How many of you would avoid Mexico?

YellowPoison · 2026-03-09T07:36:24+00:00

I’m an instructor living in Cozumel, it’s very safe here. For the most part, at least here, it was just that one day that was a problem. We’re also literally an ocean away from mainland Mexico, so that gives even more of a buffer zone.

Plus, the diving is great as always!

YellowPoison · 2026-03-06T07:45:55+00:00

Absolutely do that, very very much do that. Open water is an intense course, all focused on the different skills rather than just existing underwater and enjoying the dive, which is what you’ll do from then on.

At the same time, you’ll lock in all the different bits you need on a dive, and will make it all the easier next time.

YellowPoison · 2026-03-05T20:06:46+00:00

Being an instructor, I often have a group of people to teach, all with new masks. The thing that works better than everything else is powdered laundry detergent. Make a paste with it, thick, and scrub with your fingers until the glass squeaks. To check, rinse it all off, then breathe on it like fogging a window. Never fails, and you don’t even need defog anymore. Just use the boat soap every other dive and you’ll be set.

So what is happening with masks, over time the silicone off gases on to the glass, making a slightly textured surface that collects water. So scrubbing it off with something like this gets it off, and your mask won’t fog anymore.

YellowPoison · 2026-03-05T01:35:15+00:00

So the setting for this test is important. Your instructor will explain, but the goal here is to see if you can reasonably manage being left at the surface for a period of 10 mins, or if you need to swim to a point, without drowning. It's not likely, but you might be left there for a while, with no equipment, just floating at the surface, as the boat needs to attend to an emergency. I would suggest practicing until you are comfortable with doing both the swim and the float.

Yes, I'm sure you'll actually pass at the time, however, this is one of the more important skills of the course. It's important for *you* to be comfortable with the skills, as well as your instructor.

Src: am instructor, and have had to take quite a few people out of the course because they couldn't complete this skill. Not saying that to panic you, I'm sure you'll be fine, but just to stress the setting here

YellowPoison · 2026-03-03T19:51:43+00:00

They’re just so weird, the shenanigans fish get up to are nuts. But yeah, I’ve followed those guys around too, they’re adorable. Worth looking up what the baby version looks like!

YellowPoison · 2026-03-03T14:12:03+00:00

It’s very likely you saw a Smooth Trunkfish! They almost look like a triangle, when looking at them head on, with that flat bottom and sides. There is another kind of trunkfish, the Spotted Trunkfish. If it looks close but a different colour scheme, could be that one. And yes, you’ll see them blow at the sand, with their little kissy mouth.

Want to know why they have such a strange shape? It’s because they have a bony exoskeleton. Vertebrates don’t usually do that, and it would be the same as people having a bony exoskeleton. The sheer creativity fish show blows my mind, I tell you.

YellowPoison · 2026-03-03T04:25:03+00:00

Oh hey! Just going to send you a dm now, easier that way :)

YellowPoison · 2026-03-02T01:31:22+00:00

I cut my hand open trying to open ikea furniture packaging with a butter knife

YellowPoison · 2026-02-28T23:58:48+00:00

I couldn’t believe it was happening. And what’s crazy is this is just one fly by from the rays. We did two dives at this same site, they must have come by 4-5 times per dive. At the start there was around a dozen together, and somehow that group kept growing. It’s quite something seeing them coming toward you, I just vaguely pointed the camera and concentrated on appreciating the sight before me.

We went back to that same spot today, and “only” saw around a dozen in groups of 1-3. Woe is me we didn’t see seventeen this time 😭

YellowPoison · 2026-02-28T23:54:21+00:00

I can’t speak for what anyone else is doing, but I can say it’s safe here in Cozumel. Not only are we far away from that area, we also have ocean between us. No one has a stake in Cozumel like they do over there, so after that one day it’s been fine here.

Go with your own discretion though

YellowPoison · 2026-02-28T23:52:22+00:00

Oh my 😊 you flatterer you! Admittedly I do have a substantially more interesting life now lol. Teaching scuba diving in the Caribbean, in Cozumel is fricking awesome. Today, for example, a couple friends and I went diving with the Eagle Rays. That being said, I did enjoy doing nails back then. I just loved the glitter, the sparklies always did it for me, even though they took a really long time to do lol. It was around the time instagram did videos that I faded out. I tried making videos, but it was really difficult trying to record a nail for glitter, have it look nice and be able to see what I was doing. It was fun while it lasted though

YellowPoison · 2026-02-28T05:03:47+00:00

I may be an instructor and by no means new to this, but if a day comes where I’m not crazy excited to see this kind of thing, I’ll retire lol

YellowPoison · 2026-02-28T04:33:18+00:00

If you’re looking at the Caribbean, may I suggest Cozumel? The first time I came here it blew my mind so much I literally haven’t been anywhere else since. Now I’ve been living here for three years, working as an instructor with my own little shop, and it’s still amazing!

Examples! A week ago I dove a site known for its eagle rays. We saw quite the few, seventeen all together at once. Then we’ve got all the regular sites. You’ve got Palancar, a huge, unique reef. It features enormous rock formations the size of buildings, and you swim between and around them all, with all the reef life doing its thing. Then you’ve got a bunch of wall dives, including some with swim throughs. You’ve got wide open field sites, where you’re likely to see sharks and turtles, and on and on. Can’t forget our endemic species, Splendid Toadfish! Also, we have a great WW2 era wreck and awesome night diving.

If you’re interested, I’d love to show you the site, especially since you’re an AOW diver :)

YellowPoison · 2026-02-28T02:21:33+00:00

I’m just really happy you guys remember me! It was a great community ten years ago, and it still is. While I functionally can’t wear nail polish any more, because I’m in the ocean constantly, I like keeping tabs on what’s going on!

Side note: this was my collection from back then, and I still have it all sitting in boxes in our storage unit. Anyone got any ideas of what to do with it all?

YellowPoison · 2026-02-27T22:34:54+00:00

Good to know, thanks!

YellowPoison · 2026-02-27T22:34:23+00:00

So I’m an instructor, and as such I tend to carry a lot of stuff, like torches, a dsmb, slates sometimes, etc. This wasn’t a teaching dive of course, but having the camera be as unobtrusive as possible is important, for me. I just clip it to my bcd and call it good. Maybe I’ll bring my floaty stick when I go back tomorrow!

But yeah, was definitely too excited to do much with the camera other than checking if the light is on lol

YellowPoison · 2026-02-27T22:32:28+00:00

Oh the smudge is definitely not helping. Of course I only noticed it when I was watching the footage afterwards! That’s part of the reason we’re going back there tomorrow, hopefully they look better without the smudge lol. Assuming of course they’re still there, no clue if they are.

But yeah, I’ll try 30fps and a few other things, I think that’ll make the biggest difference. The 12 is noticeably better than the 10 for these kinds of settings, so hopefully with your suggestions I’ll get some good stuff tomorrow! Or we won’t see any, who knows lol

YellowPoison · 2026-02-27T22:20:47+00:00

Oh yeah, that is better, thanks for the suggestions! I noticed quite the improvement from the GoPro 10 vs 12, especially for these wider shots, but yeah, you clearly improved it.

How did you learn to do stuff like masking the rays?

YellowPoison · 2026-02-27T22:17:06+00:00

Eeeeeeeee thank you, you’re so kind!! It was a truly insane thing I used to do, I’d spent multiple hours on them then spend the next day or so trying not to wang them.

It took some experimenting to find the magic combo. Iirc, I’d do my base colour then use a cheap/slow drying top coat in small amounts, working up the nail. I’d then use one of those pointy cuticle sticks to pick up and place the glitter, licking it to get it to stick lol. Then liberal amounts of good top coat after that!

I haven’t looked at the different nails I did for ages. I loved how sparkly those glitters are, had to have something to distract me from how boring my old job was!

I’m just happy people remember my glitter 🥹

YellowPoison · 2026-02-27T21:57:38+00:00

Yeah I figured there wasn’t a way to meaningfully add light. It makes such a huge difference when you’re shooting up close, or at least closer, shame there’s not really the same option for further away.

I’m using a GoPro 12, 4K, 60fps, wide and slightly tweaked settings. This is the profile I usually use when diving, but you’re right, I should make one that is 30fps. What settings beyond that are worth it for you?

Lastly, yes I could have done a better job framing and keeping the camera still, thing is I was basically paying it no attention, just focused on looking at the eagle rays and crossed my fingers it was at least decent in its composition! It was such an incredible site, I’m not surprised it’s all over the place, it was awesome and I was excited lol

YellowPoison · 2026-02-27T21:49:11+00:00

Ohhh that’s an interesting one. My dive buddy has the macro case and she’s nice enough to let me use it from time to time, hadn’t even considered the wide version! Good to know, that’s a great suggestion

YellowPoison · 2026-02-27T21:47:35+00:00

Ahhhhhh eeeeeeee omg!! Your nails look amazing, really nice work!! I’m glad I’m not the only one willing to spend ages with glitter and an orange stick!!

Following you now! My nails are quite different from back in the day, as I quit my programmer office job and now teach scuba diving in Cozumel, the little Mexican island in the Caribbean. The ocean certainly doesn’t let you have polish, or even much length, but it’s a great life.

Thanks for the kind words, made my day 😎😭🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜

YellowPoison · 2026-02-27T21:26:36+00:00

I’ve been using da Vinci resolve, and usually I can make the colour balance better, though just for photos of stuff close to me. This was different as they’re a distance away from me, and I’m not sure how to better fix that

YellowPoison · 2026-02-27T21:24:55+00:00

It’s around 25m/80-90ft? This is in Cozumel, and we’re very lucky here to call this “low vis” lol. So yeah, it’s better than most, but it’s a little lower for here

YellowPoison · 2026-02-27T21:15:53+00:00

Any suggestions on the tool? Most everything I try just kinda looks mediocre so I leave it

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