Why I dive a Poseidon Rebreather

Poseidon raised a few eyebrows when it introduced the Discovery Mk6 Rebreather for recreational users. Chris Davies shares his experiences.

Over the last 8 years my wife and I have worked all over the world, dived in some of the most amazing places like the Raja Ampat, North Sulawesi and the Red Sea.

Whilst I was working in England as an Instructor in 2005 I had the opportunity to dive an AP Diving Inspiration Rebreather on a regular basis and enjoyed every minute of it.

it has always been a goal of mine to become a CCR Instructor

My wife and I bought our own dive centre – Octopus Diving in St. Martin, French West Indies in 2008, and it has always been a goal of mine to become a CCR Instructor.

The Poseidon Mk6 Recreational Rebreather was released in 2009. My immediate thought was it looked like a great unit – not to mention a good stepping stone for me as an Instructor to the Inspiration.

The MK6 is great, easy to use, easy to assemble and maintain and more compact than the Inspiration.

The fact that it self checks is impressive, it will not start unless your O2 and Diluent are full and turned on. The Poseidon Mk6 will then calibrate the O2 cells and also carry out its own Positive pressure loop test.

After completing a standard S-Drill and ensuring the system is functional you are set for an awesome bubble free dive. If the Mk6 has an error underwater it will sound an alarm and you have one option: ‘Bail Out’ and return to the surface. I personally always carry an off board bail out with between 32 – 50% depending on dives deeper than 40 feet just to make sure I am safe at all times.

If you have never dived without bubbles, CCR diving could change your whole diving experience. The biggest difference is the fish, they just don’t move and you become part of their shoal. Eagle rays that are normally very skittish will just let you swim feet away from them, sharks are also very intrigued and get closer than ever. The best experience I have had so far is with Dolphins, 9 of them whilst I was teaching a Mk6 user course, they really seem interested in the unit? Maybe they can sense electrical currents, or hear the solenoids firing! Whatever it is, they chose to stay with me and my student for around 30 minutes, undisturbed.

St. Martin has some amazing wrecks and reefs that are perfect for the Mk6, for example ‘The Gregory’ is a sunken barge lying at around 60 feet. At that depth the Discovery enjoys approximately 150 minutes of no stop time! Couple that with the fact that you can buy one here tax free and train in the beautiful waters of the Caribbean, and you can see why I plan to keep diving with Poseidon’s Rebreather for many years to come.

Footnote

Husband and wife team Chris and Sally Davies run Octopus Diving on the Caribbean island of St. Martin. Just 200 miles east of Puerto Rico, the island boasts a rich heritage, beautiful beaches and a multitude of interesting dive sites – not to mention dolphins, turtles and rays. Octopus has friendly and professional dive staff teaching PADI courses, as well as now Technical Diving with the Poseidon Discovery Mk6 Rebreather.

www.octopusdiving.com