Quote Originally Posted by rongoodman View Post
I think after a long break I'd do my first few dives with an instructor, or a very strong mentor. Skills decay over time.
This is good advice. I should have done more of it when I got back into the sport after a long absence. The ballroom at Ginnie is a great place to practice line drills.

While it may be hard to do, take a close look at your gear and toss anything that is old and made of rubber. Fins, wetsuits, drysuits, cracked hoses etc... What I found was that as soon as I started using that old crap again, it failed on me at the most inopportune times. So, I ended up replacing it anyway and often it was while away from home, so I had to take what I could get to salvage the trip. Then when I got back I had to replace the gear again to get the right size or configuration. In an effort to save a buck, I ended up spending 3...