Scallop season.
Hello Wakulla
The 1st of July means scallop season has officially started here in Wakulla County. “Let the games begin.”
So now it’s not only snapper season but scallop season too. That means double wear and tear on your mask, fins, booties, and snorkel.
I know this type of gear is the most used but also the most overlooked of all our equipment. We tend to let it go unnoticed when we get back on the boat, we remove it and then throw it in a corner hopefully out of the way as not to step or trip over it.
But it gets even worse, when we get home we tend to put it in the garage or shed to dry out from our trip and not think about them until our next dive or snorkeling trip.
This is the worst thing we can do to a critical part of our diving equipment. In the 1960s through the early ‘80s most of the fins, mask, and snorkels where of a rubber content and were not so prone to sun breaking down the seals or skirts on the equipment. In the ‘90s they started using a silicone based material that was much lighter and more buoyant than the rubber based materials.
The silicone is much more environmentally friendly than the petroleum based materials used early on in the diving industry. Today the only way to find any fins or mask that is rubber content you need to look on eBay.
The downside to silicone based equipment is that ozone and sunlight will rapidly break down the silicone, turn it yellow and basically destroy it.
This brings me to my point and that is we need to treat our support gear like we treat our life support gear. During your dive when you are on the surface or in the boat on your surface interval you should make sure your mask, snorkel, and fins are kept out of direct sunlight.
After you’re done diving, when you get home or back to the dock, you should thoroughly rinse off ALL your gear including your mask, fins, and snorkel with fresh clean water.
Do not let your mask, fins, and snorkel dry out in the direct sunlight, they should hang up or set them in the shade until they are dry enough to put them in your gear bag.
If you will take care of your mask, fins, and snorkel they will last for many seasons of diving.
I have had my fins since 1970, and my split silicone fins for about 8 years. My mask I bought in 2000 and it is 2022 and I still use it today.
If you bought dive quality mask, fins, and snorkel and not the cheap box-store package, with some effort they should last you for many years.
I would like to wish you all a happy Fourth of July. Who knows we might just meet underwater one day.
Until next time, remember: “An out of air emergency to a scuba diver is not as bad as an out of air emergency to a sky diver.”
– Russell Miller, NAUI instructor #59999
This is a repeat of a column that appeared in July last year.