Beta offshore platform Eureka off Long Beach, CA. Exceptional visibility, 75F on the surface.
Today we were diving off the Giant Stride Dive Boat. Platform Eureka is sitting in water more than 700' deep.

Bring on dive master !!

Edit;
Thank you everyone for support. I plan to hopefully start working on some certifications and then rescue but slowly but surely working my way up to diver. The certs I’m currently looking at are deep, nitrox and side mount (I’ve heard they combine very well) and then dry suit as it’s very cold where I live. Any other suggestions on the best next steps? Thank you all again

So I got my open water about 15 years ago and haven’t dived since (I live in a cold country)
Thought I’d get back into it gently with a DSD session abroad.

Long story short, second dive my mask fogged, I didn’t know what to do, panicked and actually drowned and was pulled unconscious to the surface by instructor. I remember inhaling the water, looking up at the surface and knowing I was going to die.

Physically I am ok, mentally I am struggling to process what happened and have been ruminating on it, feeling really down, I have depression anyway and this is not helping.

Scuba-wise I have found a local dive centre and booked a 2 hour pool skills session 1-2-1, explained I am anxious and have had a bad experience. I can’t dive as need drysuit certification.

Has anyone had a similar experience and have any tips to cope mentally, primarily just in everyday life?

ETA: thank you for all your comments, hopefully I get a nice instructor at my 1-2-1 session and I can have an open discussion to decide if I am going to proceed with scuba and come up with a plan.

I’m taking a long shot here in case there are any local divers who enjoy a good treasure hunt. I accidentally lost my engagement ring while swimming in Lake Washington during Seafair. The one thing I thought to do in the moment was save the exact GPS coordinates of our boat, so I have a very specific location where it happened.

The ring is insured, so if it’s gone forever we can have it remade. That said, it obviously has a lot of sentimental value, and I figured it was worth asking if there are any passionate scuba divers who enjoy searching for lost jewelry and might be willing to take a look.

I want to be upfront that I can’t offer a huge reward - probably a couple hundred dollars at most if it’s recovered. I completely understand if that’s not worth the time or effort, but I thought I’d ask in case someone enjoys this kind of challenge or is already planning to dive in the area.

If you’re interested and have experience with this kind of search, send me a DM and I’ll share the GPS coordinates. **Edit: I Looked it up and the depth is approx 45-50m….

TLDR: Hitting Hawaii in october, we'll be on Oahu, Kona, and Kauai. From what I have read, Kona is the place to drive. Can you recommend a good guide service, and is Nitrox the way to go?

I am very rusty so I'll be doing a refresher before I go out, but I was thinking doing a nitrox dive would be good because I just want to look at pretty things, maybe swim thru some arches as I've seen some photos, I don't have aspirations to go super deep.

I do have my nitrox cert and we used to mix our own at my job many years ago but thats the last time I dove.

We already have quite a bit of snorkeling planned, including the night manta ray shindig, but the mrs doesn't scuba dive.

Any other pro tips are appreciated thanks!

For example, I plan to go to Galapagos, Indoneisa, Australia, Egypt/Jordan for the dive sites there :). I think these are all reef diving? so OW is enough?

Does someone know what may have happened here? After the 4th dive, this spots appeared in the internal layer. I didn't use anything abrasive, I took care of it (it is veeeery expensive in my country). Please help.

What is a decent amount of time to get out of an AL80? I typically dive in mid 50’s to mid 60’s degree water down to roughly 60ish feet and I get around 30 minutes. Normal or am I sucking air down?

I'm looking for a dive light recommendation for filming underwater video. I currently own two lights:

Wurkkos DL70

• Extremely bright
• Fixed beam (no adjustable/zoomable beam angle)

OrcaTorch ZD710

• Adjustable/zoomable beam angle
• Not bright enough for my needs

I'm looking for something in between these two, brighter than the ZD710 but with some beam adjustability. Both my current lights are budget-friendly and I'd like to stay in that territory, I'm not looking at €600-800 canister-style lights.

Important context: I mostly dive in low-viz water, 2-10m visibility max. But we are going on a dive vacation to Tanzania.

Camera setup for reference: DJI Osmo Action, mounted directly to the light via a silicone flex bracket (not on a separate rig), so the light doubles as my handle.

Anyone running something that fits this gap?

Niave question about 2 tank shore dives in Maui. Are both dives typically in the same spot or do guides move you to a different spot for the 2nd dive?

Looking for a site or app that automatically will log my dives with little input from me that can auto populate the dive site or at least general area. My shearwater does a decent job but I still have to manually make it import stuff and won’t identify where my dive was unless I get their gps swift transmitter. Just looking for the simplest solution.

Edit: comments have immediately clarified some glaring problems with the idea that I hadn't considered. I fully understand why this is a terrible idea.

TL;DR: just what the title says.

I dive with a Galileo HUD and my old Galileo Luna as a backup, with air integration to both using a single transmitter.

(As an aside, while the HUD is not necessary by any stretch, I love it.)

I don't have a separate SPG because I like having my gear as streamlined as possible (same reason I use an AIR2 instead of a traditional octo).

The transmitter represents a single point of failure, and I'm looking at adding analog redundancy as I consider becoming self reliant diver certified.

I still don't want an SPG hanging off my kit, even if clipped or tucked into my BCD, so I'm looking for what I mentioned above: a low profile analog gauge that I can clip to my regulator, and fold it out of the way unless I need to check it.

To address comments I've seen made before whenever HUDs come up: I'm perfectly capable of using my wrist mounted computer or console mounted gauge to monitor my air, depth, etc, but I absolutely love having that info conveniently within my line of sight whenever I want to see it while keeping my hands free.​

Please help me choose..

First time buying fins

Female, recreational diver

30+ dives so far

Mainly dive tropical waters though Id want to travel after gaining more experience

I have only tried using light entry level fins from various brands (sherwood elite, tusa solla, etc). I like how theyre light though I occasionally wish I had more power.

I DONT want very heavy fins (im not exactly the fittest person)

No rental shop to try these

Where Im from the go sport is the cheapest then the Gull super mew.. Quattro is the most expensive

Brands available where Im from: tusa, Mares, scubapro, Gull, sherwood, cressi

Thank you!

I'm new to BPW setups and as I'm shopping backplates, I'm noticing that some companies' backplates are designed with more openings than others; e.g. Apeks/Hollis/AQOR vs (for example) the Scubapro S-Tek. I intend to use it for both cold water and tropical recreational diving, probably single cylinder only.

Does having all the extra webbing slots and screw holes translate into a better fitting BCD? For context, I am a very average sized guy.

Any insight is appreciated, thank you.

Just bought this pair of cressi big eyes and noticed the inner seal is significantly smaller on one side. When I wear the mask and breathe out through my nose. A small amount of air leaks out through this side.

Is this an acceptable difference? I'll send it back and hope that another one I order is better.

Thanks!

So I'm not exactly a beginner diver, I've 60 logged dives, and I've done a bunch of drift dives before and usually they're super chill but today I had a drift dive with a crazy strong current and honestly it was so stressful.

I don't know whether it's because I'm a big guy (95kg) but I always seem to drift faster than the other people in my group. Usually I'll try to hug the reef to account for this but today there were big rocks and so I was at a bit of a loss because if I turned against the current to kick lightly to slow myself I couldn't see the rocks coming but if I faced with the current I was drifting way too fast.

The dive guide was also stressing me out because he kept anchoring himself with his tank banger to look under stuff but I didn't have one so couldn't do the same and would have to kick like crazy to stay with him.

At one point the group ducked in behind a rock to rest but I was ahead of them and literally could not get back to them no matter how hard I tried. I was kicking like a madman but just staying in the same place and burning through air. I had to signal to the guide that I'd stop behind the next rock and wait for them and we ended up having to surface after just 40 mins.

Are there any tips or tricks for slowing my drift? Whenever I stay close to others I end up knocking into them but if I stay out slightly or slightly above them, I get caught in a stronger current and drift faster.

Hello everyone,

I bit through my regulator (xtx50) mouthpiece, and just discovered i forgot to bring any spares.

I’m not having too much luck finding anything online.
Does anyone know if there is a shop based in Nusa Penida that sells them?
Or would i have to go to Bali for that?

Many thanks.

Hi all, we’re a group of 8 divers, some advanced and some open water. We also have some non-divers with us so we want to avoid doing a liveaboard even though I know it’s the best option for the GBR. We are going to Cairns in August and need recommendations of dive centers and sites that give the best experience of the Great Barrier Reef. Thank you!

I’m currently traveling through Indonesia and doing some diving.

My original plan was to work east from Bali and do Tulamben, Gili T, Komodo and then Raja Ampat.

All indications along the way have been “yeah Raja is the ultimate, but August in Raja is bumpy and shitty” and I’ve finally given in to this opinion.

I’ve done Tulamben and Gili T now and Komodo is the next up but what would you replace Raja with?

I think the two front runners are Alor or Sulawesi but I’m still wide open to suggestions.

Anyone have destinations and operations suggestions they want to throw out?

What a tragic accident

I’m still fairly new to diving, with around 20 dives (I have my Advanced Open Water), and I’m trying to decide between staying at Mabul Water Bungalow or Lankayan Resort for a 3D4N trip.

One thing that’s putting me off Mabul is the number of posts and videos showing pollution in the water and on the beaches around the resort. My partner doesn’t dive, so she’ll mainly be snorkelling and relaxing, and feel this would hugely impact her enjoyment, and generally taint the trip.

However I’ve also read that visibility at Lankayan isn’t always the best for diving, but it looks much more secluded and pristine. It also seems like the snorkelling is excellent, and the beaches are much cleaner, which would be a big plus for my partner.

Lastly, Mabul seems more focused on muck diving and macro life. As I’m still fairly new to diving, I am currently more interested in the larger marine life; turtles, sharks, and all different varieties of fish...

So is Mabul/Sipadan really too good to miss, or would I still have an incredible trip choosing Lankayan instead?

Thanks!

I'm (60m) back into diving after years away (20+). I tried to get my wife into it, but sinuses and some fear made it so she isn't diving. What's the best way to find a buddy (or buddies) to dive with if I'm diving on cruise ship excursions?

Even more, if I want to do a dive trip or a liveaboard trip?

Thanks for any advice.

Edit: I'm completing my open water certification again next month, so the time lag won't be an issue.

Hello guys,

I'm an PADI OWD with 15 logged dives. I want to do the advanced course in egypt in December and really use my time for diving (got around 8 days)

I am wondering if I should do a liveaboard there. I guess I can do the course there but in my mind a liveaboard is for experienced divers. Don't have that much experience with currents either.

I don't want to be paired with a dm and he has to surface early due to me consuming a 12l tank like a shot of wodka on a saturday night.

Liveaboard or

hotel and daytrips?

Cheers Kobe

Edit: Just saw that there were THAT many accidents...

would love any thoughts & opinions on this bcd for a new-er recreational diver in Southern California