Hey! My wife and I are planning a trip to Mexico in February for some diving and for now think of Cozumel for 5 days and a couple around Tulum.

Wanted to check for some tips and ideas around best places to stay and dive shops to book with in both locations.

I appreciate there are already a lot of old posts on this (many of which I went through), but several of them are quite old, so wanted to check for some fresh advice.

Nothing booked for now but seems like Casa Mexicana and Casa del Mar are on my radar for Cozumel. I was looking at Hotel B Unique as well, but maybe the location is not optimal... Do shops generally do pickups? Which shops would you recommend as safe and good quality?

I am even less informed about Tulum accommodation, cenotes dive options and shops there, so any tips are welcome.

Thanks!

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Heading to Roatan for three weeks in February. Staying in the Terra Chula/Czech Village area. Any dive shops in the area that are good, or will I need to drive down to West End/West Bay? How bad is February in terms of weather? Also, this being my first long-ish trip, are there places where I could rent the gear (BCD & reg) for the 3 weeks?

I'm in the process of switching from single tank BP/W to sidemount and I'm trying to figure out how much lead I need to carry. I've had two sessions with SM gear and I think I was seriously overweighted with 8 kg on first and 10 kg on second dive.

My single tank setup was following: Faber 15L / 232 bar steel tank, 16.9 kg Xdeep NX backplate, 3 kg Lead 8 kg Rubber drysuit, weezle extreme +

The sidemount tanks I'll be using are 2x Faber 12.2L / 232 bar steel tanks. Tar weight 12.9 kg.

I would also appreciate if someone could calculate the lead for 2x Faber 10.5L / 232 bar. Tar weight 11.3 kg

Unfortunately on a mandatory vacation of an undetermined amount of time due to barotrauma.

Does anyone have any recovery tips? I'm doing fine with the vertigo on land and I already had tinnitus so the ringing isn't much worse. Just looking for little things I can do to help recover faster and get back to work.

If anyone's curious I didn't do anything out of the ordinary nor was my ear ever in any pain. I think I just descended a little too fast on my final dive of the day. Ears equalized as normal and when I got back from the charter I was bending over to pick up some fins and fell over due to the extreme vertigo. Noticed the extra loud ringing later.

Anyway DAN and a doctor have already called it. Doctor says when my vertigo stops come back and see him for a checkout. Just wanted some self care/recovery tips from anyone who might have any.

Thank you guys.

Me and the wife are planning a short (4 days or so) trip to South FL weekend after Thanksgiving. I haven't booked flights yet, so anywhere is wide open. For some reason from my local airport it seems flying into ft Lauderdale is half the price of Miami so that may factor in.

From what I understand, the diving in Lauderdale consists of deeper wreck dives and close shore reef dives. We are very much more into sea/reef life than wrecks.

Here's some possibly important info to keep in mind for those with knowledge.

• We are SSI Ow certified, but have not done any diving since our cert dives about a month and a half ago. We'd like to keep the depth to 40 ft or less

• we want to avoid renting a car when we get in, so are there any places where things are centrally located so as to not need one? This isn't huge, but would be nice.

• the bridge/shore dives are somewhat shallow ive read. Would they be eligible for official dives if is very shallow?

• Do the local dive shops take boats to reefs or just wrecks? If we are staying at the reefs is there a charter boat or do we rent the gear locally and swim out to spots on our own? Since we are very green, hiring a local guide is very much on the table.

• Any other sites that would be of interest? I'm not dismissing the keys, just thought we could get a quick couple of weekend dives in on the cheap and plan a more elaborate trip to key largo or similar in the spring.

Thanks for any help! I'm super new, so if anything is unclear or just plain wrong, I'll be happy to answer!

Hello, I have had my OW certification for 10 years and have gone on 5 scuba trips for a total of 20 dives. Most recently I just got back from Cozumel Mexico. I am good at scuba diving given how infrequent I go, however for 3 of my trips I have gotten swimmers' ear after scuba diving.

I always do the 3 minute safety stop, I may ascend slightly faster than intended strictly due to my scuba ability.

While I love Scuba and want to continue doing it more often I am seeking a reason/cure for how often I get swimmers ear.

• Do I need to be better at the 3 minute safety stop?
• I found ear drops for swimmers ear after I already got swimmers ear in Cozumel, can I take them right after each dive to prevent it?

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there anything else I can do to prevent swimmers ear?

I’ve been diving a rental mk25, but I have a chance to buy a used mk17/c370 at a decent price.

What is the difference between them? Am I going to miss the turret that much? How does the c370 compare to the full size second stages?

Hello all. I’m a newly certified open water diver, and I know this is a tight timeframe. I’m on a work trip that only gives me from 6am on a Tuesday to 8:00pm on a Wednesday to be in Auckland mid-October. Judging by the no fly window of about 12 hours for a single dive, 18 for more, are there any dive shops that do mid morning or early afternoon dives on Tuesdays. Or am I just out of luck for dreaming I could take advantage of a free trip to Auckland to use my cert!

Hi everyone!

I‘ve been building up my drying routine and, as the colder times approach, am in the midst of drawing up a concept for a drying rig with directed airflow.

Basically, I‘m going to build a rack with some tubing, where I‘m planning to fit a fan (or more) to blow air directly into my boots, gloves and maybe even the wetsuit to direct the moisture out and towards my dehumidifier intake to reduce drying times.

Since I‘ll probably have the dehumidifier running anyhow, one concept is to „take“ the warm, dry air that emerges from it and direct whatever possible into my gear to maximize the drying process by using the extra dry air whilst not bringing too much heat into the equation. The fans in that scenario would probably only be needed to help delivery down the line.

I‘ve been looking at a bunch of bathroom vent fans and some PC fans but since I tend to overengineer most anything I build (see previous paragraph), I was wondering if anyone has done something similar and has some insights on what kind of fan to use for best airflow delivery or way simpler solutions for a wuick drying process?

Thanks in advance for all and any insights!

I’m nearing the end of my Divemaster program and finally starting to lead guides with paying customers. Some of the dive sites here are wall dives with effectively no bottom. I find myself imagining the worst case that somebody has a bouyancy failure and begins to sink and cannot save themself. Then I’d be in the position of potentially having to rescue them. If we’re diving Nitrox then my own PPO2 going deeper would be a risk…

That all sounds catastrophic when in reality those incidents are probably (hopefully) very rare. Of course I have heard about a number of sobering case studies during my training.

Is it normal to be “hypervigilant” during the dives? I don’t think I give the impression of being stressed but I feel it sometimes in my own head. There’s just a lot to manage with navigating and making sure everyone is ok, staying together, having no issues etc. Does this feeling get better with experience or just comes with the territory of professional diving?

For what it’s worth, the shop I’m training with only takes divers to such wall dives after we’ve seen how they perform in the water on 1-2 simpler dives. Still, equipment failure or down current could occur independently of diver skill.

Just trying to get some experience if others have gone through a similar stage and if dive guiding especially at challenging sites ever becomes more relaxed, or not really. In my own diving safety and conservatism and “team mentality” help me to feel confident but that is a different mindset than many people have who just want to dive because it’s fun and expect other people to handle the risks. I also just have more dives in different places than most casual divers so it’s still a work in progress to adjust my mindset to the new role. Thanks in advance if anyone has ideas/suggestions how to be more relaxed while guiding but still being aware/taking things seriously.

Hello everyone. I’ll be visiting Santiago for a few weeks in November/December, and I’m hoping to get a few dives in while I’m in Chile. I’m very comfortable diving and in the water, but I am a very new diver still.

I would absolutely love to see some larger marine mammal life, and I’m looking around at Punta de Choros. It looks like I have one option for a scuba shop, and there’s not a lot of info about it (Memo Ruz). Curious if anyone has checked out that spot and if they have any advice. I’m also looking at Los Molles and Valparaiso, but I’m flexible.

Thanks in advance!

Which one would you go with?

I'm planning to move towards tec diving (TDI dec procedures) in the coming year (or 2) and will have the chance to update my dive computer in the coming months, as I'm traveling abroad where they are cheaper, and I'm not entirely happy with my dive computer.

I've read a lot of discussion here with most people recommending Shearwater predix or teric over the Perigrine, especially for tec.

My understanding so far is that there are 3 main added functionality:

1. AI
2. Trimix
3. Costum GF

I don't expect to be going into the trimix realm; I've never used a AI capable computer and to be fair I don't feel the need for it. On the GF, the presets from the Peregrine sound reasonable to me.

For some reason after I finished one of my dives my right ear didn’t need equalizing on the next dive and felt normal. What is this?

My wife and I are working on our open water certification. We're doing the videos and working through the PADI book, and then classes are this weekend and next.

My question in relation to the GBF trip is in regards to the medications my wife takes for ADHD and depression. Her primary care doctor signed off on the medical forms. Some of the dive outfits I've found say that they have a medical form that you fill out on the boat and some say that if there are any issues that you need to be checked out by an Australian doctor familiar with the Australian requirements.

Is her current endorsed medical form sufficient to dive off Cairns? Or should we build a day in at the front of the trip to get her checked out? I haven't received responses yet from any places in Cairns I've reached out to.

Same post, different topic. We are seasoned snorkelers and are looking forward to learning how to dive. Should we book intro dives or certified dives? Our open water dives here will be in a sand pit, so the GBF trip will be our first time with the gear in the ocean. Any recs on dive outfits to book with?

Hi,

My father and I (65m/37m) are taking a dive trip to the Philippines. We have from February 25- March to March 10 (flying on the 11th in the afternoon). We are both AOW with 40-50 dives, mostly on reefs in Cozumel and Roatan.

We are tentatively planning to do a 5d4n liveaboard to Apo Reef and Coron leaving March 4th and returning March 8th. This is basically the only liveaboard that fits the schedule and budget as most of them are starting to head to Tubathata Reef around that time. We would then stay in Coron and dive on the 9th before flying back to Manila on the 10th.

This leaves from the 25th of February to March 1st to to travel to and dive another location in the Philippines before traveling to Coron on the 2nd. The question is where should we go?

I was thinking Dauin/dumageuet/apo island or perhaps Southern Leyte/ Sogod Bay. We don't have enough experience to have strong preference to different types of diving (wreck, reef, muck etc.) So we would like to get a nice variety. Obviously, we are getting wrecks and reef on the liveaboard. Help us decide the first part of our trip. Tell us where we should go and make your case.

Many Thanks.

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2/25 travel to dive destination

2/26

2/27

2/28

2/29

3/1

3/2 travel to coron

3/3 dive in coron

3/4 Liveaboard Coron/apo

3/5L iveaboard Coron/apo

3/6 Liveaboard Coron/apo

3/7 Liveaboard Coron/apo

3/8 Liveaboard Coron/apo

3/9 diving Coron

3/10fly to Manilla

3/11 leave philippines

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Is there a scuba shop/store anywhere in the US where you can rent online scuba gear (masks, fins, snorkel, not tanks since you cant ship those) and have it shipped to you and if you are not satisfied, you ship it back or buy it if you are satisfied? I dont live anywhere near a dive shop but I swim in the pool and I need new gear to try before I buy it.

I am a new diver and have been working on my trim. I recently took a PADI peak performance class. The instructor told me that I might have the wrong type of BCD. I have an Aqualung Dimension BCD. Which is a back inflation BCD. The issue I have is that my legs are always dangling down. I am 6ft about 200lbs. The instructor said I might be better off with a back plate and wing because the backplate would put more weight up by my head. That said would positively buoyant fins help? I saw that the Mares x-stream are. Any help is appreciated.

I am trying to figure out what type of case is best for transporting my scuba gear. So far it appears to be a Pelican 1615. For hard side ultra durable would there be anything else I should look at? I have also seen that most people carry-on their regulators. Why is that? The cargo hold on a commercial flight is pressurized. Thanks

Hello, fellow divers ! Heading to Kenya, Diyani Beach in early January. As per subject, I am looking for recommendations for diving in the area, specifically which areas and diving centre. Thank you!

I’m doing the OW course and completed the confined water dives at the weekend. Had dives on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday was great and really felt good and was able to complete all the skills and was feeling confident about Sunday.

On Sunday, I had a bit of a meltdown, I recovered eventually but am just trying to process what happened in my mind to ensure i’m not too anxious for next weekends open water dives.

So, after getting in the pool, just before I went down it felt like I was having to breathe in slightly harder on my reg to get air. As I went down slowly, equalising by pinch my nose, the feeling felt the same and so I stopped descending, tried to breathe calmly and slowly but it didn’t really help, I panicked a bit so I went up. Told the instructor, he tested both regs, said they felt ok but he swapped them anyway.

2nd reg, still felt same as the first really, but I was willing to believe this was just my mind playing tricks now, so I went down again slowly.

I was starting to feel better now, but then I felt some water in my mask under my nose and as I breathed out through my nose to clear It, my mask sucked to my face a little, I think at this point I involuntarily tried to breathe in through my nose, which didnt help, and subsequently caused my breathing via my reg to get ragged again , i tried to be calm, couldn’t control it and went up again.

After a chat with my instructor, we went down again. Same thing happened with the water in my mask by my nose, I cleared it, mask squeezed to my face again. As I had experienced this now, I breathed out hard from my nose to equalise it and this felt better, and was able to control my breathing better. I still felt quite anxious but was able to swim around now, breathing better, clearing my nose when needed and generally ok. Btw, I have a beard so I realise this doesn’t help with the water in nose issue.

After all this, I eventually completed the required skills and dive as needed.

So just sitting here now and thinking about it, although I was able to complete the dive in the end, I am a bit anxious about the open water because of this, so would be happy to discuss and get advise from anyone on what I might have done wrong and what I can do to ensure I can complete next week-ends dives without too much trauma.

What are you guys using? I’m looking to pair something with an action cam.

Thanks!

I really want to stop using dive shop wet suits and get my own, but I have no idea if a wet suit will be a good fit for me without trying it underwater. I don't think you can return a suit once you buy it, so I'm a bit lost on how to proceed.

Any advice on this?

The gasket/o-ring piece of the inflator hose that goes into the BCD went missing. Can someone advise on where I can get a replacement and the type needed? Was having trouble finding a replacement on scubapro’s site. Pic is my wife’s BCD that shows the o-ring intact but mine fell out.

Thanks!

I currently have an XTX200 / XTX50 set on a XTX200 FSR, 1 year old with about 80 dives. I really like it except I find it a little bulky. Recently I was having a look at the XL4+ and the XL4 Ocea second stages and was really sold on the smaller form factor. I have no problems keeping the FSR (the angled ports are a big plus for me), just want to swap out the second stage. Is this a worthwhile swap?

For context I am currently living in the Philippines but will be moving back to South Africa in December, so all my diving will be warm / temperate water for the foreseeable future.

Newly minted ANDP over the summer, and have a handful of decompression dives in.

I'm diving recreation tomorrow (on a single alu 80) 70 feet, wetsuit, dusk/night-dive and want to spend the time practicing something. I'll have a DSMB and 150ft reel, couple bigblue flashlights, a perdix 2 and peregrine.

I'll be diving with my two buddies, we all run the same kit. We're all around the ~2-300 dives range, over the span of ~2 years. We dive regularly together weekly, sometimes multiple times a week. We are all very comfortable with each other. Took our ANDP together.

Current ideas:

-buddy breathing while ascending to mock deco stops

-ascending/descending in the water column, with only instruments (only if nightdive)

-hand signals?

-suggest something creative/fun?

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First dive with the new set-up, very happy. Dive rite voyager bcd, w/ xt1 - xt4 regs.