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Yeah, here on Scubaboard. There is a magazine called Undercurrent that has good info on destinations organized in a useful way, though you can probably find much of the same info here someplace. Certain magazines are mostly about the advertising, fine to enjoy the pretty pics and get ideas...

Diving a drysuit yourself is one thing but thats not what this is about. Getting a casualty in a drysuit up, when you have no experience with it, when things have already by definition gone south, is a different matter.

I didn’t think there was shore diving from Ambergris. Only boat diving so you’d presumably get buddied up with someone on the boat and/or be diving with the DM. Curacao is a big island. It’s as touristy as you want, or not, depending where you stay and go. Plenty of shore diving and boat...

Matters at least as much if not more what other divers in the Rescue class are wearing. Rental gear is fine. Taking the class is good. Diving more is good. I wouldn’t overthink this one.

I think it’s common for people to be bored or unhappy with their jobs - as they joke, that’s why they call it work. They get ideas about something that seems more fun or interesting, I’ve certainly been there, but those ideas are not always practical. What you’re talking about would seem to have...

Make the effort to dive Watamula. Mushroom Forest is ok but nothing to go out of your way for (anymore, used to be quite something but after years of storms and diver pressure not so much.) Free tanks for the day with a morning boat trip is pretty common. I don’t know if that applies with an...

That makes me want to plan a trip right now.

Barge vs Aggressor - I think the seaworthiness of the passengers is more of an issue on the Aggressor than the barge. The Cayman Aggressor IV of course is not a new boat to Cayman - it spent many years doing that crossing, The V was there for awhile, then the IV came back (Dunno about the...

It can happen, but I don’t find it common. And it will be one or a couple annoying people at most not everyone. And when the annoying people are in their cabins it gives everyone else another thing to talk about. 😹 Only time I found it a problem was our trip on Carribean Explorer, which really...

I agree, doing a LOB solo will generally get you people to dive with besides a DM. There’s usually some individual divers on LOBs, or sometimes people traveling with a non-diver. Maybe a greater chance of finding a better diver and actual buddy on a LOB where the divers tend to be more serious...

Look for dive shops that run group trips. Doesn’t even have to be your local shop. These trips usually have a fair number of folks in the same situation. There are also people out there that organize private group trips. These are harder to find and get on, usually its because you met someone...

If you are forced to return from Little to Grand on a Saturday, another strategy to avoid the Saturday GCM departure mess is to extend your vacation and stay on Grand a few days, time and budget permitting. Dive some more, eat, shop, enjoy umbrella drinks on the beach, whatever. Little to Grand...

I miss Island Air. Even (or especially) flying on the even smaller planes, sitting by both a crate of eggs and a cage of chickens. You got there. They apparently still fly charter to a bunch of places, but not within Cayman. Does the government not want competition or what?

I've only dove Grand Turk from a LOB (Wind Dancer, which is now Okeanos Aggressor.) I wasn't that impressed with the diving and have no interest in returning. I like the diving on Little Cayman. (LOB once and from LCBR a bunch of times.) Avoiding weekend flights to Little is absolutely a good...

Delay is certainly more likely than loss. I think one is more likely to be sensitive to the possibility if you've had some bad luck. After 30+ years of dive travel we've had stuff delayed twice ever. Once was on the way home from Curacao so no biggie. Once was in Barbados on the way to St...

Given you are in the US it makes sense to start with a Caribbean liveaboard. It would be helpful to know what you are expecting, though there’s actually not so many (unique) choices that it will matter a lot at this stage. And yes do AOW and Nitrox if you haven’t. Or even plan to do it on the...

Mostly no, I can’t really be bothered. My husband, I’m not sure he would still be into diving if not for photography, which has been a hobby for him since high school including developing his own film. He started with a class with a real pro in Bonaire and a NikonosV, and now dives with a...

Yes most non-US carriers have smaller weight and size limits on carry on. Different places and airlines (and even agents) will enforce different things. (Was definitely an issue when we were in Australia.) Also some places you will be taking small planes that you can’t carry on much. So while...

We found dive boats in the Philippines to have some of the worst ladders. Often they use large bangkas with the outriggers and ladders built of bamboo. The geometry of the whole thing often results in a ladder that barely got into the water. Mr. Damsel has limited flexibility and had a heck of...

I’m very familiar with the area, stayed/dove there many times when it was Habitat. Aside from dives on site we prefer boat diving though so totally have a need for a boat. ;) I didn’t realize the op there no longer ran a boat? Their website says they run a 2-tank boat dive from there every morning.