Declare your diving independence. Now that you've got your diver's certification, make the most of it! "The Certified Diver's Handbook" supplies all the advice and information you need to make diving an ongoing and rewarding part of your life. This definitive, real-world guide is packed with helpful facts and suggestions on everything from equipment, safety, and rescue procedures to techniques for shore diving, drift diving, night diving, and much more. You'll learn how to take responsibility for your dive planning and your safety underwater.You'll also find: advice on renting or buying the best equipment at the best price; tips on using and maintaining masks, tanks, regulators, and exposure suits; techniques for underwater navigation in changing conditions; strategies for avoiding underwater injuries and illness; the information you need to read wind, waves, currents, and weather; tips on great U.S. and international dive sites; the fundamentals of underwater photography; and much more.With "The Certified Diver's Handbook", you can become an active, independent diver and make diving not just a special event, but a way of life. 'From masks to valve regulators, from rip tides to thermoclines, from fireworms to sharks - Clay overlooks nothing! You've never been through such a comprehensive course' - Humberto Fontova, author, "The Helldivers' Rodeo: A Deadly, Extreme, Scuba-Diving, Spear Fishing Adventure Amid the Offshore Oil-Platforms in the Murky Waters of the Gulf of Mexico".'Finally a book written by a diver who loves the sport and manages to get his message across in an entertaining way' - Chuck Nicklin, cofounder of The Dive Locker, Emmy - award winning underwater cinematographer. 'You won't find a more comprehensive, easy-to-read book about diving. This is a must-have for divers of all experience levels' - Bonnie J. Cardone, former editor of "Skin Diver" magazine, editor of "The Fireside Diver: An Anthology of Underwater Adventure". Clay Coleman, shown here in the Caribbean with his wife and dive buddy Sharon Coleman, began diving, photographing, and spearfishing beneath the oil rigs off the coast of his native Louisiana in 1973. A member of the Louisiana State Bar since 1979, his first article appeared in Sport Diver magazine in 1994.His writing and photographs have been published in numerous diving, conservation, and boating magazines.