Yeh, I don't know much about it either, do most people use tanks or hookahs and what are the main safety concerns?

When chasing crays I generally cover a lot of ground, I've often found myself travelling through caves, swim throughs etc, and a hookah would restrict the amount of freedom. A tank give me about an hour dive at 10 - 16 metres, which is about the maximum bottom time, I'm forced to surface. I know that if I was on a hookah there would always be I'll just check this ledge then the next one and so on, and I'd likely end up hurting myself.

You cant beat the freedom of a hooka, or freediving, vs scuba i reckon. Specially for crays, you gotta get right into those caves and ledges.
I once had a hooka hose pop off the compressor. Me and my buddy were down at the same time, breathing off a y-piece hose. I noticed it getting hard to breath, I breathed out and then couldnt breathe back in!! shot to the surface (in 12m of water), pretty much breached like a whale - and he did at exactly the same time!! many expletives were directed at his old man who was in the boat minding it. But he couldnt get the hose back on while it was running - was nothing he could do!
was an exciting day! But we went back down and got our crays, no harm done, was only shallow.
Ewan

never used a hookah dont believe in paying for it oh sorry thats my past im married now and im a lot older.
anyway i have not used one so carnt comment on there use but tanks give me my fredom to go in to that cave or tight hole but will have to try it one day.

You never know what you'll catch

I went diving with a mate I was useing the Hookah and he had tanks and I found that I could get under all the ledges that he couldnt get under ,Hence I got more crays that day. Even with the hose attached I still felt like I had heaps of freedom to go wherever. The other thing I like about Hookahs is your allways attatched to the boat so you cant get lost or dissorientated about where you are.

Yeh the Hooka difinatley gives you more freedom but the problem I found in using it was that you can quite easily forget how long your max. bottom time is thereby exposing you to dangerous nitrogen build up in you blood system and possibility of increasing the risk of the bends.
Not something that I want to experience, but Hooka is awesome in shallow water.

Cheers OX

Doh...

I have used both over the years....

bottom time doesnt come into it if you are using a hookah....you are breathing air at the surface pressure...which is the advantage of hookah. Nitogen build up????? Dont think so
What sort of hookah did you buy???? Did you get some instruction????

Cant dive anymore as I had too many ruptured eardrums from diving with colds....Dont do it!!!

I have a job for a diver....will pay for you time....need a Abu reel & rod retreived from 16m near Three Mile....got dropped yesterday.
PM me if you can help....

Hey andrew, You get anyone to get your reel for ya???

You gotta be in it to win it

missed ya post here Lukas....Abu is still resting in 16m mate behind Three Mile....unless a cray diver stumbled across it....popular dive spot

Ive never done either but my missus wants me to get into scuba now. she is really experienced shes up to like instructer level done all of her deep water rescue stuff and all that sort of stuff.Whats like the price comparison of both CHEERS SHAG

I paid $850 for mine with 115m of hose and three regs and the flags and some other gear. All I had to buy was mask and fins and $3 worth of fuel and away we went. I dont think you can even get a dive vest cheaper than that. Then you have to get all the other gear like regs,tanks.In all I think its a quarter of the price. But it all depends on what you want to do. Hookah does have its limitations.

ive done both and dont like going down on a hooker ,with a y peice as it does restrict where you can and cant go .When i dive for crays ,my buddy and i will have a look around for a spot with heaps of crays then split up, as it can get pretty crowded ,under a ledge with two divers tring to get the bigger ones.If we lose each other we just keep going until you hear the tank ring ,as you finsh breathing in that mean you have about 50 left in your tank ,we try to find each other but if we cant find each other we usally head back to the boat and do a compression stop together .Only problem with the scuba is is the tank on your back but you can always take it off.we some times cover lots of ground and the hooker lines can be very restrictive.

I've only used scuba gear so I find a tank pretty restrictive especially when you have to reach in a hole. Your first stage (the thing you screw on your bottle) scrapes and it can get damaged and catch. With a hooka I can imagine it has more freedom as long as you have enough line. I agree with you there Salmo re; bottom times.It doesn't come into play. That's prob the most critical concern that a diver faces,nitrogen build up then in turn, safety stops required at different depths and how many you must do. Lefty brought up a good point re: when to pull the pin and surface, the temptation to keep going is always at the back of your mind...There is pros and cons to both so it prob comes down to which ever you feel most comfortable with Tapout. Just get down there it's an awsome feeling to be in another environment not alot of other people choose to partake in. MAXY

I enjoy the deep stuff 30-40m,cant use a Hooker there.Also had a Boat not notice the flag and got draged until the reg and hose popped! Not for the light hearted!!!

Big misconception that you dont get the bends from hookah diving.
Breathing the air from a hookah is the same as from a tank and all the same bottom times need to be adhered to.
Even though the pressure starts off as surface pressure you are still breathing compressed air from the hydrostatic force implied on everything at depth so hence still get an uptake of nitrogen in your system.

Scuba man myself through and through

Cheers

Gully

I'm a bit concerned that you've only done one dive on scuba and if you'd need to do any extra training for hooka, I've been diving for about 17 years with about 500 dives logged and would think carefully about doing it without training. I dont know if you can get training for hooka but seeing as you only have one dive under your belt it would suggest your relativly inexperiencd just take care when your down there it can be a dangerous place under water! and you should always have someone watching the commpressor on board should it stop

Good luck

To all the virgins..............Thanks for nothing!