Philippines is great too! This one was centered around beginner dive spots, I have another around the best places I have been diving coming out soon too and Philippines will definitely make a star appearance haha.

I agree, but I do think not many divers come out of OW with strong buoyancy regardless. I personally feel in AOW it helped a lot. I don't really recommend the peak buoyancy otherwise as at least from my own experience. AOW will give you a decent basis. Fundamentals is a higher degree of precision and excellence on top of that. Unless you can literally pin your depth while moving with no more than half a meter deviation over time, there is room to improve. I feel buoyancy is one of those skills that scales exponentially in terms of improvement over time and commitment.

Loving this, thank you for sharing and glad its helpful! Let me know if there is any specific videos or content I could make in the future that'd help!

I almost always use HP100s or 12L for single, of course, also keeping out of no required decompression stops, so swallowing up as appropriate and. I don't think I've hit 2 hours myself on a single tank, but I regularly push 90 to 100 minutes. I think my record is 110 minutes. More than enough for most things. I think if you're able to comfortably get to 65 to 70 minutes with a profile down to 30 meters, you're in a pretty good place.

Florida has the best warm water dives in the States. I honestly have not dove there myself but heard good things. Just have to stay away from the caves.

@itravelwisely ill be looking into it. I want to do the Georgia aquarium dive with the whale sharks. Maybe I'll make an extended trip of it.

@MysticalDragon73 holy smokes, just looks up Georgia Aquarium, and it looks huge! Amazing, they have whale sharks. Reminds me a bot of the aquarium I saw in Dubai but even bigger. Also, California does have very nice diving with one of the largest kelp forests in the world. It's part of a larger unique eco system that rides up and down the baja. So, it extends into Mexico. Mexico is international but has some amazing diving around the Baja as well. Cozumel is also great. Caribbean is international but has a lot of options and some good places to dive, such as Bahamas, and I've heard good things about Bonaire, Caracas, and Aruba. This video mostly focused on places with gentler waters, I do have another video that I'll release soon on, perhaps a bit more speedy but legendary places to dive around the world too.

@itravelwisely the Georgia aquarium looks amazing. I saw the series aquarium on hulu that is about that aquarium. Looking into it more is when I found out about diving there. Then in my ow class, a lady had received a certificate for there as a bday present. Its why she was getting certified. You are gauranteed to see the wildlife up close. Plus you can interact with the guests outside. Ive spoken to many who have done it. They say it's worth every penny.

We dove the Blue Heron Bridge (pier dive)in FL. Lots of sea life, no currents, clear but crowded at times. just go with a guide for beginners. They take you at the proper tide time.

Good call out on the cavern, I do not cave dives, so I often just use cavern shots to portray the example, but you are correct. The reason I recommend warmer water is some folk starting off in a dry suit on certification are just asking for a very high learning curve. I think all lot of folk with lesser determination will be turned away. Everyone by all the main certification agencies will start in a pool but then usually have 4 open water dives needed, and those are certainly nicer to do than cold water and with things to enjoy and see vs a fresh water lake. I am aware that in some countries without good diving sites, it's possible to get certified in a giant pool, like in Dubai, and that might be an option. I am not aware USA has any. I do feel that diving is a bit difficult, and without an early hook for folks, it's easy to be turned away in some cases.

@itravelwisely for sure. "Cold" water is always subjective. I grew up swimming in snow melt waters of Oregon . Yet a lady in our class was shivering in an 85 degree pool. I took my drysuit pool classes the week after completing my open water sessions. Then did my certification dives with it. It wasn't too bad adding it in, but it was one more thing to keep track of. Most wore 5mm or 7mm wetsuits. I did like combining it overall but it wouldn't be good to do for many who struggle.

This is a completely valid point. I do agree with you. It's not a needed course, but it will very likely improve you as a diver in terms of knowledge of different styles of diving, control in the water, and safety. That's not a bad thing for most. Also, for me personally, I always feel I need to be getting better at something, or I get bored with it. I've picked up some sports in the past, put a lot of time in it, and peaked with my ability, and then it starts to get less interesting. Scuba diving is one of those things with an infinite skill gap with always something to see or improve, and GUE Fundies (guess is now called Performance Diver) is one of those things. Also, it certainly is a better route for most than getting a dive master certificate (unless they are really looking to work as a dive guide).

That's a miss! Can't believe I forgot to mention the reef hook. I've used them plenty, but they are a bit regional in usage. Will have to update this video at some point and make sure I include it as a tool used to hold your place in current while watching the wild life.

Yes, agreed a "tank banger" as folk call them, is handy to get attention, and then you can use your hand signals. One caveat is folk may not always hear it so I also like to use the dive torch first and flash that near someone to get their attention. If that fails, I try a tank banger. The light works wonders in most cases, and I dive with it even during day dives.

A "T" is regularly used for out of air around the world. There might be some differences, but I've never been in a case where a group didn't understand the T for half. Provided when folk are comfortable with eachother, often they just signal with a fist to the chest to let others know they've reached min gas and it's time to ascend. The two handed bar is usually 2 hands with a bar over the 3. Technical divers like to signal that we will ascend (signal) to 5 meter (5 signal) for deco stop (signal) for 3 minute (3 symbol). I've also seen people just show a 3 signal and level out.

Definitely! We just went to the Philippines recently for Tubbataha and Malapasque! There is still a lot more to see, so we'll definitely be making our way back at some point!

It's good to be a part of both, but the local one is where you can get more regular experience and grow, so it's good to be a part of some community as I've found too. There is always a lot to learn, and with svmcuba diving, it's easier to learn from others. As someone who also does skiing, hiking, and mountaineering. Something about the people and community of scuba diving has always left a big impression on me in comparison to others. Of course, it does require good leadership, as you mentioned, so I am sure there are some bad communities out there too.

In fact at a cmub meeting when talking about tanks and the experience on my last dive, they suggested for me to get a 100 or 117

@MysticalDragon73 100 is a good go to for single tank dives. 117 would be good for a bit more extended air while your learning, but I bet your air consumption will reduce with a bit more time and practice. It can take some pressure off in the meantime!

@@itravelwisely thanks. I'm likely to go with the 100 especially since it's the same diameter as the 80s in case I'm using more than just my tank On my ow cert dive i finished 500-800psi lower than others. I was in my drysuit too. So will see after I get more dives in.

Ah yes, the occasional dive buddy. You can find a group meet up, club, or more consistent dive buddy to go more regularly and be safer about it. Also, I do believe a dive team doesn't need to have pairs so when your daughter can join 3 is okay as long as everyone treats everyone apart of the dive team. This has worked for a similar situation to a friend of mine also with an occasional dive buddy daughter haha.

Ah your right, would have been good to mention or show in this video. I did go over it more in my Nirtrox video but would have been good to show it here too.

@ did you just not have 20.9% gas cylinder around ?

@arthur1670 you can use a nitrox tank with air, we fill our air at a dive shop and measure it on pick up. This one already has our measurement written on it.

True, jet fins might be its own category due to its level of success and competitors that tweaked the fin design some for other markets. I have the same issue with having heavy legs! I used to weight lifting and I hike mountains frequently, so my legs are a bit muscular, leading to some strong negative buoyancy. I can use negatively buoyant fins with dry suit fairly easily but otherwise it's a lot easier for me to hit neutral trim in wet suit with positively buoyant fins. Neutral trim is a bit of an art and by sliding weight around near your torso it should be possible to hit neutral trim that way too with neutral buoyant fins. But it's of course personal preference and what works for you.

Woohoo! I hope the video was useful! Make sure you check that white wall schedule and ensure your time overlaps with it so you can see that dive site!

@ yes that’s a part of what 😮 l waiting for to go a 360 immersive video. Great post brother!!

@scubadiveforculture

You are right, experienced divers do become more efficient and kick much less and of course there is a lot of caveats to what I said there as it would also depend on the terrain, goal, and current. But of course it was more of a general statement in an effort to catch the attention. Regardless of its less or more the fins will have a large effect in your diving over time. Hope you enjoyed the video otherwise!

Love to hear more about it after you start diving!

@itravelwisely i got drysuit qualifed during my ow cert. I plan on doing 2-3 pool sessions with my own gear just to practice in a controlled environment.

Congrats! That's the first step many don't take! With some learning curves ahead, scuba diving is truly a great sport! Hope the videos do help and let me know if you have any particular questions on the learning journey!

@ Thank you. I’ll certainly have questions during my journey. I’ve got myself some equipment I’m going to get it all serviced and plan on getting friendly with my local dive centre at Capenwray. I’ve 9 logged dives including my 4 training dives. I’d also like to learn how to catch lobsters in my local area as this was something my Dad enjoyed doing when he was a diver. Look forward to more of your content.

Yes, you are right, forced of habit of switching between you many sports.

I try, it's something I wanted to do to make my videos more accessible. I generally have dived internationally and thus got used to metric. It's also easier with the calculations. Aside that when I dive in the US, I need to be keen on getting a feel for the conversions. Making these videos has helped me with that a lot haha.

​@@itravelwisely same with bar and psi, It's appreciated - I finish my OW this weekend and I'm psyched to start exploring, your videos have been very helpful!

From my own experience a lot of this will sort itself out with practice. I know when I started diving my air consumption was horrible because of a number of things. 1) I was stressed on doing things correctly, scuba diving can feel like a lot out of the gate. 2) I was using my BCD to aggressively control my buoyancy causing constant fills and dumps instead of using my controlled breathing for precision. 3) I moved around a lot with my hands, subpar finning, and frantic breathing. All of these will negatively impact your air consumption, and dry suit diving is even more beastly than wetsuit diving. Taking that on at the same time is even more complex! Frankly there is a lot there to get more comfortable with! As mentioned in the video, you'll see a significant amount of improvement just feeling more comfortable in the water and controlling your breathing. For me the game changer was using my BCD less, today I generally only add to level off my buoyancy until we reach our maximum depth. From there I use my breathing to stabilize. If you have ground under you, you can be near it and try to hover a bit above it (just make sure you are not so close to kick up silt as in a lake that becomes a big issue). A dry suit also requires demanding good trim to prevent air from accumulate in the suit. I do not use the dry suit as a BCD, leave the dry suit dump valve open and let it squeeze, only adding minimal air to what you can tolerate in the squeeze. This is an amount you'll find what works for you but once you add air, keep it just enough to prevent the squeeze and use the BCD for the large buoyancy adjustments. The bad part about dry suit diving is it requires good trim but good trim is hard to hammer out as it also requires good buoyancy which is why its tough to jump straight to dry suit diving. But that makes it harder, not impossible. So the key is to try and practice both at the same time. A reference point like the ground will help you so you can stabilize and a certain distance through the dive and practice that buoyancy control. With time, patience, and practice, you'll see an improvement in that air consumption!

You are right. The semantics of decompression and safety stops. Safety stop really is a no-stop dive, and the safety is for added measure and to some degree practice. Whenever you ascend, you are effectively decompressing, just that your saturation has not exceeded the point to which a decompression stop is required. Effectively, to me, a safety stop, if you are to do one, is a non required decompression stop. Most everyone I've ever dived with does the safety stop for NDL dives, so I mentioned the alternative models to practice for decompression stops.

Fair enough, my style of presentation may not be for everyone. I'm also improving as I go.

This is great to read, and thank you for sharing! Scuba diving has been an amazing activity for me and something I've been growing with over the last years. There are always new things to learn, skills to perfect, places to see, and incredible sights to behold! It's amazing how hard and daunting it can feel when you begin. I almost quit, too. But stick through it, and it gets a lot better after the initial hurdles!

What's a class c license? What agency?

@@MysticalDragon73 I'm just an idiot, so thank you for calling me out. I have no clue what I'm talking about. I'm sure your a certified OPEN WATER diver. I'm sorry.

@Stephen-ix2ny did i say that? No I was just asking what it was and what agency as I'm most familiar with padi and sdi/tdi.

To my understanding, some people call certifications c-cards. So he was saying he will be taking the course to be a certified open water diver soon.

Thank you, and glad you enjoyed this one!

@ 👍

Great thoughts, and it is also awesome to have access to a dive shop with a nice pool!

One dive shop locally let's us sign up for equipment checks . Ive not been able to dive since September when I got ow qualified so I'm going to use this to practice along with getting familiar with my gear.

Thank you for the suggestion! Haven't been to the springs myself, but I've heard good things!

Haha, thank you for the support!

This video was trying to highlight differences and features of fins on the market so you can make the choice that is right for you. Regardless of if it is a 40 year old fin or a new one.

Thank you very much for sharing! I'm still in the mindset there is no perfect fin for all conditions and this was my best effort to put forward something a bit more timeless to help folk make the right decision for which fin fits what they need. Say, I'm from Seattle, too, and enjoy the sound, too! Still getting more active in the diving scene locally.

@@itravelwisely Right now all my diving is in warm water, but I still love diving in the Pacific Northwest - especially in the Neah Bay area and San Juan Islands. For diving there, I'll use my old XL Jetfins - they still serve me well.

Thank you! Yes, this video was not attempting to demonstrate proper finning. It's more of random footage I've taken over the years showing recreational diving.

Haha, took me a moment to get context from this but I suspect your mentioning how I wear the mask (facing backwards) while preparing. This is a nice way to ensure you don't forget your mask, especially for situations like liveaboards where to take a small boat away from the main boat after donning the gear. Alternative ways that work is to wear it on the neck or put it on your arm. You can also attach it if you have a double ender clip on your BCD. I figure anything that is not attached has risk of being forgotten!

I hope you enjoy the live aboard trip! They can be truly a lot of fun but I will also warn they are very tiring due to the amount of diving you'll be doing. It might be better to just plan for the time off. Further, I've been on vessels with Starlink before and its not super reliable at sea. When stationary it can be fine (but still sometimes hit or miss). Maybe its better now since the satellite network has better coverage but at least thus far I haven't seen it stable enough that I'd say you can do remote work on the boat. I'd say plan for it off, enjoy the trip and if you have energy, time, and internet you can catch up with some of the work, that way you set the right expectations and if things are well aligned you won't be disappointed.

@@itravelwisely thank you for your response. I will still have to be able to delegate work to someone else to draft the cases if I cannot do it. I usually work early in the mornings when we travel and then enjoy the rest of the day. I may be able to temp divert the new incoming cases to a different email address or have an employee monitor my email and delegate the cases. I'm thinking I might should have started off with a smaller liveaboard trip for our first one lol. But you only live once and this is going to be a great trip with some long time friends.

@kkl4815 that's great, just think of it as if you can work it's a bonus, but if you end up not being able to work at all, then your prepared. I hope you enjoy! I've been to Maldives and it's a blast for whale sharks, sharks, and other pelagics! Let me know if Starlink proves reliable as I am interested!

Great to hear, are you speaking to Peak Performance Buoyancy? I hear you, for myself, Scuba diving became immensely more enjoyable once I was able to get a grip on buoyancy. Many dives later, I do feel there is always room for critique and improvement!

It's definitely a challenge with smaller frames. Depending on your BCD, some of the cam bands can be adjusted to make it more comfortable. I think the problem with needing a 63 will be that they are hard to find, especially traveling. You might try with 80 still, position it lower, and try to move more weight around towards the center or upper torso of the tank.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Thank you! Great class! I made a video on it recently, too, but I am sure you see the fundies weaved into some of the tips, too!

Thank you so much! I've been progressively trying to improve the quality of my videos, and glad you enjoyed this one!

I mean, all thumbnails need to capture the eye, but how is this one clickbait? The video is literally about dangerous and deadly mistakes new divers face.

It isn't an advertisement, I'm sharing my experience and about the course. Also my opinion as I did like the course. I paid a considerable amount to take it and got paid nothing to make this video.

Thank you, and I'm glad you found this one enjoyable!

Thanks, mate! Glad you enjoyed this one! Slowly toying with my formats and trying to improve the quality of the videos!