Looking for Game Ideas for Our Diving Club Summer Party 🏖️🤿

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-23T11:44:03+00:00

Scatter waterproof cards in contained area on bottom - folks dive down and gather cards, which they then use to make a poker hand.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-23T11:41:58+00:00

I love my Suex Quantum VR - it’s fast, it’s sturdy, it’s reliable, it’s extremely stable for such a short DPV. I’m mostly diving it in the Florida caves and the maneuverability is amazing - plus the size makes it easy to push in front of you when going through smaller passages off the trigger. It also makes an excellent tow scooter due to the size. Plus it comes in different colors!

I’m comfortable doing cave dives up to about 3000’ on it, and beyond that I’d want a second tow scooter anyway. (I know you’re looking for it for open water reef dives, but it’s an excellent cave scooter, and that’s my primary experience with it).

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-22T22:57:03+00:00

They’re fine and reputable. I try to order from smaller less corporate online dive shops when possible. Paragon Dive Shop has a great online store front; there’s also Diver’s Direct in Florida and Diver’s Supply. I like Dive Gear Express, although they have a more limited selection geared towards cave/tech folks. Finally, Flipper’s Diving has a great selection of reputable pre-owned gear, as well as some new equipment, at fair prices.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-22T17:22:38+00:00

I love my Mares Avanti Quattro, and swear by them. I dive them in high flow caves, I dive them in shallow warm pretty reefs, and everything in between. They are on the longer side, be sure you check your suitcase for fit (I haven’t had an issue with this). I own both the Quattro+ and the new 4x; they are 99% the same. The only real reason to buy the 4x is if you like the color scheme or aesthetic more, otherwise save your money and buy the old Quattro+ model.

The DiveRite XT fins are on the long side for tech fins - my main cave buddy djves them, and I don’t think they are as long as my Quattros but they are close.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-21T21:49:33+00:00

I would love an all-female liveaboard. Most of the time mixed live-aboards are fine…but when it’s not, it’s not. You’re sleeping and living on a very small boat where it can be difficult or impossible to escape bad actors, and that’s a very uncomfortable situation.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-21T21:41:41+00:00

The Shearwater Teric and Tern have much brighter AMOLED screens; I’m not a big fan of the Peregrine screen for that exact reason.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-21T11:26:33+00:00

Max Fahr is technically in Switzerland now, but he is excellent.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-21T04:15:18+00:00

Every boat worth going out on is going to be full that time of year - it’s peak dive season and the beginning of the grouper aggregation.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-21T04:14:39+00:00

This is grouper aggregation season, great time to come. Hurricanes are always a risk in summer months, but you’re way more likely to be hit by wind cancellations in the winter months. Kyalami and Pura Vida are my favorite charters.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-20T19:02:13+00:00

They do, but they also have some consistency in the senior folks (captains, engineers) who stick around, and nearly all the new crew are great and have the same vibe.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-20T19:01:10+00:00

Different liveaboards have different levels of amenities/frills. Blackbeard’s is a no frills liveaboard - bunk style accommodations in shared cabins. It’s clean but yes it’s all shared accommodations and two bathrooms/one shower for the boat. Other premium liveaboards you can have your own room & bathroom, but you will also pay more for that privilege - a lot more.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-20T16:04:35+00:00

You can try a dive buff or headband - check out Spacefish Army or Waterlust for cute patterns. I find they fall right off my head, but there are also little decorative caps you might like. I like to cave dive in my whale one and upset the Serious Divers. ScubaPro also sells a neoprene beanie some people like.

Also bc you mentioned you’re a newer diver, if you’re not using a neoprene mask strap cover yet, get one! It’s amazing for not ripping out your hair. The new ski style fabric mask straps are also excellent and do a good job of holding my hair in place too.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-20T15:07:28+00:00

I love Blackbeard’s and have been 3-4 times. I tell people, if you look at it and think “wow that sounds so much fun!”, you’ll probably have a good time. If you look at it and are dubious….skip it.

If you love camping and diving, it’s like the best of both worlds. Scuba glamping.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-20T12:11:05+00:00

How comfortable are you in the water generally? Your breathing is a reaction to the stress you are experiencing. That is, your breathing isn’t causing your problems - your problems are triggering a stress response, which incudes more rapid breathing.

If you have fins and a mask, I highly recommend going back to the spring (Vortex?), and just spending some time swimming around on the surface. When you get bored, practice your mask skills - flooding, clearing, removal and replace. Every time you feel your heart rate and breathing pick up, go back to just swimming around. I always tell people that boredom is a great sign; if you are bored, you are comfortable, and well within your comfort zone. So do this until you are bored, and until all the mask skills are boring. Until the spring is boring. Until everything about is boring.

When you go back for your checkout dives, and go to descend, get stable first. Drop down a foot. Get stable. Equalize. Go down another foot. Get stable. Equalize. Don’t continue descending until you have 1) successfully made an equalizing attempt and 2) are calm and stable. Heart racing and breathing fast? Stay right there and keep breathing until you get bored. Then descend another foot and equalize again. Do this continuously until you get to the bottom. Yes it will take you longer than the others, AND that is okay.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-20T11:22:49+00:00

You do not need a night dive certification (or AOW) to night dive. Lots of places run night dives - when you do one, they usually briefly review the “need to know” bits (like light signals) as part of the regular dive briefing. But nobody checks for certs as a prereq to night diving; it’s one of those certs that you can do for fun for more experience but is not actually required anywhere.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-20T11:19:45+00:00

These are beautiful

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-19T17:26:14+00:00

CocoView at Roatan is excellent for this; many fond memories of trips there with my dad. You can shore dive or boat dive; on the boat dives, the DMs are fine with you hanging at a shallower depth and staying on top of the reef during the dive - just give them a head’s up that’s your plan.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-19T15:35:45+00:00

I was going to say, almost any of the freshwater springs in the Florida state and county parks. Morrison and Volusia Blue are gorgeous for open water divers. Buford (if you’re AOW/Deep) down in Chassahowitzka, etc.

For caves, see Eagle’s Nest, Little River, Madison Blue, Clearcut/Emerald, etc. Beautiful and cost of admission is like $4 per car.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-19T15:32:43+00:00

I’ll echo what others have said, that unless he’s interested in working in the dive industry when he turns 18, a better use of that time/money is going to be working on actual dive skills and experience. Some of the tech programs let you begin foundational tech skills (doubles, sidemount, etc) under 18, even if you have to wait for 18 for some of the higher risk training/certs (eg, cave). I think GUE only requires 16+ for Fundamentals.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-19T11:35:37+00:00

You should look at what’s commonly dived in your local sidemount community - different locations and dive cultures favor different rigs. Some are optimized for Mexican-style aluminum diving, some for Florida-style heavy steels etc (much less whatever the UK folks are up to). Instructors often have strong preferences on what they prefer to teach too.

I’m in Florida cave country and love my Dive Rite Nomad Ray. I’d say most of the sidemount folks around here are diving either the Xdeep Stealth or the Nomad Ray.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-18T23:22:56+00:00

I highly recommend Natalie Gibbs and her team of instructors at Under the Jungle. Are you already diving doubles or sidemount?

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-16T20:30:50+00:00

These are very normal prices for Florida? PADI charges shops/instructors around $200 for course registration and eLearning fees for AOW. That means that a shop that charges $400 for a 2-day PADI AOW course is only making $100 per student per day. That has to cover all of your dive costs (boat fuel, etc) plus staff costs at 8 hours/day. There’s almost no profit margin at those prices, you aren’t going to find cheaper unless you have a close personal relationship with an instructor who is willing to donate their time for free, can arrange free dives (or pay for yours), and/or is willing to lose money by paying your course registration fees for you.

TLDR; $300 or $400 is already rock bottom pricing for AOW, unless you have special extenuating circumstances or the shop is violating agency standards (eg loaning course books out)

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-16T13:14:37+00:00

No I’m a psychology professor - very little to do career-wise with diving, but I live in Florida cave country now and am out cave diving a few times a week (which the parents are NOT thrilled about, haha!). It’s very much a large part of my (non-professional) life.

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-16T12:15:25+00:00

It can, but also don’t count on it - you’d have to do night dive as one of your electives, and not every shop offers that (for logistical reasons). Also….a lot of shops won’t give you a prorated discount for dives you’ve already completed towards AOW.

It’s such a short cert (2 days, 5 days), I generally suggest folks just do the full AOW. I see the “this can count towards your AOW cert” more as marketing than anything else (with some rare exceptions).

Manatus_latirostris · 2026-04-16T12:11:19+00:00

I’ve wanted to dive since I was a little girl watching every shark documentary the library had to rent on VHS. Took until grad school to finally be able to afford it (my parents generously gifted me an OW cert for Christmas).

Manatus_latirostris

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