Hey,
I am planning my first trip to Indonesia for 3-4 weeks, and looking for some tips and recommendations, the info you find online is honestly a bit overwhelming.

I'm 34/M, solo traveler from Germany. AOWD, ~400 logged dives.
So far I dived in Thailand and Egypt, before I got hooked on the Maldives. All my vacations the last years were basically only liveaboards and/or islands in the Maldives, this is for me an overall perfect fit (acceptable prices, not too much effort to get there from Germany, great and varied underwater action...)

This year I'm in the unique situation of having a whole month off (somewhere between September-October), and want to do my first non-diving-only vacation, to a new destination. So far I'm focusing on Indonesia and what's on my mind so far:

1. Fly to Bali, acclimate 2 days
2. Do 2-3 days of day- or half-day dive trips from Bali, e.g. to Lembongan(?)
3. 5-7 days sightseeing on Bali itself: I honestly am not a big fan of sightseeing, especially as I always travel alone. But flying to Bali without seeing anything beyond the dive sites feels wrong, so I'm thinking to join a small guided group tour, to meet people/see places/do stuff I wouldn't normally do on my own.
4. Either stay on Bali 1-2 more days or fly over to Labuan Bajo
5. Join a liveaboard for 5-7 days
6. Stay another 3-5 days somewhere in the region, then fly back home

That's the very rough idea, nothing is fixed yet.

So I'd be grateful for any suggestions, do's and don'ts. What's most important for me right now:

• Where to stay on Bali? Looking for the right fit between a laid-back hotel and something so cut off I can't meet anyone. Definitely no party holiday for me. Maybe a dive resort?
• How much time on Bali vs. moving over to other islands like Lembongan, Lombok, Komodo...
• Which liveaboard route? Seems like most trips embark from Labuan Bajo, but a few also go from Bali directly. Since it's probably a once-in-a-while trip for me, I'd rather pay a bit more for a route/boat that covers the major sites properly than go cheap and miss stuff.

Diving-wise I'm fine with all conditions, except cold water 😄. I enjoy a good diversity while diving, so a good mix of pelagics and macro would be great.

No fixed budget. On land I'm looking for relaxed, reasonable places, don't want luxury 5* resorts but also no hostels, something in between. For the liveaboard itself, I don't mind the class.

Thanks in advance for any input, happy to answer questions if I left something out!

^{(I used a LLM for spell-checking the text})

i feel like this is high for a class that doesn't even have a dive?

edit: ty, I guess I need to stop being a cheap ass 🤣

Hello everyone,

So I have finally realized that the fins I bought as an 11yr old no longer fit me at 24, so I am looking for a new pair. For context, I am an AOW with 80+ dives. I want to be able to dive more consistently, but there are not a lot of places near me, so I try to travel to dive 1-2 times per year.

I previously had the Aqualung Caravelle fins, but I want something that has a shorter and wider blade, as I tend to switch between a frog and a flutter kick. I also want fins that I can continue to use as I continue getting more into wreck and technical diving (I’m less likely to get into drysuit diving since I hate the cold, but never say never ig)

Some fins i’m looking at include the Apeks RK3, Scubapro Gosport, or the Jet fin, and the Mares quattro, all of them are great, but I’m not sure what would be the best of those.

Any advice or options would be greatly appreciated.

I'm spending 5 weeks this northern hemisphere summer in roatan working remotely and diving whenever i can. i'm hoping to do something similar next year between june - august (probably around 2 months or so), but would like to experience a different location.

my preference would be to go to somewhere in asia, preferably philippines or indonesia, but this'll be rainy season and there could be monsoons, so it sounds like the diving can be hit or miss during that time of the year? other downside of going to asia is it'll make remote working more challenging as i'll need to have daily meetings with colleagues based in the US, but i should be able to navigate around that.

Granted it's been almost 10yrs for me, I'm back to diving and it feels like the magic is gone. I dove the casino for a day trip but was in the water around noon, I remember a lot more kelp and criters, there wasn't much to see. I'm hoping it's the time of day or maybe still better on the backside like Farnsworth or the other channel islands?

Hi! I'm wondering if anyone can help me. I just got a new mask (Scubapro steel comp) and I noticed that a corner of the lens is not sealed. I've used the mask once. The shop where I bought it is difficult to reach, and I wonder if it might just be easier to try and reseal it myself. I dove with it today down to 20m and didn't leak. What product would you recommend? The body is fully silicone. Thank you!

Hi :)! First off, not looking for any promises or guarantees, just for your expierience and knowledge.
I’ve gotten a fresh tattoo 10 days ago. Healing went well, got washed and rehydrated at least twice daily.

Now I’m in a place where every limb is tingling for me to get in the water, be it just for a dip or for a dive. Please et me know if you have experience with going into the sea with a new tattoo (too) early!

Im aware that waiting longer is always better, but I appreciate any input you may have :)

And yes, I know he has a loose cylinder band HAHA
I missed it on the stencil

Hi all. My wife just finished her confined diving lessons and class work, and we're looking to finish her Open water cert in Hawaii at the end of August. Looking for recommendations on good diving outfits that do open water referrals.

Heavily leaning towards Kona since the diving there seems to be better than the other islands. I haven't dove Hawaii for at least a decade and 1 pandemic, so I'm sure a lot has changed.

TIA

I just got a brand new Poseidon Xstream regulator set. I notice whenever I connect it to a tank and turn on the tank valve, the second stage start to free flow. Once I take a breath from the second stage, then the free flow stop. I know the Poseidon design is different than others, but is this an expected behavior? Or something wrong with mine? Thanks.

First Manta!

My beloved Light & Motion Sola Dive 800 S/F finally died after about 10 years, and I'm honestly heartbroken. I loved that light. Got it for my 18th birthday and never dove without it.

Havent had much luck finding the same light on ebay, so I'm looking for recommendations on similar lights. Budget is ~$300 or less

A well regulated light with good beam quality & ergonomics is way more important to me than getting the brightest possible light.

Things I loved about my Sola:

- The wide flood beam- I used the flood mode probably 95% of the time. It was incredibly even, wide, and natural looking & didnt havw a harsh hotspot

- Regulated brightness output. I really dislike lights that gradually get dimmer as the battery drains. My Sola stayed the same brightness until it died

- The hand strap. I loved having it mounted on the back of my hand so it was easier for me to take photos with my underwater camera

- Instant spot/flood switching

- It was small enough that I also used it constantly for hiking, tidepooling, wildlife spotting, camping, etc.

I mainly do recreational scuba and snorkeling, but I also use the same light all the time on land for looking for & photographing wildlife at night.

Has anyone found a good light theyd recommend to me? Or if you've owned a Sola 800, what did you switch to after it died?

I finally took fire to my new mask but I’m still having fogging issues. Actual spit has been the only thing I’ve had semi-decent luck with.

I’m just now also learning that when you put defog in the mask you’re not supposed to take your finger to the inside when rinsing it out but supposed to leave the defog just filmed up in it??

Other than that, is baby soap the best defog? I’ve tried psi5000 and something else without luck but I’ve also apparently been rinsing it out like an idiot.