The Neptune Warrior

For the most part I dive out of my Jeep. Always have used my vehicle as the Initial Rally Point for launching dive excursions. There are times though I have to move from the rig out to the beach area.

Intense heat, driving rain, or waiting the night out may all be reasons you move to protect yourself by sheltering. It also helps you establish “your area” for gear and collecting the rest of your dive party.

The 5 W’s include:

Weather- You can quickly die of exposure. Let’s make sure you set up to protect yourself against the elements.

If it’s hot and you have to get out of the sun, then set up a tarp that you can crawl under for protection. Even if you only put it up 4-6′ high, you will benefit from the cooler space that sits at the 12” and below area where you can sit. Protection from rain is equally important and will keep you happy between dives.

Water- So obviously we want to try to be near the water but we also want to ensure we have the ability to transport and store drinking water as well as water for rinsing off sandy regulators.

Widow Makers- That which does not kill you will make you stronger, unless you’re that guy in Utah that had to cut off his arm with a multi-tool. Widow makers are anything that can turn your rescue class into a recovery operation. When setting up a dive site shelter look for overhanging branches from trees, loose boards on a plank, potential rock slides, a boulder that just needs the nudge of cold-night air to slip, rocky shorelines to navigate, boat and car traffic, or anything that could hurt or kill you. Avoid these areas at all cost.

Wingers- Anything that buzzes in the air and bites or stings needs to be avoided if possible. Fly’s carry disease, Bees and Wasp leave nasty stings and can be an extreme danger, and Mosquitos cause ailments such as Malaria. To one degree, if you have a fire on the site the smoke from your fire can minimize the issues of flying insects but when selecting a site try to avoid areas of insect concentration. Avoid Blue Lake in the summer. Flies and mosquitos are rampant.

Wigglers- Anything that crawls on the ground that bites, stings, sucks, etc. Ants, snakes, scorpions, eve centipedes. Some of these you can avoid by not building in their nest, others you just have to keep an eye out for. Before you go out, do a little research on the threats in your dive area. Don’t overlook the tick threat in your area as well.