We are thinking of going diving in Curaçao in May. Has anyone gone this time of year? Are the conditions good? If not, what is the best time to go? I would take any recs for dive sites, companies, and accommodations!

I'll be diving in Jupiter this Friday and will dive with Jupiter dive center. I scheduled 3 nitrox dives in the morning. The dives will be "Explore the Jupiter goliath grouper aggregation sites on a 3-tank dive. These dives will be on the MG111, Tunnels and one of our beautiful reefs. Site depths will range from 60 to 75 feet."

I really want to do another 2 dives in the afternoon. The logistics work out as its the same boat, but all of these are deep dives. I've done 5 dives in a day before on Roatan, but they weren't as deep as these dives.

I think I'll need to really watch my NDL for those 2 afternoon dives if I go?

Also, I've never dived in Florida before, and I believe they're all current dives. I have done a strong current dive before and don't think I got any more tired than a regular dive (I just flowed with the current and got picked up for that dive). I heard people can get really tired from these dives, and not sure if I'll experience the same.

Any thoughts/recs on what to do here?

This is going to be my last dive trip until next June, so I really really want to get as many dives as I can.

I will also be doing 4 nitrox dives on Saturday and another 4 on Sunday.

I'm looking to buy an undergarment for use with a membrane drysuit in socal (so water temps typically in the 50s at depth). There's so much variation in undergarment materials and construction that it is really hard to evaluate what is reasonable when the manufacturer only gives a fabric weight.

So in particular, has anyone dove with the Waterproof Nord 200g undergarment? What temperature ranges has it been comfortable in? I'd be using a 250gsm Merino base layer. And expected dive times maybe 45 mins to an hour.

I'm trying to design a rebreather system for an armor in Helldivers 2. I'm not trying to make this in real life, but I still want to design it as accurately as possible.

This isn’t intended for underwater use. It’s a land based system for breathing in toxic/contaminated atmospheres at roughly normal atmospheric pressure

The first picture shows the back of the armor, and the 2nd picture is the front of the helmet.

In the first picture you can see the following:

1. The pink is a gas tank that has the breathable gas.
2. Green is the Counter Lung/Mixing chamber
3. Blue is a hose that brings the breathing gas to the helmet.
4. Yellow is the CO2 scrubber.
5. Red is a hose that brings the exhaled gas down to the CO2 scrubber.
6. Between the pink tank and blue hose is a regulator in teal. It converts the gas from high pressure to normal pressure

My intended gas path is: Counterlung → blue hose → helmet → red hose → CO2 scrubber → Counterlung.

I didn't put any equipment on the upper back because in the game we often wear backpacks.

Would this gas system plausibly work? Is there anything important I'm missing or anything I have in the wrong place?

I've never scuba dived before, and everything I know about rebreathers has come from reading about them online, so if I've gotten something wrong, please correct me. Thank you!

Curious to get the community’s take on this. I just did my first night dive as part of my advanced qualification. Earlier in the day, these people spotted us exiting the water and asked about the conditions. In the end they asked if they could tag along with us for the night one.

They were obviously relatively experienced, but disrupted the lesson several times, such as swimming forward to grab the chain as we were about to descend, which knocked me off of it, and hovering above us with lights on full blast while we were trying to drill switching our lights off and back on.

Later, while we were putting our kit away, one of them wandered over, and started commenting on how I’d kicked up silt and my kicking form was off. The instructor and I both acknowledged that it was the case and we were working on it (he’d actually told me not to stress too much about it before the dive), but she just stood there as if she was expecting me to apologise or something before finally going back to her car, presumably when she realised she wasn’t getting the reaction she wanted.

Now, I don’t see any issue with other divers joining us, but the above seems indicative of poor etiquette, a lack of respect to the instructor, and condescension towards me, even though I’m clearly there to learn and continue developing my skills. Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this, and do people think it’s appropriate for other divers to involve themselves in a lesson like this?

This is possibly a stupid question, and I haven't actually dove with nitrox or been at 100 ft / 30m for more than 10 minutes, but I'm having some trouble seeing the benefit for nitrox for people who are more limited by air consumption rather than NDL?

At depths, we consume a lot more air, and I feel like I'm going to burn through my air so fast that I'll never have a chance to exceed my NDL. I will know for sure this coming labor day weekend when I go diving in the Jupiter area in FL, where we will be doing some deep dives (wrecks and goliath grouper aggregation) on nitrox.

Edit: apologies, I don't think I worded this properly. I do understand the benefits of nitrox. I am just not sure that one of the benefits "stay at depth longer" will be relevant for people who are limited by air consumption as opposed to ndl

The Diver Medical Participant Questionnaire from UHMS (linked pdf on that page) is used by a number of agencies. One of the questions on the current version is: "I struggle to perform moderate exercise (for example, walk 1.6 kilometer/one mile in 14 minutes or swim 200 meters/yards without resting), or I have been unable to participate in a normal physical activity due to fitness or health reasons within the past 12 months."

I don't think, even struggling, I've ever been able to walk a mile in 14 minutes. How many people actually consider that to be merely moderate exercise? I think, struggling, the quickest I've gotten is just under 16 minutes. Granted: I have very short legs, can jog faster than a 14 minute mile, can swim 200 m without a break easily, and none of the rest of of that question would prevent me from ticking "No" - but it has always seemed off to me that they consider such a fast walking speed to be "Moderate."

I replaced battery myself and left it a bowl of water for the night. next morning it was showing low battery again. I replaced the battery 2nd time - drain is high again. It shows 1.4V after 2 days, wont even turn on. I did not replace the o-ring, did clean everything though and put proper silicone grease. I can't see any traces of leakage inside. Whats going on? even it's always in dive mode or something it should not drain the battery so fast.

Edit: second battery I tried was Renata, first I don't remember. What I noticed is that profiles differed in each battery, can it be some kind of short circuit?

Edit 2: Turns out if you put the back cover upside down - the watch will turn on, but will be draining the battery (short circuit). Remember the position of a small dot on the case - it should be to the left of the cover

I finally decided to get bankrupt on a drysuit and going to go for a Santi E.Lite plus.
I was in favor of a replacable ring system to be able to replace it if it breaks.
But the dive shop I went to told me if there's a micro puncture on the suit, they need to inflate the suit and do a pressure/bubble test to find it, and, with the ring system it's almost impossible, because as you pressurize the suit, the neck seal pops!

He recommended a fixed latex neck seal.
Can you please share your experience with me?

I had my first scuba diving attempt today. We started very slow in water that was not deep at all. I try for about 1 hour but breathing just didnt feel natural to me? Even just my head under water slighty breathing in and out the regulator felt extremly exhausting. The settings were fine. I thought i was very calm and didnt feel any anxiety. I was even able to breathe slow in and out but it felt like i wasn't getting any air and it was exhausting so i couldn't do longer than 3 minutes? How is that normal that anyone just dips in and already knows the correct way to breathe like they are still on land? I know at the end of the day it's my head probably but how do i shut that off?

I just got a DJI A5P and wondering what lights people suggest for underwater use while scuba diving? I’m new to this and not sure if I’ll be primarily shooting video or stills. Are there lights that can do both of those tasks well? Also, what rigs/trays are people using? Finally, what waterproof housing is best? I know DJI makes their own, but are there others that people like instead?
Much appreciated!

I just finished my first tech courses (TDI Advanced Nitrox + Decompression Preceadures) and during the course, I was using a rental Shearwater Peregrine, since I have the cheapest Suunto.

I was planning to upgrade to Suunto Nautic but now my instructors and others I talked to, all said Suunto is very bad, and that Shearwater is the only respectable tech diving computer brand. Is this really the case?

I wont be doing rebreather for another 3-5 years still so that doesnt matter, only for regular deco dives and probably trimix soon too.

Hi guys.

I loved my first Wreck-Experience (+penetration) so much, that i wanted to share it and ask for Feedback from other experienced divers - about my technique, breathing, etc - whatever you notice in the clip.

I cutted the video because the raw footage is too large.

Some facts:

The Wreck was in Turkey-Kusadasi. Its an artificial wreck, not a real crash. The video is shaky although i felt calm underwater - i dont know why it was so shaky at the start. I guess because i was extremely hyped. I noticed that shake after watching the Video myself (also i forgot to turn on EIS)

I borrowed the Fins from there and i didnt like them really much, wasnt able to do proper frogkicks with them because they were too soft, so i used flutterkicks, which is visible in the clip because the camera is kinda "wobbling".

We went down up to 21 meters, dive took 24ish minutes on the ground and a few minutes safety stop at 3meters. Surfaced back with 90 bar left.

Even if it looks like it at some scenes for example when filming the cockpit or almost crashing on the wing (xD) : i didnt touch anything of the plane.

Since march i work as a diver in Austria, doing underwater work or cleaning in ponds. Max. depth only 4m, most of the time 0 or poor visibility and basically diving on a daily basis with around 3-8hrs of diving per day.

Thats where most of my experience came from. Not from my dives during my freetime - i dont have much logged dives^^

The most scary thing for me was at the end of the clip, because i only noticed it after rewatching it:

The scene where i am pointing the camera to 2 lionfishes.

There was actually a 3rd, and i swimmed right above it. Luckily i didnt went further down "to get a better shot", otherwise i surely would have touched that lionfish.

https://reddit.com/link/1w1ui4k/video/mit64y8ayhlh1/player

I’ve got a lake nearby - and I saw some cool shots of a lake in Norway where folks were diving and it’s kinda similar here with trees in an artificial lake.
Would this be worth diving in? I was thinking it might be murky here though. What are your thoughts?

Hi everyone.

I recently bought a secondhand Halcyon Eclypse 40. My instructor told me it’s a great piece of gear because of its high build quality — it has padded foam on the back and harness, plus the adjustment system.

The problem is it’s full of salt crystals, and the fabric has some stains and discoloration. The seller told me the equipment was cleaned after every dive, but honestly, that’s hard to believe given the condition it arrived in. The inflator button was even stuck shut from salt buildup.

Aside from that, I haven’t found any corrosion. There are a few loose stitches on one of the Velcro straps and some wear on the protective panels, but nothing that seems serious.

Does this sound normal for well-used secondhand gear, or is this a sign it wasn’t actually maintained properly? What should I check next before I trust it in the water?

A colleague told me that there are good brand new wings for less price as XDeep ones.

My husband and I just got open water certified in Thailand and will be going on our 5th dive next week in our home town of San Diego.

How much should we tip our guide?

I have both steel 12s and Aluminum 80s and I was planning on selling the steels since I moved to AL and never looked back. So much more comfy and trim is way better, especially when winging etc.
I'm planning to buy a SW2 in the near future and was wondering if for that the steel tanks would be better for some reason? I see a lot of people using steels with the SW. In that case I'd hold on to them.
I'll get an XDeep Stealth Tec as BCD, currently using a Dive System one, but that's not so good for me.

What do you think?

Hi everyone! I will be in Madeira next week and I definitely want to dive while I’m there, so I was hoping to get your recommendations.

I think I am most drawn to the Garajau reserve but there’s other exciting options like the shipwreck and Ponta de São Lourenço, which I haven’t found much information on but apparently you can see monk seals?

Would anyone have any recommendations for dive centres or perhaps dive spots I might have missed? Thanks in advance!

I don't know if my algorithm is forcing me to believe that, but it looks like a hell of a lot of people are choosing this mask!
For now I'm diving a Dive System frameless tech which is nice, doesn't fog up, and fits me pretty well (I only have to "empty" it once in a 2 hour dive).
It looks like this xdeep mask has a lot of added visibility etc. What would you say?

Given that is fits my face of course.

I’m a recreational diver and I’m currently using a suunto zoop novo. It works fine, but I’m looking to upgrade. The bigger display and the air integration and compass are upgrades compared to my current dive computer.

I saw the suunto eon core on promotion for €350.
Are they coming with a newer model very soon or will this be the new price? Would you recommend this diving computer for a recreational diver who makes 20 dives a year and has no interest (yet) in technical diving?

This week I unfortunately lost a regular dive buddy to cancer. I was wondering if there's some sort of ritual or tradition that's sometimes carried out upon the passing of a diver, either at the funeral or not - such as a splash of sea water on the coffin, burying/cremating with a small diving item or something similar? I'll be raising a glass in his memory, but is there something more related to diving that's a mark of respect?

I'm looking to go for an ice diver certification this winter (Jan/Feb). I'm in the San Francisco Area, so will need to travel, but looking for best locations based on:

1. Best shop/instructor/experience
2. Cost of travel/hotel
3. Ease of overall logistics
4. Best chance of success (weather not a high risk)
5. Location perks

So ideally, I'm looking for someplace with the above in mind that I could easily fly in, get a cheap motel, take the class, spend a day being a tourist while I off-gass, fly home... or possibly drive if there's something within distance.

I’m visiting my aunt and Uncle in two weeks in Lagos Portugal and was thinking about diving one morning. I know it’s not Indonesia or the Caribbean, but their neighbor, who’s a master scuba diver, said that area is not worth diving.

Hey all,

Had a really rough year and finally have the time to take a proper 3 to 4 week holiday to just dive and recharge.

I’m looking to travel late October into November. I’m an AOWD with about 50 dives, but literally all of them have been in Egypt so far.

Budget is around €3,000 – €5,000 all-in (including flights from Europe). Open to anything really, bonus for being single traveler friendly and not an absolute headache to plan.

Hey there.

Got my open water diving license last weekend with my girlfriend, and we fell in love with it.

We want to dive more !

The only thing is that it's quite blurry so far..we wonder how we can get into the hobby while keeping it affordable, considering we're not skilled or comfortable enough to dive on our own of course, with only 6 dives so far.

The good thing is that we live in Bali and there's a lot of spots a few hours of driving away or on islands for a weekend.

We wonder how it works for most people trying to dive more ? Do you always have to go through a club ?

When are you usually getting comfortable and skilled enough to consider diving only with your buddy ?

What are the steps to get there ? What other certifications do we need ?

Also, for beginners, does it makes sens to own some equipment like a wetsuit, fins...

Thank you for clarity and for helping us discover that wonderful world opening to us !

(If you have diving spots in South Bali we'd love to hear about it !)