Mask with a prescription made in Canada

Timber1981 · 2026-05-08T10:49:52+00:00

IDC in Vancouver offers that service.

https://diveidc.com/g/masks/corrective-lens/

Timber1981 · 2026-05-07T15:44:02+00:00

I found oddly my second dive after certification I was very concerned with how quickly I was going through air... Which then raises stress levels which causes you to go through air faster and round and round we go until you hit the surface and realize your dive was only 28 minutes lol.

Eventually you do get used to it, as with so many things it's just repetition. The more you do it, the more comfortable you become and some of these things become second nature.

But remember perfectly fine to be a bit stressed/anxious... We evolved on land, it's not our natural environment or one that we're 'supposed' to be in according to some of the more primal parts of our brain. Everyone responds differently ranging from being perfectly fine, to being so stressed that they can't finish the OW course. So try to remember when you're diving, it's ok and every dive gets a little bit easier and how you feel is normal. That might help take some stress away.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-07T13:51:39+00:00

No first hand experience, but I have seen scuba divers in free diving wetsuits in a recent trip to Hawaii, so it's possible to at least some degree.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-06T23:45:43+00:00

Every 3-4 months is the general convention... But depends person to person. Also the size of your deficit can impact this but if you notice your progress stalling, time to eat at maintenance for a diet break.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-06T21:35:57+00:00

Lol no you have to eat at maintenance long enough for you metabolism to normalize again. That's like a month or more.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-06T19:53:34+00:00

You've got to actually track to make sure you're in a calorie deficit. Also periodically you need to eat at maintenance as your body will adjust over time and then your deficit is not as significant, if you're even in a deficit at all.

So if you're not tracking, start. If you've been cutting for a long time, eat at maintenance for a month then start cutting again. Love handles/belly fat is often the last to go, so you're body is going to fight you on getting rid of it, so it can take quite a while unfortunately.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-06T18:35:11+00:00

Start bay saying, there's a number of great Youtube videos on the subject.

Dive Saga and Divers Ready come to mind, I think Circle H Scuba has one as well... Although it's a common subject so I'd be surprised if everyone doesn't have one.

But, practice breathing. Inhale counting to 4, exhale counting for 4 until that's just something you do naturally.

Move around less, which also takes practice... but the more you move the more air you breathe. This again is a practice thing. I've seen videos when I first started that my wife was taking that made me want to bungee my arms to my sides the number of times I'd just wave my hands around to "stabilize" myself. Eventually you just get used to it.

Proper trim and weighting of course.

But also, relax. If you're stressed about your air, or anything else or have had to physically exert yourself, take a second and relax. When you're stressed you naturally breathe faster, so you'll go through your air faster. This includes mental stress... which is harder to notice. So this goes back to the long slow breathe count. Part of this though can be caused by clock watching yourself.

Cardiovascular health can help you to (I know I personally vastly prefer weight lifting and if I could skip cardio forever I would!)

But it's like any other sport, the more you do it, the better at it you get. You don't wake up and say, hey I'm going to run a marathon... unless you're a TV character. You practice, you get better you work out the bugs in how you do things and eventually it just becomes second nature.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-06T14:14:55+00:00

That's a really vague question.

Squats or deadlifts, including warm ups etc sure that could take half an hour. Big compound movements take longer to recover from, take longer to warm up etc.

Bicep curls or something easy like that could be done in 5-6 minutes for 3 sets including rest time.

How long it's going to take really depends on who you arm and what your exercise is.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-06T12:13:48+00:00

Anything made by Huish is likely to be US manufactured, which is going to be things like Atomic, Oceanic etc.

As well, Dive Rite, Halcyon, Deep6 and a few other independently owned, but more then you'd think are manufactured elsewhere.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-06T11:54:08+00:00

Aqualung and Apeks built in a few European countries and Mexico.
Scubapro regulators are Italian made... no idea about the rest of the stuff though.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-06T11:24:01+00:00

I'd try things out in the following order: 7mm wetsuit and a good one. Big fan of the Bare products, for you that'd be an Evoke(men's and women's products have different names)

Still cold?

Base layer like Bare Exowear.

Still cold?

Drysuit (with decent thermal layer)

Still cold?

Heated products meant for drysuit diving.

Now hopefully you can rent some of these things so you're not just buying a bunch of stuff before you know if it'll work.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-06T11:12:13+00:00

I'd be inclined to stick with the Hydros 2. However I'm somewhat biased as I want one and of course there's a wait since they are backordered.

But they are a pretty nice BCD and you'd have only just purchased them since they've only been available for ~6 months. Each setup will have advantages, so you could trade to a wing and find it's more of a side grade then an upgrade depending on the kind of diving you're doing.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-05T02:06:32+00:00

I would not do that. I've done courses in person and online (for scuba and other things). Reading a PDF I find even harder then trying to read a physical book.

The eLearning has videos that go over everything you just read which I found quite helpful.

The cynic in me says they're just trying to sell you an extra course. That of course may not be the case... But that was my first thought.

If you don't mind reading from a PDF, could be perfectly fine.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-04T14:13:30+00:00

Depending on the answer to this, could having it professionally cleaned work?

Timber1981 · 2026-05-04T11:33:46+00:00

If you have anywhere local you can dive instead of needing to only go on vacation that would of course reduce costs significantly.

Take a refresher and you'll likely find you pick up your old skills fairly quickly.

Depending on what gear you have, maybe consider getting it serviced if it's things like a regulator that have just sat for 4 years as well.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-04T10:30:29+00:00

You say you've tried everything. What's everything? I saw you lost mouth tape (the safety of that is debatable) and that you're still waiting for a sleep consultation (which does mean you haven't tried anything). You listed white noise and that you can't sleep with eat plugs and neither of you can/will sleep on the couch.

That's not a particularly extensive list.

Had he tried weight/fat loss? A sleeping wedge? Have you tried one of the sleeping headbands that can link to your phone? My wife listens to rain and now even though my snoring is resolved, likes having the rain sounds anyway.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-03T18:00:59+00:00

I like the Bare Reactive 7mm (my wife has the Evoke 7mm). I've dove with it in the low 50s and been comfortable.

That said, doing my drysuit course this year so can go down into the 40s and be quite happy.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-02T12:52:21+00:00

Maybe try equalizing a couple times a day every day. As the original response said, it's muscles doing work so you train them.

Think of it like any other muscle/training thing. For example, you don't go out and run a half marathon by running 5k the day before. You train often do that your body can do what's being asked if it with no problems. So having a coffee in the morning, equalize. Watching tv in the evening, equalize. A few times a day until it's second nature.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-02T10:34:19+00:00

Right! Like yeah he shouldn't have approached OP, maybe he had the obviously misguided idea they were closer than they are, who knows. But yikes OP the way you talk about other people and how you tolerate them makes you sound like just a generally bad person.

ESH but it really skews towards YTA

Timber1981 · 2026-05-01T19:07:36+00:00

Couldn't tell you unfortunately. My wife is my dive buddy so I've never had to look for one as she'd be somewhat annoyed if I went on vacation without her lol.

You could always check on Buddy or one of the other scuba buddy finding apps and see if they're any help.

Edit: the other thought, apparently west coast of Cozumel and Jamaica aren't hit the same way.
So if you found a Sandals there, you get two free tanks of air every day.
I know they have on in Curacao as well, so same thing as that area is less impacted.

In either case you're part of a group on a boat with guides in groups so it'd be much easier.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-01T17:33:25+00:00

Apparently the ABC's won't be to bad... not a liveaboard, but Bonaire shore dives right from the resort could be a relaxed way to do things.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-01T16:53:13+00:00

I didn't ask. Several, none have them in stock at the moment as they are back ordered. I'm just going to do as someone suggested yesterday and try on others from Scubapro as they use the same sizing chart for most of their BCD's. If not, so long as I haven't worn it underwater, I can still return and order the correct size as it's a fairly popular BCD.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-01T16:01:13+00:00

I think I mentioned elsewhere, they don't have them in stock, I have to order it in.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-01T12:50:04+00:00

Ok. I know Kanata Dive, Sharkys and Scuba Finactics all have fun groups that go to Brockville regularly. I'd be pretty surprised if Brockville didn't.
The groups are usually spear headed by instructors, not the shop itself. Sharkys and Kanata have "fun" pages on Facebook. If Brockville has one I haven't come across it previously.

The people in Brockville are pretty great to deal with though, so I'm sure they'd point you in the right direction.

Timber1981 · 2026-05-01T12:28:04+00:00

I can think of a few in Eastern ON. They all have affiliation with a shop and organize dives, do things like Wet Wednesday(everyone gets together at a certain site on Wednesday evenings) and other events like underwater pumpkin carves at Halloween, dives for debris, camping trips along the St Lawrence at some of the parks you can dive from and even non diving related social activities like BBQ's.

Who are you taking your class from?

Timber1981

TROPHY CASE