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With all due respect, there is a huge difference between healthy coral that looks “drab” due to the absence of the red end of the color spectrum at depth and the look of green algae. There’s no mistaking coral for algae. Nor is there mistaking bleached coral for healthy coral. I was just in Coz...

I sure hope the reefs bounce back. I was there recently and was shocked at how bad they looked. Huge swaths were either bleached and in dire stress or had already died and were brown and covered in algae. Far fewer reef fish than I had expected. It was my first trip to the island, so I don't...

I agree. I'm not sure why they stopped making it. Perhaps it wasn't selling as well as they had hoped? I'm thinking the release of the Rogue perhaps cannibalized Outlaw sales. OP, you first should decide whether you want a BPW, back-inflate, or a jacket style BCD. From there, you have...

Aqualung recently stopped making the Outlaw. They still make the Rogue, however, which has a few more bells and whistles than the Outlaw. OP might still be able to find an Outlaw in stock from an online vendor, but replacement parts are going to be difficult to find going forward. And forget...

Has anyone else had issues with the monprene on the inner portion of the integrated weight pockets ripping where the nylon webbing passes underneath them? Mine is just starting to tear a little bit on both sides. A buddy of mine has more substantial tears in his. It's not "structural" as far...

Sorry to hear about your accident. I broke my clavicle twice - once on either side - when I was younger. The second time I did it I was a teenager and exceptionally stupid and didn't tell my parents about it. I was heavily into martial arts at the time and had a test that evening, which...

According to the arguments, they will do whichever one your gear configuration doesn't support. :p

Personally, I don't care either way. I would just like to point out, however, the hypocrisy of at least one point made in this video. One of the things we hear all the time from the long-hose crowd is that, in the event of an OOA emergency, that diver is going to come straight for your primary...

Yes, you are correct. I should have said that the AL100 is a more buoyant tank than a steel HP100. It is bigger and made of a less dense material, and therefore displaces more.

Try diving with your arms out in front of you. This will shift your center of balance as well as allow the air in the drysuit arms to offset the lift the air in your lower legs and feet provide. Look at videos and photos of solid drysuit divers and you'll see they are nearly all in some sort...

I've never used one but I know a guy who, like you, got one for free and used it for a little while. He then got rid of it and bought another steel HP100. The buoyancy swing is something like 8 lbs. from full to empty. Seems like an annoying tank to dive with.

What position are your arms in? Does your drysuit have integrated boots or does it use socks? Integrated boots tend to trap more and can make your feet floaty. Also, you can try small adjustments to the height of your tank relative to your BCD. Some people use heavy/negatively buoyant fins to...

Good points. It's the same where I live. I think the key is what you mentioned at the end - nearly all of your local instructors DM'd locally for a substantial amount of time before becoming instructors. I think the zero-to-hero thing is bad generally, but the issues with it get compounded...

Regular dive tables and many computers calculate NDL based on surfacing at sea level. If you surface at a higher elevation (lower pressure), you increase your risk of DCS. Similarly, if you surface at or near sea level but then quickly ascend to a higher elevation, whether that be in a...

I handled one and was decidedly underwhelmed. First thing, that huge "S" logo on the face is beyond annoying. The thing already says Scubapro at the bottom, so it doesn't need a glaring digital "S" taking up huge screen real estate when it's in watch mode. It's tacky looking. I think the...

I seem to recall reading that Snow was going to fail her IE but another instructor said he/she would sign off on it. But I don’t know if this is true or just hearsay that got passed around.

I'm only a DM and not an instructor, although one day I may pursue an IDC. But my opinion is that IDCs should be done in conditions/locations where the person is going to be working or hopes to be working. I don't know where Snow lived and dived before her IDC, but it seems to me that learning...

On the other, other hand... All students are supposed to be taught how to do a proper weight check, and it is a skill that is repeated several times in both confined and open water. Yet a lot of divers either skip this step when they go out on their own or just overweight themselves so they...

I think it's because the "law of primacy" is tossed around like it is, well, an immutable law of learning. It's not. There's plenty of evidence to suggest that the the law of recency is in fact what's at play. Think about how many of us were taught on our knees. Do we revert to that...

I agree 100%. The problem is that most times students don't get to choose their instructor, or even interview them beforehand. They walk into a shop, inquire about OWD certification classes, and sign up. The person they talk to might be the shop owner, manager, or just a sales person. That...