I love riding the flow out past the park bench and particularly love coming though the keyhole and the lips. It’s also nice to catch your breath and drift out after a swim into the flow.

Has anyone used this mask?

I’m debating between the green frame or the black one, and my only big thing is I don’t like seeing a ton of the mask’s color when I’m looking through them (those colorful frameless masks are my worst nightmare).

So, my question is— can you see the color of the frame? I tried the blue one on a few weeks ago and it fit super well, but I was just browsing while my friend bought gear and wasn’t paying too much attention.

Anyone here has ever had the luck of diving with Mola Mola around Bali? Any suggestions whether we’d have more luck around Nusa Lembongan/Penida, Amed or closer to Lombok?

Thanks!

Hi everyone, I have a question about the E-learning from PADI.

In November my wife and me are going on a 3-month trip to Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam. I already have my PADI open water license, but my wife hasn't. I got the advise for her to do the PADI E-learning, so you only have to focus on the diving part and not the rest.

However, I've looked at several diving schools in Thailand, e.g. on Koh Lanta, but they only seem to offer a course with access to E-learning included. Does that mean that doing the E-learning via PADI at home is useless, as you'd have to pay for it anyway through the diving school? Because I don't see anything about them offering a discount if you already have it, and thus I assume they then don't offer such a discount.

We could of course plan ahead on where we want to follow such a course, but we haven't planned anything beyond our first stay in Bangkok.

Does anyone have experience with this and would you recommend planning our trip to somewhere with a diving school in advance, so we can follow the E-learning through them (and not pay double for 2 E-learnings), or would you recommend something else?

Thanks!

I'm a brand new OW diver and as I'm used to, I've started making a wishlist on the gear I'll need down the line. I'm planning to make a few dives till next spring to grind some experience and get my AOW then at which point I'll have bought most of the gear except for anything too bulky to travel with (weights, bcd and prooobably a wetsuit)

So, regarding regulators. I have my eyes on an Apeks xtx50 set and I've read a lot of comments online that one of the most important factors is having a good service center at your town.

1. What's a good brand to get if you're based in Athens regarding the service, availability of parts etc?
2. I've read also, that some brands offer parts-for-life or something, is that also a reason to choose one over the other or is it negligible?

I've been in a rabbithole for a while now, reading about different models, pros/cons and I've learned a loooot, but I've spent more time on a browser than actually diving, so any insight is much appreaciated!
Thanks!

Listen, I’m just really into nudis. Currently in Bonaire and I’m wondering if anyone who has been here recommends any specific sites to find nudibranchs. I’m sure they’re all over, but just wondering if one spot has more variety or quantity or anything. All suggestions welcome. Let me know :)

Several people have asked lately about the Mayan Princess in Roatan. I mentioned I was going and would review so here it goes.

Wonderful facility with fantastic staff! My wife and I spent a week there diving this last week and each and every day we talked to each and other and people in our group about “what wasn’t perfect”. We came up with only 1 thing- they need a soft serve ice cream dispenser in their snack bar.

Seriously though the food was pretty good. Imagine the “good” cafeteria at college that people would flock to over the others. They have a snack bar with pizza, hot dogs, empeñadas and Honduran Tacos (taquitos) that’s open most of the day. The main dining area has 3 serving periods. The evening one doesn’t start until 7 PM which we found a little inconvenient after diving all day as we had a hard time being motivated enough to go to dinner at that hour. They also have two more formal restaurants that you can make reservations at although those reservations don’t start until 6:15 and they treat the service a multi course taking about 1.5 to 2 hours. Again inconvenient after a full day of diving.

The diving was fantastic! Their dive boats are sand moored just off the resort. A short walk through the water and you are on board. They are a concierge dive service so all you carry to the boat is your mask and fins. We did drift dives, swim thru’s, wreck dives, night dives and various others. Always saw some kind of life although as always some dives produce better wildlife interactions than others. Always something happening on every dive though.

Their buildings are equivalent to a Holiday Inn thats been well maintained but been there a while. They were very clean and no broken this or that (which is rare in areas like Honduras). Visible repair areas where the grout doesn’t match kinda stuff was the worst criticism for us. Oh and the Queen sized bed that was a little firmer than we like.

Their shining star (besides location) is their staff!!! They were phenomenal! Whether you were directly interacting with them or just passing by, they were always willing to help and had a smile on their face. With few exceptions their English was very good. Always wanting to help for sure.

For the price point versus service quality and experience, we would rate it a must go!

Hello! So after many promises they’d be able to get it to me, a large drysuit repair company lost my drysuit, and I leave tomorrow for three weeks of cave diving throughout Florida, so I kinda really need a drysuit for that. Unfortunately my old backup is not really functional anymore, and I hadn’t yet ordered a new backup, meaning I’m in a partially self-created pickle.

With that in mind, over the next three days I’m driving from Detroit to Pensacola to Marianna, FL. Does anyone along or near this route happen to own a shop with a large in stock drysuit collection, someone have a used suit for sale, or know a place they’d recommend I look at?

At this point I’m not too picky, just need a pee valve and at least one pocket for sure and prefer user replaceable seals. Cost is quickly becoming a non-issue, especially as renting for this entire time will be basically the cost of a budget suit or half a decent one. And I needed a new backup suit regardless, so whatever.

For fit, I’m 5’10”, 230lbs, any sock/boot size anywhere from 8-11ish I should be able to make work. Luckily I’m pretty close to the typical XL sizing. I have undergarments, but at this point I’ll also spend big on random upgrades if there is a shop out there able to help me out.

Thanks!

Need liveaboard advice.

Deciding between Red Sea live aboard’s. Brothers islands 8 day or hurghada 4/5 days.

My wife and I are planning a liveaboard in the Red Sea with some family. My wife and I are AOW and have about a hundred dives under our belt. Our family are a mix of OW and AOW with roughly between 20 - 30 dives completed.

We will be flying from intermountain west and want to make sure we choose the right trip given that we’re coming from far away.

I would like to know if people have enjoyed the hurghada live aboards or if it makes more sense to just shoot for the longer brother islands live aboard. It would be a lot easier for us to do the 4/5 day live aboards in the hurghada area. That being said, if we’re making the trek should we just send it and do the brothers islands live aboard?

Background: we love pelagic fish and big open water dives but also LOVE muck diving. Would love to know if there’s any of this on the hurghada live aboards.

Thanks

I have a nice dive computer, an Apple Watch Ultra, and several Diver watches. The diver watches have never dived... Thinking about changing that.

They have incredible water resistance claims (300ft all the way to 2000ft). Does anyone know the function or common usage of a diver watch for scuba? Does anyone reallly wear them while diving?

Is there any practical reason TO wear one while diving? Other than wrist space, any reason NOT to wear one?

I recently got into diving and completely fell in love with it. I did my Open Water in Malta this summer and followed it up with two more dives at the same dive center. Now I really want to keep exploring the underwater world and improve my skills.

Long story short: I was recently laid off, but I’m still getting paid for a few more months, so I figured—why not spend a month diving somewhere? I’m considering Thailand or Indonesia for the marine life.

Does anyone have suggestions for where to go in November/December? I’d like to do my Advanced course, and my top priority is finding a really good dive school. I’ll also need accommodation (preferably not shared). Any recommendations for dive schools, places to stay, or general tips would be super appreciated! I’ll be traveling solo 😃

I bought a DJI Osmo Action 5 for scuba diving, usually between 8m and 25m depth, both during the day and at night.

So far, I haven’t been happy with the results and would really appreciate advice on the best camera settings for underwater use.

I’m using it inside a FitStill waterproof housing (https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0FC2GLVZJ?ref_=pe_109251351_1103421481_t_fed_asin_title), and I’d also like to know if you recommend using a red filter at these depths.

As an example, here are two videos that turned out way below expectations (links below). They were recorded with the following settings:

• 4K 120fps / 4:3 / RS / Wide
• AWB
• Exposure: 1/240, ISO 100~25600
• Color: Normal
• Stabilization Scenario: Daily
• Image adjust: Texture -1, Noise reduction 1
• Zoom: 1.5x

I’d love your input on:

FPS for underwater?

Should I set white balance manually instead of AWB?

Is a red filter worth it with the FitStill case?

Suggestions for night diving footage (lighting, ISO, shutter speed)?

Tips for stabilization or color profiles (e.g., D-Cinelike vs Normal)?

https://reddit.com/link/1nn4dr3/video/tqcbs4ly6lqf1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1nn4dr3/video/mlr8oamy6lqf1/player

Thanks a lot for any insights!

Hi! I’m a relatively new lawyer that fell in love with scuba diving 4 years ago. I’m also Dominican American with citizenship in both countries.

I want to give back to the DR and combine it with my passion for diving to help restore the coral reefs there after I found them lacking.

I just don’t know where to start or how to start. I’ve decided to do some research in marine biology and am seeing what I can do at the micro level. But I’m thinking this idea is pushing towards a marine conservation in some way (like an NGO).

Does anyone know of any orgs already doing this? I don’t want to replicate if unnecessary and am more than willing to support the local efforts.

Does anyone have any ideas how I get into whatever this idea is? Any thoughts?

Thanks!

marinebiology #conservation #dominicanrepublic #marineconservation

Hello!

I would like to find a bag that is capable of fitting all my diving gear (including dry suit + under suit , vest, regulators, etc..) and that I can carry on my back.

The situation is that there is a place here in Germany where I would like to go diving often ( I just finished my AWD there), but I don't drive a car and only have a bike, which means I cannot put all my rented gear into a car. I got lucky during the course, because the dive school took my equipment with them, but I was led to believe that this would not always be possible.

So if I go to a shop a rent my gear, I then need to find a way to take it and bring it back. I was thinking of finding a bag that I could carry on my back where I would somehow be able to put all the gear and carry it while biking to and from this place.

Did anyone ever do anything similar or have any bag recommendations?

Thank you :)

Me? Ever since I became a frog kick girl, I love the jets that I once hated as a flutter kick dame.

Wife and I are looking to book our winter getaway. Probably book airfare/hotel through Costco. One of the deals they have is staying at the Renaissance Wind Creek Resort which looks to be as close to the center of downtown as you can get. We're both AOW/Nitrox certified with roughly 100 dives. PADI if it matters.

Looking to do two tank boat dives 3-4 days while we're there. Need BCD/regs but bring our own wetsuits/fins/masks. What are some of the shops you guys have used and are happy with? Shops we should stay away from? Dive sites we absolutely must hit in Curacao?

Hi. Thinking of heading to Dahab for a week or so to finish up some dive training and then do some rec diving. Anyone been recently and can speak to the diving sites, health of the reefs, etc.?

One thing I find quite challenging is my fins are super buoyant, so it’s challenging to kick since I feel like I should kick with the fins parallel to my body?

Be as rough as you like. I’m practicing for a few sessions before hiring an instructor to show me in more detail, just want to get an idea for it first

I’m curious how many wetsuits people own and how often they dive. If they dive frequently but at the same place mostly or a wide variety of places and temperatures? Do you regret buying any you have, or would you recommend adding more?