Mar 31, 2020
Let's take a look shall we?
So you're really getting into Scuba Diving!! Great stuff, you're not going to regret it!
When it comes to buying your own scuba diving gear it can be difficult to know when you should buy and what you should buy. Here are some tips as well as pros, cons and suggestions for both new divers and experienced divers to help you navigate your way around the dive store!
What do you need to consider when purchasing gear?
When should you go all in and buy your own dive equipment?
How much should you spend?
What should be prioritised over what?
First things first
The first things most people buy are fins, mask, and snorkel, Boots and Fins, some buy them even before they start diving. It’s a pretty good idea really, You’ll know it all fits and definitely know where it has been, used boots yuk!
Mask
The most important factor to consider when buying a mask is the fit, Everything else, is secondary no matter how much you want that colour! A poor fitting mask WILL leak. If your mask doesn't fit correctly you will encounter annoyance, snotty noses, foggy masks, stinging eyes and in some cases in the beginning, sheer, uncontrollable panic.
There is no point in diving if you can't see!
When you buy your mask there is normally a matching snorkel to attach. Look for the ones with a purge valve so you don't have to shoot the excess water out of the top!
Fins
Poor fitting fins can cause cramps and blister your feet. Like masks these can be used outside of scuba for snorkeling. When buying for scuba diving use, make sure you buy ones that are suited for diving, not just snorkeling.
There are two main types of fin available:
Full foot
– ideal for snorkeling or shorter dives in warm tropical waters
Open heel – These tend to be more comfortable and are suitable for warm and cold water. You need to wear a pair of neoprene boots with these which give more thermal protection as they come in various thicknesses.
Got those, love my new mask & fins, What Next?
Dive Computers
As part of your open water course you will have learnt about the importance of dive computers. This is the next thing you should be getting your hands on when you start diving is a dive computers. Some dive centres have started renting out computers (like us!), but at most places, they are still hard to find as rentals.
The price of entry dive computers are affordable, even for holidayers and owning one might just save your life if you’re separated from a group during a deep dive.
Though dive planners are great, we encourage divers to understand them, they're based solely around your maximum depth, whereas a dive computer continuously tracks changes in your depth and adjusts automatically to give you the best and safest possible dive experience. Computers more accurately calculate your surface intervals and no fly times. They are especially useful for the multiple dive days. All this essential information is presented in a single, easy to read digital display.
Many countries such as the Maldives and dive centres around the world insist that every diver has a computer. It can cost around £10-15 per day to hire. Computers can cost as little as £150 so for something that can keep you safe so it’s money well spent and it won’t take long to pay for itself.
Suit
The level of priority of this depends on where you dive.
To make sure you don't get that he icy trickle of water down the back of your neck after your giant stride, it's better to have five minutes of discomfort to check the wetsuit fits! Material thickness is important both in terms of thermal protection and also travel weight, but the former should be the priority. If you're not certain, a good 'multi-purpose' option is a mm long suit, and hoods are an extremely useful accessory.
At what temperature drysuits become essential varies between divers, location, and frequency of diving. If you learned to dive in a drysuit or a semidry then the same style of suit would be a good first purchase. If you trained in warm water then you really need an orientation, at the very least to the drysuit diving course to get the skills and experience, here you can chat with with us before making a decision.
BCD
A good, sturdy, well-fitting BCD really adds to your diving experience and comfort.
It's important to know where the pockets are, how the weight system works, and all the other little details also helps to add to your safety and peace of mind during a dive. Don't forget that you will need to allow some room in the fitting for the thickness of suit you are most likely to dive in.
If you’ll primarily be using your BCD during travel, consider buying a light-weight version made for travel.
Cost will of course depend on the level of luxury you require, but a mid-range BCD will fit most divers’ needs.
Regulators
Having your own scuba regulator means always knowing when your gear was last serviced, and allows you to set it up the way you want it.
Although regulators are the most complex pieces of dive equipment, they all do the same thing, with one important exception, which is their suitability for cold water diving. If you're going to be diving in water colder than 10°C, make sure you buy a regulator with the right rating. Buying a brand that you can have serviced locally will save you headaches in the long-run.
Accessories
This is a bit of a magpie section but there are a few things you should think about before you buy cool and shiny!
All divers should carry a delayed surface marker buoy (DSMB), preferably with a reel and it's really importantly that you know how to use it. Knifes and whistles may come in handy in emergencies.
Some divers like to carry slates to write on for improved underwater communication.
For recreational night/low visibility diving, a small hand-held torch will be plenty, look for the rechargeable ones.
When to buy what?
So when do you buy your own kit?
Get the basics, mask, snorkel, boots fins first
If you've just got that PPI payment then crack on! Otherwise, it's not necessary to get the full package the day after you finish your first dive course but we’ll help you if that’s what you want.
Take some time to get some dives under your belt and find your personal preferences.
Over the course of a few dives in differing rental kit, you’ll start to pick up on things you like, or things that annoy you, which can help you in making your choice.
talk through what each bit of kit is and the benefits of owning your own stuff
Thinking of trying scuba diving? let's go through a few things to convince you!
Some tips and help about scuba diving beginners. Welcome to the community!
In October 2018, I set off to join The Scuba Place on a dream holiday in The Maldives on MY Sachika, a luxury diving live aboard. What would be a daunting travel itinerary for some was made easy by John and his team at The Scuba Place as we met at the airport and flew to our destination via Dubai on Emirates. As a 6'1 and rather bulky chap, I normally suffer on planes but not this time!! The space, the service and the in flight entertainment made this a comfortable couple of flights indeed! On arriving (and after collecting my bags where I nearly took someone else's identical dive bag!!) we were met by the very welcoming dive crew of Sachika, Chiara and Matteo. They organised us all, welcomed us with a smile and had our bags taken away so we could relax and not get sweaty from the beautiful weather!! A short trip then followed on the Sachika dive boat to take us straight to Sachika itself, our beautiful home for the week!! Now, as far as live aboards go, this is definitely one of the newest and nicest in the Maldives and by gosh could you get used to that kind of luxury!! An on board bar, a seemingly never ending supply of hot water, clean and tidy, spacious rooms and an extremely friendly and welcoming crew!! Then comes the diving!!! Wow!!! What a check dive!!! It's not often that your check dive is at a Manta cleaning station and on your swim to it, you see a few White Tip Reef Sharks!!! To say I was excited would be a huge understatement but it's just so hard to put it into words........it doesn't matter how many times I see sharks on a dive, it always takes my breath away!! And ok, so this dive was a bit crowded with what can only be described as a group of pay and play divers......but it didn't take anything away from the grace and beauty of the extraordinary Mantas gliding overhead in their very patient queue to have a good clean at the station!! Now, I can run through each dive individually but I'd be writing forever!! So you'll have to settle for the summarised version of my best bits and things to shout about!! Mobular Rays, Eagle Rays, White Tips, Black Tips, Nurse Sharks, Grey Reef Sharks, Turtles, Harlequin Shrimps, Napoleons, So many species of Morays, Soft Corals, Hard Corals and a plethora of different types of fish, far too many to list!! My favourite dives were so varied! A night dive where we saw a copious amount of Nurse Sharks barging past us, plenty of Black Tips darting in and out of sight on the hunt, Giant Trevally overhead picking their targets and plenty of Stingrays gliding along the sand in their search for food (one of which really seemed to have it in for me and wanted to push me out of the way whenever I settled down to take pictures!!). Now, you'd think that the best part of that dive was the sheer number of marine life to be seen, but for me it was actually the reactions of my fellow divers who for some, this was a first dive of it's kind. Smiles, cheers and general happiness followed that dive and in particular one person who wasn't overly keen on doing it in the first place, actually came out one of the happiest divers I've ever seen!! A true spectacle of a dive and one that will always be close to my heart!! Our guide Chiara was looking forward to our dive at Fish Head all week, and as you can expect, if it's a guide's favourite then it will be a good one!! So to set the scene a little, the name 'Fish Head' comes from stories of fishermen never actually catching more than a fish head because every time they got a bite, something bigger would take a bite before the catch made it to the surface!! So as you can imagine, a dive with lots of sharks!! Now, unfortunately for me, my GoPro didn't quite cut it to get the pictures of the abundance of sharks patrolling the reef, but believe me......there were loads!! Grey Reef Sharks and White Tips everywhere!! A huge group of greys seemed to be patrolling the edge of the reef, going backwards and forwards just out of camera range but I did get a couple of snaps where you could make out the silhouettes of them all!! Luckily, the White Tips aren't as shy!! John did seem to have a great habit of shepherding them towards me as they turned away from him and his impressive camera, which ultimately made the world of difference for my little GoPro!! I have a few good snaps of them!! But, back to the dive......a lovely current meant we effortlessly glided over the reef just pointing at all the wonders we could see. The highlight for me though, was the two turtles at the end of the dive.....one of which who was socially swimming around, lapping up the attention......and the other who rather wickedly fooled some of us into thinking he was stuck in the rocks!! Now, anyone that knows me has possibly thought of me as that marine biology geek, and so I had to help because that impression of me is rather accurate!! So, I gently gave the turtle a helping hand and angled him so he could get out......he swam out, looked at me as he did a full circle around me....at this point, my mind was flooded with ideas that I had made a new best friend (you constantly hear of stories of people helping marine life that then stick to them like glue!!)......well, I was wrong!! The turtle simply swam straight back into his hole, shuffled around again and looking like he was stuck once more!! I was then informed by the guide that a lot of turtles do get into tight gaps and shuffle around to scare away the little fish so they can have a nap!! I still maintain I was being a hero though!! The last dive of the holiday.......WOW!! 'Fish Tank'.......and no, it wasn't an aquarium!! But it may as well have been!! This site was located just next to a Tuna factory.....where they tin the tuna....and throw out the remains!! The waste from the factory wasn't quite wasted though......it was the focal point of an underwater community of which I've never seen one like it before!! Stingrays all over the place not dissimilar from one of my old haunts, Stingray City in Grand Cayman. But, that wasn't it, there was more.....SO much more!! Banner fish, Trumpetfish, Trevally and eels.....so many eels!!! I've seen eels before, and lots of them......but never have I seen hundreds in one place!! Never have I seen five rather large Morays of different species sharing one hole!! There was no putting your hand down here over fears you might accidentally pat one on the head!! Wow, there were so many but what was even more surprising was their calmness over having all us divers swimming around them and shoving cameras in their faces!! So calm, that one of our group actually ended up befriending one and was stroking it!! Granted, he wasn't stroking under his chin or near his mouth!! But, it was incredible!! This eel was enjoying it, you couldn't miss the expression and body language from this eel leaning into the hand of his new friend much like a dog does when he wants a scratch behind the ears!! This was the perfect way to end a fantastic trip!! I'll spare you with the boring bits......packing, waiting in the airport and the journey home. I won't even go on about the huge regrets I had when I walked out of Gatwick only to realise my shorts and flip flops were definitely not appropriate anymore!! Instead I'm going to sign off with a recommendation.....GO TO THE MALDIVES!!! Better yet, join us in The Maldives on our next trip!! In the coming weeks, we will be launching a Maldives Dive Holiday for you all and we hope it catches your attention!! Check out the gallery page in the coming days as I add pictures I've taken (and maybe some belonging to others if they're feeling kind) and get a real idea of the amazing things I've seen and talked about in this blog. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing this trip was and I've been there before!! So whether you're a first timer or a Maldives veteran, get involved and join us for some more amazing Maldivian diving adventures!!
This large silver gilt mussel pendant is just one of a select number of pieces of marine life inspired jewellery that have arrived at the shop! We are super excited to be working with the very talented JHW Silver who produces these fantastic pieces and more. She not only shares our passion for scuba diving, she also cares, like us, about what goes on in our oceans and has achieved an amazing feat as JHW Silver is completely plastic free!! We also hope to see Jessica on our Egypt Trip in April 2019!!