

Hi Everybody!

I am looking to book at dive vacation after the bar exam is over, and I've been considering a few different destinations. I am seriously leaning toward Cozumel, although the Cayman Islands is a close second. I have also considered Fiji, but it may be too expensive. If anyone has any experiences of Cozumel they want to share, please leave a comment! I look forward to your thoughts.

Hugs and fishes,
Jenny Mo

Stay Focused

Quick post for today, then I'm off to study.

I read an article (click above for link) about a non-profit organization that offers SCUBA certification for people with disabilities, and I wanted to share it here. An excerpt:

"Inspired by his older brother, Bobby Muller, a paraplegic Marine Corps combat veteran from the Vietnam War, for whom diving represents freedom from his wheelchair, Roger incorporated Stay-Focused in January 2003. In addition to becoming PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors) certified, Stay-Focused divers participate in workshops, sample parasailing and riding wave runners, and enjoy recreational outings on Grand Cayman."

The non-profit's website is :
http://www.stay-focused.org

Have a great day!
Hugs and fishes,
Jenny Mo

SCUBA SHOW

Long time no see!  We have been very busy studying for the upcoming California Bar Exam which we're taking at the end of the month, so we haven't had much time for posting.  However, I was able to get away for a couple of hours to attend the SCUBA SHOW in Long Beach a couple of weekends back!  

Apart from the fact that the Convention Center was also rented out by Jehovah's Witnesses on that particular day, the Scuba Show was fun.  Nothing against Jehovah's Witnesses or anything, but they had rented out the entire Convention Center's parking structure and made Scuba Show visitors find alternate parking. The bathroom lines were also very long!  If you were there, you know what I'm talking about.  Next year, Scuba Show planners, please try to pick a day when there aren't thousands of people from different groups competing for parking spaces and toilets!  

However, once we were in, Christina and I had a great time running around the booths and checking out all the gear.  I was particularly impressed with Mares new women's line.  Also, a company is now offering full face masks with integrated communication systems.  The regulator is also integrated into the mask, so you don't have to clear the mask the traditional way.  How do you feel about communicating under water?  I have to say, I enjoy the peace and quiet down there!  

I really miss posting and reading your comments, and I look forward to this study mania coming to a close.  I'm trying to book a dive vacation for the end of August, so all suggestions are welcome!!  Hope everyone is well!

Hugs and fishes,

Jenny Mo

this is what I think of law school

i need a wife

TwoTank friends, family, & lovers -

I am going crazy with bar studying, although I may have been there before. But that is a post for another day with more time to "dive" into my neuroses, ha ha ha. That's just it, there cannot possibly be enough time in the next 5 weeks to get everything done & continue to sleep & exercise.

Basically, I need a wife. I don't mean a liberated post-feminist wife, I need the perfect 1950's housewife who will clean my apartment, do the laundry, iron my sheets, make my lunch, & have a hot, healthy dinner on the table every night...in addition to running any errands that may need to be completed.

Here are some photos of my high-school friend on her scuba trip off of Catalina Island. Enjoy!

Hugs and fishes, Traci

Shipwreck Discovered

Two men have claimed to have discovered a very old shipwreck - the HMS Ontario, a British 22 gun warship that was lost in 1780 during the American Revolution. The men, Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville, have not disclosed the location, but have spent $100,000 on equipment and 3 years searching for this "holy grail" of shipwrecks. The ship was lost when a sudden gale swallowed it. Lost for over 200 years and now it has been discovered. Brilliant. Approximately 5000 shipwrecks have been discovered in the Great Lakes.

The men have explained that the ship is still considered a war grave (120 souls were aboard when it sank) and belongs to the British government. When I first learned of the HMS Ontario, it reminded me of our first year exam in Real Property because we had a similar fact pattern- interesting to analyze who might have a rightful claim to anything aboard the ship. Click on the title of the post to read more and see a grainy photo of the shipwreck.

Sorry we haven't posted in a long time. The bar preparation is intense! However, we're all trudging along and looking forward to an August dive trip and more time to post!

Hugs and fishes,
Jenny Mo

Keeping Time

The title of this post links to an article about a new Rolex watch that can be used while diving. It's called the Rolex SeaDweller Deep Sea, and it looks amazing. It got me thinking - first, I need a watch. It's one of the mandatory pieces of gear that divers must wear on all dives. I have been naughty, though, and I admit I haven't really worn one lo these many scuba years. I have a nice watch, but I think I need a cheap and cheerful one that I won't worry about at depth. Am I wrong?

According to this article, the Rolex Sea Dweller deep sea is waterproof up to 12,800 feet! This is truly a beautiful watch. However, I'm curious - what kind of watch do you wear when diving? Are dive computers replacing dive watches? Is the money better spent on a dive computer, a dive watch, or does a diver need both these days?

I haven't invested in a dive computer yet because I always just count on my buddy or the dive master since my only experience is with groups of divers. However, I'm definitely going to get my own before my next dive trip. So feel free to post away about what kind of dive computer and/or watch you recommend.


Hugs and fishes,
Jenny Mo

SCUBA is not a crime!

It's been far too long since our last post, but as you can imagine, graduation festivities and bar preparation has left us each with almost no time! However, I had to post this as soon as I saw it. According to the story:

"A Tofino man was recently sentenced in Port Alberni provincial court to 60 days in jail for unlawfully possessing scuba diving equipment contrary to a prohibition order. Gilgamesh Derick Palm also received an additional two year snorkeling and scuba diving prohibition, after pleading guilty to contravening an Order of Prohibition made under Section 79.6 of the Fisheries Act.
Convicted for the second time for possessing northern abalone in 2001, Palm was handed an eight year Order of Prohibition, which prohibited him from engaging in snorkeling or scuba diving activities. However, fishery officers determined in March 2008 that he was in contravention of the order, as he was in possession of scuba diving equipment. Because of conservation concerns, abalone fisheries have been closed in BC since December 1990. Northern abalone was declared a threatened species under the Species at Risk Act in 1999. Killing, harming, harassing, capturing or taking abalone is prohibited under SARA, which aims to prevent endangered and threatened wildlife from becoming extinct or lost from the wild, and to help in the recovery of these species. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans said in a press release that one of the largest threats to northern abalone survival is the continued unauthorized harvest, and surveys of northern abalone, including areas accessible only to remote communities, show no sign of recovery."

Sounds like he needs a good lawyer! Too bad we're still studying for the bar. Who knew a person could be on SCUBA probation??

Hugs and fishes,
Jenny Mo

One Month Anniversary!

Hi everybody! It's been exactly one month since we first debuted our blog, and so many of our new friends have given us a fantastic welcome to the online SCUBA community. To thank you for all your kind comments and for dropping by so often, I thought I'd give you an underwater hug. Have a great day.


Hugs and fishes,
Jenni Mo

P.S. We graduate from law school on Friday!

Ice Diving in the White Sea

I ran across this story in the Wall St. Journal online, and it's incredible! Mark Schoofs wrote the piece and is the diver. The video is truly breathtaking. And the White Sea Center has two captive Beluga whales that played with the divers.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

"But the cold harbors danger. Valves can freeze, either blasting a diver with free-flowing air or shutting off the air supply altogether. Every air tank for ice diving has two valves, not the standard one for warm-water diving, and the mouthpiece valve has a freeze-resistant design. Even so, I encountered an emergency. I wore a vest that inflated and deflated to control buoyancy, and a valve on it froze open, ballooning the vest and sending me straight up. I was pinned against the ice, unable to swim freely, with the air in my tank rapidly flowing out. The safety of the terrestrial world was less than a foot away but walled off by impenetrable ice.

This is the second danger of ice diving: To ascend to the surface, one must return to the ice hole. Out of air and wearing close to 100 pounds of gear, even 25 yards underwater can be a long, even lethal distance. Each diver is secured to a rope connected to two other people: a buddy in the water and a tender on the surface. My buddy saw my trouble and gave the emergency signal: Four yanks of the rope, and our tender hauled us in. We skated along the ice's underside, a sensation so fun and beautiful that I forgot the danger. Up on top, our tender doused the valve with hot water from a thermos, and we resumed our dive."

Click on the title of the post to read the entire piece.

Hope everyone is well. We're done with finals and gearing up for graduation on Friday!

Hugs and fishes,
Jenny Mo

Above and Below

Sunrise on Maui. At the Grand Wailea, they have beach dives right off the hotel. One of the things I love about diving in Hawaii is that waking up at the crack of dawn isn't so difficult thanks to the time change. (For me it's 3 hours behind). I'm happy to get up and go diving first thing in the morning. This is what it looks like above the water and below the water on the same day.

Let's all wish the girls good luck on their exams. I'm finished now, but they still have a few to go!

Hugs and fishes,
Jenny Mo

Diver ESP

Everyone has one - a story about how you just got a little "feeling" that you should or shouldn't do something.  I am a big fan of listening to my intuition.  My story involves Miami, Florida in March 2007.  I flew to Miami, and we were booked to go on a dive - the U.S.S. Spiegel Grove - in the Keys.  I went to dinner at a wonderful seafood restaurant the night before, and it was great - until I started throwing up in the middle of the night.  I didn't get much rest, and I woke up with a bad feeling (besides just throwing up).  I had a really terrible sense of doom, but I wanted to do this dive.  After all, I had traveled all this way and I wasn't going to get another chance during that trip.  

If you've ever been to the Speigel Grove, you know that it's a huge war ship, and portions of it are in over 120 feet of water.  I've done deep dives, but I'm a little more psychologically comfortable at 80 feet max.  However, I had seen magnificent photos of the ship, and I couldn't wait to take my own so I was willing to - ahem - take the plunge.  (Did I just say that?)

Anyway,  I went to the dive shop.  The weather was awful - gray, gloomy, rainy.  But, again, I had traveled so far, and rain doesn't really affect diving once you're under.  Plus, the boat was taking divers.  If the boat goes, why shouldn't I?  Again, terrible sense of doom.  That plus the bad seafood the night before plus the terrible weather made me do something I had never done before - cancel a dive.  The shop was kind enough to refund my money.  I moped around the rest of the day, wondering if I had made the right call.  The next day, I picked up my newspaper outside my hotel room and discovered that three divers died on the Speigel Grove on the dive I was scheduled to do at the time I was scheduled to do it.  They had apparently penetrated the wreck without tying a line, bringing extra air canisters, or having a guide.  One of them made it back, but three of them got lost inside the ship.  They had to send down an extraction team the following day.  It was awful.  I don't know if I would have penetrated the wreck or not because I tend to be a pretty cautious diver.  However, these guys were experienced and certified - probably more experienced than me.  I'm really sorry for those divers and their families.  

The reason I bring it up is because I think it's really critical to listen to your intuition with SCUBA.  It's also critical to respect your buddy's feelings about a dive, too, and to never pressure your buddy.  Do you have any stories of DIVER ESP?
Hugs and Fishes,
Jenny Mo

SCUBA's Good For You!

The Guardian just ran a story about the health benefits of SCUBA v. Swimming.  You can read the entire story on Guardian's website by clicking the title of this post, but here are some highlights:

Swimming:  Increases appetite.   Swimmers gained an avg. of 5 lbs. when put on a 3 month program for weight loss.  Oops. 

SCUBA:  Swimming with fins is like water-based weight training, firming the thighs!  Weight loss?  Excellent - Someone weighing 70kg burns 13 calories a minute, putting a 45 minute dive at 585 burned calories!!  (For those of us Americans  - 70 kg is 154 pounds).  That is the equivalent of a Carl's Jr. Famous Big Star Hamburger (580 Calories), or 2 Glazed Chocolate Crullers from Dunkin Donuts (560 calories) or 5 Heineken beers (550).  Wow!  

Both are good for lung capacity.  Swimming is better for an upper body workout.  As you all know, we don't really do much with our arms at depth.    

The last time I burned 585 pounds in 45 minutes, I was on a treadmill listening to terrible techno music, sweating like crazy, and thinking there had to be a better way.  Well there is!!

Personally, I eat very healthy and I don't drink - especially before a dive (or even the night before).  No wonder divers look great in a wetsuit!  We're working hard out there!

Hugs and fishes,

Jenny Mo 

Scuba Camp?

What do you guys think about this one? A live aboard scuba camp for teens... interesting!

Check it out here:
http://www.gobroadreach.com/programs/scuba_diving_camps.asp

April Fav Blogs

April was a blast! Here are the five most popular posts from April (as measured in comments). We had fun, hope you did too :)

First of all, you guys loved Jenny's Mo's first official underwater post:
http://twotank.blogspot.com/2008/04/down-line_12.html

Also, "Feeding Frenzy" was a hit with the web crowd:
http://twotank.blogspot.com/2008/04/feeding-frenzy.html

"Feeding Frenzy" was not to be outdone by "TwoTone Tan Lines"
http://twotank.blogspot.com/2008/04/twotone-scuba-tan-lines.html

Both with four comments. Moving into the three comments category, we had the very, very sad event of a shark attack in San Diego. Thanks to the community for helping us honor this gentleman in his untimely death:
http://twotank.blogspot.com/2008/04/suspected-great-white-shart-attack-san.html

We had some fun advice from Jenny Mo and web friends about proper mask clearing. I've not been diving in the ocean yet, so I can only "picture" what you guys are talking about. However, it seems like you all did an amazing job describing what I should do once I get certified! If you missed it, check it out here:
http://twotank.blogspot.com/2008/04/loosen-up.html

We also have one more post that was the most "fun" for us... we love making connections online and we really found some great scuba friends in the midst of my ode to Traci's love of mermaids!
http://twotank.blogspot.com/2008/04/traci-who-loves-you.html

As you can tell, we are all nearing the end of finals, but we are still pretty school focused so the blogging has been hit or miss. Soon after finals, Z and I will be getting certified so that will be fun and funny all at the same time :) We have our fingers crossed that we will be taking an all girls dive trip before the summer is out, but we will keep you posted! Any ideas? We need to go somewhere that is a long weekend away from the US.

If you have a favorite friend on TwoTank you can get the posts by author as follows:

Jenny Mo: http://twotank.blogspot.com/search/label/Jenny%20Mo
Traci: http://twotank.blogspot.com/search/label/Traci
Z (who has been studying A LOT): http://twotank.blogspot.com/search/label/Z
Me (Kari): http://twotank.blogspot.com/search/label/Kari

Hugs and Fishes,
Kari

Three Down - One to Go!

I just finished a final that was so confusing and hard that I cannot describe it other than as my worst school nightmare for three hours in slow-mo. Yeah, honey, THREE hours of nothing but essay - corporate law no less. So, that was the end of my third final. I have one more next week.

After that I will be a free woman! I might paint my face blue :) As a celebration, I am taking the rest of the night off from thinking and going to dinner with some old friends from home. I think there are few things on the planet as wonderful as old friends that know you so well, it's almost hard to keep the conversation going because you already know EVERTHING about each other. I love that. So, hats off to old friends and being (almost) done with finals!

Hugs and fishes,
Kari

P.S. Once I'm done with finals I get to start my SCUBA certification... so excited! I've even started calling / e-mailing local shops for price quotes. Don't worry, I blog all the action :)

Nudist Vacations?

Oh, boy.  Where do I begin?  The New York Times Travel Section has a story this week, "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem," exposing the growing trend of nudist travel.  Apparently there are all-nude luxury resorts from Mexico to the Caribbean.  This growth industry  is estimated at $440,000,000 last year.  There's even an all-nude Hawaiian cruise scheduled for 2010.  And - get this - they are referring to a such trip as a "nakation." 

There is absolutely no way I would ever do this.  Yes, I'm modest.  But even more importantly, I really don't want to see other nude people frolicking on a cruise ship or lunching by the pool or playing volleyball / water polo or whatever (like in this photo).  However, I think I've figured out why this is becoming popular.  Who wants to go through all the hassle of bringing luggage to an airport these days?  With the nudist vacation, lost luggage is a thing of the past!  Besides, is being nude for a week really that much more embarrassing than having a full body scan at your local airport security checkpoint?   Probably not, unless you're taking a trip with your parents or your boss.  The main problem I foresee is managing to fit a sufficient amount of sunscreen into those Ziplock bags they make you use now.  Click on the title of the post to read the full article in the NYT.

So today's discussion - would you go / have you ever gone on a "nakation?"

Hugs and fishes,

Jenny Mo

TwoTone: SCUBA Tan Lines

Fellow Blogger Maldives Live commented on the post "Loosen Up," saying that the mask mark is not as bad as the scuba tan. I'm inclined to agree, so I'm posting a photo of what can happen when you leave the bottom half of your wetsuit on and unzip the top half and scrunch it down on the boat ride home! As you can see, top half - fabulous, bronze goddess tan. Bottom half? Dita Von Teese. Note to self: Always take wetsuit completely off after the last dive.

Hugs and fishes,

Jenny Mo