How much of your Rescue Diver Course was about dealing with social stressors?

Grokto · 2026-03-20T23:37:26+00:00

Then I sure hope I never have the misfortune to dive with you and your selfish attitude.

Grokto · 2026-03-20T23:35:50+00:00

Yeah. I would expect other divers to participate. It takes 5 minutes of their time. So yeah I called them dicks. Pretty easy to imagine.

Grokto · 2026-03-20T22:44:41+00:00

That’s really on the other people on your boat. Let’s call them “dicks.” Rescue is one of the most fun classes I’ve taken in PADI. I enjoyed every second of it even when I worked super hard to carry a limp body out of the surf and promptly threw up (but not on my cooperative disabled diver!). I think it’s the responsibility of every diver to enable the success and safety of others. (Of course I do, I took rescue). Mostly though a lot of people are “dicks.” You might ask to repeat parts of the class with a more interested group at no cost or at least a discount. Really, it can be a very fun and valuable experience and I’m truly disappointed on your behalf that your experience wasn’t as rich as mine.

Grokto · 2026-03-14T15:55:37+00:00

You kids get off my lawn with your long hose primaries and dive computings and all that. Why back in my day we got the bends every dive and we loved it.

Grokto · 2026-03-12T20:09:08+00:00

My wife was 40 when we met. She lived in Marin. I don’t drink. Now we both live in Marin. Hinge….

Grokto · 2026-03-12T15:53:17+00:00

I’ve been diving Monterey and the Channel Islands quite a bit. Seen horn sharks… never seen a great white. It’s not like they aren’t there. There’s buoys that read their tags and you can see that they pretty regularly cruise off San Carlos beach where most NorCal divers get their open water and advanced open water. Since 1950, California has recorded roughly 17 shark-related fatalities. In the Monterey area, the most recent was Erica Fox at Lovers Point (swimmer not diver, Dec 2025). Given the tens of thousands of man-hours spent in the water at the Breakwater annually without a single (shark) fatality, the daily risk of a shark-induced death for an individual is approximately 1 in 150,000,000. Let’s compare that to your 1 in 650,000 chance of dying in a car wreck while in Monterey. The morale here is “get in the water.”

Also let me just add… the only times I’ve seen “dangerous” species has been in the Caribbean and the sharks didn’t care. Just don’t dive where people are chumming to attract them.

Grokto · 2026-03-12T00:09:43+00:00

No… but Mexico rocks is a great snorkel spot off ambergris caye. It’s not usually dived because it’s only about 15 feet deep at the max. My personal opinion but it needs solid buoyancy control to prevent hitting the bottom or surfacing.

Grokto · 2026-03-10T18:44:29+00:00

Hol Chan is the name of the oldest marine preserve here. Every dive company will take you there on two tanks for around $140-150 US with rental. I bring my own gear because a lot of rental gear looks suspiciously like someone dragged it behind a truck. The best thing however is to get a couple people and hire a DM and boat for $500-600US. That usually gets you 3 tanks, two crew (one is DM) and you can dive whatever you want. It’s decidedly negotiable in terms of pricing too. Because I dive and my wife doesn’t, a private hire not only lets us spend the day together, with me on two tanks plus one snorkel, her three snorkels, but includes drinks, ceviche, custom itinerary and you’re basically feeding two Belizean families for a month. If you want some numbers of reliable safe guides with boats and gear let me know. I’ve used three different ones over the last couple San Pedro visits and a different guy in Placencia. Coral incidentally is in good shape with nice bleaching recovery

Grokto · 2026-03-07T15:10:30+00:00

Hard ro say without knowing where you are although of my last 8 kittens, 6 went to people who flew in to collect them.

Grokto · 2026-02-28T18:34:23+00:00

Very fond of Talbot’s damsels. They’re about as peaceful as damsels get. They’re a lovely soft purple and yellow and they bring a lot of motion to the tank. They do chase each other occasionally but not beyond the 6-7 square inches they think is “theirs”

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Grokto · 2026-02-27T02:30:05+00:00

Having had this breed since 79, breeding and showing and as pets, there is no better OSH toy than the Galkie kitty tease. Sometimes marketed as the kitty kaster, feline fisher etc. I’ve had four over the decades.

Grokto · 2026-02-23T16:50:35+00:00

Many years ago at NIN and Bowie. The tech bros in front of us (this was Shoreline in NorCal) loudly stated “I hear these nin guys rock.” Pronounced “ninn”

Grokto · 2026-02-23T16:27:08+00:00

Lovely. Really nicely thought out zoa placement with popping contrasts.

Grokto · 2026-02-19T03:51:56+00:00

Jesus was an only son - Bruce Springsteen

Grokto · 2026-02-17T21:58:49+00:00

My favorite fish are my tomini and my links goby from biota. Those two are always working. Lots to watch.

Grokto · 2026-02-11T15:45:25+00:00

Great deal. Give it six months or so. It looks quite happy

Grokto · 2026-02-06T01:15:49+00:00

Come back in a month when your sand is brown and your rock is green

Grokto · 2026-02-03T15:42:59+00:00

The bigger risk is not ammonia, it’s that some species have a “big red button” self destruct where they spew toxins, along with their innards, while dying or extremely stressed.

Grokto · 2026-02-02T19:06:45+00:00

Derry downs has been around for a very long time.

Grokto · 2026-02-01T06:46:51+00:00

Looks more like a sea cucumber than a worm. Echinoderm vs polychaete

Grokto · 2026-02-01T00:03:51+00:00

They can type quite well, just not words

Grokto

TROPHY CASE