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Agreed, but I'll add that I think Solo is an interesting step from Rec Sport over to Tech. The 100 dive requirement would impede some, but for experience sport divers it'd have many similarities to Intro to Tech but with a cert card that gives genuine value. I did Solo after a few tech courses...

There is plenty of tolerance for tank trim, you need to be safe first and foremost. The more you can feel trim shifting, the more able you will be to manage the extra tasks that come with deco procedures. You'll get coached but you won't get penalized. Look after your back first and foremost...

The SDI card is 15 with parental consent, all TDI courses are 18+. The right instructor might give be happy you the TDI in-depth experience, but they cannot give you a TDI card. An SDI card changes nothing, if tech diving is your goal they'll bundle it all up together and certify you as TDI SM...

If you go with TDI, there is no requirement to do Intro to Tech. If you have good in-water skills and 100 dives under your belt. Talk to the instructor you want to work with. Time in the water with the gear is the biggest priority, all the courses will not gloss over a lack-of-commitment. Its...

My first tech instructor planned everything in the predecessor to Multi deco. He then printed and laminated it to carry on the dive. Always the dive plan, a +5m scenario, a +5min scenario, and a lost gas scenario. He had his computer in gauge mode and just followed the plan. For me if you get...

Have you ever done a dive where the Surf GF never drops below 99? If not your horizons are narrow, which is fine, but you're ignoring how a lot of people enjoy their diving. Fringing reefs, even getting up onto a barrier reef, your main limits are air consumption, thermal comfort and the boat...

Ideally you want two computers running the same algorithm, and the same gradient factors if the computer is fancy enough. But this depends on the type of diving you're doing. If you're solo diving inside NDLs, all you need are two computers basically acting as a depth gauge and a bottom timer. A...

Its never a race, both in the water and up the course progression chart. Aim to be smooth with every movement and every skill. Get your gear balanced and try to be still in the water. Hard to do in hire gear, harder to do when its all new and exciting. Just enjoy the dive, enjoy the moment. Some...

My kids are 6 and 9 and its a mission. Its about opportunities and you are not able to take them all. Last year I got to go to Bikini Atoll, this year it's looking like I'll do 20 dives or less. I keep an eye on what the local tech community is doing and jump in when I can. I'm more than a few...

Hi volunteer team. I can see PayPal processed my SB Supporter automatic payment on the 23rd April. Is that visible on your end? ID number is 8A559495ML433683R if that comes through. No urgency, I lost it a year or two ago but thought I should make sure SB is actually getting the money rather...

P2 is a great unit. There is a group on FB that has some ongoing discussion as well as a few aftermarket bits and pieces. I have a few stands from Marek, they're far more stable than the Hollis optional stand. Definitely get a stand. When I bought my unit, the previous owner had a sheet metal...

+1 for Bikini Atoll with Master Liveaboards. Trimix is available for CCR (not for OC) and whilst the O2 is only 92% and they won't boost above 150bar, but it never stopped us. We had a solid 100min on the Saratoga, 190min dive all up, it gloriously warm water. Sorb cost a fortune, but with 4hrs...

I own Jet Fins, but the foot pocket shape won't fit my high arches. I can get the ball of my foot into the foot pocket but no deeper. The design is superb, there must be five or six very similar fins the market, but each has differences that make or break them as a personal choice. There is also...

No, the vague innuendo is simply that doing Fundies will solve the issues of an Indian-based diver. Are there any GUE instructors in India? Should he fly back to Thailand to do Fundies? Or should he just practice locally and maybe we give him some actual advice on skills he can use to get...

Traveling with a CCR is a mission. My baggage is about 45kgs, depending on what the gear config is. About 12kg more than an OC setup, and that is getting tanks, sorb and gas tester at the other end. You do need a tech friendly shop, of which there are many, and a tech friendly boat or shore...

As you've seen, GUE Fundies is the oft recommended answer when people have little else to contribute. GUE is a miniscule community, especially outside the USA. I will agree the GUE divers that I have dived with are impeccable in the water, but their dive planning and decompression theory wasn't...

Regarding loss of gas, there is/was already an accepted scenario for this, at least back when I did AN & DP. Lost gas was a deco scenario. We always did four dive plans. The plan, 5m too deep, 5mins too long, and then lost gas. How long would it take to decompress using back gas if you lost...

I use the Shearwater computer feature, but I would like something that had a better UI for scenario planning and I'll try some of these apps suggested. The last trip I did was remote and we had to order gases in advance. That meant a night sitting with my Perdix doing dive plans to try different...

Diving in Bikini, we had some really slick SM divers. My experience is four bottles with SM is a hassle and I much prefer BM, but with your back its worth the effort. One of the SM divers was a really petite woman, she mostly geared up sitting on the platform and sorted herself in the water...

You don't need to hit 45m to get experience. Diving doubles at every opportunity, take a S40 deco bottle even if you don't need it. Dive with a buddy pair and run 5m deeper because you're self-sufficient, you'll hit NDLs quickly. Even if you don't, its practice with the gear that really matters...