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Ramrod Hotshot posted:I'm going to Bonaire in August! Super excited about it. I'm sure I'll be back here with many questions, but for now - what are the average depths for most of the shore dives? I am expecting, and hoping, fairly shallow. I'll be buddying with my sister who is a super beginner and frankly I kind of still am myself. Bonaire is pretty shallow. Max we did was like 105' on one of the double reefs. You can definitely see a ton of you stay shallower than 60'. You could always book a couple of guided dives for your first day. It's a great island to dive, I'm jealous.
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May 4, 2022 03:30
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:I'm going to Bonaire in August! Super excited about it. I'm sure I'll be back here with many questions, but for now - what are the average depths for most of the shore dives? I am expecting, and hoping, fairly shallow. I'll be buddying with my sister who is a super beginner and frankly I kind of still am myself. We go to Bonaire for a couple weeks every year and rarely go below 75 any more. We enjoy the ride around Washington park and the windward side of the island.
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May 4, 2022 13:01
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If you're going to dive without a guide then I highly recommend buying your own SMB and compass. And, of course, review how to use it.
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May 4, 2022 16:01
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Trivia posted:If you're going to dive without a guide then I highly recommend buying your own SMB and compass. And, of course, review how to use it. I'd get an SMB anyway, they're cheap and you never know if you'll get lost/separated/swept away/etc.
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May 4, 2022 18:18
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Compass is a good recommendation too. Knowing which way "home" is is important. Most of my diving has been unguided, the idea of not having a compass makes me quite uncomfortable.
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May 4, 2022 20:07
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Oh, and buy a $1 dollar plastic whistle. Could do a signal mirror as well but an SMB is probably enough in the "visual signaling device" department.
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May 5, 2022 02:27
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Is there any worthwhile diving in Bali?
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May 6, 2022 19:56
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PRADA SLUT posted:Is there any worthwhile diving in Bali? I've heard people talk about the Liberty, but I think general consensus is that if you're in Indonesia to dive there are better places but if you want to visit Bali and also dive there is stuff to see
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May 6, 2022 20:41
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If you head an hour or two off the coast of Bali to Nusa Lembongan, the diving is incredible. Crystal clear, 90% coral coverage, often super drifty, and sites where you can reliably chill with mantas  Seasons may vary of course but I was there around May a few years ago and was blown away. Wrong time of year for sunfish but apparently they come out too! The culture is Balinese but with much less of the tourist hustle you get on the main island. It is a bit of a pain to get there though and expect to be rinsed for $40+ getting the boat over Strategic Tea fucked around with this message at 22:55 on May 6, 2022 |
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May 6, 2022 22:53
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North of the busy area of the island is this beach (plug into google maps): -8.531230468659167, 115.50866397716005 Lots of little dive shops here. Ask one of them to take you to the abandoned pier to the north. It is a phenomenal dive site and I reckon would make for a mind-blowing night dive. If I were to visit again I'd dive there over and over and over. I saw on my one and only dive: Huge gorgonian fans schools of puffer fish octos octos octos stone fish scorpion fish lion fish schools of other poo poo nuuuuuudis peacock mantis shrimp frogfish e: I also did another dive along the shore. It was also pretty good. At one point we all saw a fuckin' tourist submarine whizz by.
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May 7, 2022 00:59
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Trivia posted:If you're going to dive without a guide then I highly recommend buying your own SMB and compass. And, of course, review how to use it. Most reg units have a compass built in right? We'll be renting all of our gear. Are lost divers often a problem in Bonaire? Strategic Tea posted:If you head an hour or two off the coast of Bali to Nusa Lembongan, the diving is incredible. Crystal clear, 90% coral coverage, often super drifty, and sites where you can reliably chill with mantas Ramrod Hotshot fucked around with this message at 01:17 on May 7, 2022 |
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May 7, 2022 01:12
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Most reg units have a compass built in right? We'll be renting all of our gear. Are lost divers often a problem in Bonaire? Lost NEW divers doing unguided shore diving are susceptible to getting turned around in general. Bonaire is pretty hard to get completely lost because there's a very clear reef that runs parallel to the shore and it's pretty obvious which way is deeper or shallower. That said, we did a dive at Red Slave (IIRC) with Suitcase Pimp and his wife with a fuckton of current, and a new diver would very likely have ended up far away from their vehicle. A SMB is never a bad idea, nor is a whistle and compass. Again, I would suggest getting a guide for your first day of diving. It's cheap, and a good divemaster will make you much more comfortable and can show you a ton of stuff that you'll probably miss without a guide.
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May 7, 2022 01:47
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DeadlyMuffin posted:I've heard people talk about the Liberty, but I think general consensus is that if you're in Indonesia to dive there are better places but if you want to visit Bali and also dive there is stuff to see Yeah, I'll already be in the area, was thinking of trying to squeeze a dive day in.
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May 7, 2022 07:44
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:I'm going to Bonaire in August! Super excited about it. I'm sure I'll be back here with many questions, but for now - what are the average depths for most of the shore dives? I am expecting, and hoping, fairly shallow. I'll be buddying with my sister who is a super beginner and frankly I kind of still am myself. All of the sites I went to had plenty to see in the shallows. Deeper areas are easily visible/accessible, but I don’t remember getting much more out of going down there. All the pretty colors are more visible where it’s shallower  I need to go back there. It’s been since 2019 that I visited, and I’m getting the itch for a dive trip again 
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May 7, 2022 09:44
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PRADA SLUT posted:Yeah, I'll already be in the area, was thinking of trying to squeeze a dive day in. I've been to the Liberty and honestly I wasn't impressed. But then again, I've done a lot of wreck dives. The Liberty itself is on the north side of the island, so you're looking at a 2-ish hour drive to get to the north. Other than the liberty there's not much in the way of dive sites, and the Liberty itself is in pretty bad shape. It's very shallow, and decades of storm, surge, and waves have reduced it to a mess. I really couldn't get an appreciable feel for the wreck, despite several dives. The dive itself is a shore dive on a pebbly beach (bring thick soled boots). There isn't much to do there otherwise. Night dive there was p cool though, I will admit.
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May 7, 2022 10:31
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Most reg units have a compass built in right? We'll be renting all of our gear. Are lost divers often a problem in Bonaire? None of the rental regs will have a compass, but the shops would be happy to take your money and rent you one. Lost divers happen sometimes but it’s generally people doing something dumb or advanced, occasionally from bad luck. When shore diving the most common results of being lost underwater is the walk of shame, where you get lost and come up somewhere else then have to walk back to your truck while your buddy stays with the gear. Shores dives here go like this: get in, assess current (decide if going left or right), dive, turn around, safety stop, try to get out where you got in. A compass is really helpful for a few sites where it’s a longer swim out to the reef or deep double reefs but otherwise they are useless for navigation here because the island will always be either on your left or right. Natural navigation is key but the easiest thing to do is start the dive near the mooring because it will be the most obvious thing to find underwater on the return. Message me closer to when you come down and I can give you some good sites around where you’re staying!
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May 8, 2022 14:38
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My buddy just attempted this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmhnBXLrNFo last week but the currents were too strong 3 days running. Had to settle for this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX4DKtx7imw (footage isn't the best) He cobbled two JJ-CCRs together for the attempt. We spent 6 months diving and tinkering with it, only to have the ocean gods say nope! Last May we hit up Christmas Island https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPZbovjqmRQ. Would highly recommend for all divers however it's a bit of an expedition if you want to go deep - they aren't set up with Helium etc.
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May 10, 2022 05:07
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SuitcasePimp posted:Message me closer to when you come down and I can give you some good sites around where you’re staying! Will do. Thanks for the advice!
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May 10, 2022 08:41
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Has anyone dove with Galapagos Shark Diving? https://www.galapagossharkdiving.com
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May 18, 2022 16:05
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Probably long shot, but any tips for diving schools/shops near Split in Croatia, one of the islands off the coast or near Ploce further south-east? Ideally something combining rental for certified and introductory for uncertified? I looked for Croatia itt but nothing since 2016 so maybe people have since had some experiences they can share
Leandros fucked around with this message at 17:11 on May 19, 2022 |
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May 19, 2022 16:56
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If anyone hasn't heard about "The Deep House", you should check it out. It's a found footage movie about divers exploring a house that was flooded to make a lake.
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May 20, 2022 13:32
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Leandros posted:Probably long shot, but any tips for diving schools/shops near Split in Croatia, one of the islands off the coast or near Ploce further south-east? Ideally something combining rental for certified and introductory for uncertified? I looked for Croatia itt but nothing since 2016 so maybe people have since had some experiences they can share Not sure how close it is but I've got friends that had a really good experience at Blue Planet near Lapad beach. I think that's more over best Dubrovnik though.
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May 20, 2022 18:31
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We just completed our 100m JJ-CCR course with this dive at the drop off in Tulamben, Bali https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJVHR74xluc Would highly recommend Alan Whitehead (Techwise) out of Malta for your tech training and Tekdeep if you want to head to Bali for some deep diving
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May 24, 2022 11:02
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Alan and his crew are great people. My group goes to Malta pretty regularly and we use TechWise every time.
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May 24, 2022 11:10
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Collateral Damage posted:Alan and his crew are great people. My group goes to Malta pretty regularly and we use TechWise every time. Are you shore or boat diving there?
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Jun 8, 2022 02:11
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I've done both. When I was there in April it was unfortunately too windy to do boat dives, and we had to re-plan a couple of our shore dives because the sea got rough where we had originally planned to dive.
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Jun 8, 2022 14:33
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If you ever wanted to go to Bonaire I suggest going as soon as possible. They are building everywhere they can scrape dirt and I would expect it to be a typical hosed up resort in the next few years.
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Jun 11, 2022 18:23
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Ropes4u posted:If you ever wanted to go to Bonaire I suggest going as soon as possible. They are building everywhere they can scrape dirt and I would expect it to be a typical hosed up resort in the next few years. Oh no :-(
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Jun 11, 2022 19:22
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Any underwater camera geeks here? So I got a super cheap deal on a new underwater case for my Sony NEX5 but it only fits a 16mm pancake lens. Meanwhile, my bulky Meikon case that fits the 18-55mm lens broke, and I'm a bit reticent to pay another +$200 plus for another one. What I might be missing if I don't is the option to zoom in for macro life. But I also think the 16mm is better in general, fixed lenses seem to be sharper than zoom lenses, especially the basic 18-55 model. Plus it's nice not to have bother with the zoom while I'm underwater, and the new case is a lot sleeker, good when youv'e got so much scuba gear to deal with too. All of this is to say, should my wide angle lens be good for Bonaire? Or is there a lot of macro stuff (nudis, muck critters) to shoot?
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Jun 18, 2022 06:14
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I shoot with a GoPro and flip filters if you want something super compact and pretty cheap. I shoot wide because I like the “being there” wide shot. Like I’m trying to capture the feeling of the experience more than a specific subject.
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Jun 18, 2022 07:10
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When I was in Bonaire, we saw a good mix of big and little stuff, I think you'll be fine either way you choose. I personally enjoyed the small stuff more. Nudis weren't easy to find, we only saw one proper nudi in 10 days. Lettuce leaf slugs were pretty common. This little guy is about 1" long  It took us a few days to learn how to find mantis shrimp, but then we'd see one or two per day  For bigger stuff, there were reef squid, turtles, rays, a couple kinds of octopus at night, eels, a few of lobster,  loving tarpon , drums, lion fish, lots of stuff to shoot if you don't want to bother with the other case.
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Jun 18, 2022 17:35
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Trivia posted:Oceanic Geo 2 is the bees' knees. I've had mine for about 8 years now and the only failure is the backlight. The Aqualung i200C (or model similar) is about as close to the Geo 2 as I've seen (I've not seen Geo 4s). The i200 has Bluetooth integration which is kinda neat but really is more of a gimmick. The Geo 2's best feature is the algorithms available to it (I think some of them are now discontinued for being too dangerous). My first dive of the day gives me a TON of bottom time, even at 30 meters. A bit dangerous for sure. I'm not sure what local prices are, but here i200s run ~$450 US equivalent. Taking a look at computers again. I like the i200c, mostly because it's affordable and has a freedive mode. Only drawback I can see from reviews is the logbook is small and the interrface can be confusing. Anybody have this watch? Or another rec for a beginner diver? Electoral Surgery posted:When I was in Bonaire, we saw a good mix of big and little stuff, I think you'll be fine either way you choose. I personally enjoyed the small stuff more. That's a pretty nudi! Ok, I'll bring my wide angle setup, seems like it should be good enough.
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Jun 18, 2022 22:55
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Taking a look at computers again. I like the i200c, mostly because it's affordable and has a freedive mode. Only drawback I can see from reviews is the logbook is small and the interrface can be confusing. Anybody have this watch? Or another rec for a beginner diver? I used an i300C when I started diving, it was fine. To get around the limited log on the computer, I linked it to an app on my phone (it had no trouble with "Dive Log" or "DiverLog+" on iOS). The only downside to it that I encountered was that the wrist-mount and console i300s have slightly different shapes. I bought a console mount computer because I didn't know any better; a year later I found out that it wouldn't work with an i300 wrist strap. If I had originally bought a wrist-mount i300 I'd probably still be using it.
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Jun 18, 2022 23:40
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People I dive with use the Mares Puck Pro as an entry-level watch, though everyone moved quickly to an AI Teric.
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Jun 19, 2022 06:50
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I've seen a few of my colleagues having issues with the i200; I can no longer recommend it. The issue is with the depth sensor. It'll show 2-4m depth despite being at the surface. This requires a full servicing to be fixed. Mind you, they're all pros and thus are using the things daily. Meanwhile my Geo 2 is going great. People using the Mares D3, D4, D5, etc all report good reliability. As for the limited logbook space: it's not an issue if you are uploading the dives to the app, or writing them down. You honestly don't need more than 20 dives in the internal storage. The other option is to just stop logging dives :p
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Jun 19, 2022 07:50
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For computers, the default in the UK is still pretty much suunto zoop, with the caveat that it's cold water diving so a large screen and large buttons are very useful. Nitrox is a standard option but having some gas switching capacity will pretty much guarantee your first watch will last you your diving career. It's very much not a requirement though since you'll probably be diving for years before you think about wanting that kind of functionality (if ever). Having a free dive mode where it can function as a depth timer also works so even if you do eventually 'outgrow' it, it will still work as a back up. Also bear in mind you're getting something for your diving, I'd caution against choosing something you think you could double as a wrist watch just because it will be limiting space to display information and not presenting it as clearly as it otherwise could. In terms of models, suunto Zoop or an Aladin One are absolutely great, cheap options that will do pretty much everything you need a computer to do. Oceanic Geo or one of the more advanced Suunto or Aladins are great if you do want more functionality. Almost every dive computer has Bluetooth now, which if you use an electronic log book means you can upload your dives directly. This is probably my favourite tech development for computers and the only reason my default is no longer to just go on eBay/Facebook market and get a second hand one. That's definitely an option worth exploring though, all the dive computers I own were bought second hand.
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Jun 19, 2022 08:18
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I'd say that a big determinate in a dive computer is whether you can change the battery yourself. Some models are designed in such a way that you'd have to send it in for a battery replacement (and servicing). If you only dive occasionally, then you'll be in a bit of a pickle when you turn on your computer while on vacay and find that the battery is dead.
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Jun 19, 2022 10:36
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PRADA SLUT posted:People I dive with use the Mares Puck Pro as an entry-level watch, though everyone moved quickly to an AI Teric. I love my puck pro. I'm not a serious diver, but it does what I need. User replaceable battery, very simple operation, etc. sharkytm fucked around with this message at 15:06 on Jun 19, 2022 |
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Jun 19, 2022 15:03
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I have threatened to replace my Zoop for the last six years, but it does everything I need as a casual rec diver.
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Jun 19, 2022 15:14
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Ropes4u posted:I have threatened to replace my Zoop for the last six years, but it does everything I need as a casual rec diver. Mine finally died when the pressure sensor went out and it swore it was down at 60ft while sitting in my gear locker. It only took a few years of being a divemaster, which is probably more use/abuse than most computers will ever have to handle.
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Jun 19, 2022 15:57
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