Recreational divers learn to set up equipment and dive with one tank attached to their back but is this the best way to dive? No longer solely the realm of techie cave divers, sidemount diving is becoming more and more popular with divers discovering the benefits of diving with a tank carried on each side of the body.
Diving with a sidemount configuration improves position and streamlining, offers more air due to having a double tank capacity and improves safety as the air source is redundant. Better positioning in the water reduces fatigue, stress and drag, which in turn improves air consumption and makes the dive more enjoyable. The benefits are apparent on land too – have you ever noticed that when standing up in scuba gear you need to lean forward to counteract the weight of the tank and prevent yourself from toppling over backwards? With the tanks at your sides you can stand upright, you can easily clip them on and off to allow for water entry and exit to be tank free if desired.
Let us know in the comments below if you’ve tried sidemount diving and what your impressions were.
Euro-Divers Egypt is pleased to be able to offer Open Water Divers who are aged 15 years and over, the Sidemount Diver course. The course includes learning how to: assemble and configure sidemount scuba diving equipment. Trim your weight system and sidemount gear so you’re perfectly balanced in the water. Manage gas by switching second stages as planned, if wearing two cylinders. Respond correctly to potential problems when sidemount diving.
If you’ll be staying with us at Utopia Beach Club in Egypt’s southern Red Sea, come and find out more during our sidemount diving week from 21st October 2022.
The sidemount week will be presented by Marcel Schmid from sidemount-kurse.com. There will be evening presentations about sidemount diving, where it comes from, different styles, techniques and systems. Marcel will have different systems with him to introduce advantages and disadvantages of each. Guests will be able to book a try dive with sidemount equipment, and those who are already sidemount divers can book a ‘trim dive’ to perfect their technique.
Everything started with my Open Water Course at Koh Tao, Thailand. I’m hooked with the first breath I took underwater – this magical and peaceful world with all these different colors and creatures made me forget about everything else. It felt like an addiction.
This time made me realize that I don’t want to keep diving only as a hobby. I wanted to become a Diving Instructor and make diving my profession.
I was working as an entertainer in one of the resorts in South Male atoll. The first time I tried diving I absolutely fell in love with it, so every day off I would go diving.
I was lucky enough to meet people from Euro-Divers who helped me complete my instructor course and employment later on.
That trip changed everything. Since 2014, I visited more than 50 countries in three continents.
2019, 2020, 2021 – still in Maldives, enjoying what I love the most.
Im sonnigen Süden (Ägypten) lernte ich im Urlaub die unglaubliche Unterwasserwelt bei einem Schnuppertauchgang kennen und lieben.
Anfangs arbeitete ich im Tauchcenter im Büro, mir wurde jedoch schnell klar, dass ich die Gäste nicht nur über Wasser sondern auch unter Wasser begleiten wollte. Somit machte ich die Divemaster Ausbildung.
I studied Hotel management and ended up working for several years in different Hotels/Resorts around Italians seaside where I spend my days off diving and achieving the Dive Master rating.
I choose to stay in Oman because of its unspoiled dive site, beaches and many undiscovered dive places! We do not have mass tourism here and the country itself is spectacular besides being the safest place to live in.
Bored and burnt out of the stressful life in Holland, I quit my job as Manager Back Office & Finance and I went to Curacao for holiday. On this tropical island I took my first breaths under water with Instructor Marc, who is still my buddy in life.
Diving keeps me grounded, relaxed and connected with Mother Nature (myself). It supports me to let go, to put things into perspective and it helps me to stay focused and balanced in my position as a manager.
But diving was not at all my purpose of the journey, in fact I was not even a diver yet, I became a diver after I got passionate in freediving in Egypt in 2012 while freediving with dolphin in the wild, eager to become a snorkeling guide, I did my life guard licence and then my PADI open water!
I love freediving but scuba diving is an all other story for me, learning scuba diving make you discover part of yourself you didn’t know, you learn to control things that you would have never imagined possible, I regularly see many of my students discovering how calm they can be underwater when in life they tend to be hyperactive and then in the other hand I see calm or introverted persons becoming excited and move like a torpedo underwater 🙂 so diving might not be for everyone but it is definitely to discover!
I decided after my hospitality studies to enter this fascinating new world. I have started my career in Club Med as Guest Service and had the opportunity to travel some of the famous destinations for diving or snorkeling.
I am the perfect example of someone who was scared of diving, the only advice I could give is to believe in yourself.
But since I was young, I knew I wanted to travel the world, to go on adventures, have fun and meet people from everywhere. Unfortunately, those jobs didn’t give me the opportunity to do it so after 5 years I decided to move to Thailand.
Scuba Diving is a sport of passion.
During this time, I wanted to try something new, so I started scuba diving and I will never forget my first underwater experience. I felt nervous at first but at the same time a lot of excitement.
Some people might think that diving is a difficult sport, but there are many ways to enjoy safe diving for any age or gender.
