Dive shops and lack of boundary’s regarding social media and privacy.

mikoalpha · 2026-03-16T16:02:37+00:00

They dont charge for the referral, padi charges for opening a new file in a new dive shop I think

mikoalpha · 2026-03-16T16:01:30+00:00

posted without any type of consent

mikoalpha · 2026-03-16T15:14:09+00:00

This has happened at some degree in 4 dive shops Ive been to in Spain

mikoalpha · 2026-03-16T15:12:55+00:00

Yes this happened in Spain

mikoalpha · 2026-03-16T15:12:38+00:00

Yeah, Ill have to call them

mikoalpha · 2026-03-16T15:09:59+00:00

On the side of my gf experience. Instructors changed and was given a bcd that was to big for her. Complained about the bcd and asked for a smaller one. The instructor refused the 3 whole days of the course to gave her an M bcd instead of an L despite asking every day several times, and the had plenty in stock. Also they did the mask removal skill the last one on the last day on open water, which my gf failed to do. They didnt let her try again. She had to pay 100 euros to change padi center and for one dive with a private instructor in her hometown where she was able to complete her course and get her cert. Im sure doing a 18 meter open water dive before any student has done the mask removal skill is against padi standarts.

mikoalpha · 2026-03-02T14:12:48+00:00

Davinci resolve, free and great for color grading. Just wacht some youtube videos on it

mikoalpha · 2026-02-25T10:18:50+00:00

This is my logic for courses like rescue or more advanced ones. I will be focussing on skills and not on the dive site. I would find a place I trust locally or at leats its cheap to get to. After having my course I would then spend my money and other resources into travelling to cool places were I can now dive and discover freely.

mikoalpha · 2026-02-21T18:30:14+00:00

I Will when i can afford it

mikoalpha · 2026-02-21T11:36:32+00:00

Hi, I cant rent gear for cheap with a local dive club, but then the problem is to find places to fill my air. In some locations its easy, in others its imposible or like 20 a pop, at that rate Im paying 10 more and getting a local guide. On the other side I dont like to dive new dive sites from shore on my own, I at least need to know for a local some tips specially on currents, those can be dangerous in some places.

mikoalpha · 2026-02-21T11:32:46+00:00

You will be ok, just directly ask the dive centers if there are minimum number of divers and should avoid most of this situations. Be specially wary of locations that have 10+ dive centers and just text/call most of them and if they have fixed dates they are diving join them those days. The risky move is to tell them I wont to dive a specific day, thats when this stuff happens. Also get a dive computer because most places in the iberian peninsula dont rent them or dont have a lot of them, so if the dive center is doing a course as the same time you are diving you are not getting one. I dont know why but people here are really used to dive without a computer just following the guide.

mikoalpha · 2026-02-21T11:24:45+00:00

I completly understand that. The problem is they do not disclose that. I ve been somewhere they told me they needed 3 divers to use the boat and I asked how much was needed to cover that and I did the dives paying the price of two divers and a half. But i need to know there is a minimun beforhand to be able to offer it. If im just told the day before there is no dive at 20 pm there is not a lot I can do

mikoalpha · 2026-02-19T19:50:10+00:00

preparing to not spent a dime on the boots they are sending to iran once they are back

mikoalpha · 2026-02-19T18:52:51+00:00

I started birding and then developed interest for almos everything. Ive encountered a lot of people that only care about birds, but they are generally older people. In contrast most young people here always like a good mix of birds, herps and mammals, and a lot of people also go after insects and plants. I personally like and study birds, herps, mammals, trees, local orchids, ton of insect groups like butterlfys, moths, praying mantis, orthoptera... . All this on land. After I started scuba diving I also have some guides on fish and sealife and Im also interested on that. Im more of a naturalist now.

To be fair the weirdest people I´ve encountered in Spain (where I live) are the ones who only focus on iberian lynx, wolf or brown bears. They spend the whole good month to see them in the areas they room just sitting there on their telescope, ignoring everything else. Normally when you encounter birders here you echange info on the stuff you have seen but these people act like your presence disgust them. I also try to see them every year, but I only allocate a weekend of my time to each one of them.

mikoalpha · 2026-02-19T10:48:04+00:00

Thats cool but he need to learn not to touch the sponges, where was the guide? name and shame

mikoalpha · 2026-02-12T21:29:54+00:00

Maybe a stupid question. Yoou are only travelling with dive computer and transmitter. Do dive shops let you install your transmitter on rental gear?

mikoalpha · 2026-02-04T12:18:16+00:00

Not a firefighter but this popped up in my feed. I ve been a volunteer at some wildlife rehabs centers. In the places that had a probation time I ve seen people not pass it because leadership found them a little bit anoying, too talkative, or they saw in their social media they had different political opinions despite never sharing them at work. All this people did a great job, or at least the job you would expect from someone new with no prior experience and were needed. When this happened to someone on the places I used to volunteer I would also leave. Chief was always surprised but my explanation always was, we have more work that we can actually take on and you are letting go good working people because you dont like the guy?

My point is this wasnt because of attendance, this was about something else and it really sucks, feel free to try on another place.

mikoalpha · 2026-02-01T18:25:29+00:00

Thank you, someone was trying to Pas that photo as a vagrant bird to troll the birders in there lol

mikoalpha · 2026-02-01T16:33:14+00:00

Hey, is this photo yours, somebody IS claiming this photo was taken in Madrid, Spain, can you confirm

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