PADI Rescue Diver
Liz is a full-time traveler and a PADI Rescue Diver. She loves to explore new places in and out of the water and share her experiences with others.
Liz is a PADI Rescue Diver and a full-time traveler. She covers the scuba side of OutsiderView — certification routes, dive planning and the safety questions new divers ask before their first descent.
18 guides
Scuba divingTutorial
A prescription dive mask is a different purchase from a snorkel mask, and depth is the least of it. Reading a computer is close work, and masks come off.
Series: Snorkeling with glasses
DivingDestination
Rottnest dives from Fremantle day boats and snorkels from its own beaches. The five sanctuary zones, the two marked snorkel trails, a June dive at Crystal Palace — and how the island sat out WA's worst bleaching year.
SnorkelingDestination
Roatán sits on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, and bleaching and disease changed what is down there. What each site offers now, the park tag, and when to come.
SnorkelingDestination
Curaçao is shore snorkeling, and half the good entries sit behind a gate with an opening time and a price. Which coast, and what each beach charges now.
Series: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao
Scuba divingTutorial
Nitrox buys you longer no-stop times, but on a standard cylinder you run out of gas before you run out of table at every depth shallower than about 100 feet. The arithmetic, the depth limits, and what fourteen dive shops charged on 10 August 2026.
Series: Getting into scuba
SnorkelingDestination
Bonaire has the easiest shore snorkeling in the Caribbean: park at a yellow stone and walk in. The best spots, Klein Bonaire, the $40 nature fee, the sunscreen law, what the reef looks like after three hard years, and how to keep your rental truck safe.
Series: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao
Scuba divingTutorial
Asthma stopped being a blanket bar to recreational diving years ago; an individual assessment replaced it. What the form asks, and where guidance differs.
Series: Getting into scuba
Scuba divingProduct
A recompression table costs about $1,340 at Medicare rates and the median case needs three of them, before the $20,000 ride to the chamber. DAN, DiveAssure and World Nomads compared on the clauses that decide a claim — checked against the 2026 policy documents.
Series: Getting into scuba
Scuba divingDestination
Rawa is a private island inside Malaysia's largest marine park, with one dive center, one reef and no way to visit for a day. The season, the RM30 fee, what the 2024 bleaching did, and whether you should go to Tioman instead.
Scuba divingProduct
The Shearwater Peregrine is the first computer to buy — big color screen, Bühlmann with gradient factors, the best service in diving. The Mares Puck 4 covers tight budgets, the Peregrine TX adds air integration, and the Garmin Descent G2 is the one-watch answer.
Scuba divingTutorial
You have booked a first dive and nobody said what it involves. The age, medical and swimming gates as agencies write them, and what goes wrong on a descent.
Series: Getting into scuba
Scuba divingTutorial
The wait-after-eating rule is a 1908 myth the Red Cross formally dismissed. What a diver should eat and drink before a dive, what to skip, and where the real risks sit — alcohol, reflux and dehydration — from DAN and the peer-reviewed record.
Scuba divingTutorial
Wait 12 hours to fly after one dive. Wait 18 hours after two or more dives in a day, or after several days of diving. After a dive with required stops, wait 24 hours. Here's a quick table, why the wait matters, what counts as flying, and when to call DAN instead of boarding.
Series: Getting into scuba
SnorkelingDestination
Dominica's snorkeling is shore-entry, volcanic and deep, and mostly inside one reserve charging US$2 at the water's edge. Where each site is, and what it costs.
SnorkelingDestination
Grenada's snorkeling turns on one site: an underwater sculpture park you need a boat to reach, inside a marine protected area whose fee doubles on 1 October 2026. Where the sculptures are, what a snorkeler can see, and when to come.
Scuba divingTutorial
Four courses, 100 logged dives and a two-day exam. The PADI and SSI rules for 2026, what it costs from your first dive, how long it takes, what the job pays and where the work is.
Scuba divingTutorial
Learning to dive costs about $350 to $1,200. A day of boat diving costs about $65 to $200, plus $35 to $40 if you rent gear. Here are 2026 prices from real dive shops for courses, try dives, gear, insurance and liveaboards.
Series: Getting into scuba
SnorkelingTutorial
Snorkeling means floating at the surface and breathing through a tube. Scuba diving means taking a tank of air under the water. How the two compare on what you see, depth, training, cost, age and health, and how to try both on one trip.
Series: Getting into scuba
