New to scuba and wanted to see if anyone could weigh in on my experience. I signed up for a weekend course, 1 day pool 1 day ocean dive. When we got into the pool I was having trouble getting under water even with my bcd completely deflated. The instructor was yelling at me to go under and I was trying to explain that I kept popping up to the surface. After a long back and forth he finally gave me more weights and I was able to go under.

I snorkel all the time so I get mouth breathing but once I was underwater I felt like I wasn’t getting enough oxygen from the regulator. I told the instructor and he said well maybe this just isn’t for you. I asked to try the skills but I had to keep coming up for air. He then pretty abruptly yanked the additional weights he gave me back and asked me to leave the pool and go back to the shop.

Part of me feels like yes I was having multiple basic issue enough to indicate I really had no business doing this activity. There were 4 other people in the class who didn’t seem to have any issues. But I also feel like we had barely just started and could have sorted it if the instructor didn’t keep telling me we were hours behind schedule and I was holding back the class.

Back at the shop they told me I could redo the pool portion with a new instructor but I’d have to buy the boat ticket for another weekend And pay again. I was excited for this and really wanted to learn, but paying more for the experience on top of how expensive it already was is a little disheartening .

Sorry for rant just wanted to see if more experienced people could weigh in if this is normal and if it’s worth trying again.

Edit: It’s a dive shop in the US. I did the one weekend course which gets you a ‘scuba diver certification’ but they also have the two weekend ‘open water diver’ class

i work as a dockhand, and my dockmaster asked if he can hire me to clean his hull and through-hull. His boat is in the water at the marina. Ive never cleaned a boat before but ive been a diver for 10 years. I was wondering what kind of tools i would need. ive been trying to do research and it seems like i would need a brush and a scraper. any recommendations that i could order on amazon or any tips? its about a 40 ft in length and i invited my dive buddy close friend that will also do the job with me ! we are excited but want to make sure were prepared

I originally planned to go next month but due to employment related issues, it'll now have to be December which makes me quite wary. Even November I was concerned about since that's after the dry season when diving is at its best but in December, Bali will be in its rainy/wet season and I'm sure that affects the visibility of the water and overall makes it a less pleasant experience.

The good news is that there'll be fewer crowds so it'll be easier actually going to dive in these sites and explore but how much worse would the experience be? Is it still worth going or should I try to go somewhere else? This will be primarily a diving trip for my AOW along with deep/wreck/nitrox specialities (and potentially more), I won't be doing much else.

I'm thinking of spending 6–8 weeks in Indonesia next summer. I'll be taking about 3 weeks of PTO regardless of whether I stay for 6 or 8 weeks, and I'll spend the remaining 3–5 weeks working remotely from my laptop.

My work schedule is fairly flexible (not as much as it used to be unfortunately), so I'm hoping to squeeze in a couple of dives per day even on workdays. I'll probably spend most of that time based in Bali, possibly with another 1–2 weeks on Nusa Lembongan.

The main complication is the time difference. Most of my colleagues are on Pacific Time, with a couple on Eastern Time, so I'd ideally like to have some overlap with their working hours. Unfortunately, 9 AM–5 PM PT corresponds to midnight–8 AM in Bali, so I'll probably need to adjust my sleep schedule. I'm considering either staying up later or going to bed early and waking up very early.

For those familiar with diving in Bali, is there a significant difference in the quality of the diving between morning dives and dives starting after 11 AM? If morning dives are substantially better, I'd probably opt for an early bedtime and an early start, though then I run into complications with aligning with my eastern time colleagues.

Edit: i have just emailed otter directly.

Hi all, one for the UK people,

I'm thinking about getting myself an Otter drysuit (Atlantic), does anybody that has been to the Go Dive show in recent years remember if Otter offered nice discounts or deals if bought at the show? or should i just order now?

I currently have a working drysuit so i am in no real rush, just trying to get the most bang for my buck.

Hiya. I'm currently in Dahab, will be doing a BDE liveaboard next week.

Trying to decide what wetsuit to bring. Currently in Dahab the water is around 26 C, and I'm perfectly fine with a 3mm sleeveless wetsuit.

Debating whether it will be enough, or if I need to bring my 5mm. I would rather not, because it has a hood and I hate it (and can't cut it off due to the zipper)

Possibly I could just bring a long-sleeved rashguard, and wear it under the 3mm wetsuit.

So yeah. What's the water like currently? Google says it is also 26 C in the water there right now, but I don't know where that's measured (like, is it the same areas where the boat is going, or closer to shore, or... yeah)

Also, if there is anyone of a similar cold tolerance to me who is currently there, what kind of wetsuit are you wearing?

/s

My Teric is obviously borked and will be sent out for servicing. I'm miffed that first dive only says max depth of ~1300 because while on the dive it actually said up to 3040m (while flashing ERR) and I was too shocked to take a photo/video.

The second "dive" is on the surface, but it was convinced I was still hundred of meters underwater. The "dive" only ended because it ran out of battery. 😅

Hi eveyone! I‘ve just upgraded my sport diver case with the lens adapter and macgyvered a quick release mechanism for it to quickly clip on my macro lenses.

Got them stored in neoprene pouches that I plan to clip to my bcd, when not in use, but that might be a bit of a dangley situation, so I was wondering how everybody else carries their lenses whilst diving.

Any experiences with the full body undergarment?

I'm thinking of getting the Santi vest, because I heard the heating elements in the joints are prone to breaking in the case of the full body suit.

I've also considered an Oceama vest, but it has internal batteries, and is controllable with a wrist remote control. Seems unsafe for cave or tech diving, but would love to hear some first hand experiences.

Thanks!

Yes, there’s some suspension of disbelief required, but very entertaining. My non scuba diving family were totally into it.

I’m looking to dive in December and it looks like Point Lobos is a must. Does anyone have any recommendations for shops that do guided tours through there? Bonus if they do a full rental as I’d like to not fly with all of my gear.

I’ll get to use the stages and decos eventually….

I am new to bringing a camera underwater. I have done some dives with my GoPro with a floating handle and just use the wrist strap. Kind of annoying as Im either holding it the entire time or letting it dangle from my wrist.

I have looked into getting a coil lanyard and clip in onto the d-ring but I guess the handle would still dangle? If I dont use the handle i guess the camera dangles less, but I like having the handle.

Does anyone have a good setup for a floating handle, or should I just use the GoPro without it? Trying to be as streamlined as possible and not let gear dangle on corals etc.

Really appreciate any tips!

Hi everyone. Could you please help me make a choice? I dive in both cold water (the Barents Sea) and warm water (the Red Sea). I’m looking for a regulator that would work for both.

Yes, here's another "what's the best dive computer?" post.

• Background: I dove with an Oceanic Veo 1.0 for about 100 dives over 10+ yrs. I hated the damn thing. I could never navigate the menus or remember where things were. Of course, I was an intermittent diver, so that's probably why.
• Now husband and I have Shearwater Peregrine AI w/transmitters. Love them.

Just got our 2 teens certified. They're about 10 dives in, all at the local quarry.

We don't know if they'll stick with it, so we mostly passed down our gear (yay, new bcd for me!) or bought used. We're finally planning a family dive trip - but for complicated scheduling reasons, I doubt we'll be able to do it every year. So, they might get to do quarry dives in the summers and like 2 dive trips while they're in high school. I'm guessing 50-75 dives by the time they finish high school. After that... who know if they'll stick with it (but hubby and I are planning to move to a beach city with good diving, so probably?).

We're thinking about getting them each a new computer.

Considerations:

1. Budget: Would like to stick to the $200-350 range. *Might* consider more if anyone can give me a good reason.
2. We'd like the two of them to have the same model so they can read each other's and we only have to learn one new interface.
3. They're using paper dive books for now and would like to keep it that way (I feel it's a good practice for beginners - and they spend too much time on screens). Maybe I'm old school.
4. I also love the idea of bluetooth and all the data that comes with syncing. I almost wish I had so much more info about my early dives.

Options

1. Do I give one of them the old VEO? I could even get a similar used VEO and then wait to see if they stick with it. CHEAPEST OPTION.
2. Or do we go with .... Cressi Leonardo, Mares Puck, newer Oceanic Veo.... So many options! Looking for recommendations here.
3. I'm almost tempted to get them Shearwaters so we're all using the same thing. Wouldn't get them AI at this point tho, which makes the regular Peregrine expensive for a beginner. Really wish there was a simple Shearwater in the $300 range. Might be able to find them used.

EDIT: Appreciate all the thoughts, especially people who point out they will always be with us and may not stick with it. I think that was the wake up call I needed - it’s so easy to get excited about nice gear.

But the reality is, for approximately 50 dives over 4 yrs, during which time they will ALWAYS be with one of us in shallow / easy conditions…. I think we should go with the cheapest option. They can use our dive data for more detailed info / easy syncing. Maybe if they do AOW, I’ll reconsider.

Glad I posted. I did search other posts, but most of those were new divers buying for themselves. Buying for teens is a very different scenario.

I"ve seen some comparison threads for S600 vs G260 and I see mostly people seem to prefer the G260, though I'm not sure if it's a loud minority.

The G260 also seem to be the cheapest of the 3.

Just curious what you folks think about the 3.

I am interested in diving Blue Heron Bridge but I am a new-ish diver and should not go alone. Anyone have recs for a good group to go with/do a guided dive with? Also, what is the dive profile? What is the max depth and what is the "route" typically like?

UPDATE: Thanks for all the recs! Much appreciated!

This large male giant Pacific octopus was out for a stroll, and I was lucky enough to come across him in the open!

I spent about 20 minutes following along as he explored the rocky reef, hunted for food, and eventually made his way back to his den. It's always a treat to see one of these incredible animals out and about rather than tucked away in a crevice.

Has anyone added the PSI Press Lock system to their DUI Drysuit? TLS 350, FLX Extreme, or CLX 450? Any feedback you can share? Did you go with CCS or QCP? Any regrets?

I saw someone post a pair of fins with artwork on them, which got me thinking about ways to add designs or images to fins that would hold up over time.

A few years ago, I had some metal luggage tags laser engraved, and the guy doing them mentioned that the laser settings could be adjusted to work with a variety of materials. That got me wondering whether you could laser engrave a specific design or some lettering directly onto a pair of fins, then fill the engraved grooves with paint.

My thinking is that the paint might hold up better if it sits inside the grooves rather than being applied to the surface of the fins, where it could eventually wear off.

Has anyone ever tried this, or know whether it would work with the materials used in scuba fins? If someone has done it, would you mind sharing some photos?

It seems like a strange idea, but now I can’t get it out of my head…

Almost all coral reef ecosystems face risk of collapse in 50 years, study warns - ABC News

Hi all,

I'm about to embark on a long trip (Jan 2027) in New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia. I will be doing quite some diving and want to be able to capture it in the best way possible.

I already have a Olympus TG6 as my main camera, my GoPro (11 Hero Pro) is mounted on top of it. This is accompanied by a Weefine Smart Focus 2600.

I expect to be doing quite some deep dives (sub 15/20 meters). I'd like my footage coming out of the box as clean as possible.

EDIT: it's not depth I'm worried about, it's rather how footage looks with limited light available.

EDIT: this was a rather unclear post I take from the replies, I am especially worried about the video footage, not the TG6 footage!

What are my options?

- keep GoPro 11

- upgrade to GoPro 14

- upgrade to GoPro Mission 1

- upgrade to DJI or insta 360 or something similar

Thanks in advance,

I'm very interested in scuba, it's something I've wanted to get into for years but I have been hesitant to go for my first certification because, although I can afford the course itself, I am unsure about all the long term costs involved: travel, equipment costs etc.

Is it a hobby worth pursuing if I'm only making median income (50k a year)? For context I am single, no children and I live pretty minimally so scuba would essentially become my largest discretionary expenditure.

I know it's a broad question and probably has no perfect answers but I just wanted to hear your thoughts? Is it a hobby worth exploring at my income level or maybe I should choose something else?