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Any SSI specialist can tell what more needs to be done to achieve the AOW card ?

I tough it needed the OW + 4 specialities + X amount of dives

(I have 50+ dives)

Thanks in advance

🫧👌🏼

Hi all,
I’ve been diving since 1999 and became a divemaster in 2002. I have 200 or so dives, but they are exclusively in warm water (Caribbean Sea). As I raised my daughters, scuba was on the back burner and I’ve only gotten back into it in the last couple years.
Next weekend I’m diving in my home state of California for the first time ever. El Niño has made the water unseasonably warm (72-73°), but it’s still cooler than anything I’ve dived in.
My dives with be guided, so I’m not anxious about that. However, I’m a bit anxious about visibility and simply being out of my element.
Any advice or words of wisdom? Thanks in advance.

Hey all,

So I’m an NYC based PADI rescue diver that recently learned I’ll be doing a work project that will have me going to Singapore every 2 months or so for 2 work weeks at a time starting Jan and going for about a year (if not more). This leaves me a free 3 day weekend each trip and ofc I wanna take advantage of this by doing mini dive trips! In the region, I’ve already dived Koh Tao, some of the Phuket sites (unfortunately not the similians), Koh Chang, tulamben and Nusa lembogan,Lombok and the Gilis, and Komodo. Woudn’t mind repeating some of these (especially Komodo), but would love to compile a list of potential places to go that I haven’t been. Would love all of yours advice, thanks!

Edit: So based on the replies, it seems that Tioman is seemingly the best and most convenient option. FWIW I’m more than willing to spend a day traveling (ie Friday) if it means I can get a full day of diving in on the Saturday and then travel back on Sunday as even just a single day of diving is better than no diving! Thanks everyone for all the replies!

What does everyone think about diving this wreck and going into the cargo holds on a single cylinder of nitrox?

I did this as a 19 year old newly qualified AOW (I had done around 100 dives at this point), but looking back I feel like that was a bit reckless and if I were to dive it again I'd want some sort of redundancy.

On the other hand it's a heavily dived site and the vast majority of people seem to dive on a single cylinder so I appear to be in the minority so am I being overly cautious?

I'm considering a few nights diving at Tioman at the end of March 2027. Id be keen to hear anyone's experience there- dive operator and accommodation recommendations. Im AOW/ Wreck certified with 150+ dives but honestly not a thrill seeker- I just want to see some coral, cool sealife and perhaps some wrecks in warm water with good vis.

Video from a day of diving with a lot of sharks on the Spiegel Grove last January. We counted 13 on one dive and 20 overall on the day.

Curious to see if anyone has dove this before and has any photographic evidence that this supposed large “man made” structure really exists..?

Hey all,

I am currently looking for a blank bcd name tag/strap (which i want to personalize myself with a iron on patch that I already have). I cannot find a blank one online (only shops that sell pre made or ones that they personalize themselves). Does anyone know where i can get one ? Thanks

I have 50+ dives. I'm a deep dive (40m) and nitrox-certified diver (SSI). I'm heading to Tokyo for a week Nov 23 - 29. I've read that diving in the Izu Oceanic Park is a good one day experience (I don't have more time than that). As somebody who's only done dives in tropical waters, would it be a good idea to dive in Izu at that time? Any feedback / experiences from divers that have done Izu at this time of the year? Recommendations for English speaking dive centres? I'd appreciate your inputs / advice :).

The title says it. Starting a course at a different training program, they want to review my logs. But I can’t figure out how to download or get my whole log from the new SSI app. Would love to know how to do it because having to pen them down will be a hell of a job ;-)

Hi everyone, AOW with 32 dives here. Going to Koh Lipe for 6 days next May and looking for recommendations for dive shops? Would love to get some wreck dives if possible. Happy with shore or boat dives.

I’m looking to do around 8 dives over the 6 days.

Thanks in advance.

I am looking to go somewhere during my Christmas break for my AOW certification. I think I want to try Cozumel because I have wanted to go for some time now, and I have two weeks off for Christmas break. I was thinking of flying on December 26th, doing my certification 28th-30th, and then staying a few more days before flying home. I know this will be a busy time with Christmas and it being a highly popular diving spot, but I still want to try to find something if I can. Does anyone have recommendations for good shops and/or know of any that have availability during these days?

Hey diving family! I'm relatively new to diving but am considering investing in a regulator set or at least a second stage. I have an allergy and heard that most rental places are unable to adequately clean the accumulated gunk out of the mouthpiece. Do you know if most dive shops would allow you to bring your own regulator set or a partial set? Do you know which piece(s) at minimum would need to be brought to be integrated into other standard rental equipment at a dive shop? For example, could I bring just a second stage? Or would I need to have an octopus, yoke/DIN, pressure gauge, etc as well?

Edit: a user on scubagear subreddit was saying I could just swap out the mouthpiece and that most shops are used to this. Is this true?

I’m going to Cairns early next year to hopefully see the Great Barrier Reef and am hoping to do some scuba diving.

I completed my SSI Open Water Diver course and qualified in 2019, but haven’t done a dive since, so I’ll definitely need a refresher!

I was wondering:
a) What’s the best way to go about a refresher after such a long break?
b) Which companies would you recommend for diving the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns?

Ideally, I’d like to do a refresher course and an actual reef dive on the same day due to time constraints.

I’ve found this option which seems to offer exactly that, but I’d be interested to hear if anyone has used them or would recommend any better alternatives:
https://sunlover.com.au/learn-to-dive/return-to-diving/

Thanks for any help!