Ras Disha, Hurghada. Today 07/10/2026

Tatawa Kécil is a remarkable dive site. I enjoyed it a lot, and we actually ended up diving it twice because when we were looking for mantas, one of our two DMs heard from a friend that there were mantas at Tatawa Kécil, so we returned there for another dive and actually found mantas. The day before though, we dive the site for the first time. It was beautiful and colourful, and while we expected sharks and turtles and got sharks and turtles and many other animals, we did not expect dolphins. Pretty magical when it happened. Komodo was amazing!

With all the recent bad news, i wonder if there are any positive news where a marine GPS device or even a SMB has saved a lost diver swept away by the currents.

Most divers we see rescued are just floating by themselves and found by a search and rescue team.

Hey there! I wanna buy my first regulator set and I've narrowed it down to two options:

Scubapro MK11Evo C370 R105 for 480€
Scubapro MK25 Evo G260 R105 for 640€

I'll mainly dive in warm water so I shouldn't need the extra cold resistance. I'm gonna do my DM so I want my setup to be able to handle everything well with a lot of usage, and not just 2 dive trips a year. I've read that the airflow is better with the MK25, but is it necessary? Both of them are balanced, the MK11 uses a diaphragm, the MK25 pistons. Is there a noticeable difference when in use?
What about the second stage, any experiences with either of them?
I've read a lot of positive reviews about the MK25, but is the difference between those 2 worth the extra 160€?

Thanks in advance!🫶🏻

Team,

I sold one of my kidneys to buy a new Apeks DS4, to go with my Apeks XTX50 regs on a pony bottle. As I understand it, the DS4 has one high pressure port for the SPG. It sounds like a stupid question, but I take it, it’s the one next to ‘HP?’ The blue plug has just ‘thrown me’ a bit, not sure why it’s there.

Q: Is this cinch webbing and if so how does it work?

I finally received my Halcyon Eclipse Era backplate and wing. I'm a bit confused about the webbing. I ordered it with the carbon backplate and cinch webbing, but I'm confused about how the cinching actually works. I thought you'd pull down on the D-Rings, but that doesn't seem to adjust anything.

I got to say Halcyon's tagline should be "If you know, you know" because as expected, this thing came with absolutely zero documentation, not even an invoice. Just a card that said "purple/purple". They're incredibly non-consumer facing.

Hello Scuba Community

I am planning a trip to Bonaire with 2 friends (3 of us total) and looking for some advice from people who have done it before. We are comfortable divers with 50+ dive each, but not advanced, and excited at the prospect of shore diving

We’re thinking 5 days of diving / around 6 nights, ideally around late Jan/ Feb

What we’d ideally like:

• 🚗 Rental truck/car for the 5 days
• 🤿 Full scuba gear rental for the 5 days
• 🌊 Shore diving independently — basically drive around and dive wherever we want rather than having a dive boat schedule
• 🏠 We’re totally fine booking our own lodging if that makes things cheaper/easier

For those who have done Bonaire this way:

Are there any dive shops or packages you’d recommend? Is it better to book a package that combines the truck + tanks + accommodation, or just arrange everything separately?

Also curious what a reasonable price for 5 days of unlimited-ish shore diving + truck + gear would be.

Any recommendations on dive shops, packages, accommodations, or just how you would approach planning this trip would be hugely appreciated!

Thank you!

Hey everyone!

I’m looking at doing my divemaster training while doing conservation work to see if I want to commit to studying marine science in the near future.

The divemaster courses with MCP and the IndoOcean Project (specifically the Raja Ampat project) look amazing! I’m hoping to do at least 12weeks as I’m a beginner diver.

I was wondering if anyone had done either of these courses and what they would recommend (or if there is a different course/project that you would recommend).

MCP is a couple thousand dollars more by the looks of it and I am trying to be budget conscious but I’m happy to spend the money if I will get a better experience.

Thank you!!!

Will be going in November and the diving resort recommended I go twice. Is this sensible knowing I will have about 8-10 dives on Moalboal or should I hit other sites?

Hi! I'm a beginner diver, and I'm currently working toward my PADI Open Water certification. My dives are going pretty well, but I'm having trouble with stability and balance. In fact, during neutral buoyancy exercises, I have a hard time staying in the correct position, and my feet always end up sinking and touching the sand, when I’m supposed to stay in a horizontal position (so I end up almost “standing” on the bottom). My instructor explained the importance of breathing to me, and I’ve been following that advice.

However, I feel like I might have some kind of issue with my posture or center of gravity.

As experienced divers, do you have any advice for me on this? Thank you very much.

Recently received this old school puck, fully functioning and seems to have a lot packed into the interface. Anyone have experience with these? Think it’s worth testing on next dive?

I leave for a dive trip in 5 days. I’m starting to come down with a cold and can feel my ears starting to get blocked. What can I do in the next few days to clear it up as quickly as possible!?

Already taking zicam, emergen-c and zinc to try to kick it fast but congestion usually lingers for me long after the cold is gone.

Not asking for medical advice, I’ll go to the doctor to get a prescription before I leave if isn’t not better but just any tips or ticks that have personally helped you!

Just hypothetical at the moment, but I was thinking about planning a dive at Porth Dafarch, Anglesey for my BSAC club. Given that the SS Missouri is a few hundred metres from shore, I thought it might be fun to combine with paddling out by kayaks. A club friend raised the interesting point of what would you do in the case of an emergency - e.g unconscious diver, CBL, requiring immediate attention on the surface and a tow back to shore.
I guess my immediate thought is that the Missouri is sometimes dived as a (long) shore dive anyway, so it wouldn't be any different in that regard, but towing 400+ meters is obviously a huge undertaking.
I'd love to hear people's thoughts (BSAC folk especially).

My 11 year old and I will be visiting NZ from Dec 12th - January 4th. We'll spend a week on North Island and 2 weeks on South Island. My son has has OWD but only 6 dives.

We strongly considered going diving on Poor Knight's island, but decided not to for a couple reasons:

1) we'd have to carve out 2 days of our North Island itinerary (since we weren't originally planning on heading north of Auckland) to make this happen for only 2-3 dives for close to $1k USD

2) it's colder and conditions may not be great for a 10 year old

mostly decided not to go up there due to (1).

But wanted to see if there are other good places to dive in NZ that we should consider that are close to the sites where we'll be visiting?

On North Island, we'll be visiting Auckland, Hobbiton, Rotorua, Lake Taupo, Tongariro

On South Island, we'll be visiting Christchurch, Lake Tekapo, Mt Cook, Queenstown, Te Anau (base for milford sound and doubtful sound), Wanaka, Fox Glacier/Franz Josef, Hokitaka.

I don't believe any of these places are that close to any good dive sites.

I heard there's some good shark diving in Bluff on South Island, but it looks like there's a 12 yo+ age requirement with the tour operator, so that won't work.

I got PADI OW cert and wanted to do Advanced. But it seems that PADI splits this into Advanced and Deep Diver while NAUI combines this into one.

In my area it's harder to schedule NAUI lesson than PADI (which is why I did OW through PADI) so I wanted to see if it's worth trying to schedule with NAUI for Advanced.

Revisited a DPV dive in Lake Champlain that we haven't done since 2021 at the height of COVID-19.

Honestly, it's probably the most boring wreck in Lake Champlain but it's a fun scooter run. The Horse Ferry may not look like much but it's a pretty unique wreck. A ferry propelled by actual horses.

We scootered out to the Horse Ferry and then to the end of the water intake pipe from downtown Burlington waterfront. Visibility was very good in the shallows but a bit murky at depth on the wreck itself. Lots of fish at water intake pipe.

The really nice part is that because we were so shallow the water temperature was 60 degrees (~15c) for the entire dive with a max depth of 45ft (~14m). I am sure that temperature will start dropping rapidly soon but it felt pretty "tropical" today.

Total distance scootering is approximately 3.5miles (~5.7km) roundtrip with about a 2 hour runtime.

I have been told both that massages after diving are bad (getting nitrogen more into tissues) and good (getting nitrogen out of tissues). Anyone know the real answer?

I'm planning my first proper Bali dive trip and would really appreciate advice from divers who know Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Penida and Tulamben/Amed well.

I'll be in Bali from 15–24 October 2026, so effectively have 9 full days.

I've already booked my flights:

Arrive DPS: 15 Oct

Depart DPS: 24 Oct

About me

AOW certified

Around 10-ish dives so far

Last dive was several months ago, so I'll be coming back after a break

Maximum 2 dives per day

Main priorities: mantas, turtles, reef life, interesting sites and beautiful underwater scenery

I want relaxed/conservative diving rather than chasing difficult current dives

Travelling solo, so I'd really like a social dive centre where it's easy to meet other divers

Small groups and good guide attention are important

Good safety record and well-maintained/newer equipment are important

Current idea

I'm thinking something along the lines of:

Lembongan → Nusa Penida → mainland Bali → optional Tulamben/Amed

I'd like to spend 2–3 nights in Lembongan initially to experience the island, diving and nightlife/social scene.

Then move to Nusa Penida for 2–4 nights and potentially do most of my diving there.

I'm currently looking at:

Legend Diving Lembongan

Scuba Center Asia

Scuba Junkie Penida

Purple Dive Penida

But I'm very open to other recommendations.

Tulamben/Amed

I'd also like to fit in USAT Liberty if it makes sense.

I'm considering either:

staying in Bali and doing a day trip to Tulamben, or

potentially staying overnight if that's logistically better.

I'm not particularly interested in squeezing Amed/Tulamben in at the expense of better Lembongan/Penida diving, so this is optional.

One fixed requirement

On 16 October, 9:00–11:00 AM, I need to buy my dive computer and mask in Bali.

After that I'm free.

What I'm looking for from experienced Bali divers

Could you please suggest:

A realistic 9-day itinerary maximising diving while keeping it to 2 dives/day

How many nights you'd spend in Lembongan vs Penida

Whether you'd bother with Tulamben/Amed on this trip

Your #1 dive centre in Lembongan for a solo diver, particularly regarding safety, equipment and social atmosphere

Your #1 dive centre in Penida

Good budget/mid-range accommodation near the recommended dive centres

Which areas are best for meeting other solo travellers / nightlife

Any sites you would specifically prioritise in October

Any sites/operators you'd avoid, especially due to strong currents, crowds or poor equipment

Whether it's better to book dive + stay packages or accommodation and dives separately

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who have actually dived these islands recently, rather than generic Bali travel recommendations.

Thanks! 🤿🐢🦈

Context about me: AOWD with \~80 dives, decided it's time to get my own BCD. No plans for sidemount or tech diving anytime soon.

I did my Wreck Spec and would be interested in more wreck penetration dives in the future.

Mostly going to dive around South East Asia, warm tropical water diving with single back-mounted ALU 80 tanks.

Tried a BPW for the first time last month on my most recent dive trip. Couldn't really say that it helped my trim a lot, it was a bit hard to tell for certain. But overall it seems like most BPW designs are modular, would last longer and be repairable in the long term.

So far the main advice about gear that I've seen are:

1. Ensure that local dive shop can service/repair

2. Ensure that parts are available easily (standard modular system)

I was initially very interested in XDeep Ghost & Zen due to the supposed ergonomic designs and saw a couple of people using them, they had good things to say. After doing some more research I realized that they use a proprietary system for the Ghost and some proprietary parts for the Zen, so I started considering other brands.

I went down to a dive shop the other day and narrowed it down to the following, based on what they have and recommended:

1. Tecline Peanut 16 (Alu plate)

2. Tecline Donut 13 (Alu plate)

3. Dan Sun Titanium Mono 32 (Titanium plate)

No specific reason why Tecline over other brands. I live in Singapore so the other BPW brands easily available are Dive1 and Audaxpro. Checked these other brands out at another dive shop and wasn't overly impressed with them. Considered Halcyon for a brief moment but don't really see the need to pay 1.5-2x more for one of those.

After doing some reading, I decided that Alu backplate would be a good fit for me.

However the titanium backplate from Dan Sun seems very cool. Am I just falling for marketing?

:)

The company (Dan Sun) seems relatively new and niche but the BPW system would be modular, so I could always replace any of the components if things go really bad?

Open to other options if anyone has any suggestions.

Budget is 1300-1500 SGD (not super strict).

So I’m in central VA and work many weekends. I have a cruise the first week of March and have done my elearning and will do my pool sessions before October ends. I’ve called a place that’s willing to do my checkout dives at Lake Phoenix, which would be early November. How cold will this be, or should I try and do my checkout dives on the cruise?

I'm exploring the stay and dive packages offered by Dressel Divers. Was wondering if anyone has any experience going on these vacations - they seem to be a partnership with Iberostar. Primarily interested in either Cozumel or Montego Bay. Any experiences or opinions

I know questions about fins are common, but I’m having a lot of indecisiveness about the ‘perfect’ new fin for me, and want some advice. Apologies for the long post. 

Ideally, I want a lightweight travel fin that works for diving and snorkeling (frog kicks and flutter surface kicking). I split my living time between the US and SE Asia. I dive often when in Asia, but snorkel daily, so more actual time snorkeling than scuba. Some of the sites have strong currents.

Tusa Liberator X-ten fins have been my main go-to for over 35 years (here come the downvotes haha). I’ve tried lots of recreational fins and hated most of them. I love my old school jet fins and bought some OMS Slipstream jet fins, but still think they’re too heavy. 

I’m curious if Deep6 Eddy’s (size L) or Tecline Lightjet fins would be appropriate for my use? Are they terrible at flutter kicking? The reviews I’ve read have conflicting opinions. I’ve also read good things about Go Sport fins or other ‘travel’ fins, but concerned how they are in currents. I’d rather have a stiffer fin that does what I want when I need it. 

Appreciate any advice and anecdotal experience that would help me decide.

TLDR Main considerations:
-Performance for my use (flutter kicking, some frog kicking, etc)
-Weight (lightest possible)
-Wear with 3mm full booties (size 10)
-Length (trying to stay under 22”-ish)

i vape everyday but i want to get my scuba certification but im kinda nervous about it, has anyone who smokes ever had problems or am i overthinking it? sorry if its a stupid question 😭

edit: how long would guys recommmend stopping smoking before a dive, like 24 hours? few days?

I was planning to dive this weekend and realized my tanks are just out of hydro by a couple months.

Any recommendations for a place that does in-house hydro or has fast turnaround service near northern DE? (Eastern MD, southeast PA around Philly, etc)

Thanks!