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It's worth calling out that everyone else on the boat was starting the second dive with half-empty (double) tanks (except #2, who was diving a single tank). I'm certainly not arguing this was a good idea, but put yourself in the shoes of someone who had woken up at 3 AM to drive a long distance...

Good question. The "low on air" to "out of air" conversation took about 5 seconds total. My buddy's regulator was starting to breathe heavy when he gave the low signal. The next breathe he took was very noticeably the last one from an empty tank, at which point he asked for my reg. I also have...

The standard min-deco is what I describe in the second dive. Our plan was to follow this and add an extra minute at 20 ft (effectively, 2 min at 20 and 1 min at 10, which will clear a standard safety stop). Speaking for myself, I was slow because (a) I haven't been in the water for over a...

Small correction - he made a conscious decision to do an easy recreational dive with a SPG that was accurate but not precise (e.g. 100 PSI low, consistently). I suspect that's a risk most of us would be willing to take. I can also easily understand the thought process in jumping to the wrong...

I had a bit of unplanned excitement diving today, and I thought the story was one worth sharing. After all, it isn't every day a buddy runs out of gas. We had a team of three, I was #1, my planned dive buddy was #2, and #3 joined our team. We were on a recreational GUE charter diving a couple...

She is 80! And a phenomenal diver. She is my dive buddy this weekend for survey dives in Monterey, CA.

Those margaritas were strong! I'm glad I waited until diving was over to have one. I'm the person who was chatting with you in the restaurant. :)

Ocean Frontiers has detailed maps of all of their dives sites, available for download here: Downloads (click on the Green Short Challenge Scuba Log Book link). These maps all show depths, and as you'll see, there's a lot of vertical structure available to dive at all the locations. The dive...

She does guide cavern tours, and she employs a few very good cavern instructors who will also lead private tours. I'll second the recommendation. Her attention to detail in customer service is comparable to what I'd expect from a Michelin star restaurant. But instead of dining from white...

I hate this approach, and unfortunately, it's far too common. I'm not blaming you, rather, I'm blaming the many shops that push it to customers and provide questionably qualified guides. The cenotes offer amazing diving, but they do require a bit better than beginner level skills when it comes...

My mom is 75, and she did great with her Fundies class - in challenging Monterey conditions!

Chuuk's wrecks are covered with some of the most amazing soft coral I've ever seen. The photo below is from the Sankisan Maru, which isn't very deep at all. Max depth for us in the cargo hold was around 70 ft, swimming past old Japanese trucks, weaponry, and medicine bottles. The kingposts are...

In diving, we are trained to think "this is not an emergency" as an approach to staying calm. A silt out is an abnormal operation that requires immediate action, but that immediate action should be as simple as extending a hand to establish touch contact with the line. A diver trained in and...

As a diver who recently got hooked on caving, I love to see cavers getting hooked on diving! The Monterey area offers some of the best cold water diving in the world. Definitely worth your while.

Unless you have a very fluffy body composition, I'm guessing that you're likely already overweight in that configuration. Steel doubles (plus bands, manifold, a second reg) will make that problem worse, potentially dangerously so. In a 3mm wetsuit, I'll dive AL80s with an AL backplate and no...

The island isn't exactly known for having the best connectivity, so expect responses to be slow. We stayed on land at Blue Lagoon and had a wonderful time. The hotel isn't exactly a luxury resort.... the power goes out regularly and we didn't have hot water for showers. But the dive sites are...

I've had two fail on me in the past year. In both cases, I noticed this pre-dive, but it does happen. Regardless of failure, I never want to be surprised by what the number on my SPG says. I also don't particularly want to have to look at it every two minutes. Some simple mental math (I'll use...

Not a fan. I probably won't complain unless I think the potential for separation is high, but I find it annoying to chase a buddy to the bottom of the ocean.

That sounds like a bad idea. If you're planning to do tech dives dry, learn from the start in your intro/fundamentals classes.

Hey, @Dogbowl, have you been in the water since your class? I remember being super frustrated during the class, and I thought I was a pretty terrible diver. It wasn't until the first fun dive after that I realized how much I had actually learned.