r/scuba

Hey all, about to start my scuba classes tomorrow. LDS uses a local lake for cert dives, I am in NC and will be doing my dives at the end of the month. I looked at the temps for the lake, and it looks like it's going to be 50-60 F with thermoclines at 15 and 20 feet. I got a 5mm wetsuit but I hate the cold, should I get a thicker one? How deep do you usually go for an SSI cert dive if there is a requirement for depth?

The dive shop also had a deal running where if you buy all your gear with them, they give you the class for free and Nitrox specialty. They sell ScubaPro gear so it cost a pretty penny, but I rationalized it as life support gear that I will buy once, cry once. I bought a hydros pro BCD with air 2, MK19 EVO/G260 regulator, ScubaPro G2 computer (I asked after shearwater and they don't carry it), Mask, Fins, Boots, snorkel, a wetsuit, and some other odds and ends. They gave me a 10 percent discount on the BCD. The total came out to ~$4.5k for all the gear. Is this worth it for a new diver? I am almost certain I will like it and will be diving frequently, and I am happy to support my LDS. However, it is certainly a chunk of change. Any feedback appreciated.

Hello! I’m looking for recos for a jacket to put on in between dives hanging out on the boat. I usually take everything wet off my feet, arms and torso and just leave wetsuit legs on. I often dive with ops that hand out parkas, but sometimes not and sometimes they’re not sufficient.

I’m thinking with a bit of wind break and warm lining would be nice.

What do you like for this purpose?

Hi Scuba Community -

In a couple of weeks my dive group and I will be in Roatan Honduras. We're excited to go. We are staying in Sandy Bay and have a dive shop near by our location. Are there any Must Do dive sites or dive experiences that we should be looking out for? We're all AOW and above with 3/6 people being dive professionals. We love little critters, but also love seeing turtles, rays, sharks, etc... Half the group has never dove in Honduras before and half the group has stayed at resorts.

Just looking for any tips and advice to make the most out of our time.

My girlfriend and I were trying to dive Lauderdale-by-the-Sea tomorrow but the waves are for casted to be between 5-6 ft. Blue heron bridge is our second option. High tide around 10:30 am. I can't find any info on wave height. Does wave height matter since it is more inland?

I have snorkeled here before and didn't pay attention to the surf forecast.

i’m a relatively new diver, have 15 dives under my belt. i’ve dived in moalboal and komodo before this, keen to get my AOW in the last week of may!

was thinking of getting it in koh tao but i’ve heard koh tao is very touristy, is it still a good place to get certified? or any recommendations on where else around SEA is good to get it?

flying from singapore so anywhere around indonesia/thailand/malaysia is good! was thinking of koh tao because i’ve never dived in thailand before so yeah. would greatly appreciate any suggestions/advice!

also for those with aow, is the night dive compulsory or do you get to choose amongst other dives? if i’m not wrong the compulsory dives are buoyancy control and the deep dive right? i have a terrible fear of the dark so don’t think i’d be able to do a night dive…

Any good tips for clearing a mask while inverted? I dive/maintain a 20k gal aquarium and can spend almost an hour head down cleaning. I have a beard so some leakage is to be expected. Can’t seem to get a good clear when inverted.

Thought some of the cave/tec crew may have some pointers?

Thanks for any help!

They’re a Canadian company that I’ve seen mentioned, are they more for video? Or are their torches reliable long-term?

tldr: had a super good experience learning to dive getting my Open Water and Advanced Open Water at Gili T, diving was fantastic, lots of marine life and great visibility and corals, recommend it for all beginners, it is not only a great place to learn diving but a great island to visit in general!

Gili Trawangan was where I decided to get my OW and AOW back to back over 5 days. Looking back, I definitely made the right choice, and highly recommend this place for anyone looking to learn scuba diving. It is cheaper to get certified here yet beautiful and full of marine life. It is rare to find a place that truly has everything.

In fact, I reckon this is one of the best places to learn scuba diving for the first time. Other "cheap" places may just be a destination purely to practice skills underwater, but this is a place you'd actually want to dive and is all-around fantastic. It is also predictable and easy for beginners because the diving area has almost no or very weak currents and terrific, 30-meter plus visibility year-round.

Gili Trawangan is a small island located between Bali and Lombok. You can get here by flying to either and then taking a ferry.

Getting to Gili Trawangan

I opted to fly to Bali and take a taxi down to Padang Bai port where you can get the ferry to Gili Trawangan. I stayed overnight first in Bali near Padang Bai at a hostel, and left for Gili Trawangan in the morning. I booked my ferry tickets through Eka Jaya, and this is what most people do. There are a lot of touters so make sure to pre-book the tickets and ignore the scammers at the port.

Stay in Gili Trawangan

I splurged and stayed at Marc Hotel Gili Trawangan instead of a hostel. It was a pleasant stay with a nice room, and it was very quiet at night despite it being "near" the party side of the island. There are two sides of the island, with the East side having most of the scuba diving shops and being more lively, and the West being more quiet and exclusive. Either way, you can just rent a bike for cheap and cycle. It only takes 20 minutes at most to get to anywhere on the island.

Diving in Gili Trawangan

There are many dive shops around the island, all offering similar rates. I opted for Gili Divers, who offer an SSI certification. In total I paid around $365.72 USD for my Open Water and $313 USD for my Advanced Open Water. This is considered very cheap in my opinion. Do note that these prices were only available because I booked in advance and got 10% off on both courses.

One thing that stood out for me for Gili Divers is that you could pay about $23 USD for underwater photography where an underwater photographer will follow you around and snap photos of you and the marine life you encounter. I highly recommend this as the shots are captured using a whole underwater rig and are colour graded after. It is a fantastic way to remember your course, especially since you aren't allowed to bring a camera while on course. The photos came out absolutely amazing. I personally recommend asking for the underwater photography when diving Shark Point, as it is almost guaranteed to see a huge turtle there.

Course wise, safety and everything was tip top. Dive flags were used, the instructor paid close attention to me and the group sizes were small, only 3 of us to 1 instructor at the time. Overall, I had a fantastic experience.

They also offer a night dive for the Advanced Open Water course, and there wasn't as much marine life to see, but it was definitely a very unique and exciting experience.

Here are some photos the photographer took:

https://preview.redd.it/xx3kcniwpxsg1.jpg?width=2941&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2bebbc83bb23c879724292e7a69cfa1e234b867e

https://preview.redd.it/4bto6c10qxsg1.jpg?width=5472&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cca05707061d0130619963d2d8093f5f39ab96a0

https://preview.redd.it/7dd9jci1qxsg1.jpg?width=3430&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=874e33f70d544c76da80ff46a0080a074cca0926

All photos credits: Gili Divers Gili Trawangan

Other things to do in Gili Trawangan

I went for a massage at You Spa Trawangan. It wasn't the best massage, but the ambience was super upscale and relaxing. It's just great after a long day of scuba diving, and it cost around $40 USD.

One restaurant I can NOT recommend enough is Casa Vintage Beach. The Jamaican food here is on another level. I went back here every single night. I could NOT get enough of the food here it was absolutely fantastic.

Kayu Cafe and Restaurant was also great for breakfast and it is near the dive shops. I really liked the coffee and all-day tacos here.

Warung Dewi has some banger local food at a cheap price. Highly recommend for lunch during your course.

I also had the pleasure of attending a sunrise yoga class at Fly Gili Watersports, where the yoga class is taught on a helipad facing the sea and mountains in the distance as the sun rises. A wonderful and rare experience!

There are two gyms on the island. The one I went to was Gilifit, but I found them very pricey and it wasn't air-conditioned. I would try the other one, called Total Body Fit Gym as it looks well-equipped and clean.

I will be taking my teenage son and daughter to learn scuba soon.  We live in North Florida.  We have been to many of the springs for swimming and snorkeling both the North Florida and in the Gainesville area.  I will be doing a refresher course because it has been many years since my last dive.  My final goal is to dive in the Keys when we make a trip there this summer or fall (10 hr drive).

 When I watched the divers course at Vortex Springs my thought was that the calm controlled environment would be great to learn diving.  There would be fewer distractions while learning the basics and getting comfortable in the water.  Another advantage is that we could be fully certified (AOW) before we go to the Keys and that way we could just go straight to doing cool dives in the Keys without having to spend time learning the basics.  What spring would you recommend?

Or should we just wait until we get to the Keys and do all the training there and maybe not have enough time left to get in the ‘cool’ dives in the Keys.  Also my wife and two younger kids might get a little bored watching and waiting for us while we do all this diving on our big vacation to the Keys.

 Another option would be to just go to a dive shop in Panama City Beach and get certified there beforehand.

 Which path would you recommend?  Thanks.

Hello I'm looking for diving shops where I can order online can anyone give me recommendations?

Hey everyone,
I asked here recently if anyone owns the new Suunto Nautic (not the S version, the actual dive computer). I'm now seriously considering getting one, but I still have one last question for Suunto users.

Is it possible to import or transfer old dive logs into the Suunto app/logbook? I’ve logged around 200 dives so far using Subsurface, and I’d really like to keep everything in one place.

Does anyone know if there’s a reliable way to transfer those dives to the Suunto app?

Thanks in advance!

I'm a UX designer and certified diver working on a dive logging app. Trying to understand how people actually log in the real world — not how the apps assume you do. Takes 2–3 minutes, genuinely appreciate any responses.

1. How many logged dives do you have?
2. How do you currently log? (Paper / App / Both / I don't log)
3. How soon after a dive do you usually log it? (Immediately / Same day / Days later / Whenever I get around to it)
4. Have you ever skipped logging a dive?
   • If yes — what made you skip it?
5. If you use an app — which one, and what's your biggest frustration with it?
6. What's the one thing a logging app would need to do to actually replace your paper log?