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I have booked 2 back-to-back liveaboard itineraries in the Red Sea on this boat in July 2016. I know that most of the dives will be off dinghies or tenders; what I would like to know is if the dinghies on board the Red Sea Adventurer have ladders for the divers to get back into the craft after a...

At last I will be leaving for my seciond dive trip to the Philippines next week. I am doing 5 days of diving in Anilao with Buceo (including a day trip to Verde Island, hopefully) and then off to Puerto Princesa for a week of liveaboard diving in Tubbataha. I heard that there have been some...

After the previously reported Bali trip I went to Wakatobi for more diving. I have been back in the UK for almost 2 months and should have posted this report sooner, but something or the other kept cropping-up giving me no time. Anyway, here it is and sorry if it is too long. At Bali’s Denpasar...

Reconsidering my earlier decision, I decided to continue using twin Ikelite Autoflash AF35 strobes after all for the 80 or so dives left before I retire. The battery compartment of the right strobe was flooded and Ikelite are looking at it to see if it can be repaired. If not, I'll get a new...

This is a slightly delayed trip report from my diving trip to Indonesia last month. As usually is the case, there was a huge backlog of professional and personal things to sort out after I got back from my 3-week trip and to compiling this report took its time. This trip consisted of two parts...

As mentioned elsewhere, I am now down to a single strobe due to destructive flooding of the other one. I do not want to invest in a new strobe with less than a year to go before my retirement from diving. I therefore want to know the best options to reduce shadowing and backscatter with just one...

Having used a pair of Deep Outdoor Sixgills fins (aka APS Mantaray fins) for many years and over 400 dives and loving them, I was obliged to replace them finally. I bought a pair of Hollis F2 fins, identical in every way to the previous fins except that Hollis made them rather stiffer. I was...

I used to shoot with twin Ikelite AF35 strobes till my recent trip to Indonesia. Unfortunately, midway through the trip I failed to tighten the lug on the battery compartment completely on the right hand strobe while changing batteries. It started to flood as I jumped in but I did not notice and...

I won an old Canon S95 Camera with Canon's own WP DC38 housing and with the INON DC38 Mount base attached. The ensemble is now over 250 dives old and up until 5 dives earlier was working perfectly. Unfortunately, now the housing's zoom button jams under 5 metres and no amount of post-dive...

I am doing 2 back-to-back liveaboard trips in the Red Sea in July 2016; that will be my last dive trip before retiring from the sport. The first trip is "The North and Gulf of Tiran" and this is followed immediately by the second cruise "Simply the Best" that includes Elphinstone, Big Brother...

I owned and loved a pair of Deep Outdoors Sixgills fins that over 8 years served me very well for 431 dives around the world. They were not the fastest but still very good on propulsion, could be used with any kick and were exceptional with tight turns and awkward positioning, something I do a...

I have booked 18 dives over 5 days with Buceo Anilao in late March 2016. On the map, Mabini seems to be only "across the channel" from Puerto Galera. I was wondering if it is possible to do a dayboat trip from Anilao to the Puerto Galera dive sites and if so, do the Anilao dive operators offer them?

I am going back to Bali in late September and have booked a 5-day, 18-dive package with Padang Bai Beach Resort. One of the dives that I am hoping to do is Gili Biaha near Candidasa. That location has 2 dive sites Biaha Slope and Shark Cave and I have some questions to those who have dived here...

These days I have started going on intensive dive trips involving 35 to 40 dives over 2 weeks or so. Where the water temperature is 'borderline' ie 26*C to 27*C, I have started to feel the cold midway through the trip. Under such circumstances, I wonder which wetsuit is better - a 5mm full suit...

I heard that following the success and increasing popularity of the excellent Rocio del Mar, Dora & her husband are launching a second boat? It is called Queen something or the other. Anyone have more information?

The only negative aspect of my recent visit to Bonaire is the realisation of how expensive basic essentials are on the island. Food and drink in particular are particularly so and I suppose this reflects the fact that very little grows on the arid little island and everything has to be imported...

Since I caught the diving bug in 2006, I had heard about how good the diving was in Bonaire but for various reasons I had considered and abandoned the destination several times over the years. Certainly one of the reasons was an extremely annoying “sole official agent in the UK” for...

I had planned a BIG westwards diving trip for this spring and a liveboard cruise to the Revillagigedo Islands was the first part of it. I booked this trip over 2 years ago on the Rocio del Mar and was eagerly waiting for it. It was worth the wait. From London, I flew on American Airlines to...

I am asking this question on behalf of a friend and fellow diver who is not a member of these forums. His English is limited and he feels very self-conscious about it. This guy will be on business in Indonesia in late September and has taken some time off to do a diving holiday afterwards. He...

After 8 years and 431 dives including in severe currents in places like Maldives, Komodo, Raja Ampat & Socorro, my Deep Outdoors Sixgills fins have started to come apart at the spine & so need replacement. I know that John Wagner of APS Mantaray made them independently for many years, but the...