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Welcome. Enjoy being able to lean on the wife for things, it's always handy to have someone close by with experience.

My BP is a Hollis solo harness with the padded shoulder bits. I wear it reasonably loose, dry suit, 5mm, 3mm, 0.5mm, I never adjust anything but the waist strap. I've just started adding some side mount bits to it, not to dive SM but to manage stages better. Diving SM has taught me some things I...

The attached is my SM waistbelt, with a fixed loop at the back and a sliding D-ring. I've been changing to the front ring at 150 bar, that felt awesome. Then I saw some pictures and the tank butts were high. I either I need to change earlier, I also think I need to tighten my bungees more and...

Welcome. The industry is full of people with 1000 dives, but if you talk to them it's really the same 50 dives repeated 20 times. They've learn a lot by rote and have little ability to apply it laterally. Self awareness is a great trait to have, good luck.

During summer the water temps will max out at 30⁰C, but I still wear a 0.5mm wetsuit and a lycra hood. Mostly for sun protection as the UV will roast me in 5mins. Jellyfish are front of mind too. Box jellies are not common on the reef but other jellies are everywhere. Irikandji are very rare...

I've borrowed a set of DCX and 200LXs, omni swivels. Very nice set up but the reality is I didn't buy them. They're very nice but the price is/was so significant, I just didn't see the value. The DCX setup is no different from any other swivel turret reg. 5th port swivel turret SM regs are the...

I'd use a high zinc sunscreen. On those days I also carry a cloth hat that I put on when we surface. It doesn't help with the reflected UV off the water, but I'm pretty bald so it's essential for me. I also have a lycra hood and sharkskin hood, but the hat brim is essential if the surface...

I've got Halcyon, my LDS has just started stocking Scubaforce wetnotes and they look pretty similar. The Apeks look interesting. I use a small bolt snap instead of the double, I have a habit of losing things on double-ended snaps.

I wear a lycra hood with my 0.5mm wetsuit. I get burnt in shallow dives in board shorts, and cold if it's a 60-70min long dive so I have a very thin neoprene wetsuit rather than other alternatives.

I went actually went 'red' on 24 April, though it appeared on PayPal it never showed here. Hopefully you got it. Anyways, gone red again, keep one as a donation.

P29 is a great dive, welcome Pierre

I have better range of movement in my right shoulder, and normally I can do the valve drill fine. But pre drysuit, when I'd have my 3mm and all my insulators on, the V drill could be a challenge. I could reach the manifold but not with enough wrist dexterity to quickly close the isolator. I...

Okay, I see how you could imply that, but I didn't say it. Technical divers are far from average, and therefore technical training cannot be part of this thread. Organisations like TecRec, TDI, GUE, ISE, IANDT etc are not in the vocabulary of the average diver. I think PADI do a fantastic job...

You're seeing that on your own. I really don't think that was agency bashing, even though you've clearly taken offence. I can't speak to the PADI TEC system, I've been to one shop that offered it, sort of. The post that started all of this was about big boats out of Cairns, which I expect I...

Split fins really helped my diving, my ankles are trashed. The local shop was PADI and no one had heard of frog kicks. New divers are very much limited to the available gear and the available level of instruction. All my hoses were the standard length they came out of the box with. Jacket BCD...

I've had similar but more measured experience with my BP&W, The instructors are often okay but the DMs and DMCs have never seen anything like it. The big boats out to the GBR are factory boats, its a production line of diving. Its nearly all shop gear and the staff are PADI centric, they've...

Are you talking about a single tank, single 1st with two 2nds on a normal K valve, but SM? Or a H or Y valve, and two first stages, in a SM configuration? Not sure it would be easier on the boat, unless you have mobility limitations and you need to gear up in the water. Handling a single tank...

I did some dives with a 72yr old in Malta last year, he was still going strong. My Dad is in that category too. Probably go down a tank size soon to reduce the dry weight, but nothing too drastic.

Hard to say, grit in the tank valve of the second tank? It might have gotten pushed into your reg when you turned on the tank valve. The HP port comes off first so that is where debris will often end up. Cannot be sure, but I have blocked a lot of hydraulic gauges over the years. Very fine...

You would've once you started rigging it up, you're bending hoses and the 5th port is looking up at you yearning to be used. The short hose comes from the left post and around the right side of your neck and the the 2nd stage on your necklace. A good test is to see how much head movement you...