Hi everyone,

My husband and I are planning a dive trip to the Red Sea in late December/early January. I know November is usually considered the “best time,” but due to work commitments, we can only take 2-3 weeks off after Christmas. We’re hoping to split our time between a liveaboard (LOB) and some land-based travel in Egypt.

I've been exploring options on liveaboard.com and see several 8-day/7-night routes—mostly North, South, and Deep South. We’re both experienced divers with hundreds of dives under our belt, primarily in Southeast Asia and Mexico. From what I understand, the currents in the Deep South can be strong, but our past experience with currents (like the “washing machine” at Blue Corner in Bali) has us feeling pretty confident.

I know the North has some great wreck dives, but we’re thinking of saving that for future trips when our friends can join us for a tech dive with our own gear. Right now, I’m more drawn to the South or Deep South for reef exploration and the chance to see larger pelagics. Between these two, any recommendations on which would offer the best experience?

We’re flexible on arrival points (Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh, Port Ghalib, etc.) and plan to structure our land trip around the liveaboard schedule. Thanks in advance for any insights!

As the title says, it's been a while since we've been diving, and we want to get back to it.

Before we stopped, we each had about 200 dives and were SSI Master Divers, which is essentially AOW plus a bunch of certifications including boat diving, stress & rescue, navigation, & night diving. We were also PADI Nitrox certified.

What should I be thinking about or considering when we start again? What's changed in the last 13 years?

We'll absolutely take a refresher course at the very least.

I'm assuming all our gear needs replacing, and luckily there's a good shop near home.

If you want to be concert pianist you must practice to get there.

Seriously. If you want to improve at scuba you need to practice.

You are not special. You are not struggling any differently than all of us did when we started. Many of the skills we need for scuba are not natural to humans. We ALL need to learn them and must practice to get them perfected.

Find a local club or shop and start making use of the pool. Get in and spend some time relaxing and working on your skills. Breathing ... Buoyancy control ... whatever ... get in the water and practice.

The only way to improve, is to work on improving.

Yesterday I did my first two OW dives in Catalina. First dive I got to about 30' and struggled to equalize, but after a couple of small ascents I was able to equalize and had only minor issues getting down to 59' and was fine for the rest of the dive.

Second dive, again got to about 35' and started to struggle to equalize. Got to 46' but couldn't go any deeper.

I tried most of the commonly recommended techniques as well as the advice from my instructor, but definitely feeling a little demoralized.

Unfortunatley we couldn't complete our last two dives today as the wind picked up and surface conditions weren't good, so heading back next week to finish up before a Fiji vacation later this month.

Looking for some advice on other things that might help.

Thanks

Hi All! I'm looking to get my wife into scuba. She's not overly comfortable in the water, and has a mild fear of water she can't see the bottom in, but she's not completely adverse to the idea of diving. I've gotten her to snorkel a few times, and once she's in the water and seeing cool stuff, she relaxed and enjoys it, but is very apprehensive beforehand. Instead of signing her up for local scuba lessons which she has concerns over, I figured an Intro to Scuba lesson would make more sense so she could see what it's all about and see something cool instead of the hassle of learning in a pool. I haven't dove in Hawaii in some time, so I don't remember much of it, but I'm looking for a reputable dive company/operation that runs a safe and friendly Intro to Scuba. I've dove, and am fine with, more sketchy operations, but I know my wife wouldn't like it, and probably wouldn't go if it didn't feel safe. I'm planning Hawaii because it's in the US, English based, and warm, since she gets cold easily.

Tl;dr Looking for fun places to dive and see some cool wildlife and a good run operation that isn't a fly by night Intro to Scuba course.

Photo by Carolina Wells with myself as the diver

This is kind of a question and kind of a story has this happened to anyone or does anyone know why this might’ve happened? I was diving today we did our buddy check I had our dive master open the exhaust valve of the drysuit I rented through a store that runs club dives for my university. We start the dive not even 7 minutes in the cover (top piece?) of the exhaust valve comes off around 13.5M deep and floods my suit with water when I get to the surface I have the dive master put the top piece back on and screw it back in. It happens again 3 minutes later and my dive ends because water temp is max 12 c and the entire exhaust valve came apart this time. Water flooded up to my knees and the arms of my dry suit and when I asked for a refund the lady said nothing was wrong with it it just unscrewed and if we even did a buddy check at all. overall unfriendly even though I was trembling while rinsing my gear off. Anyways has this happened to anyone before? Sorry for any grammar mistakes or just rambling I’m still a little cold

Is anyone very happy with their regulator and willing to recommend one? For context, I dive mostly temperate water, but am hoping to get into some less than 50F (10C) water over the colder months.

I would like the price to be around $500.

Hi folks,

I'm recently certified (0 logged dives after certification) and I'd like to buy my own reg to use my transmitter.

I travel 2 or 3 times per year and I'd dive then, as I live in a country without any good dive sites nearby.

Since the are no dive sites, there are no dive centers... and I wouldn't be able to service my reg here. I'd be able to service it at my destination, but... that's exactly when I'd be in a position to dive.

Do you have any recommendations as to how I can choose my regulator? is there a brand that's easily serviced anywhere (ideally in a couple days, so I rent while it's being serviced)?

I plan on doing fairly standard diving if that helps. Thanks!

So I've never been scuba diving before, but I've been snorkeling a bunch and the only thing I can think of when doing it is that I wish i could go deeper. As such I'm looking to get certified. I live in los angeles, which has a couple of places that are pretty well known, but I was wondering if any LA divers could recommend a place to get certified.

Catalina looks incredible but the whole package is about 1000 total, and I'm not sure if that's what I should expect to pay anywhere, or if there's a more affordable option. (I'm aware that scuba isn't exactly a cheap hobby, but I'm always looking for a better deal.

Thanks!

Hey everyone! I’ve been doing mostly quarry diving in a 7mm but it’s getting a bit too chilly for my liking. I have a drysuit that I’ve been starting to familiarize myself with in a pool. What sort of undergarments and thickness should I be looking into?

Looks like it's available for 10$ a month, and the policy says it covers sports activities except for :

"Free diving at a depth greater than 30 feet (10 meters), or scuba diving at a depth greater than 100 feet (30 meters). For non-certified divers, diving without a certified dive master"

So would it be a good alternative if I know that I won't be diving beyond 30 meters? I find most diving insurances way more expensive than that

Hey all! I have a trip coming up to Colombia and I wanted to do some diving while I was out there and I would love some recommendations!

Typically, I would wing my itineraries a lot more; however, with how big Colombia is and how flying is preferred for most of the travel... I'm left asking for as many recommendations as I can get ahead of my trip to sort out these details!

I was recently certified to scuba over in Thailand and I was interested in doing some diving in Colombia as well! I actually had Los Andres on my itinerary and was going to do it there but I was told the island was mostly only good for scuba and then I started thinking about the logistics of flying in to scuba and then flying out after and decided that I might as well scrap that idea...

I'm curious to hear from all of you, is there worthwhile diving in Colombia? Where are the best spots you've been to? Currently, my itinerary has me around Medellin, Santa Marta and Cartagena. While Los Andres sounds very tempting and I would consider it, the added complexity of the flights isn't something I'm super keen on. If there happens to be some great spots near Santa Marta and Cartagena, I would love to explore those.

Thanks in advance :)

Hey everyone,

I want to decorate my fins by drawing on them and stuff like that but I have no idea where to begin. I've googled it and some people say to sand the fins etc. For anyone who has decorated your fins could you help me out please?

The main questions are:

1. Do I actually have to sand them in order for the paint to stick?

2. Will coloured permanent markers suffice? If not, then what brand paint do I need?

Many thanks in advance everyone, happy diving :)

Right now i am doing paperwork for my freewster license, and its written there that my family members cant sue the company in case of my death, even if its caused by inpatient workers. Should i be woried?

EDIT: Signed up! Wish me best of luck

Hi all!

New in this subreddit :)

I recently got my Open Water 20 (RAID) in Koh Tao, Thailand. I really enjoyed doing scuba, not only for the fish watching but also for the technique and the feeling of the activity, even though I only had time to do 6 dives in the sea during my OP course. I would love to continue doing scuba, or at least to try a few more times and to experience it in different conditions, but I live in Utrecht so I am a bit lost. I have seen that there are some diving options on the NL, but I was looking for some tips: e.g. nice diving schools, how to find dive buddies, easy/nice dives for newbies, specially considering how different temperature and visibility will be here, tips for diving in cold water; best time to go diving, etc.

I don't know anyone who does scuba as a hobby here that I can bother with my questions, so I was wondering if you guys could help me with this!

Thanks :)

Hello!

We were considering a 7 day liveaboard trip to the Maldives in mid December. Of the operations we saw, we’ve shortlisted Emperor Serenity, Carpe Diem and Maldives Blue Force 3.

I would love to hear about your experiences aboard these and if you prefer one over the other!

Do the diving difficulty levels/ dive sites/ dive experience vary from operator to operator for the same itinerary? We were comparing the “Best of Maldives” itinerary on the emperor and carpe diem, which more or less have the same dive sites listed. Blue Force was offering a central atolls itinerary. I’m not very sure how different the diving is on both those routes.

For context: my husband and I are both PADI AOWC divers with over 50 dives. We’re comfortable-ish with currents, having dived in Komodo last November.

How do the currents in Maldives compare to the currents in Komodo?

Also, is December a good season for Maldives Diving?

Thinking of booking it for a 2 night liveaboard as we’re relatively new divers and want to test out liveaboard before fully committing to a longer one.

We’ll be visiting Richilieu Rock, Koh Bon and some of the Surin Islands.

Christmas/New Year's is slow and I am looking to do some diving over the holidays but will still need to appear online and potentially attend a video call or two. I'll probably be working the graveyard shift and waking up at around 10PM and going diving in the morning after work.

Places I have been diving with sufficient WiFi include: Komodo, Bira and Palau.

Out of these, only Palau will be at peak season. It is also expensive.

I'm not necessarily against revisiting Palau, especially since I missed the spawning and because I love pelagics and my diving their last time but am curious if there is anywhere else to consider.

Bali is a valid answer though I've heard mixed things about the diving there.

I'm also considering the Philippines, in particular Cebu for Moalboal and Malapascua.

Thoughts? Potentially could split it up as well, since Palau has direct flights to/from Manila and don't necessarily need to spend two weeks there. Thanks!

I'm looking for recommendations for land-based operators in Raja Ampat (I know Misool is highly rated, but I'm hoping to identify a few other options for comparison).

I'm leaning towards doing Raja from land first as I will be coming out of a (fairly) major shoulder surgery in Jan, and I would like to ease back into diving with some flexibility to take days off.

I live in SEA so returning again via liveaboard is always an option.

I'm also quite curious about any hiking / other land-based outdoor activities as the Papuan jungle looks beautiful.

I'm not fussed about food / fancy accomodation, and can speak decent Indonesian so I don't necessarily need an all-inclusive arrangement, if that makes any difference.

Our family is going to the Similan islands, recently one of us got certified, in a muddy quarry. Where should we go to show her real diving.

Edit:Similan

Hi-

I'm taking my kids to Thailand this month and we've got a few days of scuba planned. Sadly we've got only one day in the Similans and we're deciding what to do. The options appear to be

1. Richilieu Rock + Similan #7
2. Koh Bon Ridge + Koh Bon West Ridge
3. Similan #8 - Turtle Rock + Similan #9 - Breakfast Bend.

What are your thoughts? My son and I are fairly experienced (30 and 40 dives), this will be my daughters first so I want to BLOW HER MIND!

Recommendations?

Hello, I'm hoping you can help with some suggestions as I'm a bit googled-out with so many info and options.

My friend has done allot of duving in Fiji and will be joining me in Asia for a couple of weeks at the end of November.

She's never been to Asia before so I'm hoping to find a mix of city/culture and a great dive spot with good dive prices.

Two locations are ok but ideally not hours away from the airport, I was looking at Bangkok and then over to Cebu. I was also lookig at Da Nang in Vietnam but it looks like it isnt the right time of year. Very keen to hear your suggestions. Thanks a mil

I’ll be spending a week North of Fortaleza in November.

I’d like to squeeze a dive or two while I’m there. Any recommendations for dive shops and dive spots?

Anyone dive recently? Recommendations on shops?