Checking Out the new Aqua Lung Lotus i3 BCD:

However, I digress... today we are chatting about my shiny new BCD, the Aqua Lung i3. Seaquest Aqualung, have always seemed to be at the forefront with their designs for women's scuba gear, with the original Seaquest Diva BCD back in the early 2000's (maybe even before that, however that was before my diving days). Having learned to dive in hired kit, wearing the smallest BCD available, I still felt pretty uncomfortable, with the jacket being a little too big and even my modest boobs being squished by the all around inflation bladder. I was blown away when I tried these new jackets that had been moulded and padded in the back, ensuring that I no longer had to deal with nasty blocks of lead being pressed into my hips by a hard, unforgiving BCD. As well as minimal inflation on the front of the jacket ensuring comfort all around.

So I guess you could say, since that day I have been rather spoiled. Well since I bought my ancient Diva, Aqua Lung have remained ahead of the times, having brought out their Pearl, Libra, Zuma and now Lotus BCD's. They have also been ahead of the game bringing in their i3 inflator system. Another company did try to do something similar incorporating the BCD and regulators in one solid lump, resulting in a major problem, should one item need to go to the repair shop... the whole thing would need to be fixed. So I was keen to see how Aqua Lung's i3 system compared with my more traditional corrugated hose.

My first impression was "It looks so cute!!" being the smallest size it definitely looked like it would fit me well, and with it's subtle hints of pink dotted around the trimmings, it had a tasteful feminine hint about it. I admit to being a bit of a girlie DiveBunnie, but believe me, even I would not choose to dive completely swathed in pink. So I like the subtle touch.

And so... on to the diving. Underwater the jacket held me in the perfect position. With the back inflator system, essentially turning it into a wing, I was naturally lying completely horizontal. It should be noted that any jacket that does this, in particular wing style systems will also naturally allow you to fall forwards on the surface... hence the main reason a BCD is not a life jacket.

Descending was a little odd initially, as ten years' of diving has instilled in me the instinctive urge to lift my old corrugated low pressure hose in order to drop below the surface. Aha! No hose on this baby... the i3 inflator system is also a pretty nifty deflator system that runs within the jacket opening all valves at the same time. So all I needed to do was simply press the lever by my left hand downwards, and I could feel the air bubbling out, allowing me to sink below the waves and head off on my dive. With no inflator hose getting in the way, I was very comfortable in the water, and with the i3 lever remaining in one constant position, there was no chance of me fumbling around to find my inflator hose should I need to adjust my buoyancy in a hurry. OK that doesn't usually happen to me these days, but I am thinking of less experienced divers as well as I write here. I sometimes find that the inflator hose irritatingly gets caught under my armpit when I fold my arms too... so it was nice not to have to think about keeping it out of the way.

As I have mentioned already during the dive, if I relaxed, I was held in a perfectly comfy horizontal position, the integrated weights helping somewhat with this too. If you prefer a more vertical position on the surface, there are trim weight pockets either side of the tank to balance things out.