almost everyone is trained and certified with a jacket BCD, thus more familiar with the usage. backplates on the other hand, requires different removal style, so your buddy may not be able to assist you

also, with most jackets, you wear a weight belt, so if you remove BCD, you will sink fast, which is why in training and exam, they teach you to remove weight belt first, so you will instantly be positive. with backplate and not wearing a weight belt, removing BCD will make you positive bouyant.

Now this is incorrect. When purchasing you always take into consideration of the amount of lift the bladder in your donut gives. You should make sure it would be able to keep you afloat when fully inflated.
In rescue(actually in OW also) you learn that it is important to understand you buddy's gears and how to remove before even being in a dive. Plus as a diver it is good to understand different type of gears too and how to use them. That is why we always talk about gears during TT and if anyone is willing to bring it along for others to view n learn.

too many new gungho divers!

+1. I do that too. I would volunteer that
My news feeds usually report death in experienced and highly qualified divers though.. Especially in the West.

not sure about the logic though. there are definitely far more inexperience divers than experienced divers, and inexperienced divers are usually more careless/unaware of situations compared to experienced divers. Therefore, logic will dictate that the number of accidents attributed to inexperience divers will far outweigh the experienced divers.

also, how to define experienced divers in the first place? AOW diver with 8 dives under his/her belt or OW diver with 50 dives? secondly, news are likely from west because of stricter regulations/awareness of safety, so any accidents are rare and often reported? we don't hear much news from this region because of the many 'sweatshops' DC churning out goldfish or seahorse divers? accidents that happens is usually reported only in local news and not international/regional news because it happens to often? unless there are death, usually no reports in newspaper.

again, my humble opinion

Well... Yeah.
Unlike in Malaysia, u get warm surface and warm water.
And Hokkaido, u get colder surface and icy cold water.
Bali... Doing whole island safari tomorrow.
Secret Bay - Manjangan - Permuteran - Tulamben - Seraya - Melasti - Amed - Crystal Bay - Blue Corner - Manta Point

The main challenge is in:
Pulau Manjangan, open Java Sea.
Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida, famous for washing machine currents and Mola2.
Blue Corner, crazy current side, last visit... Many pelagic... Open Sea...

^ above dive site, water can be very cold about 16'C especially in Nusa Penida and Manjangan where thermocline is present.

Hopefully can spot this:

I done both.
Cave dive ... scary. I dont like it. Always remember inside the cave, stay calm and breathe casually.
Those with Tunnel Vision or "Forget the Term", not really encourage to do cave dive so much unless challenge is your cup of tea!
("Forget the Term" there's one term being said about some divers will only focus one point and stress with it, eventually it will cause panic. Is in the PADI DM and Rescue Syllabus. hahhaha, just not in my brain now for tat word) any1 wanna help!? 

Ice dive, wow a very good experienced!! Done it earlier this year in Hokkaido, Sea of Okhotsk.
How you wear a dry suit, pump in air la, how to control buoyancy la, how you cut triangle on the ice surface, why do not cut round shape or square shape etc... Follow the rope la...
Cannot go so deep, later equipment freeze la. Cannot dive so long also. Many hazards, hypothermia everything...

Go in ... spotted Sea Angel and come out. Damage about RM250 - 300/dive. Bottom time less than 20 minutes and not exceeding 12 meters . Like having DSD. Water Temp was about 4'C -5'C. Surface about -8'C to -12'C...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-06/scub...-ordeal/7574496
You never know when you're going to need that big SMB...

I think he meant a safety strobe, not a photographic one. Like this: https://www.divegearexpress.com/tektite-mul...00-strobe-light

Too many things to bring along. Will become christmas tree. Now also feel like christmas tree di.

Get a pocket, and when the pocket fills up, get more pockets and a huge pocket to keep your pockets...

12am is sold out

Lai lai, my planning is 9 September till 11 September

Mahu join? Hehe
Ya mersing

MIDE nak datang dah. Ingat beli BCD ya... 

Might pull a Yanie and go on day 1.. if not Day 2 and 3 for me.

Can try that too... With some perri sauce

Nope but reviews are good.
I am going to dive with them in Oct.

Sure you can. Only thing is that scuba masks tend to emphasize visual field and convenience and thus may appear bulky with a huge glass panel, while freediving masks tend to emphasize streamlining. Its all preference. Snorkel holder can be added no worries. My snorkel is foldable and the low-profile silicone handle stays on the strap