This blog post has been lurking in the corner of my mind for some time and what better day to post it then on Women’s Dive Day.

I am going to tell you about 3 things that have made my life as female dive professional much easier.

Going for a dive trip not only entails diving, but also jumping off boats and jetties, snorkeling, freediving, beach volley ball, surfing, sun tanning, swimming, running, dancing, catching and cartwheeling, and hey, it is not uncommon for wardrobe malfunctions to occur.

What can can the lazy but active girl wear?

Enter

 

Crossback Bikini Top
If you tie lines, you will see that this is indeed a superior design in terms of strength and slippage.

It is has less points of failure (one knot only) and the turn changes the direction of the force required to hold your top up from vertical against to gravity, to horizontal. Love it.secure

Never flash your boobs accidentally to your students again!
So not professional. hahaha

Don’t you just hate it when you dive trip coincides with your period.

I get asked questions about this issue by students all the time.

Can I still dive?
Does having your period stop you doing other activities?

Can I wear a pad?
Yes, if you fancy feeling like wearing a waterlogged diaper.

Will seawater get in via the tampon string?
Sorta, not really.

If I just let it flow, will people be able to see my menstrual blood?
Call the police, it will be a murder scene! No, not really, don’t be paranoid.

Will I attract sharks?
I wish.

You can’t wear a pad, you don’t want to chum the waters, and you don’t want to die of Toxic Shock Syndrome either.

Meet the

Menstrual Cup

This is the BOMB!

I went on a quest to cut disposables and plastics from my life and I discovered the menstrual cup. If you care about the environment at all, you should invest in one of these. It’s

Reusable – Not Disposable.
Silicon – Not plastic with chemicals.
Safe – TSS not a big concern

It’s also great for lazy girls, like me.
Just put it in and leave it in all day, perfect!
Read here for more.

And finally, I always have
Menstrual Cop

There is always someone that loses their hair tie on a trip, having spare is part of everyday life for me.

Hairband And the flat wide ones are really great as hairbands, curbing the post-dive frizzle! Because I personally find bandannas a bit of hassle.

Apart from keep your hair at bay, I have used elastic bands in the following situations:

  • As spare snorkel keepers
  • As a spare octopus holders
  • Spare Bungees for cameras
  • Spare fin strap
  • Deep Dive Props – showing how colour disappears for Advanced Courses
  • A Quick SPG Holder
  • Line for knot-tying
  • Small Object – Search and Recovery
  • Small Object – Search and Recovery

And the list goes on…
Very useful.

That’s it for today – be well, earthlings!