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We are headed to Paradise with a group of ladies today!

Everyone on scubaboard dives DIN. And yet, somehow, 99% of the regs I see in Florida (outside of cave diving) are yoke. Yoke is clearly the "norm" (descriptively) for recreational diving, at least in the US.

Depends where you live; here in High Springs/Gainesville? Everyone fills to 3600+ (LP, HP, doesn't matter). I hear things are different in south Florida...

If you can get high pressure fills, I'd go with the HP100s. It's nice not to HAVE to carry the stage.

Yup, I think you said it was DIN at some point (or I assumed that). I don't keep my DIN dust caps on my regs either (entanglement hazard, plus I don't want them to get wet and trap moisture/salt in the reg).

I assume, because the regulator will be on his tank that he is diving...

Yep, it's a cavern. You can still ascend directly to the surface if you stay in the that initial big vertical shaft as you descend; past about 110-120' it transitions to overhead environment (and gets very deep). Kinda like a big "L" shape.

Yep, you can do all that in any order, it’s all in the same spot.

Jenny! How have you not been to Buford??? Girl. Go!!!! In my book, it's the single most gorgeous cavern dive in Florida. Here's a magazine piece about it. Buford browns out in the summer, but should clear again around October (and, it's too hot and muggy and full of bugs to be out there this...

Yep, leave it on the boat! When you reach the exit at the shore dive, you'll walk up onto the sand, and across to the boat docks to your cubby holes. In the mornings, the DMs will be waiting to take your tank & BC from you, and you can dunk everything in the rinse tanks, and leave it at your...

It’s a treasure hunt. I think newer divers are unlikely to find it as fun because when you start out, EVERYTHING feels like a treasure hunt - oh, a coral, a fish! A turtle! But once you’ve seen all those things a ton, it can become fun to try to find the “small stuff” - it’s part luck, part...

Yep; my TDI AN/DP class included two deco gas switches (to 50% at 70’ and then to 100% at 20’).

The 32-pound lift should be plenty for single tank recreational diving. I have a friend who’s a very big guy (considerably larger than you), and a BC with thirty pound lift is able to float his weights and tank without a problem. Have you been able to try the BC on, to see if you like the way it...

Hey there - if you’re looking to meet other local divers, there’s a dive club in Gainesville (Scuba Monkey Dive Club) that meets the first Tuesday of the month, and a dive club in Williston (Florida Springs Dive Club) that meets the second Thursday of the month. Both do a monthly club dive. I...

This is a question for your instructor. Do what your shop/instructor asks you to do. Some shops use the eLearning, others still do the traditional in-person classroom. If you don't like what your shop does, pick another shop/instructor.

Go ahead and take the course at home - at least the book/classroom learning and pool work. You can do the check-out dives there or get a “referral,” and do the open water check-out dives at a tropical destination somewhere to finish your cert. You’re usually expected to own your own mask and...

I dive 3-4 times a week; owning saves at least four trips to the dive shop each week (fills only, instead of pick up and drop off). Plus I can go to the shop when it suits my schedule instead of having to make two trips within a specific 24-hour period to avoid multi-day rental charges. It’s...

I think mr_v is pointing out that there may be more to safe DPV use, if the prerequisite for even being eligible to enroll in a DPV course (in this case, cave DPV) is so high. 50 cave dives is halfway to your Abe Davis award. If using DPVs were that simple, surely all new cave divers would be...

Hey there, if you’re on Facebook, the “Scuba Girls of Florida” group is very active, and a great place to find buddies and community.

There’s definitely room for variation, but I’d have significant pause if I ran into an instructor insisting that “most” people do long hose on left (in SM or BM), or that it’s not okay to wrap the hose around the neck, or that a bungeed necklace is an entanglement hazard. That’s just…not true...