The Grey NATO – 317 – Slack Crew & A 2025 Part 1 [Bug out bags, great quartz options, sundaes, safety stops activities, watches vs. adventures, & more]
Published on Thu, 06 Feb 2025 06:00:00 -0500
Synopsis
In this episode (#317) of The Grey NATO podcast, hosts James Stacey and Jason Heaton discuss various topics including their recent watch tournament, updates on their California Fire Foundation fundraising t-shirt project (which has raised over $8,000), and the upcoming Vancouver Timepiece Show in April. Jason also shares details about his upcoming trip to the Philippines with Blancpain for diving and a watch launch.
The bulk of the episode focuses on answering listener questions from their "Slack Crew Q&A" segment. Topics include emergency preparedness kits, comparing different watch models, creating the perfect ice cream sundae, and experiences during diving decompression stops. Both hosts share memorable stories from their diving experiences, including encounters with marine life and challenging conditions.
The episode concludes with their "final notes" segment where Jason recommends a portable USB fan for travel, and James recommends an episode of the Adventure Podcast featuring Andy Torbett, a former James Bond stunt double and cave diver.
Links
Transcript
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| James Stacey | Hello and welcome to another episode of the Graynado. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 317 and it's proudly brought to you by the always growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you're listening and would like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. My name is James Stacey and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co-host Jason Heaton. Jason, how are you doing? It's, uh, we got a cold snap here. Is it warm or is it cold there for you? Your, your Instagram weather updates are all over the map these days. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, seriously. I mean, I, it was, uh, two days ago that I had the, the series three out without the roof and, and we set a record actually for January temperature. A couple of days ago, it was 52 Fahrenheit, which is incredible. I went running in shorts and whatever, but today it's blustery and quite chilly. It's below zero centigrade and pretty gray and there's some snow on its way apparently. But yeah, it's kind of a roller coaster. I mean, it's now we're into February and as I like to say, winter's half over. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, we're weirdly recording this on a Saturday morning. I don't actually know the last time we recorded on a Saturday. Yeah. As I came down to my office I realized I'm still like rubbing the sleep, literally as I'm speaking now, I'm rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I'm not that much of a morning person. Whatever was left of my morning person abilities I lost in the pandemic. I think we're both a little more resonant. A little fuzzy. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I'm a little discombobulated. Got slept in a bit and took the dog for a late walk and now it's... Now here we are, you know, after what we did, we do four weeks straight of the tournament, the watch tournament, one watch tournament. So it's a bit of a hangover from that. Now we're moving on to something completely different, a little more fun this week. I'm looking forward to it. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, it was exciting. The episodes went really well. The voting, by the time this comes out, the final public voting will have closed out. We're not going to talk about that simply because we're recording a few days early. The numbers are looking pretty certain for the public vote, the championship of the public vote, but we'll talk about it on 3-18. Oh, yeah. Because I don't want to cut the voting short by three or four days. But yeah, by the time this comes out, the voting will be closed. You can click the links and see how that went. Entirely different watches than what we picked, quite possibly. I guess we'll see how that works out. Rolex always has an advantage in the public vote, I think. But yeah, other other than that, we've got a little bit of kind of housekeeping at the top. Obviously, for the last several weeks, we've been running this project with the Illustrated Watch for the TGN, the Illustrated Watch firefighting T-shirt. We partnered up with some help from our buddies, John and Asha, and certainly Tony from the Illustrated Watch. And so we created the T-shirt in support of the California Fire Foundation. So the T-shirt is available on TGN's shop. and 100% of any and all profits from the t-shirt are being donated. We've already cracked well over $8,000. I don't have an updated number from the last time I'm looking at the script here, so we might even be closer to nine by now. We're hoping to crest 10. We're gonna leave this on the shop for a little while, so be sure to check it out. And a huge thank you to The Illustrated Watch for his support in creating the design and helping put it together, and for John and Asha's input on how to kind of approach the project and what would be the best charity support and that sort of thing. But so far we've done a great job raising some money and I think we can continue at this pace. So jump in there if you're feeling up to it and want a cool t-shirt in the process. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's, it's been really encouraging to see the response, um, and, and the continued response because, you know, as, as the news cycle goes, you know, these things kind of slip away from our, our attention. And, um, so it's nice to see the shirts still, still being sold. I get, and I see the orders come through every single day and they're coming from all over the world, which is really impressive, you know, being, it's amazing that it's, uh, you know, it was largely a regional. event and national event so to speak here in the US and so it's it's kind of neat to see shirts going to the UK and all over Europe and I think even a couple of Australia and whatever so Yeah, thanks to everybody who's responded. Absolutely. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I got a text message from Cole Pennington in Geneva with his shirt. They're definitely getting around. Oh, that's great. I'm hoping to see Cole in a couple of weeks and get a chance to catch up. So yeah. Yeah, it's been great. And then look, the other one that's on the horizon now that we are, this is February 1, guys, so we're getting closer. The Vancouver Timepiece Show, April 25th to 27th. I have a call with Jason Hudden, who organized the show literally as soon as we finished recording this, because I missed my chance to talk to him earlier this week. I'll be out there for the show for certain. We're still working on Jason's time frame. But I would expect a similar array of activities as we offered last time. We have a possible partner who's interested in doing another sort of party, beer, hangout, that sort of thing. And then I'm looking into options for a live taping. Obviously, we have lots of friends, buddies, people to be on the show, that sort of thing in Vancouver. So it could be really fun. The current issue is I don't I don't believe that there's like a stage or a presentation space Where the show is in Vancouver this year, so we might just have to find a second location Maybe for like the Sunday afternoon or whatever so keep listening to the show, but I do recommend you hit timepeashow.com If you would like to get your tickets in advance, tickets can be tough. They go really quickly. And then the next phase that is kind of left to the show is like addressing how many people are actually showing up. But with Vancouver possibly being remote for a lot of you, it certainly is for me. It probably makes more sense to have tickets in advance. See a Vancouver timepiece show I'm really pumped to be in Vancouver in April actually looks like I might have two Excuses to be in Vancouver in April so I might just stay there for a little while. Oh, yeah, I don't know yet but yeah, I'm really pumped to get out there and and see the crew and go to a show so I |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I'm hoping my timing works out. I've got a possible conflicting travel engagement around that same time, so I'm still working through that. But I think if this show is anything at all like the Toronto show in terms of its energy and response, it's going to be a no-brainer. It's going to be an amazing show, and Vancouver is such a great city. I would love to get back out there again. It was a beautiful place. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I'm always looking for an excuse, so it should be good. Definitely, I would throw it out there. This is a good opportunity to look ahead on flights. You know the exact dates. Yeah. And Vancouver travel can be quite expensive, especially if you're coming from Toronto like I am. So normally, I'm normally a guy where like you book your tickets about two weeks before you go. That's pretty much the locked in. Scenario and and often I book my tickets much more narrow than that because I'm doing it for work And you just you know you book them when you get confirmation of the travel yeah in this case I do really recommend not being like me most of the time and booking early Simply because you will you will get your best chance at at a decent price |
| Jason Heaton | All right, well, that's kind of the housekeeping end of things. And before we jump into risk check, the reason we are recording this on a Saturday morning is that I am departing on Monday. I think I mentioned this in episode 316 that I'm headed to the Philippines with Blancpain for a really interesting dive-related trip. There's going to be a launch of a new watch there that will come a little bit later, but also some Um, some pretty amazing diving and some pretty pristine seas around, uh, some islands in the Philippines. So I'm looking forward to that. You can check out my Instagram if you want to kind of follow along kind of quote unquote live while I'm there. Um, but by actually by the time this episode goes up, um, it'll be near the tail end of my trip, but that is why we're recording early. So, um, I'm off to warmer climbs in a matter of probably 72 hours or so from this. With that let's jump into risk check. What are you? What are you wearing this week? Have you started your month of month of the one watching? |
| James Stacey | I haven't I think I think I might save that for like to try and actually build a story or something around it Because I think it's kind of a nice idea. But if I'm gonna do that, I'll probably do it in the summer Yeah, that that said I am wearing the watch because I love it. Yeah, so yeah, I'm where I'm wearing the Pelagos 39 I've got it on on one of our TGN NATO's and Yeah, I don't know. I mean what more is there to say we just did four episodes essentially about how much I love this watch In the reasons why but yeah, I I think I'll probably do the the month of where sometime When I'm gonna be more active on Instagram like when I'm like I just do way more for photos and that sort of thing in the summer Yeah, so I think that might be like a July or an August thing. I guarantee that if anybody's worried about the debt of the month, I'll get the month in regardless of whether I'm intentional about it or not. But yeah, at this point, I've got some travel coming up specifically for watches the day that you get back. So next week, the week after. So it's a little bit more difficult to be on top of the month if I were to just start it today because I'd be putting so many little like breaks and caveats on the process. But yeah, I love this watch. I put it on, you know, when the when we finished the the tournament and for 316 I put it on and I basically just kept it on. I don't wear it in the shower but otherwise like I sleep with it on and that kind of thing it's yeah it's a great watch. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah yeah it certainly is and yeah my Pelagos FXD is safely stored away in a watch roll to be to be worn for a month probably in the summer as well. I mean I'll wear it a lot before that but you know you talk about Instagram or photos or just you know, kind of carrying out our, our, our requirement here. Um, and you know, let's face it, a wrist shot looks better if you have a bit of a tan and that's, that's probably going to happen in the summer or I guess for me next week maybe. But seeing as I'm going on a Blancpain trip, um, I am, outfitted appropriately today with my 50 fathoms, the titanium 45 millimeter one that made it, I believe, to the final four in the tournament. You know, it's one of my favorites. That's what I'm wearing and that will be accompanying me to the Philippines and getting some more bottom time on that watch as well. So yeah, again, we talked about that enough during the tournament, so we don't have to go into too much detail about it. |
| James Stacey | for a trip like this, like you're packing, you're basically bringing everything, right? It's not like they're supplying you with anything on the boat side. |
| Jason Heaton | I was given the option. Apparently there is dive gear to borrow, but I'm actually packing along my own gear just just out of preference and as well as underwater camera equipment and the Leica. |
| James Stacey | Would absolutely love and this is just a request for me Yeah, but a sub stack post of like everything that you bring on a trip like this. Oh, yeah a good idea Yeah, I think would look like I think would kind of blow people away. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I I mean I would pour over that sort of a story I'm thinking of kind of writing something like that for watches and wonders this year Yeah, and I just I don't think it's that interesting until you start to add in the dive gear Yeah, the little bits of kit that you don't really think about but you always have because you might need them |
| Unknown | in the Philippines, right? |
| James Stacey | So, I mean, if you get a chance, if you have the time to lay it out all on your floor and stand on a ladder and get a good photo, I don't want to be too self-aggrandizing. I'm pretty good at packing. But I do remember still, and the only time I've done something even loosely similar to your trip to the Philippines or the other recent stuff you've done with Blancpain was the Oris trip I did to Clipperton back in 2016. And I remember just being And you're on a huge boat. It's not like they give you a weight limit. So you can be fairly maximal about the take. But I just remember being very stressed about like, should I bring something like this? Do I need something like this? You're just in a scenario that's both quite comfortable for being so remote. You have a room. You have a berth. You have a bed. You have showers and all that kind of stuff. But at the same time, it's very remote. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, I've done, I used to do these, what I called kit shots or kit articles when I was at gear patrol about stuff, various things like, uh, when I climbed Rainier, I did one and I did one for wreck diving or whatever. And I kind of would lay it out, but that was always very specific to the actual equipment used for the activity. But I think to your point, I think even all that miscellaneous stuff, like plug adapter or sunscreen or which, which pair of sunglasses do you bring? Because you're on a boat, do you want to wear your nice ones? Do you want to, you know, which hat do you bring? You know, that sort of stuff. I think that's, that is fun, especially for our listeners are definitely skew in that direction. We, we like our, our EDC and our, our packing and stuff. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | I just, I just find for me, especially with, with, because you've done so many of these sorts of things, I guarantee that there's, there's 10 or 15 decisions that you don't even make anymore because you learn to, you learn to automate them years ago and that somebody knew they wouldn't have that automation process built into the way they operate. And I just, I love the methodology of packing. Even when you're able to take essentially anything you want, you still have to think about it and put it somewhere. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Uh, so I, I would, I would love a post of, of just cause I think it'd be, it's so much more stuff than people are ready to understand. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And, and the complicating factor is I got the flight details for this trip and, um, you know, it's a big plane, United Airlines, whatever to Manila, but then to get to the ever decreasing sized islands that I'll be ending up on. is a very small kind of hop flight on an internal airline, Air Swift I think it's called. And they have much stricter baggage requirements than United would on a big 777 or 787 or whatever. And so Um, you know, that's, that was the main consideration. I don't care about what United allows because if I can't get, get my baggage beyond Manila, I'm in trouble. So I had, had to take that into consideration in terms of weight and dimensions of the bags that they take. And so I will definitely, um, that's a good idea. I will write something like that up and we can chat about it even on the next episode. Yeah, that'd be great. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. All right. Well, there's some risk check and a little preview of what you can expect on Jason's sub stack, maybe. But, you know, this is this is sort of the kickoff of another series that we run for the whole year. The crew and a we do Q and A's a few different ways. Most specifically, folks who pay for the subscriber side of the show. That's your slack, your benefits for merch. One of the other pluses is, of course, you get a monthly Q&A episode where folks will record a voice memo, send it into the show, we clip it together, kind of like a radio call-in show, if you will, and run it that way. What we found was, one, we still get people who write in and say, I don't want to record a voice memo, here's my question. It's just like text, like an email or whatever. And then we also found that a lot of the pulse of TGN is on the Slack, and it's what everybody else is talking about, not necessarily what you and I are talking about on a given episode. Yeah, so basically we open a thread on slack and we do what's called the slack crew and a where the crew can ask as many text questions as they want. We have 80 questions. We probably have enough for like six or seven episodes. It'll take a year. Yeah, this is episode one for 2025 crew and a And basically these are just text questions dropped in with the idea is to keep the barrier as low as possible while also giving everybody who's not subscribed and thus not in the slack an idea of what's going on in the slack in terms of the mindset and the rest of it. So I think that's a fair enough explanation. You want to get into to our first question which comes to us from Danny W. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, definitely, let's do it. Danny asks, have you had the experience of having a watch in sight, maybe something firmly in the four figures and then it's somehow being replaced by something in the three figures. I recently had the experience of considering a white Seamaster Professional 300 meter and somehow, someway, it has been usurped by the new cool gray Skirfa Diver 1. Uh, thanks guys. Thanks for that question, Danny. Uh, James, I mean, have you had this sort of scenario where like you're, you're, you're laser focused on something kind of big and a little more expensive and then like, yeah, you, you suddenly some, you get distracted by something far more affordable. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, all the time. I think like almost constantly. I think like you Jason, like it's not like I have a plan. I don't have like a list in my mind of like, oh, if I get these 10 watches, I'll be a collector. I'll have the collection I want. Yeah. I just kind of exist and watches come to me and they leave me and there's not always a great plan or like, you know, this is why I think you and I are more comfortable saying we're not collectors. We're kind of hands-on enthusiasts. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Like, I like to try a watch. It's fine if they go away after a time. And, like, you know, I don't expect to be on, like, a Talking Watches in 15 years. Talking about this incredible collection that I built, it would still be like, well, you know, I bought that Annie Ditchie on eBay and I got this one from, I bought this from Heaton and, you know, a friend of mine just sent me this one day and I forgot to send it back. And, you know, there's probably 10 watches I've sent to people and forgot to ask for Yeah, I have I think what happens is I'll get like I want a format of a watch in my mind Mm-hmm, and usually that format has like a main model, right? Yeah, like let's say you really wanted Here good example. Let's say you really wanted an anti digi. You'd probably start with something like an aerospace or an original chronosport. Mm-hmm like an original UDT and Those are two really good options. They're a higher price point, but it's not an insane amount of money to spend on a watch. Let's say you could probably get into either for less than two grand, which to be clear is a lot of money, but both are really nice watches, especially the Breitling. That's a luxury watch that has depreciated. The Chronosports are a little bit of an older level of manufacturing, still very nice, But I'll get into that, and then what'll happen is I'll just find like a Casio that's an anti-digi that's interesting, and it scratches, or I end up buying the Pluton, the Red Devil, for $500, probably saving myself two grand over a good Chronosport. And so yeah, it absolutely happens, for sure. I can also fully understand Like, around the time that I bought my Pelagos 39, I also had MS-22, the black dial titanium Scurfa. And I, like, if I had been hunting for the Pelagos and didn't feel, like, if my interest in it had been even just a few degrees left or right, I was very laser focused on that watch. Yeah. But like if I had been hunting for an fxd and came across the scurfa, which I think for my wrist wears better. I think I would have stopped looking for an fxd at least for a while. |
| Unknown | Oh, yeah. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. So yeah, I totally get where Danny's coming from for sure. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | How about you? You ever get waylaid by an easier or less costly option that scratches the same itch? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I don't know if it's happened exactly the way Danny describes it in terms of like, I haven't been like looking for something big and then, you know, get distracted by or settling for or whatever you want to term it. What has often happened for me is it might work in the opposite direction where you get something inexpensive and maybe it doesn't scratch the itch or it Or it scratches the itch enough that it makes you want the real thing. I hate to say the real thing. The one that it was inspired by, for instance. Let's look at the example that you mentioned with the Scurfa, and Danny did as well. You get the Scurfa titanium, and it feels like the affordable version of a Pelagos, but then you can't get it out of your mind. What if I had the Pelagos? Would that be even better? Would it be this magnified? So that can happen as well. It hasn't happened a lot. I can't think of even a specific example in my case. Maybe years ago when I was really in kind of a mad flipping mode back in the forum days. But I can think of a lot of these pairings, these want this, get this scenario with something like like a CWC Royal Navy Diver, which has, you know, from a distance and, you know, even based on the MOD specifications, like the same look and feel as a Seamaster Pro. I mean, they kind of were based on the same spec documentation. Similarly with something like the modern Tornek Rayville that's made by Mark II and Bill Yao, like, that will definitely scratch a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms itch in a big way, and they're very high quality watches. So, you know, I'd love that there are these options around. I remember, you know, Victorinox used to make an Anodigi watch that I think had a similar movement, if not the same module, maybe slightly detuned as the Aerospace. And I remember thinking that was kind of an appealing option if you wanted the Aerospace but couldn't afford it. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I think it was the same one in the Maverick. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, that's a that's a good question. And I think it's a phenomenon that many of us can relate to. So, yeah, great, great question, Danny. |
| James Stacey | Yep, for sure. Next up, we've got a question from Ken, who says the California wildfires have highlighted to my partner and I the need for stocking the house with a shelter in place survival kit. We're thinking of things like water, canned food, a large battery, candles, things that could last for a few days. Also, a go bag process that would prepare us to leave the house in under 10 minutes, feeling like we haven't left anything crucial behind. We're talking important documents already in a plastic tub to throw in the back of the car, that sort of thing. What would be in these two kits for you and what other preparations would you take? Jason, I remember we spoke a little bit about this and I think it bled into the show probably mid 2020, you know, when the pandemic was really kicking off and we're stuck at home. I don't want to speak against whatever I said in there, but I, you know, I think I started doing the, the bag and some water during the wildfires in Vancouver. So years and years ago, I remember, so what would have been the date? 2017, maybe? I remember I woke up and I thought, I literally thought something had happened, like I had had a stroke or an aneurysm or something, because everything was orange. I woke up in my bedroom and everything was orange. I couldn't quite figure out what it was and our windows weren't open so you don't have the immediate olfactory response of the smoke. But it looked like the surface. I definitely have photos somewhere on my phone. It looked like the sky was orange. You couldn't fully make out the sun. all that. It was very strange. And I remember at that point, I went, we're a little we're a little exposed here, despite being in a major city. Yeah, yeah, to these events. And yeah, so it was at the time, it was a lot of it was water and cash. So I think we had probably 48 bottles of like plastic bottles of water. And man, do I hate owning plastic bottles of water. yeah yeah i think i would probably in that in this scenario i would drop that to a single case and then one of like the msr uh pump base filters yeah they're a few hundred dollars they're absolutely worth it if you don't have it i would also probably do a couple life straws now you're talking water out of the way yeah For really not that much money. I don't know what a case of bottled water could cost, not that much. The MSR pump filter I've seen for under $300, but probably more than $250 if I remember correctly. And then LifeStraws are about $20 a piece, but you can get the ones that go into the water bottle. Yeah. so you just fill the water bottle with whatever you can and then drink from it. Those are good options to have around. Money at the time, I figured it was $500 ahead of people you needed to care for. So it was two grand in cash. I think that number is higher now. It's it's up to you what you want to have but in this the worst the scenario the less the money is worth Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, so you have that issue and then beyond that I would say Beyond money and water it really comes down to the location and the temperature at which you're dealing. |
| Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| James Stacey | So to live at home Yeah, I think candles are a great option. I think I would probably have some some freeze dried food like the camping stuff that doesn't require a dish or anything. Because if your water's not running, like let's say you literally don't have water into your home for whatever reason, you probably don't wanna create a scenario where you're doing a lot of standard cooking. You know what, before we get too deep into this, I will link some guides from people who are like really dialed on what you should have. In your home, I'm less concerned with, my thing is always, how do I get to the next location? Like if something, if a major event happened in Toronto, an event that challenged safety and structure and regulations and the rule of law and these sorts of scenarios, I would want to get to my cottage pretty quickly. So for me, it, you know, the, during the pandemic, it came down to almost like, like video game style rations. Like, you know, we had, we had a go bag that had the usual stuff, the blankets, a big battery, something to jump the car with. the ability, you know, stuff that could keep you moving. But then also, you know, I like probably having half a tank of gas available. That means I can go 300 kilometers. If that's probably exaggeration, given how you'd be driving. Let's say you can go 200 kilometers with the Jeep on a half tank. To be clear, like what you actually could need in the bag is a really long list. Probably easier linked in the show notes than listed out. but the obvious ones are go on, go to Mac or REI or Amazon if that's your option and buy like a big health kit, first aid kit, a big one. They're a couple of hundred bucks. But very little of what's in there will expire. And it has, they'll come with tools to be able to work on stuff. The other thing, and this is a last, I'll leave it to Jason as I've been rambling. I don't really have like a total list to go through here. The last thing is prevention is worth a lot here. So like if you're if you're going to do all this and build all this up, you and your partner, anyone who's of a certain age in your home, go get first aid training. It's very inexpensive. Yeah. A nearby hospital, nearby ambulance associations, nearby university may offer different levels of first aid. I'm not saying you have to have like your field course and and you know breaking big pens and have to give people trachs. That's not the zone standard wound care all these like all of that is very important. I would say that as as important as is having the stuff in a bag in the trunk of the car or whatever. having some training as to what you should do in these scenarios moving forward can be quite helpful as well. So consider that maybe have only, you know, maybe not everybody in your house needs to have a certain level of certification. But everybody should be able to address a wound. Everybody should be able to do CPR. Everybody should be able to like notice the signs of hypothermia, like basics. Yeah. And I think you could you could get your family into that level of education for like, three digits in terms of price and really good value you save one person's life who cares what it costs right yeah especially if it's one of like one of your fans like somebody who matters personally to you not just a stranger yeah both are important of course but like Yeah, maybe get some training as well. Yeah. Yeah, that's good advice. |
| Jason Heaton | I, you know, I've been less deliberate about having a go bag or a kit, so to speak. But on the other hand, I have a lot of like a lot of camping gear that's very well organized in the basement, like in bins that would be very easy to throw in the back of the defender and head out. And I think, you know, that includes water purification. It includes stove fuel and a camp stove. It includes some bags of freeze dried foods, you know, sleeping bags, tents, all of that sort of stuff. And I think that essentially acts as a go bag. I think my problem that I've had with with like a dedicated go bag is odds are you're never going to use it. I mean, you hope you'll never have to use it. And for some reason, dedicating a bag with stuff that, you know, the food could expire, the first aid stuff could expire. I mean, that's going to happen anyway, but like, the fact that you'll never use it, then I guess that you'd have to establish some kind of protocol where every year or two years or whatever you want, you'd have to revisit and go through that bag and get rid of the expired stuff and refill it with the newer products, whether it's food or first aid items or whatever, pills and whatever. But I think between the camping gear and then even here at home, we We get, we get some weather, you know, we get summer storms that knock out power, um, which isn't that big of a deal, but when in the winter, like if the heat goes down or something like that, um, you know, there are concerns, the lights go out. So I have one of those, uh, goal zero, you know, kind of. battery packs that you can charge phones and lighting and that sort of thing. Those are nice to have. You can recharge it in the car from the 12 volt output. So if you're, you know, if that starts to run low, you can, you know, fire up the car and drive around the block a few times and get up, get some voltage back in it. But I, what does happen is I think. You know, these are the things you don't think about until it becomes immediate, like you waking up in Vancouver and the sky is orange. I can recall when, you know, in 2020, May of 2020, when George Floyd was murdered here in Minneapolis and then there was a lot of unrest in the streets and there were, you know, people, you know, you know, driving up and down neighborhoods and there were fires nearby, you know, again, talk about the sky being orange. I mean, it was just a mile or so from here that a lot of that went down. And so, um, that kind of was a wake up call. Um, you know, severe weather can be a wake up call and, and then you just, you realize how not unprepared you are, but how it just sort of heightens your senses in terms of that. I really need to be thinking more about this. And so, I guess I've often thought on a more minimalist perspective that if I can get the dog out the door with some food and a leash and a water bowl, appropriate clothing for the season, toothbrush and toothpaste, a phone charge cable, car keys, and a passport, and then throw that bin of camping gear in the car. And off I go, I think would be the way to go. And fortunately, the Defender, being a diesel, a four-cylinder diesel, it gets very good fuel mileage. And keeping at least a half tank of fuel is a really good suggestion as well. And that's something I probably should do a little better on. I'm one of those people that tends to let it run down a little bit too much. |
| James Stacey | Oh, I'm the type that lets it go till the little light comes on. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Always, of course. |
| Jason Heaton | That could be a whole other topic for a crew and I questions. For sure. Because it seems like there are two kinds of people. |
| James Stacey | I think all of that is crucial. I think there's things that you can do. I leave a lot of this stuff in the Jeep 100% of the time. Like I have, there's a change of clothes for my kids in the Jeep all the time. Like I just have a little wooden box that I built in the back that has, you know, that's where I would have like the battery pack for jumping it. And all I do is occasionally if I'm out, you know, probably servicing the vehicle in some way once or twice a month, checking on things. I'll take that battery out of the back and just plug it in in the garage and make sure it's topped up. Because they don't, you know, lithium ion in the cold doesn't do great. But that's enough to start a car, so certainly enough to charge things. And then I leave like stuff like cables, chargers, all that. There's a set that they don't, I don't bring them in and out of the house. Just like I'm at the point now where I don't travel with the same kit that I use at home. Like my chargers and plugs, they don't really leave where they are. I have another kit for when I'm going somewhere. Yeah, and then yeah, I think that would largely cover it, but we'll put some links in the show notes to maybe some greater strategies or people, you know, strategy from people who are kind of like experts in this scenario. But prevention, a little bit of preparedness and some training, I think can go a really long way. And I agree, I would limit the things that can go bad. But otherwise, if it's a question of them being shelf-stable or being able to sit in a cold cellar in your house or that sort of thing, yeah, just go ahead and do it. If you live in a scenario where you're not that concerned about somebody breaking into your car, leave it in the car. We're probably talking about a medium-sized duffel bag, unless we're talking about a major problem, or if you live in a scenario where you need extra gear or specific gear. So I mean, it's for most people, I think, to get you most of the way, the 80-20 solution would be probably like a medium-sized duffel bag that could get you to another location, isolated from the problem, and still comfortable enough to survive. |
| Jason Heaton | And I think one last thing I'll mention is that many of us kind of go through annual or semi-annual purges where you go through your wardrobe and you're like, I just don't wear this anymore. And look, we've talked about a lot on the show about the gear we accumulate and the different kind of fetish for bags and backpacks and things. down jackets and fleece and this sort of stuff. It's like, okay, great. Good on you for, for donating stuff. Um, I think that's a wonderful thing to do, but occasionally like if you're doing that, that, that old bratty down jacket that's held together with duct tape or whatever, like instead of donating it or throwing it out or whatever you're going to do, like that can be your go bag backup. you know jacket or you know whatever it might be old underwear that's stretched out and you know you're gonna throw it away like yeah throw that kind of thing like you know at least one change of outfit or you know layers and stuff in a bag like you can use those cast offs as your backup stuff for emergency situations and the the last thing that i would i would offer as well if i could if i can extend this answer just a little bit learn learn like really really basic keep moving sort of maintenance for your vehicle |
| James Stacey | Like if we're actually talking about things being so bad that you need a bag, that you need second pairs of clothes, that you're worried about heat and water, and maybe leaving a major city to get away from trouble, I hope you know how to change a tire. Because the roads are going to be messed up. There's going to be glass everywhere. These are things you can learn on YouTube and do in your driveway. Like you could practice putting your spare on. If you do it once, I promise you're 90% like you're ahead of 90% of other people. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Right. And I just like, don't get me wrong. I'm definitely a guy with the AAA membership or CA here in Canada, but like, that's not going to work if things are bad. And even if they're, even if the good people at AAA are still online, they're going to be busy with everybody else who has a flat tire. Learn how to do a flat tire. Learn how to learn how to do just some basics on your vehicle to make sure that you can get to that next location and that sort of thing. So, yeah, that would be my last tip. But thanks very much for that question, Ken. Next up, let's jump to one from Calypso who said, I was curious how you guys determine what is the right balance between adding mid-range or higher end watches to your collection versus going on adventures. I've noticed a lot of SOTCs, those are state of the collection. It's like an annual year end, start of the year sort of post. that although enviable, I can't help but think that if this was my collection, I'd sell a few and go on some adventures. So Jason, we had a question like this recently on Q&A asking about how we budget for activities and adventures versus watches versus that. Yeah. I don't think I've ever prioritized a watch over something I wanted to do. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | So it's very easy for me to just say, like, I don't, that's not the way I think about my budgets. Watches are exclusively extra. I have so many. And really, I try and buy them smartly. So if I get in at a certain price, I'm getting out at a certain price. Usually, not always, but usually. And that's why my comfort zone is secondhand watches for the most part. You buy things that are meant to last who cares how many people have owned them. They could be serviced, etc I think that's kind of where I land on it, but I don't I don't have Any specific thinking on like how to budget for watches versus adventures? I would say that these days I probably do spend more on watches than adventure simply because I work so much like my last vacation was Costa Rica last year in January, so I'm 13 months with it, so I don't have a lot of time to adventure and watches don't take any time away from the nine to five or whatever. How about you? |
| Jason Heaton | And I think we might not be the best people to respond to this question simply because we work in an industry that allows us to handle a lot of watches and go on a lot of interesting trips. Like going to the FAT ice race for you in Aspen or going over to Austria to drive a car or Switzerland to view watches or go skiing or something. Like, those do scratch a certain itch that we're fortunate enough not to have to pay for. And so, that's just my caveat at the start here, is that we might not be the best people to answer this question, given our lines of work. But it's also not the math I use, kind of weighing possessions versus activities. You know, I just, I don't buy a lot of watches and, and my, like the adventures that I have that aren't, you know, around something like going to the Philippines with, with Blancpain are, are pretty affordable. It's like regional camping. It's, you know, diving in the great lakes. It's, you know, going up near Lake Superior to, to go backpacking or get away to a cabin. And that, that sort of stuff, you know, kayaking right here in the city, bike rides, things like that. A lot of that stuff is, if not free, very affordable. I just don't consider watch collecting on an equivalent level as activities. Watch collecting is an activity, certainly, but for me it's just not a hobby in the same way that biking or hiking or diving is. Yeah, I just don't, like you James, I would never prioritize a watch purchase over going to do something fun because like you, I just have way too many. I can always look at it that way. |
| James Stacey | you know, I'm at a point in my life where I wouldn't even if I had more time, I probably wouldn't be doing a lot of adventures. I've got two young kids. I don't really like doing things that they can't come along with. So like stuff like like the more adventurous diving that I like to do earlier in my life, or the constant hiking, the climbing, the not much climbing, but a little bit of mountaineering, that sort of thing. All that kind of stuff does sort of take a backseat. And I think I was also a lot more adventurous when I lived near the mountains and the ocean. And you know, I've joked before, but you know, I think when I lived in Vancouver, I thought I was busy at 40 hours a week. And I just, I had time, I had almost limitless time for other options and that sort of thing. And look, these time and schedules and that kind of thing, they come and go. I'm in a busy time of my life as far as work goes. uh, but that won't last forever. Uh, but yeah, I think, uh, like you were saying, Jason, I don't think we necessarily look at it in this way. We have a ton of privilege in terms of the watches that we, we get to experience and, and that, and, and to be fair, the adventures as well. Yeah. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Gotta, gotta call that privilege out when it's there, but. Thanks very much for that question, Calypso. Appreciate it. |
| Jason Heaton | Next up, we've got one from Jackson B. Yeah, Jackson asks us, build your ideal ice cream sundae. Brownie on the bottom. What flavors of ice cream? Toppings? Pun intended, go nuts for the purposes of the most decadent and perfect sundaes. Let's say you're immune from stomach aches for 72 hours after consumption. So James, I mean, I got to say this is this is more your your thing. A, I don't have a sweet tooth almost at all, which I either consider a privilege or a curse. But I also don't eat ice cream anymore. I'm kind of off dairy for health reasons, et cetera. But anyway, so I'm going to let you kind of go crazy with this one. I will say that when I did enjoy ice cream and dairy and that sort of thing, I wasn't so much a Sunday person as I got to say, I used to I used to go to, there's a Dairy Queen down the street here that I used to go to after I'd done something significant and usually just once or twice a year if I'd come back from a big adventure or done a particularly hard run or an event and I would splurge and I would get like a giant blizzard. I absolutely love a DQ blizzard. And it was always something like the Heath bar or like Reese's pieces and like to put those both together in a blizzard. And then look, if we're, if we're going full, full on decadence, I'm going to like drizzle the top of it with like a cheap bourbon. So that's, yeah, that's as far as I go. All right, there you go. |
| James Stacey | How about you? Well, that's the thing is I didn't know where we were going with this because I don't eat ice cream. Oh, okay. I have very limited sweet tooth. It's really, it's candy. I like gummy candies. Ice cream's a pretty major migraine trigger for me. So while it used to be something I think maybe I ate once a year, twice a year, I might do a scoop a year now. Yeah. And, and to be clear, I'm surrounded by ice cream. It's my daughter's favorite thing. Sarah, my wife absolutely loves it as well. Uh, we also have the core of the dairies in our area. It's also the, the, our cottages in the quarters. It's an area, like a lake area outside of Toronto. And the quality of the ice cream is incredible. So yeah, every now and then I'll buckle down or I'll bend and try. They do like a mocha, like a coffee, like a mocha almond fudge scenario that I like. And as a kid, I was obsessed with Tiger Tail, which is like a black licorice. Orange vanilla sort of combination weird pick for a kid. I know but I love black liquor. So it's not that weird for me I guess but I don't I don't eat ice cream. So and and I never was much of a Sunday guy So Jackson, I apologize. I don't like not having an answer. So this is the best I've got I would take the ice cream sundae that Calvin McAllister orders in Home Alone 2 It's lost in New York, you know, it's it's like a 40 scoop thing in this like wow incredible dish and he's got all the little accoutrement like, you know, the maraschino cherries and the sprinkles all in little bowls around it. But yeah, I'm it's just not something that's a that's my really my scenario. Like I don't think I've ever had a blizzard. Wow. |
| Unknown | Okay. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Just not really to my taste. I think I've said this before, but it won't be ice cream and diabetes that puts your boy in the ground. It'll be french fries for sure. Oh. But yeah, thanks for that, Jackson. I apologize that I don't have a better answer. Although, Jason did essentially give you a pretty high level take on the Sunday, which is a modified blizzard with a couple fillings and some bourbon. Yeah. Yeah. Or I'll give you another option. I'll take the $5 milkshake from Pulp Fiction. What's that restaurant called? Roosters? So I'll give you one more answer, Jackson. And to be fair, I don't want to make it seem like I know this. I had to Google it. I thought it was Rooster Tee Feathers, but it's Jack Rabbit Slims is the sort of 50s themed restaurant that they go to in Pulp Fiction. And Mia orders a $5 milkshake that apparently doesn't have any bourbon in it. But I've always been curious, like, how good was that milkshake? Yeah, right. So that's in there, too. Again, I understand it's not a Sunday, but this is a world that I don't play that deeply in. So thanks very much for that question, Jackson. Yeah. Next up, we've got one from Chris F., who says, OK, James and Jason, out of the following six things, you can only pick three. The other one needs to live without these items for the rest of his life. You can pick an alternating order, but you can and you can negotiate. So there's six things. We each can pick three, but we each can't pick the same three. So it's a Tudor watch, a four-wheel drive SUV, a dive computer, through dark clothing, passport and streaming memberships. Yeah, I mean, the only one on here that's an absolute necessity for me would be a passport. Yeah. I guess you could dive without a computer, but I'd rather not. The watch and the SUVs are nice to have not really needed. Yeah. At all. I like having a four wheel drive SUV because it means I can just go if I want to. Yeah. It doesn't matter what the weather is, but you definitely don't need one. A front-wheel drive vehicle with snow tires is pretty capable, especially if you're not too low to the ground. |
| Jason Heaton | So he told us to pick an alternating order. So now, if you went first... Well, I'm not picking. |
| James Stacey | I was just kind of talking my way through it. You go first. Take whichever one you want. I think a lot of these I don't need at all. |
| Jason Heaton | None of them except the one you mentioned. So if I'm going first, that really kind of... Torpedoes you your choice and that I think we both would I think we're both on the same page here I think the passport is the only one I can live without through dark clothing. I can live without negotiable four-wheel drive I mean, I'll give me a give me an old rear-wheel drive Volvo 240 or something. |
| James Stacey | I'd be happy Honda Civic. Yeah Give me a Honda Civic with a lift back and you get two dive bags in it. Who cares? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, right I think I think the least I They're all kind of very unnecessary other than passport because yeah, like streaming memberships I mean I can I can walk away from that anytime I say that but you know, yeah, good luck I'd rather not could go the rest of my life. |
| James Stacey | So it's in my it would be in my three picks. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah um but yeah the four-wheel drive largely expended well yeah here we aren't going in alternating order but i think i i don't think we need to i think we both feel similarly about all this stuff right um there's nothing i would be heartbroken if i didn't have other than the passport um |
| James Stacey | But yeah, passport dive computer and streaming memberships are the ones that stand out to me. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. As being like, you know, I think it'd be, it'd be weird to dive for the rest of my life and not have the ability to have a computer at all. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Um, especially with the, you know, the idea that my, my 11 year old is, is, you know, probably going to start her certification process this summer. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | I probably want to dive computer might even want one of those ones that tells me how much air she has. Yeah, right. |
| Jason Heaton | You know, the team air from from garments that are like a laminated old school patty table US Navy. Yes. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, yeah, exactly. You've got or like the the cuff. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, right. |
| James Stacey | The plastic slate that you can wear in mark as you go. Yeah. Yeah, look, I think, like, I love a Tudor watch, but could I go the rest of my life without one? Yeah, sure, I guess, if I have to. Not a big deal. Again, four-wheel drive SUV, awesome, great to have, not necessary. And I would say a luxury. But I have a notoriously capable SUV, you know, four wheel drive SUV in the Wrangler, and I don't really go off road with it once or twice a year. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | And then I would say like, because I don't want to count the driving around for fun at the cottage because none of that has to happen. Everywhere that I drive it at the cottage is a five minute walk from where I parked. |
| Unknown | Oh, sure. |
| James Stacey | It's not like I'm going. It's not like I'm overlanding or that sort of thing. but yeah, you know, it's nice to have through dark clothing or outlier or you know, what are some of the neurona like all these great brands that we've had a chance to they're all really nice to have yeah, but you I could exist with a different brand. So yeah, it's the passport is the one that would feel the most punitive to not be able to get it in in the pics, but I think we largely like lined up on the same same things here and and if I could probably give up streaming movies and TV shows. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and if I can if I have to sacrifice one thing that's that would be important you know, I look, I'm glad I don't have to make this decision, but I would, I would say you can take the passport because I would get by without it. Uh, I have, you know, I'm 54, I've traveled many, many, many places over many years. And if I was confined to staying in my own country, um, I could probably get by at this point. Um, that said, that would be the most, still the most important thing on the list, but |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I wouldn't run out of adventures here in Canada, but it would be a bummer to not be able to come see you. And to be clear, if I don't cross the border, I definitely don't have a job. |
| Jason Heaton | We'll meet up at the border, Minnesota and Ontario. |
| James Stacey | There's got to be a few spots where you can just stroll over, right? It can't all be fast. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm sure. I'll take a canoe. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, it would do the boat or the small plane thing for sure. In fact, I've done that before. Now that you mentioned that, I have done that. I remember the thrill of canoeing across a lake up in the boundary waters to the Canada side and thinking, I've crossed the border! Looking around nervously. I've snuck in. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, right. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Quick, buy something cheap and take it home. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | But yeah, Chris, thanks very much for that question. And maybe not the exact answer you're looking for, but I think we power, we kind of power ranked these as we went. Yeah. Next up, we have another one from Jackson B. He says, we've got five minutes to raid Matt Ludvigson's closet without retribution. What are you taking? And yes, the coats are fair game. So we'll do this question quick simply because I don't have a strong, you know, catalog of what Matt has available. So maybe I'll leave this to you, Jason. I certainly I have a good, a good feel on his watches, but it doesn't feel like that's what was being offered from the closet. Yeah. So I'll leave that to you. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, Matt, definitely. He's a local guy. He and I also share links to nautical-inspired sweaters a lot of times and kind of vintage-y looking, you know, like pea coats and things. He does wear a smaller size than me, so this will be a tough one. But I think there's something in his collection, in his closet, that that might fit me and and it's something i don't think he's ever been bold enough to wear out of the house he's only taken a picture i think and sent it to me he has this i don't know where he got it matt will have to clarify maybe in slack or something but he he has this like vintage full fur arctic parka that looks like something you'd see in some grainy you know sepia toned photo from like robert falcon scott's expedition to the south pole i mean it's full-on like fur with a built-in hood like full length Um, and, and I saw a picture of him in it with his big beard and I, I think I dared him to wear it, um, maybe to one of those ice diving festivals one year or something like that. But, uh, I don't think he's ever worn it out of the house, but I don't know where Matt got it, but that, that would be the one thing that might fit me because I don't, it looked too big on him. So we'll see. And I would be bold enough to wear it out of the house. I would, I would definitely do that. So. That's my pick. But on the other hand, yeah, Matt's watch is pretty enviable as well. He's got some good stuff. Oh, he's got some great watches for sure. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. All right. Thanks very much for that question, Jackson. We're going to jump into another from Andrew Sakowski. |
| Jason Heaton | All right. Andrew says, in the spirit of the one watch tournament, which just completed, let's settle the debate or start the debate. Marathon SS nav, the courts or CWC Royal Navy diver also in courts for a daily watch, but not your only watch. James, I think I could predict what your answer is going to be, and you probably can predict what mine is, but go for it. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, mine's going to be the Marathon, but it's actually not a very easy choice. It's a choice based on the movement. The ultra-high-accuracy courts in the SS Nav is very appealing to me. I think I've said this before, but if you're going to go courts, go with the best possible courts you can get, because you really get the benefits when you start getting into the high-accuracy stuff, I think. To be fair, you get the grab and go with a RONDA 900 series or whatever, a G. But I think for me, the movement and the 12-hour bezel and the date, no date option, and the tritium makes it a very, very appealing thing for an everyday watch. That said, the CWC Royal Navy Diver in Quartz is a better looking watch. It's a more classic watch, and it still keeps great time. I would lean towards the Marathon. There might be a Canadian bias in there as well. Granted, if you're talking about a certain other CWC that does have the high-accuracy Quartz movement, which we will talk about in some future episodes, Yeah. Yeah, we're giggling because there's if you're on the slack, you know what we're talking about. If you're not you don't but we'll figure out what's coming. Yeah, spill the beans in the future. It's coming might even be on or near my wrist at this moment as we record but barring a very cool CWC Royal Navy style diver that has an ultra high accuracy courts and maybe a few other great specs. I'd probably lean towards the marathon. |
| Jason Heaton | I figured you would. And I think for me, I have such a soft spot for CWC and have for many years that it would be the Run Baby Diver. Not even because of the movement or the dive capability, you know, the time elapsed bezel or whatever. It's just purely an aesthetic thing and just kind of the legacy of the brand and kind of my love for it. So, yeah, that's the way I'd go. And I think both would make fantastic daily watches. And I'm glad Andy said, but it doesn't have to be your only watch because that's just the way we are. |
| James Stacey | So we've got a very long question is technically the next one on the list from Trey Elvis Hansen, and I want to kick off the next Q&A with that one, because this is one where I actually have to sit down and make some notes. It's a great question, Trey, but I am going to zip ahead a little bit ahead just to a question that I think we can answer quite quickly, but fill some time, because I think we're close to the end of the episode, but not quite. So let's get to this one from Arno, who also goes by Dave in parentheses, so we'll go with Dave. He says, not being a diver myself, I have often wondered what do people do during those long or multiple decompression stops? Do you get bored? Are there tasks that can keep you focused and not too in your head? So Jason, you obviously have the actual answer for this. And we can go even further with people who have to do like hours long deco stops. I've never done deco stops. I think my computer has forced me to do one or two in the history of my diving, because I went a little deep, like when we were on Kelvin Grove. I think we did a five meter as we came up, or at least the computer wanted to. My normal stop is just your average safety stop, and I find that it goes by very quickly. It's only a few minutes long, and you're, especially with the garment, you can sit there and look at the screen and really practice your breathing. to like zero out. So you end up with this little game. I have to imagine if this is more than three or five minutes or whatever, that it's much more difficult to sit still and just wait. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, for the long, the really long deco stops, I think we would have to ping our old buddy and previous guest, Richie Kohler, to tell us a little bit about what he does, but or Laurent Balesta or something. |
| James Stacey | But yeah, I think we spoke with Laurent while he was doing a deco set. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | And the third time he was on the show, I believe they were decompressing his dive bell. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Right. That's what you do on a long deco stop. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | You record a podcast. If you're, if you're Laurent. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, the longest one I've done was about, uh, I've, I've done, so when I dove the Hermes over in Sri Lanka years ago, um, it was, it was, you know, roughly a, I believe it was like a 23 minute dive and then had to do close to an hour, um, decompression on the way back up. So, and there were a series of stops on the way up, each were between 10 and 20 minutes. And, you know, fortunately the, the, the, the beauty of, of diving deep there was the water was relatively clear and it was warm. Um, in fact, um, Felician, who was kind of my dive guide and kind of mentor there, he was, he was just wearing like swim trunks and like a rash guard. I was wearing a full three mil wetsuit, but. Regardless, it was, it was balmy and that makes it, that makes all the difference. You're not shivering there. And to be able to kind of hover, um, in pretty warm water, that's pretty clear. And, and James, you've experienced this even on, on safety stops, um, you know, shorter safety stops where, you know, you achieve this, this sort of neutral buoyancy and you're hanging at a certain depth and you can almost get in this sort of Zen state where you're just, you're looking at the way the light kind of plays in the water. It almost looks like. needles of light coming up from the bottom instead of going from the top down and yeah god rays you'll see yeah and occasionally you'll see you know big critters fly by underneath um you know fish schools of fish uh that sort of squid sometimes um but Yeah, I find that even those 20-minute stops would go by fairly quickly in that scenario. I know that people like extreme tech divers, like people like Richie Kohler, etc., that are doing these multi-hour decompressions have figured out a way to actually bring down a waterproof media player and either listen to music, listen to a podcast, watch movies. I've actually seen photos of people that watch movies. Yeah, I've seen the movies thing. I know that Laurent has done that as well. I know that when they were doing the coelacanth, Gombessa stuff way back off the coast of South Africa, they were doing stuff like that. You know, you don't take it with you because a lot of that stuff wouldn't be waterproof to the very deep depths they're going, but you have your support team at the, at the surface, maybe drop it down to you on a line or, or someone of support diver would bring it down to you. |
| James Stacey | Stage bottle and an iPad. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Essentially. Yeah. I mean, it's pretty crazy and I'm sure there are very niche companies that are making, you know, decompression stop media players, um, for, for technical divers, but. Yeah, that's what I know, that's what I've experienced, and yeah, it's a good question, interesting question, Arno slash Dave. |
| James Stacey | Let's go one step further, because I was thinking as you were chatting, tell me about your best and worst, and I can kick it off if you want to think about an answer, but tell me about either your best or your worst or both safety stops. Because I can remember two great ones. Two great examples of a best and a worst. In Vancouver in January, years and years ago, I was getting my dry suit certification. And I was freezing cold. It was negative 17 above the water. It was probably two or three Celsius at depth. And we were on this dive, it was freezing cold. I was in a dry suit, like I said, didn't wear enough layers underneath, and I had the wet gloves, so I was just very cold, which is fine. I don't really mind being cold until it starts to feel dangerous. And we were diving in Porto Cove in Vancouver, which is a provincial park with a few wrecks that had been purposefully sunk, and we were diving the Grand Thal. And we were on the wreck. And one of the other divers I was with at depth was very narked. So he was acting very strangely. He was trying to pick up rocks and put them in the pockets of his dry suit and that sort of thing. So freezing cold, you're kind of grabbing onto this guy. We're just trying to go back up the line slowly, progressively following all the rules. can't find our dive master so myself and one other person have kind of so we were calling we eventually called this guy pig pen if you remember the oh sure peanuts character yeah that's just constantly spinning up dirt around him yeah this guy was you know overweight because he had rocks in his pockets and was just at the bottom at probably 80 feet i guess 90 feet, whatever is at the at the bow of the grand fall under the front right against the bottom, just finning into the dirt. Yeah, he looked like one of those vacuums. They used to like, oh yeah, pull dirt up as they're, oh yeah, just searching for a spaceship or whatever. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | And yeah, that was a terrible one. And I remember I got up and got back. You know, you have a very long surface swim. It's unbelievably cold. You get out of the gear and you just want to get warm. And I think it took like 24 hours for my hands to come back fully. Like it was a full day. They ached when I went to sleep that night. It just got really cold. And then probably my best safety stop was in Socorro. I don't remember the exact site because it wasn't the boiler. It wasn't the shelf. I'll have to go back on my notes and find the site, but we did a site in Open water. Yeah. So it might have been off the shelf, but we did a site in open water with a lot of tuna around. Oh, sure. Yeah. And they kind of swim in these big columns that go very fast. And I found this dive to be entirely disorienting. You couldn't see the bottom. It was just an open water blue dive. So you're really glued to a computer. The new type of diving for me. Yeah at that point in my life and but I was with a couple very seasoned divers We were having an incredible time and eventually, you know in 45 minutes or whatever. I blew through my tank. Hmm So I signal to these guys. I'm going up. I'll go alone. Yeah, I don't mind. I don't mind ascending alone I had a sausage the boat was above us like the the tender was just above us. I was very safe and And so I start to go up and as I get towards, you know, where you're going to start your safety stop, I trim out and just get comfortable. And you know, I'm, I'm horizontal, so I'm facing loosely down. And as I do my safety stop for like the entire stop, we just have a school of huge tuna bigger than me yeah whipping around playing around in in whatever bait or was below us yeah it was like i've had that one and then at socorro um at the unesco world heritage site that like peninsula I did my safety stop with a huge black manta ray. He just hung out with me for the whole time. Maybe 12 feet across. Kept making eye contact. Those are moments you just like, it doesn't matter how old I get. I hope I still remember days like that. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. That's so special. I mean, that, that's the, yeah, that's, that, that's why we dive. Right. And then I, for sure, for me, I can remember, I can remember doing a safety stop at the boiler and off of Socorro there and, uh, something else, the boiler and, and I believe it might've been even the, the first dive of the trip wouldn't, when I saw the birthing dolphin and the manta rays. And then I think it was on the safety stopper close to it, that, that there was a whale shark that, that cruised past that was just, And you're simultaneously checking your depth on your computer, you're looking at your air supply that's left, and then you still want to swim around and stay close to this magnificent animal that's passing by. And it's all you can do to maintain your composure and not lose sight of the fact that a safety stop is called that for a reason. You're trying to off-gas a little bit before you go to the surface. Yeah. So, so, you know, there was that one. And then I remember, gosh, diving in the Galapagos once and, and doing a safety stop. And this was earlier in my diving days and I hadn't spent much time around, you know, big mega fauna. And I remember, uh, I think it was, I don't know what, which type of Manta it was, but a Manta ray kind of swam directly below me. And I remember it made such an impression because I really hadn't experienced that before. And just the sheer wingspan and that iconic shape cruising below me was pretty amazing. And then, yeah, I mean, I don't want to finish on a downer, but the worst would be diving the wreck of the Emperor, which was a freighter that sank off of Isle Royale. And Um, I, my dry suit had had a pretty catastrophic, uh, leak, uh, at depth. And this was a pretty deep wreck. And I remember doing a longer than normal safety stop. Um, I think I'd gotten into a little bit of decompression and, and my suit, I was so cold. I mean, the water was barely above freezing and. And I remember getting back on the boat after that and taking off my dry suit. And I have a photo somewhere of me pouring out the water from the boot that had filled up the boots of the dry suit. And it was just absolutely, it was just, my teeth were chattering. It was, it was pretty brutal. So yeah, the good, the bad and the ugly, it was, uh, you know, all those experiences. |
| James Stacey | Man, do I wish I was I had a manta experience on the horizon. Oh, yeah Yeah, if you ever get a chance and I guarantee you could get the same experience snorkeling, but they're just it's an animal like nothing else Yes, where you're looking at an alien. Yeah, and they're so friendly. They love bubbles. They're just around. It's good. They're great Man, I missed Ivan Yeah, hopefully get it get something in in the next couple months. We'll see if get some travel in but look that was a great question Arno Dave I appreciate that very much. We're gonna kick it off Trey with your question on the next slack crew and a But yeah, thank you very much for everyone who sent in questions This is a really fun one. And why don't we jump into some final notes and put a bow on the show? |
| Jason Heaton | Sure. Well, I have a diving related one, which segues nice. Yeah, let's do it the last question I've been, I've been listening to a lot of podcasts lately because of my dog walks. It's a great way to pass the time, you know, 30 minutes each. I get through a podcast and about one, one a day, one episode a day, if they're about an hour long. |
| James Stacey | Nice. |
| Jason Heaton | And look, we've, we've talked about the adventure podcast several times on this show and, and at the risk of being repetitive. I came across a recent one in which Matt Pycroft, the host of the show, interviewed Andy Torbett. And Andy Torbett is a guy that a lot of people might recognize the name or be familiar with from Instagram or whatever. And a few people have actually suggested that he come on TGN. And look, I would love to have him on. I believe he might still be a Panerai ambassador. I know that he was wearing Panerai for a while. He was actually James Bond's stunt double in one or more movies. Bond films. He was a former British military paratrooper, extreme cave diver, and as well as a skydiver. Interesting combination. So if you watch his Instagram feed, this guy, he lives the life. I mean, and I always assumed like he always has this very severe you know, like blue steel kind of look on his face in almost all of his photos. He does not look like the most warm and welcoming kind of guy. Um, when you see him in photos and he's very handsome and he's, you know, built like a brick outhouse G rated here. Um, but this podcast was delightful because he, he's, he's got this wonderfully disarming personality and, and Matt asks him intelligent questions. This was a long podcast. It might even be like 90 minutes or thereabouts. He just talks about cave diving and about his experiences and about skydiving and his background and he's got this great Scottish accent and just an interesting chap and it was really fun to listen to. I will say that with this particular episode, The input volume, or however they were recording it, was so low that I had my volume cranked up all the way on my phone while I was doing this walk. I even had to turn on the noise cancelling, which I don't normally like to do when I'm walking, just so I could hear it. Then I got back home and I put it on Bluetooth on a speaker here at home and also had to crank it up all the way. That's just a slight warning that if you're listening to this, you might need a quiet room or some higher volume or better method of listening. But other than that, the topic was fantastic. He's a great guest. Andy Torbett on the Adventure Podcast. |
| James Stacey | Nice, that's great. Oh, one pro tip or semi pro tip, we'll call it. If you're listening to a podcast and you get the file and it is too low, don't forget that the media player VLC can run beyond 100%. Oh, interesting. So it's not always ideal. You can, let's say you do this on your laptop, you can damage the speakers on the laptop, but if you're going from a device that supports VLC to a decent set of speakers, you can go beyond 100% and it over amplifies the signal. interesting i'm not sure it's not going to be great for audio quality but it can be helpful i've done it in the past in that scenario and certainly we've had scenarios where the show isn't mixed perfectly yeah and might be a little bit quiet or too quiet in some scenarios but that can be a bit of a pain for sure yeah that sounds great though i need uh i'm probably six months behind on adventure podcasts. And this is a good reminder that I should jump back into it. I was just talking to you the other day about how, you know, you were saying you're, you're back into podcasts because of the walking. And I find I'm not listening anywhere near as much podcast because I I'm just at my desk. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | And, uh, and you know, when I'm walking on my treadmill, I'm also trying to write stories or read stories or prep stuff for the site or that sort of thing. Like podcasts for me have largely become like a summer activity because I drive more. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, yeah, right. Yeah. Makes sense. |
| James Stacey | That's great. Andy to orbit. Cool. All right. So mine is an entirely different thing. It's actually something I bought in in advance of going to Japan, which is one of the longer flights I've ever been on. And I thought I talked about it on a previous episode, but I went back through Paul Hubbard's complete TGN. Which I can put in the show notes if you don't know it you can literally search The transcript of every episode of TGN yeah, and it's very handy, and I couldn't find it So I don't think I did talk about it But this is a I think I've mentioned in the past that I when I sleep I do so with a fan mm-hmm just blowing a torrent of air |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. On me. |
| James Stacey | It's a psychotic behavior, but this is how I sleep. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | And so I have trouble sleeping in hotels because the air is so still. And I haven't been hot for a long time just mentally. I didn't even go and Google search it about buying a fan that I would take when I travel. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | And I'd considered, you know, I was spending a lot of time a couple trips a month in New York and I've considered buying a fan, leaving it at the Houdinki office and then I could just like take it to the hotel. And it turns out when I Googled it, there's a whole market for this. There's a whole world of people who like to have fans, whether it's in their hotel or on the plane. And I was like, oh, that makes sense. So I start to look into options. I find one that's $20. This is its exact name on Amazon. The Otlanpi Desk Fan Portable Fan Rechargeable 4000mAh USB Battery Operated Personal Fan Silent Foldable Travel Fan with Power Bank 4-Speed Small Table Fan for Bedroom Home Office Outdoor Desktop Black. It comes in four colors. I bought a black one. I don't even know how to describe it because it feels like a gadget from the 90s, but it's powered by USB. You can use it as a battery bank for your phone if you needed to, but then you wouldn't have a fan. I don't know which one you prefer. I might rather have a fan. but it is just a little simple desk fan. That's probably maybe two inches thick and otherwise the size of you know, it's roughly the size of like a paperback book. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | So you drop it right in your bag. It has a little kickstand so you can sit it on a tray or whatever you're on the plane and man Not this made a massive difference for me on the plane and in the hotel in Japan and then a couple days ago I realized I'm sitting here walking at you five five and a half kilometers an hour and It's just nice to have the fan blow. I'm sure I have it on my desk now, and I absolutely love it Yeah, this is like some of the best $20. I've spent. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, this is several years This is great |
| James Stacey | I feel like there'll be a very small percentage of the audience who hears this and goes. Oh, I absolutely have to have yes, everybody else is going. What is wrong with you? Yeah, yeah, I really for speed adjustable wind. |
| Jason Heaton | It says it's adjustable wind. |
| James Stacey | Yep. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, that's that's mine. It's a little portable USB powered fan. I would be running it currently at my desk as I sit here if it didn't cause, you know, noise on the microphone, the airflow. Yeah, but I just really like it. And it's especially for travel. But even if you're just at your desk where you have USB anyways, so the battery doesn't matter. Really nice. And then if you if you like, dude, you can sit this right on the water rower. I have a little fan. |
| Jason Heaton | It's so nice. |
| James Stacey | Okay. Yeah, I'm sold. For $20? Yeah, right. I love this thing. This is high, high, high value tech for me. A little personal fan. Say no more. It's so nice for when you're working out. cool all right you just have a little breeze yeah but yeah that's that uh so you've got a great podcast about cave diving and also a fan for when there's not enough airflow in your hotel room that's real hard and soft high low yeah uh right there but uh yeah good stuff yeah that's i love slack crew and a this is awesome i'm so pumped to get into these like i mean we got 80 questions this is gonna be great |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And I'd say keep them coming, but we closed the thread and we've got more than enough for this year. So we're off and running. |
| James Stacey | Get into the slack and get in for 2026. We'll kick it off again next February. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. All right. Well, as always, thanks so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to The Show Notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is Siesta by JazzArr via the free music archive. |
| James Stacey | And we leave you with this quote from the American explorer and folk hero Daniel Boone who said, Curiosity is natural to the soul of man and interesting objects have a powerful influence on our affections. |