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This doesn't answer your question, but personally we use something really similar to this

The scariest part is if we decide to transfer the camera. I keep the wrist band quite tight on my wrist and was not afraid to drop it at a moment's notice, and in fact I did drop it a couple of times. I was really focused on making sure my partner had enough air and was doing okay and all those routine checks and just dropped it a few times.

I'm not sure what your motivation is to be hands free. You shouldn't be compensating your buoyancy with your hands and you shouldn't be touching anything, unless you are thinking about holding a light or thinking of emergency situations. But for an emergency situation you can just drop the camera if it's on a wristband and not worry about it. I could see advantages to being hands-free, but I think I'd personally prefer having a hand mount.

(Our diving instructor let us use the gopro on the last dive because we had finished the training and it was just us and him because the other couple had left, so he was able to keep a good eye on us and felt comfortable with it and we felt comfortable with it too.)

I bought a a Tovatec for my primary and an Orcatorch for my backup. Both are 1000 lumen rated and are quite bright.

1. The Tovatec has adjustable focus, so depending on what you want to do, it makes sense, but it is quite heavy. I am not joking, the weight is substantial. It comes with a rechargeable battery, charger and a socket for 3 AA batteries as well.
   
2. The Orca d550 is very capable still. Light (pun totally intended), bright, has a back magnetic switch (which I find better and the rocker on the Tovatec) and comes with the rechargeable battery, charger and a wrist strap.
   
   Both have 3 light modes + strobe and come with additional o-rings. I hope this helps!

Fins are great for really moving around, and I would recommend them. In reality you dont need that extra propulsion to casually snorkel. I picked up a set of gear for around 50 last year and they work great.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G7LX56Q/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also if you want great fins for a decent price here ya go...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0071B9FBG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The chest straps work fine under water, but you have to get one like the Garmin HRM Swim (more targeted to pool swimmers) or the Garmin HRM Tri and pair it with something like the Garmin Fenix 5. None of these will give you a live reading, but the devices will sync when you're out of the water and end your workout to give you a plot of your workout intensity.

The wrist-based HRMs are fine when you're out of water, but they rely on light, so they don't perform well under water.

Edit: I apparently just gave bad advice: According to the Garmin Support page on using a heart rate monitor strap while diving, their straps are rated only for depths up to 5 ATM.

I would strongly suggest the book Deco for Divers.

Buhlmann (ZHL-16C is the current iteration, I think?) is a standard deco algorithm, all the compartment values for different gasses and M-values are published. Most computers also implement gradient factors on top of Buhlmann. Here is a primer.

VPM is another algorithm, but it's on shaky ground when applied to mixed gas diving. RGBM is an extension of VPM (Suunto computers use RGBM).

This is probably also something you should read.

If you want to support different gas mixes, you need to be able to let the user specify the % of O2, N2, and He in each mix (I don't know if the M-values for H2 are readily available, but almost no one uses H2 outside of deep commercial diving and medicine), and you will have to treat each gas separately in the decompression model.

And please don't set the limit of the number of gas mixes to something stupid, like two (looking at you, Oceanic).

Well, you can find a couple 1/2 decent lights for under $150. There's also things like a nice dive knife, air fill cards at her local shop, tickets on a local charter boat, a tank, a safety sausage, set of extra O-rings, braided hoses, hose protectors, retracter clips, new dive bag, maybe a scuba tool like this:http://www.amazon.com/Scuba-Multi-Tool-by-XS/dp/B002YGG2I2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322518668&sr=8-1 , if she's advanced enough in the hobby to be maintaining her own equipment, maybe a line an reel if she does wreck or cave diving.

That's what I was thinking. Nearly all of them are okay to use at depth (often far deeper than I'll be going) but say that while snorkeling with it is okay, scuba diving is not. My only concern is that while short dives might be okay, longer dives in rapid succession might not be (that's why I threw in how long the dives will be in my edit).

I was thinking something like this but check out the description.

Don't know of a great app, but there are lots of great books on the subject. They are all location-specific, so recommendations may be based on where you dive.

For the Caribbean, I can highly recommend this book:

Reef Fish Identification - Florida Caribbean Bahamas - 4th Edition (Reef Set)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1878348574/

It is part of a set that includes books on fish identification, other creature identification, coral identification, and then a book on fish behavior.

Invicta. Legit dive watch, sub $100, my friends that are watch guys have given me compliments on mine, and I always laugh because its so inexpensive.

Been pretty happy with my Underwater Kinetics UV light.
Here is it in action a bit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6mPlFoByf8

https://www.amazon.com/Underwater-Kinetics-Aqualite-Video-Light/dp/B00RM3D5QY?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_3049301011

https://www.amazon.com/Underwater-Kinetics-Aqualite-UV-395-Silver/dp/B00VKPRMD2?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_3049301011

https://www.leisurepro.com/p-uktavlhu395/underwater-kinetics-aqualite-uv-395-video-led-light-head?origterm=underwater+kinetics+aqualite+uv-395+video+led+light+head&searchredirect=true

totally with you on extending! opens up so many more possibilities if you're willing to give up some stability.

i use this guy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZOEFNWW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

not sure if it's still too big for you, but i find it to be a nice balance between extendability length and size when retracted.

I just came home from holiday in Mauritius where I did 7 dives. I am an OWD (did 6 dives before) and have had ear problems since day 1.

My tips:

• as soon as your head goes down, equalise
  
• equalise all the was through, every few seconds
  
• tilt your head to the side (what ear you want to equalise > my bad ear is the left one so I‘m always tilted to the left side with my head)
  
• don‘t go down while being vertical, go horizontal as soon as possible (you‘re going down much slower > more time to equalise)
  
• I usually try to swallow and blow together (rarely works but sometimes works for me)
  
• a DM recommended oily eardrops (they contain tea tree oil and help prevent the water going into the ear)
  
• obviously but still: if you can’t equalise, go up a bit
  
• try to equalise your ears while still on land/boat one time, especially if you‘re on your second dive of the day (we usually did a ~45min dive, went back to land, waited 30-45min and went for another ~45min)
  
• massage from right behind the ear downwards to the jaw, help opening up the canals (bit of constant pressure, don‘t go towards your artery but more straight down to the collar bone)
  
• I always move my ears around, massage them, pull at them in every direction right before a dive (looks ridiculous, helps alot)
  
• IDK if you know that but: when you go up, obviously go slowly and DO NOT!!! equalise. Your ears can do it themselves then and you will hear it and for me it hurts alot but when I go up, it‘s much better
  
• say that you have problems with your ears and they should and normally do help you through it. We were in big groups (10people) and so obviously not everybody can buddy up with a DM but I always did. The groups started diving when we were still going down so I didn’t feel stressed and pressured to be quick
  
  Sorry for the long post and you probably know alot but I just saw your post and experience the same problem and just got a few more tips so I thought I‘d share it. :)
  
  [swim seal drops] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/SwimSeal-protection-against-replaces-earplugs/dp/B009P2155I)

I always use these now since I suffered with ear infections after swimming in Egypt. They are great, just need to make sure you buy the right size. My local dive shop has The measuring guides, but sure you could look online.

Docs Pro earplugs

do you mean something like this? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003554ETA/ref=s9_acsd_top_hd_bw_b2SsoWh_c_x_w?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=VVNT3K8PJS9TDDY62E0E&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=81891df0-d02c-5be3-9f5b-9783532bd209&pf_rd_i=2259067011&th=1&psc=1

There are special earplugs for divers which have tiny holes in them to make sure you can handle the pressure. Here’s a Link

http://apps.padi.com/scuba-diving/eMaterialsv3/Uniflips/Web-Portal/79180_1_OWD_Manual_Web.html


Paper copy of manual


Book that will teach you a lot more about diving theory

This video kind of sums up the pros and cons of trying to use an iPhone as an underwater camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoY4R29TLAw

The one they use in the video I can't find anymore, but here's another. https://www.amazon.com/Watershot-Line-Underwater-Housing-iPhone/dp/B00SGGOD6W

Keep in mind, the biggest problem is going to be touch screen control and lighting.