I have not been SCUBA diving for over a year, and by now most of my equipment is out of date and my tanks would have to be retested before they could safely be used. It may well be that I have made my last dive.

I have a fairly detailed description of my 1999 Cozumel trip and what I learned about what take, and what to leave home.

That trip was mostly people from the Aqua Tutus Dive Club, which I was a member of for many years, and a few from San Jose Flipper Dippers. I am no longer in Aqua Tutus because they require you be a member of Cen Cal which is an organization that promotes Spear Fish competition. I object to Trophy Hunting because it highly tempts, and rewards, participators to shoot the first animal they see; then throw it away when they find and shoot a bigger specimen. I refuse to support that behavior in any way! In many ways this saddens me because other wise it was a great club, and I believe many of their members have not given much though to what they are supporting. In fairness, I should also point out that Cen Cal does much more than hold spear fishing competition. Much of their function is directed to keeping ocean access from being taken away from SCUBA divers.

Links, I like, and some thoughts about SCUBA training
DiverLink has a lot of information about SCUBA and related travel. DiverLink is now being sued by PADI. I am not sympathetic to PADI. I have experience with four different certifying agencies, and PADI ranks at the bottom of my list. Their manuals are poor and inaccurate. PADI is simply in the business of selling books and plastic cards. It is unfortunate they are associated with SCUBA and diving. But, the instructor is far and above the most important thing about any dive training. For someone who knows nothing else, I would suggest asking about the length of the course. Obviously, you will get much better training in a class that has more pool sessions and more opened water dives. Be ware of any "quick and easy" short courses. I believe you will get better training from a non-profit such as the YMCA than from a dive shop. Sorry, but the facts are: with today's costs for pool time, insurance, and labor; nobody can make money teaching diving, and spend the time it requires for a good class.

For anyone getting into underwater video they would get a lot of good first hand information from: John and Marrylins home page.

Diving medicine, a description of Sea Lice.

POSEIDON SCUBA gear seems to have moved to Australia.
Dive Rite unfortunately has been bought by "Lamartek". I have never heard of them? I don't see much about diving at their site any more. Too bad.

For people who like to Sew, Frostline Kits Used to have kits for everything from ditty bags to sleeping bags and tents. Unfortunately, they now have a lot of pop-up menus on their site. I no longer recommend them.