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My paranoid, tight-fisted, Scottish fear about masks with corrective lenses is if my prescription changes too much over time and I have to buy a different mask. I'm still diving the first basic Scubapro mask I ever bought, and I love it - it's never leaked a single drop, unlike the Venom ARC I...

Bloody whippersnapper! :( I've worn daily disposable contact lens for my last 100 or so dives and never had one come out yet. Put them in in the morning, dive, snorkel, swim, take 'em out at bedtime and throw them away. Mind you, my mask hasn't flooded during that time for real, but I've done...

I was just fine for back-to-back dives in a 5mm shorty in April - but I'm Scottish. Everyone else looked to be in at least a 3mm or 5mm full suit.

That's a bummer. Although, having recently seen what 6 drysuit noobs look like trying to maintain a steady depth in shallow water with a silty bottom when overweighted, I can sort of understand it. One possibility might be to do a drysuit certification while you're actually in Iceland. The...

Mmmm, Bombay Bad Boy!

No, I was there on the 31st. It's a helluva dive, and I'm really glad I did it, but I'm not sure I'd ever do it again. Not in the winter at any rate.

That's what I thought, as an avowed warm water rash vest diver, until after a dive at Silfra last month when I had to slog up a 400m icy path post-dive in a dry suit with all the trimmings (including 16Kg of lead). And I haven't smoked for 20 years now!

Only a knowledgeable medical professional who has assessed you in person can tell you whether or not you are "fit" to dive. But, FWIW, just about every DM I've ever seen in the Red Sea is on two packs a day (Camels usually, no pun intended) so it's definitely not an absolute contraindication.

I think the operative word is "continuous". If the DM is already at 30 feet and pursuing a diver in an uncontrolled descent, they're hardly going to turn round and go back to the boat just to bang on the ladder.

I may be missing something obvious here Terry, but why did the 4 of you "continue the dive" after being signalled to go up by the DM? Let alone to 173 feet? The way you've worded this, it doesn't sound like a down current was involved.

One further thought came to me, about something which really doesn't seem like a big deal when you're choosing which resort to go to, but which can begin to grate as the time goes by. In some resorts e.g. Barbados it's a 30-minute (at least) minibus ride through rush hour traffic each way to &...

^ Pretty much this. If, like me, you have a non-diving partner who doesn't appreciate you going AWOL all day every day, then it works out pretty well. There are plenty of things to keep such a partner occupied in various degrees of luxury while you're way. (Then mine doesn't mind when I hit the...

You think the Euro's bad, you should see the pound! :( I remember the Euro's 2001/2 plummet below dollar parity as if it was yesterday. Between the introduction of the Euro and Y2K it was a great time to be in computing.

Lucky you didn't say "Spiffing". :gas:

How long was it from the first clouds to the snow storm? Perhaps it's lucky it didn't start an hour later or you'd have had a rather unpleasant surprise when you surfaced. :cool:

I've driven through El Quseir a few times and "garden spot" is perhaps the last description that came to my mind. Guess I'm missing something. There's enough variety of dive sites around Marsa Alam to make a fortnight fly by, and there are a number of decent hotels at or near Port Ghalib, all...

Careful now, I hear they have culture there. Luckily there's no evidence it's contagious. :p

Yes, there lots of good options for liveaboards. Or consider actually staying in Marsa Alam/Port Ghalib and do day/boat diving from there. There are some decent hotels going dirt cheap at present - I'm off there myself in a fortnight. Thomson do a direct flight from Gatwick to Marsa Alam once a...

I went to Malta with my daughter in November last year, when our Sharm trip got canned. If you enjoy wrecks, this is definitely an option. The sea should still be quite warm - I was in a 5mm wetsuit throughout, no hood or gloves, with no problems. The weather up top might not be too hot, though...

Understood. The bed is made, and we must lie in it. Thanks for the explanation.