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The ScubaBoard debate about if and when to take AOW has gone on as long as there has been a ScubaBoard. I think it is useful to look at the origin of the course. The first real certification program was LA County's. They essentially copied a course created by the nearby Scripps Institution for...

Time to dust off an old favorite.

When I was working as an instructor for a shop and complained about the fact that I was paid far, far below minimum wage, the Director of instruction said that the law does not require them to pay instructors minimum wage, because they make up the rest with tips. I told him that the law does not...

Me, too. It happens. I had a really weird thing happen on one--and only one--of my dives. It may have been around my 1,000th or so. I realized during the dive that I was exhaling out of my nose a lot. I honestly could not stop doing it for quite a while. Then it stopped, and everything was back...

It is more than just removing the plugs. Modern yoke fill whip connectors attach almost instantly. DIN takes a l o n g time. If you have a number of tanks to do, the time difference between yoke and DIN is huge.

In the post above, I wrote, Starting this Sunday, we will be on a 5 day Caribbean dive trip, and by calling ahead we learned that we would absolutely need to bring our adaptors. They only have yoke, with no ability to get DIN. I am on that trip now, and my friends and I are using the DIN...

Try a different doctor. I know people who dive with both trial flutter and atrial fibrillation with the blessing of knowledgeable doctors.

Put a good-fitting mask on your face without putting on the strap. Sniff in slightly. That will make the pressure outside the mask higher than the pressure inside the mask. The mask should now stay firmly on the face, even without the strap being in place. I used to do this demonstration before...

Everything I own is DIN, but the friends with who I have been going on annual dive trips and I have learned to be careful. Starting this Sunday, we will be on a 5 day Caribbean dive trip, and by calling ahead we learned that we would absolutely need to bring our adaptors. They only have yoke...

It really is surprising to see that someone has reached the level of instructor without any dives to 100 feet. In my early diving, I was just looking for ordinary diving experiences, nothing special. I just checked my old log books, and I found that by dive #100, I had 8 dives in excess of 100...

I attended an introduction to scuba at a hotel pool in Hawai'i and did the introductory exercises. I had no trouble with the introductory skills, but the others did, so I swam around and had fun after each skill while he worked with the others. I eagerly signed up for the Discover Scuba dive the...

Several people have mentioned this. In my experience teaching new divers, most leaks were caused my their mouth movements. Learn to maintain a true poker face. I mentioned that in a class once, and my assistant told the class that he bought three masks before he figured that out.

My wife and I visited Cozumel, and we decided we would go back there every other year. I took a discover scuba dive there, and it was nice. I had done wone many years before elsewhere, and that was good, too. Therefore, I decided I would get certified so that on our trips to Cozumel, I could do...

In my early tech diving training, I noticed something that might be telling. On our dives, we would go deep, go through gas switches, etc., before getting to the main part of our bottom time, when we would be swimming along a wall at a specific depth on cruise control for a while. We, of course...

There was an OOA incident, ending near Grand Cenote near Tulum a couple years ago in which two people perished, and the details do suggest a highly increased RMV. The two entered the cave using stages, dropped the stages, and continued on while dong a lot of videotaping. At some point they were...

Putting pockets on the cam bands works well, and I don't know why you would do anything else. I have the two cam bands reversed so I can easily put a pocket on either side of the tank. That way I have a higher pocket and a lower pocket, and they are balanced side to side.

I find it easier to handle during setup on a crowded boat. That's not a whole lot, I know, but it works for me.

As I posted back in February, for single tank diving with no possibility of going through a restriction during an OOA incident, I much prefer the 40" hose. I use a swivel so the secondary is comfortable in the mouth. It routs under my right arm so it is very streamlined.

I have no quarrel with anything anyone has said so far. The differences are surprisingly significant because of the water temperature, flow, common depths, and cave structures. I think you really need to use a drysuit in Florida, and if you decide to do that, you should be an experienced...

Before you get your tanks hydroed, check with the people doing the test. I started a thread on this about 1.5 years ago. Here is a quick summary. I had my tanks hydroed at Force E Scuba in Florida, and the company said they did it in-house. It took a couple of weeks to get it back, and when...