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All the more reason to find an instructor who cares and goes beyond the expectations! Researching the instructor and dive shop will have the modt mileage. Thank you for commenting!

Shotgun and Castle Rock have long stuck with me! Some of the most iconic and distinct dive sites I've experienced to date! Definitely an amazing time and glad you enjoyed it!

Great tip! I usually listen for the hiss but sometimes doesn't get the slower leaks. This method with a touch of time will be more certain! Thank you for your thoughts!

Jedda in Saudi Arabia, you are the first person to mention it to me and now I am intrigued! I have heard that Red Sea next to Sudan is amazing too but with the risks of running through warlord territory. With that said, Saudi Arabia is just on the other side and I bet equally good! Thanks for mentioning it! Will add it to my list!

I have heard Raja Ampat has declined over the years, but I have not been back there to see it in recent years. I remember it had more bio diversity then most other places I've ever been. I wonder if it had changed! Glad you lived the other recommendations. I usually think of Socorro, Gallapogos, and Cocos as similar but they are all worth while in their own ways! I'll be going to Gallapogos this year too! Will look into Fakarava! Thank you!

@itravelwisely Well, the biodiversity has for sure not decreased, but of course it's not the case that there is a particularly exotic animal waiting for you around every corner 😉. I was there for 3 weeks in February 2024 and what can I say, it was nice but as overwhelming as the hype would have you believe, no, not at all and for sure not for 8k Euros per week. As I said, the sheer number of creatures is overwhelming, but when it comes to exotic species, you can go to Komodo or other areas of this region without a bad conscience. In this area, biodiversity is extremely high everywhere. You will love Galapagos, believe me, really impressive. I recommend you to take a really good camera and strong light (around 30k lumens in total) with u, it pays off. However, fakarava plays in its own, very special league. Extraordinary.

@@itravelwisely Btw., regarding Galapagos, there is one really really insiders tip - there is a triangle in this area, Galapagos in the west, cocos in the north and .... Malpelo island in the East and this island is very difficult to reach but .... without any exaggeration, one of the most incredible places for diving in the world. Unfortunately, I haven't been there myself yet, but a friend of mine did, many years ago when you could still do Cocos, Galapagos and Malpelo in one tour and his photos and videos are indescribable. Out of this world.

@AtraxJoe i do have Malpelo planned for 2026! Still have some spots on our boat, too!

@@itravelwisely Awesome, enjoy and take cool footage 😉👌.

Komodo can have some very advanced diving due to the chaotic currents but often there are other more beginner friendly dive sites you can be taken to instead. This would mean you and your wife could be in different skill level dive groups or together in the beginner dive group. Check with the boat operator and confirm if they can accommodate either. It would mean the groups on the boat need to split and go to different dive sites. This does mean you'd miss out on some of the best dive sites of Komodo, though if your in the beginner group. I do remember Raja Ampat being more beginner friendly overall which could be an option. But if you have time, I'd try to go to the nearest dive operation before the Komodo liveaboard and get practice in. She could do the advanced diver certification which helps build skills and confidence. You can ask the instructor to help teach her how to handle currents, too. Hopefully some videos on my channel help give some ideas but would need practice too to build confidence beforehand.

Definitely really enjoyed Maldives, too! Sometimes, it's tough to pick the top places for these lists!

I haven't been to Galapagos just yet, for one, it is quite expensive, but we are going there this year so I'll be able to give it a more fair comparison. After speaking to several folk who have been to both though, there are a lot of strong similarities but the biggest difference would be the oceanic mantas and their behaviors observed at Socorro is rather unique. I've watched a documentary claiming their playful behavior is not observed elsewhere and seemingly, a lot of animals go there to socialize and relax. Beyond that, I know Socorro, Galapagos, and Cocos Island are usually put in a "similar" bucket but the Socorro is also just cheaper and a touch easier to get to than the other ones, coupled with the mantas and good chance of seeing hammerhead, whale sharks, and rarely humpback, its a good deal.

Awesome to hear! I love making videos like this, so I will make more!

@@itravelwiselyyes please!

Thank you for these good thoughts! I always appreciate different perspectives. As someone who snorkels on occasion for whales, I understand the needs for different fins to optimize for different cases such as surface swimming and free diving. You have some valid points, thank you!

There are a lot of good folk who dive, and I've made great friends diving. I'm glad you have seen only the positive side of it!

Fair enough, this video was aimed more for quick tips, I have another video aimed to go into more detail on weighting, so this one was trying to keep everything high level. With that said, it wasn't as short as it could be, so I hear you.

Thanks for letting me know! Would like to make more, too! I'll try to mix more in the future!

PADI is still good and I think they have a specific target markets and want to lower the bar for what it takes to be a scuba diver to grow the sport. I personally don't see anything wrong with that. If they didn't do it, someone else would. Honestly if I ever went for instructor too, I'd likely start with PADI too for experience. It's a great starting point.

SSI is totally fine. Someone told me this long ago so I put it here, but I personally was never restricted. I got my open water with SSI and most other certs later with PADI.

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Totally agree! Actually aligns with my general thoughts on socialiogy and different group dynamics in general where groups can be divided, but it's the extremist groups that can push things the farthest but also create the modt dissent. But it always helps to most for the bulk of members to adopt a strong middle ground. Problems occur when the extremist groups win and different sides move only the poles instead of the middle ground. That's what I wanted to promote here, the middle ground benefits!

You really don't :) Swim test requirements are very forgiving! The type of swimming you do is very easy on you

I agree, the skill of swimming required for scuba is not high. I believe it is more of a confort thing in the water, as someone who cannot swim at all could have more anxiety than should be. Beyond that, the way you move under the water has very little overlap to actual swimming. The main thing is to build comfort with water. Many have natural fear of water, but feeling confident around it through gradual exposure such as snorkeling with floating or a positively buoyant wet suit should be a good way to move beyond those fears. Passing the swim test for open water is designed as a very low bar, one does not need good form, they more or less just need to keep moving to show comfort in the water and that they are capable.

@itravelwisely lol I can barely get to 25m of the pool. Sometimes I can swim straight non stop and other times I can't and require to have a break in between

Thank you! Always appreciated!

@ you are always welcome!

Actually you do need to be certified to get tanks filled in most places, along with being able to dive in most places. Both should be requiring to show certifications. If they don't then you need to run from them.

I heard you, but I do feel you need to be certified to be an actual diver. Of all the sports I've done, I've never experienced such rigor in most agencies you work with to require you to show certification on trips, boats will check for it, and insurance will need it too. Yes, you can get away without it otherwise, but no insurance will cover any health risks, nor would you to get training to advance and improve so it's a real catch 22. I do get your point though!

@@MysticalDragon73 that's not entirely true. Yes most places wont give you stuff when u don't have a certification, but you can just fill them yourself. There is no law preventing you from scuba diving without certification unlike driving a car, as said in the video. I only know of Malta where it's restricted to 30m. But in not sure whether that's the actual law.

@@itravelwisely id say autoracing is even more restricted. Also flying is heavily depending on a license.

@provuksmc6619 what i said is 100% true smh

Some more fantastic comments and really appreciate the support! We are definitely in sync on the courses! I wouldn't recommend it but I know some with only access to cold water do dry suit and open water at the same time! Throw in nitrox and its a triple whammy! Wonder if PADI charges for dry suit certification if you get it at the same time as open water. Sounds painful though!

Whew that's badass on multiple accounts, I see a need for it if done well. I've wanted to explore building something similar (also a software engineer) except to help match making group trips. I built itravelwisely.com/ to be a website that helps build and share travel plans but never could get it to take off. Was going to see about changing it to help with group trips but we'll see. TH-cam definitely keeps me busy along with work and travel. Love to follow along your journey there!

@ I’ll keep you up to date and if you ever want to resurrect that idea, let me know

You bet!

Thank you, it means a lot! Great tip too, I've heard this before and think it is a good idea. Some BCDs do have some mitigations for cam band slip built in too. I've seen some come with double bands with rubber stops that help prevent slippage and also sometimes there is a loop at the top of the BCD that loops on that valve to ensure the BCD sits at the top. Otherwise for single band cam bands this is an excellent idea to ensure it stays on tight! I've certainly had many instances where I did use a rental BCD and tightened that sucker down on land but slips once in water.

I did learn the error of my ways and am practicing to make sure I correct it in future videos, I swear! I've learned the branded way to pronounce it is officially G.U.E., I was incorrect in calling it "goo".

@@itravelwisely I hope you know that I didn't mean any disrespect. I think it's awesome, and a little hilarious, and would make sense as that how it would be pronounced when you say an acronym like PADI

Much appreciated for not judging, your awesome!

Thank you much for the positivity! Two common positive buoyancy fins that I know numerous divers like are Scuba Pro Super Novas and the Mares Quattros. I personally own the Supernovas, they are a touch pricey but I love them for their ability to disassemble, making them easier to pack. Both are good positively buoyant fins.

Very true, just because one takes a great course from an amazing instructor won't make them amazing unless they move forward and practice it to get a good handle on it afterward! Even more so, the skills fade with time and lack of practice which makes it important to practice skills less used, like emergency procedures from time to time.

Separate tips are a pain, but it's almost culturally expected. The owners of the boat push it forward too. Sadly, more people will book on the initial price of a boat vs final fees. Similar to restaurants these days haha. Liveaboards are decently expensive but you go to places you cannot get to from day trips from land, generally. Or at least significantly reduce commute everyday.

Definitely! I tried to communicate something along this exact line in the video. Agencies have specific target audiences and are ran like businesses. Certain Agencies can have higher premiums and niches which do allow them to pay more and keep better talent too while others favor lower premiums and more on numbers. There is no absolute perfect model and for either to exist they need to build off one another to form an economy.

@itravelwisely yep, personally I've noticed that agencies that aren't motivated by profit produce better divers. However, the barrier to entry is higher and to get signed off as a competent diver takes much longer. And considering how fast everyone wants what they want, people will often turn to the for profit agency as they're 99% guaranteed to get their access to scuba after X amount of time & money. Conversely I got into scuba through the for profit agencies but wish I started with GUE or BSAC as it took a while before I felt competent as a diver.

Rescue is best described as first aid for scuba diving, but it goes through many scenarios that help you practice and remember the skills. They are all life-saving skills and techniques that I find worthwhile. It also helps build confidence in and around emergencies, too, at least a good start. I think its quite worthwhile. Self-reliance is required if you ever want to solo dive. While solo diving has its own dangers, even diving with a team, self reliance builds more confidence and skills around emergency management and handling gear redundancy to mitigate risks. Good courses that build on top of what you've learned and with a good instructor hopefully refine a lot of foundational skills further.

@itravelwisely thank you for such a detailed response. Its appreciated. It looks like I'll see about getting that on the radar in May or June then. Thanks again

@MysticalDragon73 anytime and happy I can help!

Definitely, that's one of the points I wanted to drive home in this video. Thanks for watching!

Bingo. Also at a certain point along progression, the instructors will be teaching or will be certified to teach for multiple agencies. For example, our LDS' has instructors across PADI, SSI, SDI/TDI, IANTD, HSA, and now DTA (Dive Talk Academy, for their rebreather). Only one or two instructors are single agency, and they only teach open water courses.

As diving instructor, I have worked with PADI, SNSI and now working with SDI. I agree with you 101%

You're amazing, thank you much!

Great thoughts and thank you for sharing! A good inddttuctor may jump around and seek the best opportunities too so sometimes they work for multiple agencies too, although I do think the tech diving organizations likely offer better pay and tend to be more demanding so they tend to niche down more.

Wow thanks for sharing, this is something of a dream of mine being able to sail and hop around islands in the carribbean while diving! You're living it! That's really cool and makes a lot of sense that you'd pursue instruction to support this because it only offers added benefit to the guests as more services are available. Very cool!

Can you cross over from SSI to PADI, or would you have to start from the bottom up, paying for each course just as if you were starting out brand new?

@@petef.4361 Yes you can. There is a lot of reciprocity between PADI and SSI.

Super appreciated!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed this one!

I've heard great things in general about GUE as it has a very high bar for its instructors. I've only taken one course from GUE so far, and that instructor and the whole experience was exceptional. I learned and grew a lot, and the course is designed in such a way that everything feels earned. I am sure there are some bad apples, but in general, I agree, the bar is high for GUE.

@itravelwisely Please point them out. There are some better than others for sure, but none of them is bad. There genuinely are no bad GUE Instructors. Because as soon as someone complaines about someone, they are up on that. Thats why you had to fill out their quality assurance paper at the end of your course. Saying that there are bad instructors is kinda defamation...

@provuksmc6619 I don't have an example, I was going off understanding of sociology and I have a rough theory that every organization will have good and bad in it. I studied a lot of psychology and sociology and kind of intrigues me on how to run a perfect and well balanced organization but often at the end of the road, you find there is no perfect. Only the best effort to balance and tip the scales. So I was speaking more of probabilistically speaking, there is likely going to be some bad instructors. At least anecdotally, I've been impressed!

@@itravelwisely ok... So you say there are bad instructors at GUE because you think so? Dude. I dont think that is appropriate to say. Especially since they are relying on their reputation to offer high quality education. They literally have t shirts that say 25 years committed to excellence. They especially want to be different than other agencies. So their requirements are so high. I would understand it if you made a bad experience and want to protect that person. Ppl can have bad days. And calling someone out in public is harsh. But that's not the case. As you said. You just say it bc you think so... without actually knowing or having proof... even though you had, according to you, a pleasant and educational experience... I really think your should reconsider what you say.

@provuksmc6619 it's okay, I digress, we are saying the same thing, I just don't see things in absolutes. I am an engineer afterall haha.

This is excellent to hear, and I'm glad you found an instructor that is showing genuine care in your growth. I honestly think the tech diving agencies do up the bar because they need to since there is more inherent risk diving deeper with more gear and risk considerations. But even sticking to recreational diving, those skills and foundations will make you safer and have more control wherever you choose to dive. I honestly feel more divers should feel pushed to not just get an open water but be required to show fundamental buoyancy, decent control of trim, finning, and emergency procedures. All of these are necessary for when things go wrong and helps ensure emergencies are handled smoothly. With all that said, I think its a good path, especially for you in your situation in which you dive in unique conditions. From my understanding because it's for work, also without a dive buddy. More training will help build that foundation, confidence, and eventually self-reliance.

@itravelwisely @itravelwisely exactly and thank you so much. For the foreseeable future I don't have much interest in doing deep dives or caves. It may change down the road, but not likely. However the skills tech divers use, enhanced safety is appealing to me. Plus I'm curious about full face and side mount. I cannot agree with you more about the skills. Especially buoyancy. Mine was all over the place. Because we had 8 in our pool sessions and 6 in our certification dives, it was harder to work and perfect it. I'm planning on doing pool sessions to work on that more, especially with the drysuit. What is your thought on the rescue diver class? When do you think someone should pursue it? I'm targeting mid to late summer and should have 15-20 dives in at the minimum. Ill also have my aow and likely search and recovery completed by then.

That's a great trajectory, and I see how you moved on to needing that more advanced teaching that TDI offers. At the end of the day, it's interesting to think of all these agencies as a business with target markets and strategies on how they want to grow their business and bottom lines. For better or worse, those do change over time, too. The way a business is run internally can attract good talent, being good divers that instruct the curriculum well with good knowledge of diving. But that's also a competitive problem being the best talent also wants higher pay so the agency would need to choose to market more premium services that have higher costs in order to pay the talent. But even cheaper agencies would still attract some good talent by sheer numbers. And it's really the human interaction with these good talented instructors that makes the experience, especially for beginner divers. I feel courses for beginner divers tend to be the lower ticket sales for the business, but by cheer volume, they can sum up to high value and so some agencies optimize their strategies for that. Haha, just some open thoughts on it. Thank you for your thoughts too!

@@itravelwisely well said and very much what I'm seeing locally here.

@timgosling6189 that's another reason I like sdi/tdi. In hindsight my padi instructor cut corners to push ush through quickly. While it was nice getting it done, in hindsight I would have preferred it not being rushed through. Their mindset was that we will learn with subsequent dives and classes vs having a higher standard and making us better and safer divers at the start

A good instructor with patience to teach, wisdom to share, and goal to help you grow is a dime and dozen. Honestly, when I was wavering at a point if I wanted to continue diving. It was a great instructor I met doing my advanced diving certification that really made me gain a newfound love for it. The instructors you meet and help you learn can definitely make or break the experience!

With the exception of GUE. They are top notch by far.

CMAS would have also been good to include! I was looking at the total number of agencies across the world and counted nearly 180 total! I tried to pick some of the more recognizable ones to keep the length not too overwhelming haha. I do agree probably should have included CMAS too.

@@itravelwisely CMAS is not so popular I agree (just because time of courses and and a strong focus on safety) but is recognizable in many countries. I remember that in Spain at the diving base I only showed an organizer with the cmas sign on it ... and they didn't even ask me about the certificates I had and the number of dives. They only said: "CMAS? - ok!" 😆

I'm an avid hiker/backpacker too! Definitely a lot of skills that cross over, especially packing minimally, light, and oranganized! Good call out on the DIN with adapter! That's how I run and it works well, can cut the adapter if you know ow your diving with a DIN shop too! I know some folk don't like adapters but I've never had an issue with them. Also good callout on using benadryl for sea sickness! That's a standard staple of my first aid kit I take on all trips! Should make a video at some point covering first aid kits now that I think on it! Thank you for your thoughts!

Haha, I have a love hate relationship with dry suit, but the water near my home in Seattle is cold enough to demand it so I've embraced it. It's a bit more enjoyable when you get used to it, but often I am rarely going for dives over an hour not because of being low on air but getting too cold. Even with a dry suit! I bought a heater recently that I'll give a try soon and hoping to kick that on the back half of a dive to make it more pleasant. Self-Reliance is an excellent suggestion, especially for those who don't go too deep into technical as it has some cross over with the skills and teaches you about the importance of redundancies. Even while diving with a group or a buddy, its never bad to have more confidence and reliance as an individual diver. Great thoughts and appreciate your comment!

My particular opinion on this is that DIR setup has a lot of good things about it, being standard positioning, setup, and safety of the gear. It would be needed to improve safety standards in more extreme environments like cramped areas like cave or wreck diving where its critical to remove one contention point and potential failure points. Beyond that, the one biggest sticking point from DIR that I think is worth considering is the long hose setup as it does have benefits in recreational diving. That doesn't need a new BC though. I think with most risks of BC failure in recreational diving, issues can be handled fairly safely. Being a BC wing failure is not the end of the world if you are correctly weighted. A lot of folk that prefer DIR might pick on bungies, quick adjustment straps, too many attachment points, not single piece of webbing. For me, in all my diving for those to fail, its very rare, and if it does fail on a recreational dive, it might end your dive early and be a bummer but it shouldn't be life threatening. For these to fail in a cave on the other hand, it could be life threatening. That's the sticking point, its a big inconvenience if it breaks on you during recreational diving. If you prepare and practice emergency drills properly and stay calm when it does break inevitably and maintain the gear well. You will go on enjoying your setup for a long time. So if you like it, keep on using it, I don't see a particular reason that a DIR will significantly improve your dive experience or make you significantly safer for recreational diving. That's my two cents. In fact, my wife and I might actually prefer a non DIR setup for travel to be honest.

Suunto Zoop Novo is a good dive watch for the basics and great for recreational diving. With that said, it doesn't try to do more than the basics as obviously Suunto and all the other dive computer makers want to move you to buying the premium models. At least with the Zoop Novo, getting the data off of it is not a core feature. When you buy the dive computer, you have to buy an additional cable for it that is a bit expensive for just being a cable, its a proprietary connector too (at least mine is which is like 10 years old, so there might be updates in newer models). It is worth noting that I think looking at the data is not super critical. I usually transfer the depth and time info on it to my log book at the end of a trip, it takes some time, but I'd imagine transferring the data via cable and getting it into your logbook still would also take some time. Also, Zoop doesn't record a bunch of interesting data, only the very basics on profile and such. You won't get SAC rate or trim or any cool data like that, so the data has its limits. As I dive more over the years too, I still log every dive, but I care less about looking at the stats of a dive. I usually care more on who I am diving with, weight I am using, water temp, dive site (and GPS location), and sometimes what I saw there but I am often too lazy for that too. So in short, the Zoop isn't great for data and even getting the internal logs off of it but I think its also not one of its strong points to begin with since higher end dive computers have integrated air and can give so much more data but it comes with the additional costs.

@@itravelwisely Thanks I really appreciate your detailed answer.

@@itravelwisely and by the way I bought it and you should consider making a deal with these items you promote. If we buy it through your link to whatever store etc that sells it you get a kickback. Just a thought...

This is a good point and thank you for the suggestion! A lot of those referral programs want you to guarantee a certain amount of sales so likely I won't be consistent enough until the channel is bigger. I do want to explore doing gear reviews more which would open the opportunity for that kind of thing more. For now, more than happy to at least provide my genuine opinion!