7 Essential Scuba YouTube Channels

[jagfish]

Scuba channels are small compared to the monsters in the greater YouTube universe. Even the biggest channel I normally see is less than 80k subs. Here is a handful of some channels I follow and why. Sit back and enjoy a curated tour of the top scuba channels on YouTube.


Chapters:
00:33 Simply Scuba (Mark) - 78.2k subs https://www.youtube.com/user/simplyscubadotcom
Biggest Scuba channel out there I can find. Gear reviews, training tips, and more…all in a British accent.

01:42 Diver’s Ready (James) – 38.9k subs https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdPKPmLGJRoyUB_0n-u-0Rg Great accent, awesome content, a stand-up guy. A lot of good scuba tips and training notes. I could have a beer with this man. We do hope his ear recovers.

03:11 Alec Pierce Scuba – 36k subs https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFBv1_u7CDOEAdBqedIkSeQ
Great guy, I'm sure he’s forgotten more about scuba and gear than I ever knew. Mostly gear tips and maintenance.

04:29 Inner Space Explorers (Akam) – 21.4k subs https://www.youtube.com/user/CoastalDevelopment
No joke, just the good stuff…Lots of tech and rebreathers in a no-nonsense style.

05:24 Lake Hickory Scuba (Brian?) – 15.9k subs https://www.youtube.com/user/LakeHickoryScuba
A humble guy. Lots of good scuba tips and video analyses of dives.

06:59 Vegan Diver Kat (Now Ocean Pancake) (Kat) – 16.3k subs https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV4OeA8z9THx-gfz0ajv-Sg
Diving and some broader ocean topics.

07:37 Dive Talk (Gus and Woody)– 1150 Subs only a month ago. Now over 6K! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb9sy84UQUOAL5To0IPotpw
Up and comers! This channel is going places, for sure. Product reviews, reactions, accident analyses. A fun duo.

 

[klausi]

I like the suggestions, these are the channels I would add.

 

[SlugLife]

I was about to start this discussion myself. I'm subscribed to all of those channels you listed, it's a good list. Of course there is also your channel, which makes this list technically 8 channels.

Safe Diving

This is the same guy as simply-scuba. The difference appears to be this channel isn't connected to the shop he works for.

Side Mount Diving

There's a lot of fantastic and clear instructional material. He uses it to promote his online & in-person paid classes, but also has a LOT of free material on his YouTube channel and website.



As a side-note, a lot of the big scuba-channels (which aren't on this list) are not really scuba-channels I would recommend to fellow divers, as they seem to put significantly more effort into entertainment than skill development.

 

[Diving Dubai]

This is the same guy as simply-scuba. The difference appears to be this channel isn't connected to the shop he works for.

Simply Scuba where Marc worked, went into administration (chapter 11 in US speak) in April 2020. In June 2020 they made their 20 employees redundant keeping only some directors on for winding up. It had debts of £1.3M (and only £240k of assets)

The filing history is free to view at Companies house

IIRC Marc set up a different channel shortly after - using the same set from his garage as he does on current videos

Internet Fusion Originally made an offer of £250K for the business, which while originally accepted fell through.

Simply beach brands and IP were purchased by existing directors for £27K

After this Internet Fusion Group came back with an offer of £75k for the Simply Scuba Brand, online store and IP. A further £11k offer was accepted for the sale to Internet fusion of the remaining stock of dive equipment.

All the details are in this administrators report

So whether Marc is now running the brand and assisted with the purchase or an employee re employed to make the online content for them (He was the regular face of Simply Scuba) I can't answer.

 

[SlugLife]

Simply Scuba where Marc worked, went into administration (chapter 11 in US speak) in April 2020. In June 2020 they made their 20 employees redundant keeping only some directors on for winding up. It had debts of £1.3M (and only £240k of assets)

The filing history is free to view at Companies house

IIRC Marc set up a different channel shortly after - using the same set from his garage as he does on current videos

Internet Fusion Originally made an offer of £250K for the business, which while originally accepted fell through.

Simply beach brands and IP were purchased by existing directors for £27K

After this Internet Fusion Group came back with an offer of £75k for the Simply Scuba Brand, online store and IP. A further £11k offer was accepted for the sale to Internet fusion of the remaining stock of dive equipment.

All the details are in this administrators report

So whether Marc is now running the brand and assisted with the purchase or an employee re employed to make the online content for them (He was the regular face of Simply Scuba) I can't answer.

That's an interesting bit of history. I noticed I liked the `Safe Diving` content better. It might be partially because he had less obligation or incentive to promote products or talk about.

If Marc happens to read this, I would encourage him to keep his own channel going, even if the content is only occasional.

 

[HKGuns]

I stopped watching "Simply Scuba" or whatever it is now called, because I tried of the virtue signalling.

I'll stick with Alec, Lake Hickory and Achim, until I quit that platform completely.

Looks like Achim has been reading this forum, as I see he has a topic on Dry suit buoyancy management.

 

[MikadoWu]

I stopped watching Alec Pierce Scuba years ago. I really did not like his video about adjusting 2nd stages, I do not find it safe for the avg newbie. Then of course his ignorant, then arrogant videos on Long Hoses.

Inner Space Explorers for me is hands down the best. I love this guy, taught me so much. Wish I could go to Europe and learn from him.

Lake Hickory Scuba is another excellent channel. Sadly he took down one of his best video's about a legal action and a diver claiming military experience. Lots of good info there for Indy's.

James site is fine, spoke to him about doing some tech classes, did not get a good vibe, but he does hit his market.

These are the other 2 channels I really like.
International Scuba Divers Club
Global Underwater Explorers

Also, would love to see the guys at AQUI channel grow. I have a 3 days course with them in 2 weeks.

 

[Ulfhedinn]

I prefer GUE and ISE.

LHS does have some great content and will look through more of it now.

 

[Wibble]

Steve Martin's video courses on Sidemounting.com are excellent.

Some are free, but the majority are paywalled and very good value for money.

(Some make it to yootube, so it's on topic even if the concept of paying for quality isn't acceptable these days)

 

[SlugLife]

Steve Martin's video courses on Sidemounting.com are excellent.

Some are free, but the majority are paywalled and very good value for money.

(Some make it to yootube, so it's on topic even if the concept of paying for quality isn't acceptable these days)

Steve's videos are fantastic. I'd advocate everyone sign up (free), and go through the free videos, and there are a lot of them. If you're still intrigued after making your way through the free materials, I can say the paid ones are absolutely worth it.

Many scuba classes these days have an online portion, and often that online-portion is half the price of the class. So, whether people realize it or not, they're paying hundreds of dollars for extremely boring training materials. There's a strong economic incentive for Steve to produce good content (and he does), whereas a lot of scuba-training-agenices get away with producing boring content because customers have little choice, if they want to take a local scuba-class & certifications.

I'd like to see more content like Sidemounting.com