It’s the Right Time to Buy Scuba Diving Gear and Plunge in Without Fear

What Elsa is today for little, impressionable girls, used to be Ariel for me back in the ’90s. I remember coming home from school and putting on the Little Mermaid on what is now ancient technology – the VCR. Oh, how I wished I was a princess in that fascinating underwater kingdom. And all I could do was daydream, until I was in my late teens when my wish finally came true. For a moment I was Ariel and the Great Barrier Reef was my home.

Luckily, I didn’t have to sell my voice to an underwater witch to be able to dive. All it took was a few scuba diving lessons and the right equipment and I was ready to plunge in. Do you share the same burning desire of diving into the magical aquatic kingdom? Then equipping yourself with the most essential pieces of scuba diving gear online and local diving stores offer will surely put you on the right track.

Mask

Let’s start with an easy one – the mask. Diving without a face mask is completely possible, however it can be very uncomfortable. The salty water can sting your eyes, and your ears will hurt from the pressure increasing with each meter. A diving mask is the ideal solution – it provides eye-protection while being transparent enough to allow you to see, and it has a large air pocket in the front which helps you decrease the pressure in your ears by blowing your nose in it while you descent. Scuba diving gear online stores usually offer this piece in a pack with a snorkel and fins.

Fins

Fins protect your feet from cuts while diving around rocky terrain. They also provide ample thermal insulation which is very important if you want to avoid hypothermia. Therefore, never dive in without your fins! Generally, you have to choose between two models – open heel or closed heel. The closed heel fins don’t offer much protection, but are very light and convenient for smooth platforms. On the other hand, if your idea of adventure is exploring reefs, then it’s better to gear up with a set of open heel fins which have a thicker protection layer.

Tank and Regulator

These are the essential pieces of scuba gear without which diving to extreme depths would have never been possible. They are basically the devices that provide you with a constant air flow. The scuba tank carries the necessary amount of pressurized air, while the regulator de-pressurizes the air so you’re lungs are able to breathe it in.

Wetsuit and Buoyancy Control Device

The deeper you dive, the colder the water gets. The only thing that will keep you from freezing over is a wetsuit. Neoprene wetsuits are popular for their high thermal insulation properties and are thick enough to protect you from getting scraped by rocks. The BCD is a device that’s attached to the wetsuit which controls the buoyancy. It’s only thanks to the BCD that you can sink in and rise up to the surface whenever you want to.