!!! Welcome to Giant Stride !!!

Welcome to Albert J. Marvelli's web page, Giant Stride. I am new to this web stuff but I hope to construct an interesting little cove on the global ocean of information. I am presently looking for new and interesting things on the internet to link to this page, Please be patient.

Please remember this is just some dopey web page and anything here could be wrong and could get you hurt. By reading this page you are releasing me, Albert J Marvelli from any responsibility in any way regarding you and what you do with the information herein. Besides I aint got squat.

                                                  Who is Albert J. Marvelli ??

     I am just a guy who grew up on a large long island off the northeast coast of the United States down the block from a scuba shop. For many many years I would walk or ride past the place and think "someday I'm gonna do that". One warm August day in 1993 I walked into the shop and before you can say "cash or charge?" I was a diver. I soon joined my local scuba club and took PADI courses all the way to rescue level. Then on the advice of some friends I took a nitrox course with Ed Betts at the ANDI headquarters, then located in Freeport NY. I have always dove local New York /New Jersey Wreks, as well as local beaches. I have not been able to afford to travel to dive. Luckily, I dont need to.

     In case your wondering, in my five years I have accumulated 175 dives. I have both a wet suit and a dry suit and a set of HP double 100's as well as AL 80's and LP 95's. I have dove in all four seasons.  I have gone as far as 138 fsw deep, and have decompressed intentionally about twenty times. I have 'set the hook' about 30 times and thrown that many as well. These numbers are not worth bragging about and I am only listing them here so you the reader can have a fair picture of who I am and what I have done underwater.  

     I started helping a friend run his private boat for diving and then I was asked to join the crew of the Dive Boat Karen in the Spring of 1997.   I hope to be able to dive for a long time and I am sure that a multitude of adventures await me underwater. Come and join the fun!

Buccanneers Dive Club Online!!!

I am a member of the Buccanneers Dive Club which is organized and headquartered in Baldwin, N.Y. USA. Currently I am the Beach Diving CoOrdinator, which is to say I am the only one willing to try to read the tide tables and call the new guys.

If you are interested in joining or diving with "Da Bucs" email me, KybrSose@aol.com,or come to Danny's Dive Shop,located at 2150 Grand Ave. in Baldwin, Long Island N.Y.,  on the first Thursday of any month unless its a holiday at 9:00 pm. You should probably just call Danny's to check that a meeting is happening, call(516)223-8989. Danny donates his basement to the club and we let him run a raffle but the club is fiercely independant, please don't be put off by our location. After all its free. We have beverages for all and the first two meetings are free so you can decide whether you'd like to join or not.

Dive Boat Karen

I also help out on the Dive Boat Karen. If you are interesting in wrek diving Brooklyn style, send me an email,KybrSose@aol.com, or call Capt. Bob Hayes at 718 421 5547.

The Dive Boat Karen is a member of the Eastern Dive Boat Association. The Captain wishes to emphasize that when divers participate in any diving activity from an EDBA vessel you are under your own care custody and control. Your safety is our concern, but your safety is your responsibility. Plan your dive, dive your plan.

The Dive Boat Karen is a fully equipped 42 foot long aluminum hull oil well crew boat converted for specific use as a dive platform by Capt. Bob Hayes. It has a heated cabin, fresh water shower and is equipped with sit down bench seats with integral tank racks for easy gear donning. The vesse is equipped with two lorans, GPS, video depth finder, ship to shore radio, cell phone, am/fm radio, EPIRB, radar, hailer, and chase kayak. Dive charters, training and equipment rental are availible from Capt. Hayes; most charters occur in the western New York Bight and dive sites offshore New Jersey.

Hogarthian Diving

I have been diving for five years now and the best method of gear rigging I have used to date is the Hogarthian system also known as 'Doing It Right'.  No matter what your experience level I suggest you find out about the magic of Hogarth.

Check out these links for more information on the only way to dive.

Start with http://www.sfdj.com/fall/beyond2.html  

After those try these sites, http://www.wkpp.org/

http://www.halcyon.net

http://www.gas-diving.co.uk/pages/misc/kit.html

http://www.infinet.com/~toddl/caverig/

Hogarth Tips

I am no expert but there are some nuances to the system for open water diving I picked up on and most of the web links concern caving, which I am not qualified to discuss. I just want to take moment to thank all the folks on Techdiver and cavers mailing lists who taught me so much.  Now for the tips:

The long hose is neat, but in open water you dont need so much. Use a 4 or 5 footer.

You can do hogarth with a single. Use one reg with both seconds from one first. Your buddy is your redundancy.

Single tank means less BC lift is needed, especially if you match you tank to your exposure suit. Use aluminum with any wet suit, steel only when dry. 

You can use the big freediving fins with a single, but doubles will damage them. I just need to find a Picasso fin dealer. If you sell 'em, email me please.

 Dive Links N' Stuff

I am not the richest man on Earth( althought the local dive shops may think so....)I try to save a buck when I can. These are commercial scuba shops that sell over the web as well as in person.They are all guys I have actually bought stuff from, please dont email me to tell me how I got screwed.

http://www.scubacatalog.com/    http://www.lloydbaileysscuba.com/

http://members.aol.com/JDA000/index2.html

These are some links that are full of  good stuff

http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/trimix.html <--Cobb's Baby

http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/links.html <--this is great ;Dont miss it

http://grove.ufl.edu/~mariusbr   <--O2 analyzers homemade for less.

http://www.erols.com/raeisen  <-- this is a friend who runs trips, local and abroad

http://www.ent-consult.com    <-- this is a site about ear medicine, with some dive                                                            specific stuff.

http://www.swiminfo.com      <--this site has recreational and competitive swim stuff

http://www.jihad.net          <--if this is funny, you read too much rec.scuba

htp://www.conknet.com/~g_packard/oxyhacker.html  <-- cheap cool O2 tricks   

http://www.uhms.org/     <--a good source for scientific diving info.