I’m stupid (fact).

Prior to storing it I glanced at the receipt from the shop where I bought my new scuba equipment and guess what… my brand new regulator is actually not the one I thought it was.

I was out there buying a ScubaPro R390 second stage with an MK17 first stage but they were all out. They did have the legendary G250 on a discouted offer for nearly identical price so I got that one instead. It’s a bit on the large side but a workhorse that has proven itself time and again.
There was never a doubt in my mind that the first stage was the MK17 I wanted (since that’s what me and the salesman were discussing all the time).

But then, three weeks later, after 12 dives with the setup I get home and take a quick look at the receipt and see MK25AF/G250 written on it…

Naturally I got curious what the deal was so I went to the ScubaPro website and compared the two first stages…

Let me just repeat the first sentence – I’m stupid. On second thought, let’s expand that a bit – I’m also an absolute idiot.

Of course it’s the MK25!

When I was first researching what to buy, reading the reviews etc. I never really took a good look at the visual appearance and the differences between the two. Just a few hours ago I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference to be honest. I was focused on the performance characteristics, construction, features and the rest of the stuff that really matter with these things. But not the overall appearance.

So I came how convinced I got myself a MK17/G250 setup.

Far from me being dissapointed by the new discovery. I’m thrilled! I got a significant upgrade from what I originally wanted, I just didn’t realize how much of step up it really is. Especially considering the price. I got a significantly better deal than I thought

 

Yup, that’s it, that’s me… no BCD, just a backpack to carry the bottle on my back, a regulator and a pressure gauge.
Old school, takes you back to Jaques Custeau, James Bond – Thunderball etc.

You wouldn’t believe how good this felt after slaving against the drag from a borrowed  ScubaPro S-Tek wing style BCD. I was born again. It was like freediving yet still being able to breathe underwater.

A couple of german divers (adhering to the strict  DIR/Hogarthian rules) didn’t know what hit them when we zoomed past.

They never saw us in our gear while we were on the boat as we only started gearing up when they were already underwarter. 5min later we caught up and didn’t see them untill about an hour later when we already ate our lunch back on the boat.
The things is – we covered the exact same route, saw more big fish then they did, made more decent photos and videos and enjoyed every minute of it.

When they got back on the boat, with their heavy triple bottle setup, they started asking the DM who those two divers who came out of nowhere were. They simply had no idea…
Now way am I ever turning into one of those. Keeping it simple is the key.

I made two more dives with a similar setup. All I had to do was to drop some weights so it would be easier to keep neutraly buoyant below 20m. Taking photos was almost as easy as with a BCD, the only important difference is that you have to be careful with your breathing (and weights obviously).
I didn’t notice a huge difference in air consumption. I’d estimate about 10-20bar per dive more than with a BCD. You do have to breathe more and it shows but it’s not a big deal.

Here’s some more these 9 days of diving around  Solta and Brac Islands

 –>> Underwater photos

 

While on  diving vacation this past two weeks I read a report in  Tauchen magazin about a new No-Limits apnea (freediving) record set by  Patrick Musimu which now stands at an amazing 209.6m (687ft)!!

 Divernet has a story I obviously missed since the record was set on June 30th.

My own personal best appears miserable in comparison -> 22-23m (that’s when the bottom got in the way)