Pinnacle Diving Company

30/04/2026

///IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT///

The ALL-NEW “A Guide to Sidemount Diving: From Recreational to Technical” is now available WORLDWIDE to anyone!

The link is on the Pinnacle Diving Company website here: https://pinnaclediving.com/books, and the book may be purchased either directly from the publisher, or via Amazon.

This book was written specifically as a student manual, reference manual, and guide. It doubles as the required reading student manual for the Sidemount Diver Specialty Course, and the Technical Sidemount Diver Course.

This book provides future Sidemount divers with a comprehensive foundation for all aspects of Sidemount diving, and is intended to be used as both a student manual in conjunction with Sidemount training, and a reference guide to further a certified Sidemount divers’ understandings.

If you are a diver interested in becoming a Sidemount Diver, I strongly recommend first discussing the possibility of taking a Sidemount Diver course from a qualified Sidemount Instructor authorized to teach the course. Once you do enroll in your course, this book is literally meant for you!

If you are a NAUI Instructor who is qualified and authorized to teach Sidemount, and you desire academic materials to facilitate your course, this book is for your students!

If you are already a certified Sidemount diver, and feel there’s always room for more, or would like a “reference guide” to refer to here and there, this book is for you too!

HELP ME SPREAD THE WORD!

I can’t do it alone!

I have been writing books now for a few years on subjects specifically with the intent to help make divers better and safer as divers!

My goal is simple: I seek to help grow, hands down, the BEST divers on Earth! I want people to be the most competent, confident, capable, and safest divers they can be, and that is THE reason why I have been so adamant about producing these books and sharing knowledge.

I can’t do it alone, so thank you all in advance for any help!

30/04/2026

///IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT///

The ALL-NEW “A Guide to Sidemount Diving: From Recreational to Technical” is now available WORLDWIDE to anyone!

The link is on the Pinnacle Diving Company website here: https://pinnaclediving.com/books, and the book may be purchased either directly from the publisher, or via Amazon.

This book was written specifically as a student manual, reference manual, and guide. It doubles as the required reading student manual for the Sidemount Diver Specialty Course, and the Technical Sidemount Diver Course.

This book provides future Sidemount divers with a comprehensive foundation for all aspects of Sidemount diving, and is intended to be used as both a student manual in conjunction with Sidemount training, and a reference guide to further a certified Sidemount divers’ understandings.

If you are a diver interested in becoming a Sidemount Diver, I strongly recommend first discussing the possibility of taking a Sidemount Diver course from a qualified Sidemount Instructor authorized to teach the course. Once you do enroll in your course, this book is literally meant for you!

If you are a NAUI Instructor who is qualified and authorized to teach Sidemount, and you desire academic materials to facilitate your course, this book is for your students!

If you are already a certified Sidemount diver, and feel there’s always room for more, or would like a “reference guide” to refer to here and there, this book is for you too!

HELP ME SPREAD THE WORD!

I can't do it alone!

I have been writing books now for a few years on subjects specifically with the intent to help make divers better and safer as divers!

My goal is simple: I seek to help grow, hands down, the BEST divers on Earth! I want people to be the most competent, confident, capable, and safest divers they can be, and that is THE reason why I have been so adamant about producing these books and sharing knowledge.

I can’t do it alone, so thank you all in advance for any help!

21/04/2026

Today we're talking about the pro's and con's of the design and performance characteristics of the three main categories of back-mounted BC's.

It is the inherent responsibility of PDC instructors to exceed standards and over-educate all students at every level, and in that, it means PDC instructors have an inherent obligation to honestly teach all students about the pro's and con's of different types of equipment, including design and performance characteristics, uses, maintenance and care, inspection and testing, cost and benefit, and more.

Your equipment can either work for you or against you, and choosing the right equipment can make all the difference. To that honest conversation, this video is meant to engage divers in a brief and constructive discussion.

If you have any constructive input that can advance and expand on this conversation, we welcome and encourage you to comment below. :)

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From recreational to professional, technical to rebreather, occupational and medical, workshops and refreshers, we have the training to meet your needs.

To learn how PDC can work for you, visit us today at: https://pinnaclediving.com/

And don’t forget! Spatial Disorientation for Divers is now available worldwide on Amazon! This subject could save your life one day!



https://youtu.be/Ra23XxaNhbc?si=luPd_n6Kss15pBHO

PDC Shed Talks 21APR26: BC's

18/04/2026

It is the inherent responsibility of PDC instructors to exceed standards and over-educate all students at every level, and in that, it means PDC instructors have an inherent obligation to honestly teach all students about the pro’s and con’s of different types of equipment, including performance characteristics, uses, maintenance and care, inspection and testing, cost and benefit, and more.

Your equipment can either work for you or against you, and choosing the right equipment can make all the difference. To that honest conversation, this video is meant to engage divers in a brief discussion of the two most prominent types of fin categories out there (vented rubber and paddle), and within those, discuss the finer points of what makes for a “better” design, and the pros and cons of one design over another.

If you have any constructive input that can advance and expand on this conversation, we welcome and encourage you to comment below. 🙂

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From recreational to professional, technical to rebreather, occupational and medical, workshops and refreshers, we have the training to meet your needs.

And don’t forget! Spatial Disorientation for Divers is available worldwide on Amazon! This subject could save your life one day!

A Brief Discussion on Fins 18APR2026

09/04/2026

PDC offers the full range of recreational courses, specialties, open-circuit technical courses, and rebreather courses, far above the industry standards, and combined with expert mentorship and guidance, designed to produce the most competent, confident, capable, and safe divers in the world!

Explore all the possibilities on our website, and each out to use today to get started!

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From recreational to professional, technical to rebreather, occupational and medical, workshops and refreshers, we have the training to meet your needs.

And don’t forget! Spatial Disorientation for Divers is available worldwide on Amazon! This subject could save your life one day!

05/04/2026

We have been testing and using underwater video and dive lights now for a few months. We put them through heavy commercial diving use, recreational use, deep technical rebreather use, and for capturing video, and by far, these have proven to be the most affordable, best performing lights you can get! Aircraft aluminum construction, deep ratings, tons of lumens, and very good battery life! You couldn’t ask for more.

So we spoke to Leton Power directly about helping other divers discover how affordable high grade, high quality lights can be.

If YOU are a diver of any kind, looking for solid lights at a FAIR price, we have a deal for you!

Visit Leton Power’s website, and use the code “PDCLeton08” to get 10% off any and all lights they have! They are already far more affordable than the vast majority of other brands out there, AND just as high quality, but NOW you can save even more!

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From recreational to professional, technical to rebreather, occupational and medical, workshops and refreshers, we have the training to meet your needs.

And don’t forget! Spatial Disorientation for Divers is available worldwide on Amazon! This subject could save your life one day!

22/03/2026

The Dunning-Kruger Effect states that: Early on in their lives, people who have just learned something new, have a strong tendency shortly after to rate their knowledge and skills as higher than they actually are. In other words, they think they know more than they actually do, and believe they are more capable than they actually are. But as time goes on, with the more experience they gain, the more they begin to realize they don’t know, and their confidence at rating their own knowledge and abilities drops. At some point, however, they’ll eventually gain so much experience that any outsider would readily label them an expert on the subject. Only now, they themselves have a strong tendency to label their knowledge and abilities as less than they actually are.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is typically drawn out as an inverse bell-curve, however, AJ Powell (USA, Ret.)(https://armyveteranaj.com/) states that it is better conceptualized as a spiral staircase. The act of climbing a spiral staircase represents your growth and experience in any particular subject. While gaining experience (climbing higher), you’ll find you consistently circle back to things you’ve encountered before, and while at first, you may initially believe you know a lot about the subject, subsequent encounters prove to you that you know less than you thought. Eventually, after so many encounters, you end up knowing a ton, but have developed a more conservative evaluation of your own experience.

For technical and motor-skill careers and activities with moderate to high risk, such as flying an aircraft and scuba diving, the Dunning-Kruger effect has the ability to become more apparently displayed, however, while both aviation and diving share a 99% overlap in similarities (e.g. educational, psychological, developmental, technological, motor skill, environmental, and the like), we find the cultures of both, and the predominate mentality by the average aviator versus the average diver, vastly different. The majority of aviators tend to be far more humble and cautious comparatively to the average diver, especially on the lesser experienced side of the developmental spectrum for both. This is strange given that both environments are inherently dangerous, both activities require the same developmental and educational processes, the same psychology, learning psychology, and I/O psychology, and the same personality types are found within people who typically are fit for these two activities. Yet across aviation, around the world, we find humility and caution in both speech and mentality to an individuals summation of their own KSA's, while across diving we find individuals which a higher degree of ego and risk. A wide array of factors may be responsible, but predominately, AJ believes the driving mechanisms that shape this cultural disparity comes from the way the diving industry behaves, promotes, educates, etc., shaping a mental attitude in participants vastly different, despite the shared similarities.

Read this write-up here: https://iantd-indopacific.com/the-psychology-of-diver-hubris-a-review-of-the-dunning-kruger-effect-and-scuba-diving-statistics/

In the deep, overconfidence is a liability.
We’ve published a new article that goes beyond simple theory, providing data and statistics on the Dunning-Kruger effect in diving. It offers a quantitative look at the gap between perceived competence and actual skill, along with practical insights on how to identify this bias in yourself and others.

At IANTD, we counter this through WATER (Wisdom, Attitude, Training, Experience, Repetition), integrating deep-level education with relentless practice. Our high standards ensure that every diver receives genuine, objective feedback, bridging the gap between confidence and capability.

This is why so many choose to extend their limits with the original pioneers—the agency that defined modern exploration.

The article is available in many languages (EN, FR, ES, ZH, JP, ID, MY)
Links in comments ⬇️

14/03/2026

Saw this little guy digging in the rocks in the cliffside, hunting for food. Came across at least one or two on every dive. Aren’t they cool? 😎🤙🏻

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From recreational to professional, technical to rebreather, occupational and medical, workshops and refreshers, we have the training to meet your needs.

And don’t forget! Spatial Disorientation for Divers is available worldwide on Amazon! This subject could save your life one day!

12/03/2026

Let’s all welcome the newest Advanced EANx CCR Triton Diver to the world of rebreathers!

We’ve been conducting an Advanced EANx CCR course for the past week, and Jeff has performed exceptionally well! He studied diligently, thoroughly taking his time to learn the material prior to the course. He picked up basics and core skills quickly during confined water training, demonstrating a calm demeanor and smooth ex*****on in both skills and emergency procedures, and his performance and growth during open water has exceeded the average. This was his final checkout dive, fully and thoroughly planned and led by him, he checked all the boxes from start to finish.

Therefore!

To all present, greetings!

Let it be known, that on this day, 12 March, in the year of our Lord, 2026, Jeff did prove to be a Competent, Confident, Capable, and Safe Advanced EANx CCR Triton Diver. By planning and executing a dive within limitations, and utilizing all skills trained therein, he boldly challenged the depths and returned safely to the surface.

In recognition of his achievement and spirit for exploration, he is hereby certified as a IANTD Advanced EANx CCR Triton Diver (with decompression) certification, with all rights and privileges therein!

So help him Neptune, and may God have mercy on his soul!

Bravo Zulu! And a job well-done! 😎👊🏻

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From recreational to professional, technical to rebreather, occupational and medical, workshops and refreshers, we have the training to meet your needs.

And don’t forget! Spatial Disorientation for Divers is available worldwide on Amazon! This subject could save your life one day!

12/03/2026

SOUND UP!

We’ve been conducting an Advanced EANx CCR course for the past week, and the entire time we’ve had the great pleasure of listening to humpback whales sing beautifully and loudly in the distance! It is the season where these amazing creatures bring their newborn young in the protected waters here to give them time to grow, effectively turning the whole region into a whale nursery.

During this time, our student Jeff has performed exceptionally well! He studied diligently, thoroughly taking his time to learn the material prior to the course. He picked up basics and core skills quickly during confined water training, demonstrating a calm demeanor and smooth ex*****on in both skills and emergency procedures, and his performance and growth during open water has exceeded the average. This was his final checkout dive, fully and thoroughly planned and led by him, he checked all the boxes from start to finish.

Therefore!

To all present, greetings!

Let it be known, that on this day, 12 March, in the year of our Lord, 2026, Jeff did prove to be a Competent, Confident, Capable, and Safe Advanced EANx CCR Triton Diver. By planning and executing a dive within limitations, and utilizing all skills trained therein, he boldly challenged the depths and returned safely to the surface.

In recognition of his achievement and spirit for exploration, he is hereby certified as a IANTD Advanced EANx CCR Triton Diver (with decompression) certification, with all rights and privileges therein!

So help him Neptune, and may God have mercy on his soul!

Bravo Zulu! And a job well-done! 😎👊🏻

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From recreational to professional, technical to rebreather, occupational and medical, workshops and refreshers, we have the training to meet your needs.

And don’t forget! Spatial Disorientation for Divers is available worldwide on Amazon! This subject could save your life one day!