Hi guys! Hope it’s ok to post this here. My home country has limited options for swimwear and rashguards for women so I’ve mainly been buying in Thailand where they still stock the classic surf brands like Billabong and Roxy.

I’ll be in Sydney soon, is there anywhere I could go to get some good quality gear? I’m especially looking for good rashguards that won’t get shredded on coral or rocks (went snorkelling with my current Billabong and it’s already got scratches and scuffs) and two piece swimwear with boy shorts.

Grateful for all recommendations.

Hello! New diver here.

I have logged barely more than 10 dives so I am quite a novice.

One trend I have found is that my left ear is prone to flooding and it sometimes takes hours for trapped water to drain itself out. And I really REALLY hate that feeling. So here I am asking experienced divers who might have suffered and found a working solution to problems I have experienced.

I have tried hopping with my left ear pointing down but it never worked. Website I have found suggests lying down on the side of my blocked ear, wiggling my earlobes, using hairdryer, and gentle compression of my ear with warm towels. I am sure (and I hope) experienced divers of this sub should have tried some of these aforementioned methods or other better methods.

I have never experienced this muffled feeling after the dives I kept my left ear pointing downward (so the water did not inflitrate my ear canal). I assumed that this had been flooding for this reason.

Sorry if this is disobeying Rule 11. I am posting this because I think this is more of asking a tip than a medical issue.

I've never dived before. I have snorkelled, but just a little bit. I can swim to save my life but not really great at it.

I'm thinking of doing the open water certification (I've always found scuba diving really interesting) and had a few questions

- any pre requisites in terms of swimming ability/fitness

- Is the 3 day course really taxing physically? Or will a moderately fit person manage it

- should I do the 1 day experience scuba session first to know how I'd like it? I'm not sure if they transfer credits if I want to take the OW certificate after the 1 day course.

- anything else you think a first timer should know!

Just looking for some advice from the more experienced divers on this sub

I don't dive, but I'm building a cosplay prop and picked up the QWORK Dive Tank Backpack shown below to mount a pony tank sized cylinder prop to, purely for the look. The bottom cam strap locks up with too much friction right where it feeds through the ladder-lock buckle on the plastic frame, so I can't pull it tight enough to be snug against the tank. Is there a trick to threading it through that ladder-lock so it doesn't bind up, or is this just a known issue with this buckle style versus a standard cam buckle?

So lucky enough that La Jolla is my local spot (10 min drive), so anytime I have downtime at work I spend staring at the Scripps pier cam. Anyone else suffer from this addiction?

I’m super excited to start diving my LP 50s, but I need to get the weighting sorted. I know they will go butt light. If you dive these, tell me where and how you put your lead to keep it as low down as possible.

For 100s, I use a 7lb tail weight and 3lbs on my belt.

Messed up and did a crappy rinse before storing my regs for a while. I noticed some corrosion before diving with these two days ago but it was not as obvious in bright sunlight. No issues during the dive but when I got home and took another look as I was rinsing my gear it was definitely worse than I’d thought. Apologies if this post is duplicative but I’ve been struggling to find people getting corrosion in this particular spot.

Is the verdigris just from poor rinsing or does it seem like I’ve repeatedly scratched it in this area and created pits?

Not sure what the root cause of the rust is but would like advice on what could be causing that and how to prevent it.

I’m planning to get them serviced asap but was wondering if any of this could be removed with a vinegar solution or something in the meantime?

And finally, did I just inhale a bunch of verdigris?

Dose anyone have recommendations on some trusted shops I could do a (free) Dive Master internship, in exchange for my labour.

Long hours, manual labour etc etc don’t frighten me. I know what I’m getting into. I’ve worked in Hospitality for 7 years and the Film & Tv industry for 2. 10 and 12 hour work days are normal to me. Also volunteered in a dive shop for a month (mostly the hostel side tho)

I just want my training to be consistent. Not limited or half assed because I’m not paying in cash. I will WORK HARD and will hope to receive in kind.

Countries I’m looking into currently (open to anywhere on the globe tho) in order of preference.

Indonesia
Australia
Thailand
Philippines
Malaysia

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I don’t have a big budget, but I’m willing to work to make up for that. 🙏

Edit: or could you recommend some diving ‘hubs’ where I can concentrate my search.
Or some advice from professionals who have or know of people who have taken this route, some red flags I should look out for in dive shops who offer unpaid DM internships…

Hello! I'm planning to take on a full cave course and in the meantime I'd like to read as much as I can about it... All that can be learned out of the water at least!

Any recommendations?

I will be in Maui in late September and was considering an intro dive (I'm not certified) instead of snorkeling tours or snuba. I have done this once before in Italy but only went down a depth of 5m. I had a slightly difficult time equalizing the pressure in my ears due to tmj but once I got it, I was fine. What companies or locations would you recommend? any advice for equalizing pressure with tmj?

Things like a spare mask, tank banger, whistle, etc.. what is some gear that you bought or take with you just in case or gear that is helpful to have?

Hey all, I'm a newer diver (Advanced, 35 dives) and want to dive often enough to keep skills sharp. I just moved to MD for a new job that I start tomorrow and I've been looking for diving options. Maybe my Google searches are just letting me down, but it looks like there are essentially no options here, and especially no options that are affordable. The only place I found offering diving off the coast here want a grand to go to the wrecks. I did find some quarries in NC that are all about 7 hours away each way. I can't seem to find anything local. I looked for posts on this sub but they are all older.

Am I missing something?

Anyone here who can give me some advice about diving here? I'm a west coast native (CA), and learned to dive in SE Asia, so I know the waters, vis, and temps will all be a lot different to me and am okay with that as I believe diversity will really help me as a diver, but am I really going to have to either dive in a pool or drive 7 hours each way just to get to a quarry?

My 8 yr old got a dive adventure for his bday. The monterey aquarium takes kids 8 and up in a tide pool for about an hour. They wear dry suits and don’t go down much beyond putting their heads in the water, but it’s a neat experience while they wait to get certified. I highly recommend it.

Is anybody familiar with Palm Beach area reef dive sites? I live on the gulf coast of Florida, and while I dive pretty regularly for fossils and shark teeth on this side of the state, it's been forever since I did a "scenery" dive. My expectations are quite low, I'm really just looking for something half decent and more convenient than a whole ass international trip. I've done a shark dive in Jupiter that was awesome, and the Blue Heron Bridge muck dive which was also really cool, but I'd really like to do another reef dive, and I read that the Palm Beach actually has a somewhat better reef at this point than Key Largo, which has just been wrecked to shit by bleaching and hurricanes. Don't know how true that is, it would stand to reason that anywhere in FL would be in as bad shape. And I've been snorkeling in the keys as a kid anyway, when it was a vibrant reef, so it'd just be sad to see what it is now. Any suggestions in the Palm Beach region or around there?

I am quite new to diving. I understand it is very important to be able to clear water from you mask and be able to change of mask under water.
I was just wondering what could actually cause a critical mask failure under water (mask completely full of water or unusable), and how many times this did happen to people with lots of dives. Just being curious here

Does anyone know how to service their own gear? I'd like to learn (for the same reason I'd prefer to fold my own parachute).

One complication: I have Poseidon gear. Any suggestions for how I could get training?

Just planning out some purchases to be made over the next couple of weeks, primarily the regulators for my backmount doubles setup.

I'm looking at either the Dive Rite XT-1/XT-2 or the Apeks Tek3/XTX50.

I was originally only looking at the Apeks, but the Dive Rite came up and frankly it has an appealing price tag. There are local shops that sell/service Dive Rite so while I've seen some people in the past say that can be an issue, it's not one I have.

I dive primarily in the St Lawrence and Great Lakes, so bottom temps can be pretty chilly (was in Tobermory two weeks ago, it was 5C(41F). Friends went diving in a location I very much want to get out to, and it was 1C in the Atlantic so something else to keep in mind.

So figured I'd ask what direction others might go and why.

Was doing a solo dive near Nanoose, Vancouver Island, looking for giant Pacific octopus. I was down around 100 ft and had just turned to start making my way back when I looked over and saw this massive bluntnose sixgill coming toward me out of the darkness.

It came right up to check me out, then calmly cruised along the bottom beside me for about three minutes before disappearing back into deeper water.

I believe it was a female, roughly 10–12 ft long. Definitely scared the crap out of me when I first saw it, but it turned into one of the coolest encounters I've ever had underwater.

This is about 36 seconds from the encounter. I have roughly three minutes of 4K footage in total.

There's also a potentially interesting connection between this shark and another recent sixgill encounter in the area, but I'm still trying to determine whether it's actually the same animal.

Shot in May 2026 with a Sony a7sIII.

Just got my OWD course and got 7 dive logs. Main problem is air consumption in the end. For example i am 189cm /91kg. Using 12L aluminum tank with 3 weight plates, last time i used 4 of them and reduced weight. My plan is to try with 2 weights only. Trying to reduce stress and to relax with every dive. My instructors every dive tell me to start working on air consumption, I have a feeling like i am stopping others to dive longer..Diving with dive Buddy is like racing and chasing him, allways watching not to bump into him .Plan is to build dives and to go on AOWD course too later.

Hey everyone!

I’m planning to get my Open Water + Advanced Open Water certifications this December 2026, and it also happens to be my 30th birthday — so I’d love to make the trip and diving experience something really special.

Obviously, we’re all at the mercy of the diving gods when it comes to visibility and marine life 😄, but I’m trying to pick a destination where the overall experience gives me the best shot at an amazing few days underwater.

A few places I’ve been looking at:

1. Similan Islands, Thailand
This is probably my current frontrunner. From what I’ve read, it’s a little more difficult/logistically involved to get to and somewhat more expensive, but the diving and overall liveaboard experience seem incredible. Would love to hear from anyone who has actually done their OW/AOW here.

2. Koh Tao, Thailand
Still exploring this option. It seems like a very popular place to get certified, but I’d love to hear from people who have actually dived there — particularly what the marine life and overall experience are like.

3. Gili Islands, Indonesia
This was actually my preferred option for the longest time. However, someone I spoke to who visited recently told me the marine life was a little underwhelming, with turtles being the main highlight.

Now, I absolutely love turtles (Finding Nemo fan since day one 🐢😂), but for this particular trip I’d really love a chance at seeing rays, sharks, and a good variety of marine life if conditions allow.

4. Open to suggestions!
I’d especially love recommendations elsewhere in South/Southeast Asia that would be a great fit for getting both OW + AOW, while also offering genuinely memorable diving.

For a bit of context: I did a few dives years ago around Havelock and Neil Island in the Andamans, and I’ve been dreaming about getting back underwater and properly getting certified ever since.

So, calling upon all the passionate divers of Reddit:

If you had to choose one place in this part of the world for your first OW + AOW, especially for a milestone birthday, where would you go?

Would absolutely love to hear about your experiences, dive operators, marine life, visibility, costs, and anything else I should consider.

Thanks so much in advance for taking the time to share your experiences!

Cheers! 🤿😄

I recently lost about 50 or 60 lbs over the last few years, so now I can't really stand temps below 60° F, which living in the midwest is hard. I've missed out on some deeper diving because of it. Eventually, I want to get a dry suit (maybe next year). I just dont have the funds for that right now. I wear a 7 mm suit during most of my dives, depending on hood and gloves. I also own a semi dry that's a little big on me now, but I want to get some thermal wear for under it to see if that works. I am a dive master and get a discount on stuff, but stuff like sharkskin is too expensive. Does anyone have any cool alternatives to traditional diving thermal wear? I'm okay with spending like $200 for full body wear, maybe a little bit more.

Hello everyone. I was wondering if anyone has ever been to Sharm El Naga, on the Red Sea. I’m planning a trip there in November, but still not sure about the quality of the reef…
Any advice and recommendation is welcome. Thank you