Favorite piece of Aqua Lung equipment?
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My wetsuit! Good lord, what would I do without a wetsuit?! I tend to rock my 3mm Aquaflex suit in Hawai'i. Yes.. I just said 3mm and Hawai'i in the same sentence. It keeps me warm which is ideal because I spend the vast majority of my days in or under water between the hours of 7am and 1pm and sometimes again at night (to see mantas!). It also gives me sun protection which is important to me. I use reef-safe sunscreen on my face and hands and the rest of me is good-to-go because I keep my wetsuit on all day. It's pretty much the perfect travel suit too. It works well and keeps me cozy in most of the climates and locales I visit.
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Diving skill you are working to improve?
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Breathing at a normal rate while diving deep is a skill I definitely need to work on. Back when I took the course for my Open Water certification, my instructor told us it's good to breathe "slow and steady" but she didn't give us an example of how slow.. so I breathed very very verrrry slowly. I couldn't understand why I was getting such intense migraines after diving until my husband pointed out that I was using a third less of my tank than everyone else. Since then, I received my Advanced Open Water certification and have improved my breathing technique but I subconsciously fall into a very slow breathing pattern on occasion so, whenever my head starts to throb, I remind myself to breath a bit quicker.
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What steps are you taking to improve the health of our oceans? Any advice for others who want to help?
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I've been using social media as a platform for ocean conservation and education for the past few years and I've begun running ocean safaris with my husband in Kona as well. We take our clients out and share what knowledge we have about the wildlife we encounter and what plights oceans face. We introduce our guests to reef-safe suncreens, utilize reusable food and beverage containers onboard, and stop for any debris we come upon in the ocean.
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Any hidden talents?
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I can hands-free equalize which I didn't realize was a coveted ability until I met another freediver in 2008 and he questioned how I was equalizing when I dove. Prior to our meeting, I simply thought everyone could hands free and the people who needed to use their hands must've had a sinus blockage or something.