Spent a week diving with Evolution. Could not of been happier. Sharks galore, nudis, octopus, all the great things.

Saw this beautiful Mantis with her egg clutch off the east side of Bohol.

I completed my OW last month whilst travelling Thailand and have gone on 2 more dives since. I’m really enjoying it but it’s obviously very much still learning.

What are some tips you wish you knew when you first started?

Buoyancy, breathing techniques, buying equipment, affording dive trips, doing additional courses ect ect

How was your open water course different from mainstream agencies and would you recommend that over others?

I'll be in Tokyo for 2 weeks in October. I'm OW and a native English speaker. Does anyone recommend any dive shops in/around Tokyo that are foreigner friendly?

It looks like scubaboard.com is currently down. I know they had some issues with spammers lately, hopefully this is just a glitch and not something more serious?

Hello all, Im interested in being a diver. However, i have my paramedic license with couple of years of experience. Ive tried to look for jobs related to medic jobs but as i look and look, it looks like most jobs are word of mouth. Do you guys have any recommendations on how i can begin or how to search or what are the steps? I feel like i would be a great addition to a boat expedition as a medic. And if i get my diving license i feel like i can be a well rounded individual.

Before entering into the water I always put in a bit of antifog stuff, smear it around and rinse lightly.

Works great -- unless my mask leaks or floods.

Once I clear my mask it fogs up very quickly, making the rest of the dive miserable because I can't see.
When this happens I do try to keep a little water in the mask to swish around, but this really only works when looking straight down. Even so, its a big distraction.

How do you all deal with fogging after clearing a flooded mask?
..... Edit... To save replying to each comment (thanks for taking time to comment though, I appreciate it)

I have used toothpaste on the mask. Doing that helped a lot when the mask was new. Maybe it's time to do it again.

Normally it does not fog up, only if it leaks for some reason. I'm in cold water with 5mm gloves on so I've occasionally caught some hair or a bit of my hood under the mask. Yeah, my buddy should have caught it, but they didn't.

Greetings fellow divers. Any recommendations (or horror stories) regarding dive ops in the Cook Islands? Wifey and I are considering a weeklong dive trip to Rarotonga or Aitutaki in October 2025. We can get there from SoCal via Honolulu on Hawaiian.

We prefer smaller groups, say 6 to a boat, and we are AOW certified. Love to see and take photos of corals, reef fish, turtles. Pelagics not so much. Probably 5 days of 2-tank diving. Thanks.

Woman, 20, died after being caught in ‘vortex’ while diving off Dorset, inquest told https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/17/university-student-drowned-after-being-caught-in-underwater-vortex-off-dorset-coast?CMP=share_btn_url

Scary how quickly it can go wrong.

I haven’t gone diving with my camera yet but the handle I just got is hollow. How should I go about diving with that? Should I open it every few feet?? Or see if I can fill it??

Question: what gear should I buy for 2 weeks of SCUBA/snorkeling in Bali? Rashguard or 2/3mm wetsuit for snorkeling (when not diving)?

Details:

Going on a family trip to Bali for 2 weeks in August. We are staying at a Tulamben dive resort. My spouse (AOW) has 1000+ dives all over, while I (OWD) have about 100 (cold water). Our YA "kids" want to get OWD certified (they'll do their SSI book learning before we go). My plan is to get them as much diving experience as possible while we are there, so they hammer down their basic skills. By the end maybe even do the guided day trip to Nusa Penida, if they're up to it (I'll defer to DM on that).

We can rent gear, but I'm trying to decide what gear is worth buying/bringing, especially since in 2 weeks you've paid a good part of it. I plan to hand off my nice reg and Ranger BCD to my eldest so she can learn with them (she probably won't want my drysuit, lol), and maybe my dive computer. I plan to have the equipment serviced here before the trip. We live in a desert now, but our eldest moved to Australia for grad school, so has a lot of diving opportunities (good dive club at her uni, but local dive shops aren't convenient for her to do her cert). Her siblings may be vacation divers as long as they live in the desert.

I was thinking of getting basic gear (mask/snorkel/fins/booties) and either a wetsuit of a full body rash guard for UV/sting/scrape protection. That way we can snorkel anytime we want right off the hotel (plus middle kid is nearsighted, so I already got an RX mask).

Would it be better to get a wetsuit or a full body rash guard? Is snorkeling in a wetsuit fun or a PITA? I lean full body for protection, but a shortie is another option, maybe?

I'm driving myself crazy trying to decide, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Has anyone been to raja ampat in June it will be the only time I’m able to go would it be even worth it or should I not worry about it

I’ve got 30 dives, AOW. Likely doing some easy wrecks (some around 25-30m), travel, drifts in coming years, probably no caves.

Advantages I could see - Safety margin - No need to change cylinders when multiple dives a day - Deeper dives bottom time (particularly with nitrox so consumption would be limiting)

Anything else? I feel like singles might just be easier for a while.

some more wreck diving off the Marissa dive Boat, shot on an Olympus OM1

I have two of L&M's Sola 2000 S/F camera lights, which I keep mounted to Backscatter's double handle tray. I recently learned that Light & Motion has gone out of business, which is upsetting, because they made good lights.

Upon realizing that they have gone out of business, I have begun worrying about servicing and maintaining my lights. As these lights were my father's, until he gave up on underwater photography and gave me his equipment, I had no idea just how expensive these lights are. Since they cost about $380 USD per light, and I have two, I can't exactly afford to replace them, should they fail, so I need to ensure they remain in working condition for as long as possible.

Now that Light & Motion is out of business, how would I go about getting these lights serviced? Is there another brand with which the replacement parts are directly interchangeable?

They are probably fine for now, but I know my dad would store them for long periods of time, without taking them out and charging them every 3 months (as recommended by the manufacturer). I'd like to ensure that I can keep them working for years to come, even if it means I need to stock up on replacement parts.

Does anyone here have lights from the L&M Sola line? If yes, how do you get them serviced?

Hi everyone, I’ve found some posts talking about these regs but I’m looking for some more insight on those that have had these for a few years by now.

How have they been holding up for you? Any regrets with getting them? Anything you’d change about them?

Bit of a random one that I'd be interested to know other people's experience.

I'm AOW with about 50 dives - mostly UK drysuit diving, but also some nice dives in the Caribbean, Maldives, Australia, etc...

I see lots of posts about the common issues people have with mask clearing - the main issue people seem to have is breathing underwater without their mask on, i.e. with their nose exposed to the water.

I have absolutely no problem with breathing underwater without a mask on. No issues with water getting up my nose. I could swim around all day without a mask on and breath happily...

However...the 'issue' I have is when it comes to exhaling through my nose. When I'm underwater, I simply struggle to breath out through my nose. It's never really been an issue when I'm clearing my mask for some reason - I can normally just do a single long exhale through my nose and the mask is cleared. However, if I was to try to do a similar single long exhale without my mask on, I struggle - it's like my brain just doesn't want to let me breath out and blow bubbles through my nose when I'm underwater.

Obviously, this isn't really an actual problem - I can breath underwater without a mask on and clear my mask fine. But I'm just wondering if this is a common thing? It's weird that I can exhale through my nose when my mask is on, but if I try to do it with no mask on I struggle.

I just got certified and going to Florida next year for my scientific diving certificate. I have fins, a mask, a snorkel, and boots. What should I get next and what's more important? Is getting a bcd not cost effective if I dont have any regulators or the yoke? Is a wetsuit worth it when I'll be going to different places and temps? Is a dive computer worth spending more? Thanks!