EDIT: Your comments were really helpful for me – thank you very much 😊

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Are there actually maximum age limits for participating in guided dives or diving courses? I had never heard of this before, but friends recently told me that they were refused participation in dives offered by their cruise line during a Caribbean cruise because they were over 65.

They are experienced divers with more than 800 dives, valid medical clearances (official medicals by a physician), and full mobility and fitness.

This gives me pause for thought, as I am not exactly young myself. I want to avoid booking an expensive long-haul trip only to be left high and dry at the destination.

Are you aware of such restrictions, or was this a policy specific to that particular cruise line? I had always assumed that for a certified diver a valid official medical certificate determines physical fitness to dive, not the number of years.

But perhaps there are things I should know that have simply escaped my attention so far.

Many thanks in advance, and sorry if this is a stupid question - but I really don't know.

I recently found some very cheap used Scubapro jetfins, so I bought them on a whim. I had heard they would be better than my Apeks RK3s for stability and back finning, so I was curious.

What a difference!

Stability: Remaining still while neutraly buoyant is much easier. With my RK3s I often found myself unconsciously moving my feet to maintain my position (I noticed when I saw a video of myself), which is less of an issue with my jetfins.

Propulsion: Frog kick, backwards kick, and helicopter turns are all more powerful than with my RK3.

IMPORTANT: I doubt any of these differences would have been noticeable if I hadn't already worked on my fundamental skills. Getting jetfins would have made no difference if I didn't already have decent (not excellent) buoyancy, trim, and propulsion. If you already have RK3s or similar finds, buying jetfins (which are really expensive, around €250) won't make a difference if you don't have the skills already, so don't waste your money .

Finally getting to enjoy home ownership and gaining the ability to finally have room for everything.

Hello,

I am flying to La Paz next Monday (7 September) and will be there for 20 days. My main interests are diving and, maybe, more diving.

Having checked past subs on Baja, I have decided to split my time between La Paz, Cabo Pulmo and Cabo San Lucas.

Any information or advice is welcome, even basic things such as water temperature or dive sites.

Having visited the websites of some of the centres mentioned in other subs, I am a bit puzzled at how expensive they are. I've been to Playa del Carmen/Cozumel for the past two years, and even the cenote dives were cheaper than regular dives in Baja. Also, most websites lack basic information about what's included in the price. For example, own equipment or rent? One in Cabo Pulmo charges by the day and doesn't state how many dives are included.

Is that the case, is that expensive, or am I looking in the wrong places?

Thanks in advance!

Looking for some input about bcd lift capacity. Specifically for cold water diving. How do I find out if my BCD has enough lift for cold water diving?

Just bought Hollis LTS BCDs for my wife and I from a local dive shop here in Canada.

We liked the LTS since they are so easy to travel with and super comfortable. We do a combo of local diving and plan to do quite a bit of warm water diving plus we’ve heard great things about the LTS and I got them for a good deal.

My question is: will the 30lbs lift capacity of the Hollis LTS be enough for cold water diving here in Canada?

We’re newer divers so we both dive with 10-13lbs of weight (although I’m sure that will continue to decrease as we improve). We use Aluminum 80s and 7mm wetsuits. Occasionally a hood and always gloves and boots. Locally we’re diving in freshwater.

Honestly I’m quite happy with the BCD but I need to know if it’ll provide enough lift in cold water climates before I decide to keep it.

Thanks in advance!

I’m probably overthinking 10 cm of cord, but I’d rather work this out now than the first time I actually need the knife.

I carry a backup folding knife inside my right thigh pocket. It’s very much a last-resort tool: I already have shears, a line cutter and a fixed-blade knife, all of which are retained in ways I’m happy with.

Normally, for things like torches and my SPG, I use the traditional short piece of line tied tight to a bolt snap. With a knife I’m less convinced that’s ideal, because if I’m using it in an actual entanglement I don’t particularly want a bolt snap and tether hanging off it while I’m trying to work one-handed in dry gloves.

My current idea is roughly 10 cm of paracord from the knife’s lanyard hole, probably ending in a reasonably large fixed loop.

The idea would be:

• Stored: the loop clips via a double-ender to the retaining strap inside my thigh pocket.

• In use: unclip it completely, leaving only the knife and short paracord tail in my hand.

• After use: once the knife is CLOSED, I always have a spare double-ended bolt snap on my right shoulder D-ring, so I could use that to temporarily park the knife by its paracord loop until I’m ready to put it properly back in the pocket.

That makes me wonder whether the loop could serve another purpose too.

I’m not particularly keen on a sliding/slipknot wrist lanyard that cinches down, especially on something intended to help with entanglement. But would a loose fixed loop, large enough to put a dry-gloved hand through if wanted, be useful as optional drop protection? Or am I simply creating another thing to get tangled in?

The other thing I’d like to build into it is a deliberate weak point, although not necessarily a “breakaway” in normal use.

Ideally I’d like the paracord construction to have ONE load path so that a deliberate cut anywhere along the exposed woven section defeats the whole tether and lets it pull apart/unravel.

What I don’t want is a nice-looking weave containing several independent load-bearing strands where I cut it once during an entanglement and discover I’m still attached by the other three.

So ideally I’m looking for something that is:

• Secure in normal use

• Easy to clip with dry gloves

• Usable one-handed

• Short enough not to snag

• Not permanently attached to a bolt snap while I’m cutting

• Able to be deliberately defeated with one cut

• Possibly usable as a loose hand/wrist loop, although I’m very undecided about that

I’m quite happy to drop/abandon the knife in a genuine emergency if that’s the safest option.

I’d just rather not throw a large knife into the water unnecessarily when losing it also potentially leaves a hazard for another diver, wildlife or whoever happens to be below me.

So rather than more theory, I’d really like to see PHOTOS of what people are actually using.

Paracord, cave line, bungee, bolt snaps, double-enders, wrist loops, breakaways, weird home-made solutions... show me your knife retention setups and, ideally, explain why you chose that arrangement.

Looking at a BP/W - unfortunately I cant find anywhere that sells xDeep locally (NYC) - Scuba.com only has DiveRite. So I cant try it out.

I'm almost exactly 175cm - and I'm a bit confused on the sizing. Since their sizing is recommended by height. - should I just get a Small or get a large?

Fellow divers! Does anyone have a good gear rental recs (Not guided trips) for Loreto? Family stays in Danzante Bay at least once a year and I have been dying do dive there for a very long time

Hey guys, I'm a beginner and looking for nice dive spots in Turkiye. Any highlights you can recommend? I'm hoping to get my training and certificate soon and would love a heads up.

Hi! I have my AOW with 16 dives. Did my advanced recently in Nusa Penida, so I have some experience with currents. I’m going to Bohol in December and plan on doing 6-8 dives on that trip.

I’m planning a purely dive-focused trip next summer and am currently stuck between Maratua and Sipadan. I’ve also looked at Alor and Komodo, but I think due to strong currents I should wait till I have more experience.

What are some good destinations in Asia for June that have good weather and aren’t too challenging for my experience level?

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

Planning a dive trip end of september
OWD with nitrox and deep dive living in western Europe.

I am looking for a good destination but honestly I am lost.
Initially I thought of Egypt but it seems the coral is not that good anymore?
Other option was Maldives but also read underwhelming reviews..

I dove in Cozumel, Marsa Alam and Koh Tao already.

So.. help 😅?

Thanks a lot!

Hi all,

I hope everyone is fine. I have been trying without success to export dives directly from my Atmos Mission 3 to the SSI app on Android (the apps and OS are all up-to-date). Right now the SSI app does not integrate automatic collection of dives from this dive computer. Perhaps this will change in the future, but as of now I am kind of stuck.

I have tried to export the dives as uddf file, but the SSI app does not offer the option to load such files. I have tried to send the uddf file to the SSI app internally, but my phone does not offer this option as the SSI app is not internally recognized to read such files.

Any idea of how this issue could be resolved?
Thanks for your time!

Just did my first-ever scuba dive in Andaman & Nicobar, and honestly, it was an unforgettable experience! 🤿 The underwater world was absolutely beautiful. If you're in India and thinking about trying scuba for the first time, I’d definitely recommend Andaman. Totally worth it! 🌊❤️

I am travelling to Cabo for a Socorro liveaboard in 6 months. I have heard about the tax on cameras. Housing + Camera. + lights have a total cost of around $6500. Round trip flights from my home town to Cabo is about $700. Or I can fly through Mexico City, go through customs, and then do a domestic flight for about $900. Does anybody have experience bringing camera equipment through Mexico City?

If the chances of being charged on equipment is minimal there, I may opt to do that instead despite it being $200 more and a longer travel day.

Just purchased a aqualung i770r after diving the i750tc. Anyone else on here dive the i770r? If so how do you like it?

Hi everyone finally got a dry suit for cold water diving in Canada (instead of my 8-6 mm wetsuit) looking for any tips and tricks! Thank you!

Looking for some opinions, I got a 17’ zodiac a couple years ago for diving around Monterey. It’s an older boat but it has newer tubes, a 90hp evinrude DI 2-stroke and a galvanized trailer. I did some upgrades to it and all in I’m about $16,000 invested. We’ve taken it out a dozen times but this year it’s sat in the garage all year. I have a 4-year old so it takes a lot of coordination to be able to use it. We either have to bring one of our parents along to watch her or we have to find another couple to dive with us, or we have to take turns diving and only do 1 dive each. On top of that, the added cleanup is often discouraging. Driving home on a Sunday afternoon and having to clean gear AND the boat is not fun. I am considering selling it and getting two or three DPV’s instead. is this a reasonable idea? We strictly do rec diving and I don’t take the boat very far offshore anyway. My intent when I bought the boat was to access more dive sites but so far we haven’t really explored much due to the time it takes to get to those sites. Namely monastery, it takes almost an hour to drive a boat there from San Carlos launch. Same with point lobos, I can’t launch from point lobos so getting there from the nearest launch is at least an hour on a good day, on a bad day it’s too risky to even try.

We're here now and have done a dive. Feels like it was a checkout dive which is fine... But if we're going to invest in the physical and emotional (leaving the kids with a nanny which is the end of their world, for like 2hrs...) toll is it going to improve? We went to a sloping wall + bomies site near Mana island.

Our diving experience in Asia and the Pacific is fairly significant, BC-before children (raja, Komodo, Palau, Truk at the top of the list...) I'm hoping for ridic softs, some macro and whatever palagic passes, passes.

Edit.. Mana is not my Nana

Im thinking of getting into scuba diving but my eyesight is really bad and i just found out that a Mares X-Vision has a option to put prescription glass in them and then there is a Mares X-Vision Ultra LiquidSkin mask so im trying to find out if the prescription glass from the X-Vision can be used in the LiquidSkin

Hey y’all, just sharing some exciting news. I won my first dive computer at my local dive shop’s annual treasure hunt! It’s a Cressi Leonardo. Super excited to get into the water and use it!

Recently moved to LA and looking to do some diving here. AOW certified but don’t have a dive buddy and am used to going in groups. Any recommendations of dive shops that facilitate this? Any local LA divers looking for a dive partner? Any recommendations on dive shops or sites?

I found this giant Pacific octopus while diving this morning. After it tried to mug me for my camera it went straight after my dive buddy. Climbed right up a wall and went straight for her.

It reached out, grabbed the camera and wasn’t particularly interested in giving it back. 😂🐙

Just another day diving in the Salish Sea. [OC]

Hi! Wondering where would be good for a good vis dive in SEA end October! I've been to Malaysia and Tulamben already, looking for my next spot! I'm aware that it's bordering onto monsoon season then too though ://