Say you’re about to sign up for a scuba diving course in order to become a diver, what do you need? Some people will tell you to essentially buy the farm before you start diving, meaning to buy every piece of gear known to man. Others tell you that you don’t need anything. Is there a middle ground?
The first thing we recommend is to scope out different dive shops. Dive shops are similar, but they can also be extremely different. It is best to find a dive shop that suits you and your needs the best. Finding a dive shop that has a schedule that works with yours is also very important. One thing that we found when looking for a dive shop was that some are very strict in terms of when they have their classes. When we called around, some of the dive shops told us that they have classes every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for two or three weeks, while other dive shops were more flexible. Some dive shops also will offer classes over the course of 3 days meaning that by the third day you will be dive certified.
So, you find your perfect dive shop, you sign up for the open water dive course, now what? You are definitely going to need a few things prior to getting started. The first thing you’re going to need to get is a dive mask. Just a warning, beware that you might have to spend a little money on the gear. Try to keep this in mind, the gear you’re buying is designed to keep you alive underwater. That being said, if you go to a local convenience store and buy some cheap mask, don’t expect it to have positive results once you get below 10 feet or further. Personally, my mask cost me around $140.00, it is the SCUBAPRO GORILLA FRAMELESS DIVE MASK . Trust me, initially I decided to buy a cheaper mask because I didn’t want to spend the money, consequently I had to buy a better and more expensive mask because the cheap mask kept leaking. There aren’t many things as bad as being 25 feet down and having your mask constantly filling up with water. A dive mask is definitely something you want to ensure is best for you.
Secondly, you’re going to need dive fins. At first I purchased the Scubapro Jet Sport fins, which worked great! The one thing I wasn’t a fan of was that the ankle strap which needed to be manually clipped in. After a little while, I decided to buy the Scubapro Seawing Nova which have the bungee strap for the ankles which is a whole lot easier donning and doffing (putting on and taking off) when you’re in the water and trying to get back onto the boat. The price for the Scubapro Jet Sport were around $60.00 dollars while the Seawing Nova have a retail price of around $220.00. The Jet Sport really did work well for me, I just decided to upgrade.
You’re also going to need to buy yourself a snorkel. Think about it like this, if you’re on the surface then you don’t need to breathe your air tank down. Your air is valuable, so you’re going to want to save it for when you’re underwater. Snorkels help you conserve your air. There are a bunch of variations of snorkels, at the end of the day, you don’t need anything fancy or expensive.
Along with the dive fins, you want to get dive booties. You can buy fins that don’t require dive booties, but it would be best if you bought the booties to help keep your feet warm, protect your feet from blisters and you can also wear the booties without fins in order to walk around. Usually the dive booties have thicker soles to help protect your feet from sharp shells and from the reef.
A wetsuit is also something that you should look into purchasing and I’ll give you the exact reason why. When my wife and I were in St. Thomas, we were swimming around and looking at all these amazing fish. I was exploring an area of the reef when the current pushed me this old mooring line. Immediately I felt this burning feeling in my arm, I looked on the line and couldn’t see anything glaringly obvious. into an anemone. On closer inspection, I found a small sea anemone on the rope. A great benefit of using a wetsuit is that it helps protect you from some stinging sea life. Wetsuits will also keep you warm while you’re swimming. As you stay underwater, you start loosing body heat, the wetsuit will help you maintain a warmer body temperature.
Depending how into diving you get, purchasing a dive computer might also be something you consider. Though this could be something that is further down the line.
So, here is a list of things you’re definitely going to need to buy or should consider buying.
- Mask
- Fins
- Snorkel
- Dive Booties
- Wetsuit
- Dive Computer
If you become an avid diver like myself and my wife then you can also look into buying a full set of gear. Other parts of the gear include BCD, first and second stage, dive weights, alternate air source if your BCD doesn’t have an Integrated Air2. Dive bags, weight bag and regulator bags also come in handy. Purchasing a full set of dive gear isn’t cheap, so if you want to buy a set of dive gear be ready to drop some cash. We dive multiple times a month, so for us, it made sense financially to buy our own gear instead of constantly having to pay to rent it.
If you’re thinking about signing up for a dive course in order to become a scuba diver DO IT!! Don’t hesitate, just do it! It is the most amazing experience ever. If you have any questions please feel free to message us on here or look up Next_Dive on instagram or facebook!
Hope this was helpful!
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