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If you love Macs and are already committed to that ecosystem, get a Mac. If you're open to getting the best price/performance (plus much better repairability), get any one of a number of Windows laptops instead. The "Macs are better for creatives" thing is a myth and always has been. It's...

Ok, apologies for the now-deleted post making a joke, but seriously, this is not a shark attack. She knew the shark was there and deliberately engaged with it anyways. Hopefully someone somewhere learns something from this.

That sounds rough, sorry about that. Not the way you want to do your fist liveaboard. Your experience was not typical, especially for what is supposed to be a higher end boat (AFAIK). If you're happiest at a more relaxing pace diving 2-3 times a day you're correct that liveaboards in general...

Yeah, not saying a guest can't have a good experience with one of these operators on a given trip, but that sort of operation is just setup to fail spectacularly more often than not, and almost certainly when you most need them (like in a life and death situation). Definitely glad it worked out...

That's what you get when they have to cut costs to the point where they can cover expenses for $1000-1500 per guest per week. They outsource all the non-diving crew, along with all the safety and maintenance, to the lowest bidder. You get what you pay for guys. At least up to a point of...

Yeesh. Egypt has been on my list for a long time, but it's gonna take them years of good faith effort with the industry there to get it to the point where it's even worth considering, in my opinion. What a shitshow. If this was an isolated freak accident that'd be one thing, but they're...

I'll look into airtech for the future. Looks like they've got a good system and folks here seem to be fans.

Dimensionally the front of the DS160/161/230 are all the same width because the same Ikelite dome diffusers fit on all of them. The only real difference is the 230 has a slightly dome shaped front piece of glass, which I suppose could matter in some cases.

Always book directly with the liveaboard who operates the boat, not with a middleman or agency. Not saying it would've necessarily prevented this, but possibly could've simplified communications/resolution. Liveaboard.com or other travel/booking agencies also have no business selling trips for...

Belize is quite nice if you can get out to half moon caye and the other sights on lighthouse reef near the blue hole. Lots of sharks and other big fish in a natural non-feeding environment (see my profile pic). Lots of turtles too. There's a couple resorts out there like Huracan, but they're...

Lol, yeah sorry no thanks. A lot of that stuff does not need to be carried on in most cases, in my opinion. Is it a good idea to carry on your computer/regs/mask if you can so you're better off if a checked bag is lost? Sure, of course. But you don't have to, especially if travelling with a...

It's also plenty easy to sink/burn even a properly designed boat when it's inadequately provisioned/maintained or has unqualified or inadequate crew operating said boat. I'd venture a guess that the vast majority of these incidents are far more on the operations and maintenance than the ship...

Curious where everyone in the area gets their regs and whatnot serviced? I had issues with my regs after both of the last two maintenance cycles, and am potentially looking for someplace new in the Seattle area or on the eastside to service my gear. Don't want to name and shame or anything...

Price is probably a good starting point. I think many of the issues can be traced to the cratering of prices after instability intensified in the region several years ago. Liveaboards had to cut prices in half (or more) in order to compete regionally/globally and attract guests wary of...

From my experience, demonstrated proficiency is more important than an AOW card. I have my AOW, but I've never once been asked for it anywhere, and before I got it I did plenty of more "advanced" sites with no questions asked. Probably because the DM's saw I could handle myself. I probably...

My profile pic is a reef shark from half moon caye. Might be the very same one. But in any case yeah, the sharks at half moon in particular have little fear of divers compared to everywhere else in the world I've been. They must be very well protected there. I never saw them come at me, but...

Yeah just pick one of those three instead of trying to hop around. For Beqa there's obviously beqa resort down there, for bligh waters there's multiple choices but generally anything on the NE corner of Viti Levu or the islands offshore from there is good (but long boat rides), and for rainbow...

We just booked the Blue Manta in January 2026, 10 nights in Raja Ampat/Misool. Gonna be wild. Thanks again for all the feedback and info.

Thanks guys. I've got the MK11 EVO / C370 / R195 bookmarked. Only problem is I have to buy two, not just one, haha. Regs have gotten more expensive in the last 15-20 years! I think my Flathead 7 setup was like $600 (including octo) way back when.

Are they rebuilding/reopening Wananavu resort in Volivoli? I dove there many years ago and had some great day trips up into the Bligh pinnacle sites there, though they were long boat rides. Namena is at the far northeast side of the Bligh waters, and I think many of the sites we were diving...