[Jon]

At the end of a long day of scooter diving I'll go back down with a stage of 02 and deco out for the day. I don't do this in the middle of my diving, just at the very end of the day when I'm done.

Other than that, I do the same things you mentioned- extended surface intervals between dives. Scooter diving is so relaxing that is lulls you into doing longer/deeper dives without prolonged surface intervals because your not winded. Using a watch to time surface intervals is a must- which your already doing.

One thing I just switched to, thanks to Longfins, is a climbing harness to hook my scooter into. I used to use a standard weightbelt, with a DiveRite scooter strap, but the harness is much more comfortable and gives me more places to hang things off of- like cameras. It also allows me to drive the scooter with one hand while I clear my ears with the other. Or, if you can clear your ears hands-free like Peter does, you can run the scooter with one hand while you shoot video with your digital camera in the other. You can pick a cheap harness from REI for less than $35.

Jon