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When @Jim Lapenta recently announced his retirement from teaching, I re-read his book Scuba: A Practical Guide for the New Diver. The second edition is available on Amazon Unlimited, so members can read it for free. The book, especially the first half where he discusses what’s missing from...

I bought a boat. It will be used exclusively for recreational, non-commercial purposes. I want to invite friends to fish and dive with me from time to time. Because I have a master's license, I want to be able to demonstrate that the passengers are aboard as friends, not customers, even...

The wife of a buddy of mine wants me to help her pick out a speargun for his Christmas present. (Yep, she's a keeper.) He will use this for scuba spearfishing, bottom fish, usually in depths between 60 and 100 feet. He hasn't expressed any interest in pelagic fish even when others have talked...

I have chartered a boat to do a three-tank dive, at least one of which will be on Blackthorn, on Sunday, July 25. The other dips will depend on what sites the recreational fisherman don't have covered when we arrive on scene, probably Sheridan, Seafood Barge, or Tabletop Ledge. Diving with us...

Serious question: Relative in town for brief vacation wants to do a shallow drift dive on spring-fed river. Schedule is getting squeezed, and the only opportunity may be the morning of her departure. Deepest spot on this stretch of river is about 21 feet. Average depth would be 12-15 feet...

So I went diving last month with my new Scubaboard friend @greeniguana, who lives about an hour from me. In the course of our day together, he learned that I have some AL80 tanks that lack pro valves, and therefore have no donut for me to remove to allow me to use my DIN regulator. So...

I'm looking at buying a boat for the Florida Gulf Coast. My name should come up on the waiting list for a slip at my condo sometime in the next few months--hopefully coinciding with a massive crash in prices for quality used boats. When it does, I'll have 90 days to acquire a boat and qualify...

This afternoon I was passed by a guy on a motorcycle: Helmet? No. Hair was free in the breeze. Boots? No. Gym shoes. Chaps or other PPE for legs? No. Cargo shorts. Jacket or other PPE for torso and arms? No. T-shirt only. COVID-19 face mask? Check! I wondered two things: What sort...

. . . ends tomorrow!

I'm ready to upgrade the entry-level regulator set I bought on clearance 125 dives ago. I can tell that it requires more work to breathe at depth: I sometimes notice this as early as 60 feet, and it's clearly apparent by 80 feet. I'm ready to say I got my money's worth at under two bucks per...

I took my daughter (20 years old, less than 10 dives) on a dive to 48 feet. I had got a small, ladies style bc from a neighbor. When I got it, the power inflator didn't work. I replaced it myself, then took it to a local dive shop to have my work verified and the bc itself looked over. The dive...

So my wife's best friend has never been to Lake Tahoe. She wants to go there for her birthday in early May, and I will likely be dragged along because the gals like to hang out together, and I'm the only one who can make her husband behave beyond direct line-of-sight female supervision. All...

I'm looking to replace my entry-level jacket style BC with a back inflate. I'm at a "less is more" stage of my diving. I want functionality, but I don't want extra bells and whistles, especially if they add weight and cost without making my diving safer or more enjoyable. I like the Ranger...

I am nearly finished with my DM program, and I know I need to upgrade my gear fairly soon. I accept that looking professional is a valid requirement. My other main hobby is umpiring baseball. In baseball, showing up in a clean uniform with pressed trousers and shined shoes puts money in the...

My offshore dive was cancelled due to weather today, so I took my newly certified OW daughter to an inland site 2-1/2 hours from home. 22 minutes into the dive, she signaled that she was cold and gave me the thumbs up. We ascended and called it a day. Afterwards, she was apologetic about the...

I'm really not trying to start something here . . . I have seen posts by people with much more knowledge and experience than I have expressing negative opinions on console computers. I am a recreational diver. I am presently enrolled in a divemaster program, and I will probably follow up with...

My wife, my sister, and I are making a spur-of-the-moment trip to Key West this weekend, and we are looking for suggestions for a suitable dive operator. We arrive around noon on Saturday on the ferry from Ft. Myers (anyone know if it's likely to run on time?), and are hoping to find a...

Sorry about the duplicate threads. I thought my first attempt failed, so I re-did it.

Hi, I just joined this site today. I was first certified in 2002 when I lived in Puerto Rico, but then I moved to colder weather the next year and didn't dive at all until 2017, when I moved to Pinellas County, Florida. With such a long gap, I figured it was better to take basic open water...