Scuba Diving has grown in popularity due to its combination of exciting exploration and deeply relaxing venues. Unlike other sports, however, choosing the right scuba diving gear can make the difference between life and death.

* The Essentials of Scuba Diving Gear

Your most basic tools for scuba diving gear include a wetsuit, a face and eye mask, booties and fins, and an oxygen tank. These tools will make your trip memorable or very unpleasant depending if you chose to gear yourself the right way or not.

The most important attribute of a wetsuit is that it maintains the temperature of your body no matter of the temperature of the water. If the water is too cold your body could go into hypothermia, therefore, it is extremely important to wear this item of your scuba diving gear at all times. Also, you never know what temperature changes you many run into.

Getting the right face and eye mask for scuba diving is essential. Without them you will not be able to see or breathe in the water. Booties and fins make swimming in the water easier and smoother, therefore, I suggest them at all times no matter how far below you plan to go and for how long.

The oxygen tank is probably the most essential piece of scuba diving gear. Without it you are just diving.  Different size oxygen tanks have different quantities of oxygen supply and that is something you must take note of, as you need to return to the surface before you run out of oxygen. There are special watches available which have a bezel set on the outside part of the watch, which allows you to keep track of the time under the water. This is a great piece of scuba diving gear to obtain if you are serious about the sport.

* Acquiring the Right Scuba Diving Gear

Wearing scuba diving gear on your dives allows you to venture into deeper waters, explore unknown destinations, protect your body from the elements, and minimize your impact on the underwater environment. If you take a diving class the scuba diving gear will most likely be provided for you. Scuba diving gear can also be acquired at your local dive shop. This will allow you to ask a pro any questions you may have.

Another wonderful resource for scuba diving gear is the online community. You can browse all the different options that exist in scuba diving gear, as well as ask questions of other divers on chat boards. Asking the people who use the scuba diving gear is always one of the best sources of information.

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If you are looking for a gift for a scuba lover, we found a great dive watch deal.

Get a Invicta Men’s Pro Diver Stainless Steel Watch #5249 for $49.99 with FREE One Day shipping. (Normally priced at $129 – retails at $325). Offer is good til Dec 23, 2008 noon PST. This is a wonderful deal for a great watch!

Have a wonderful holiday!

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Often the best deals are on Black Friday – and if you need a diving watch, now is the time to get dive watches on sale! Some of the watches are 85% off – it’s hard to beat that kind of price. Also we found a great shark diving deal too!

Dive Watches:

* Amazon has great deals — these look fantastic!

Dive Watches On Sale – these are some great black friday deals on dive watches! If there is a dive watch you are wanting, now is the time.

* WatchWear guarantees the lowest price on the watches they sell – and now you get 10% off! They carry Bodyglove and Casio dive watches.

Take 10% off at WatchWear.com — Use coupon code WATCH10. Expires 12/31/08.

Shark Diving

Going shark diving by San Francisco is a fantastic experience! You can Dive in a cage and watch the sharks feed and have non-diving friends watch from the boat if desired.

Great American Days – Shark Diving Trip! – get a free $20 gift certificate with your order.

Scuba Resort

If you are getting the winter blues, here’s the perfect solution!

Go Diving! Live. Love. Save! Up to 50% off plus 1 Night free at Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa – enjoy this fantastic scuba diving trip deal

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Whether you love diving or love someone who does, shopping for scuba diving apparel can be a lot of fun. Scuba diving apparel may include masks, fins, tanks, wetsuits, diving-related t-shirts, and jackets. As a diver, you know that many of these items are necessities for the sport. However, so many options abound that choosing your particular wetsuit or fin is a very personal decision.

When giving scuba diving apparel as a gift, divers are easy to buy for. Just make sure you ask about the return policy if you think your choice may not be exactly what the person would choose. Returning an unused wetsuit with the tags still on for a different size or color should not be an issue. In addition to wearable scuba diving apparel divers often enjoy receiving vanity plates, stickers, photos, posters, cameras as gifts.

* Scuba Diving Apparel for Your Home

While scuba diving apparel generally refers to clothing and wearable items, there are a number of diving related options for home décor. Diving merchandise almost always has a red flag with a diagonal white stripe on it. This is the international “diver down” flag. Divers leave a buoy at the surface if their dive to indicate their presence to others. You’ll find this logo on numerous household items.

Photographs of underwater scenes can make good presents for divers as well. If the diver has taken a picture he or she is especially proud of, consider having it professionally framed.

* Scuba Diving Apparel to Wear

Many sports and scuba diving stores will offer the apparel you are looking for.

Wetsuits are always a great apparel choice. Every diver needs a wetsuit, and the choices are many. Dive store employees can help you pick out things that all divers need, if you are seeking a gift rather than an item for your personal use. Even if you don’t know the exact color you can ask about a gift card or the return policy.

For the serious diver who likes diving in cold water, a dry suit is often appreciated. These suits are much warmer and more comfortable if diving in cold water. You do need a special certification for them, but it is worth the effort as you can dive longer and more challenging dives. You can enjoy ice diving with a drysuit.

In additions to wetsuits/dry suits, a dive shop will almost certainly have other scuba diving apparel – but not the kind anyone wears underwater. Hats, jackets and t-shirts with the diving logo abound. Most divers love to go around in a t-shirt or hat announcing their skills and their hobby. You may also turn to the Internet. T-shirts especially come with cute jokes like a pair of diving tanks with “lungs of steel” written underneath.

* Be Creative and Have Fun

Whether purchasing scuba diving apparel for yourself or someone else, keep in mind the love of the sport. Scuba diving is not undertaken by the faint of heart and most divers are rightly proud of their participation in such and intriguing and adventurous sport. So wear or give your scuba diving apparel with pride and enjoyment.

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Snorkels are wonderful pieces of equipment that can be used before, after or instead of a dive as appropriate. Often if you want to go exploring right after an airplane trip (or before one), snorkeling is often recommended.

As a scuba diver you already have the mask and fins, so going snorkeling just requires a great snorkel. But, what makes a great snorkel?

Here are the features you want to have:

• Can be used to breathe underwater (ie: NOT a toy) – I didn’t want to put this one in, but I’ve heard of people being surprised. So, to cover all essential features, I added it.




• Mouthpiece Fits Your Mouth – you want it to be comfortable. An angled mouthpiece helps it be more comfortable. An exchangeable mouthpiece can be a nice feature — but can be much more expensive.




• Right Size Tube – A larger diameter tube will allow for very easy breathing, but they are more difficult to clear of water. A bigger blast of air is needed to fill the tube with enough volume and pressure to expel any accumulated water. Purge valves help clearing – so this feature is not as important if your purge valves work.




• Right Length Tube – longer snorkels allow you to go deeper. However, they are also harder to keep upright. Doesn’t matter much if getting a dry snorkel (see next point).




• Dry Snorkel – These snorkels have valves (or flaps) that prevent water from entering if you dive underwater. This allows you to dive below the level of your snorkel for a few moments until you need your next breath without water entering.




• Purge valve – having a purge valve really helps clearing the snorkel if water enters. Water will automatically drain when you get near to the surface.




• Snorkel Keeper – using snorkel keeper helps you not lose your snorkel as it is attached to your mask. This can be purchased separately

Though you can buy a cheap snorkel, generally, it won’t be a dry snorkel and it won’t have a purge valve. Often cheaper sets are of lesser quality – so read reviews carefully. This can make for a very on comfortable snorkeling trip. We recommend a quality a dry snorkel with purge valves and an angled mouthpiece.

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For the wealthy scuba diver who has everything… a scuba diving convertible

Rinspeed created this Amphibious Squba car – the first diving car with zero emissions. Car to be shown at the Geneva Motor Show (March 6th – 16th, 2008).

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* A Wide Range of Choices for a Scuba Diving Gift

Knowing someone’s hobby when gift giving is entirely helpful. If the person you have in mind is an avid or potential scuba diver, then your life just got easier. There is a wide range that makes buying a scuba diving gift easy. There is a scuba diving gift that covers every style, need and price range. You could opt for a functional piece of equipment or an artistic choice of home décor.

From communication devices to cartoon images transferred onto hats, jackets, clocks and pet bowls, the choices are vast. There is also the beneath the sea wall clock whose dial depicts an underwater scuba diving image. Most of these items are pretty cheap and you will rely on the user’s likes or dislikes when purchasing the scuba diving gift..

* Choosing a Dive Watch for a Scuba Diving Gift

Dive Watches can be excellent gifts for any scuba or water sport enthusiast. Whether you choose a simple one that is simply waterproof to 300 ft for less than $25 or a pro diver watch which provides large amounts of functionality.

Watches are especially useful as they can be used in or out of the water.

* Other Possible Scuba Diving Gifts

Either a Scuba Diving Camera and/or a Scuba Diving Light are fun presents. Being able to take wonderful pictures underwater allows divers to share the experience.

Alternately you can purchase the scuba diving movie I recommended earlier — Wonderful Scuba Diving Movie. It is inspirational as well as beautiful — something to enjoy when one can’t be in the water.

Any diver knows that his or her ability to enjoy a dive is dependent on managing the oxygen, nitrogen and compression. The introduction of the Scuba Diving Computer has made this task much easier for experienced divers. A dive computer (scuba diving computer) can replace the more traditional watches and dive tables in many instances. As in any task, having the appropriate tool makes the job easier and more fun.

* What Does a Scuba Diving Computer Do?

A dive computer manages the nitrogen for the diver. Consisting of a timer, depth monitor and highly advanced software, the scuba diving computer helps to compute absorption of gases. The diver still needs to use dive tables to be aware of his or her remaining nitrogen and decompression; however, this tool automatically manages the nitrogen flow. For this reason the scuba diving computer has become a standard with professional and experienced divers. The scuba diving computer is so valuable because it can greatly improve the dive experience through automation of the management of nitrogen.

* Planning to Make the Scuba Diving Computer Work

Rather than handing the diver’s responsibilities for planning over to the scuba diving computer, this is a tool that facilitates an important task. The diver is still solely responsible for correct and safe planning in conformance with health guidelines. However, the scuba diving computer can track the depth, time spent underwater, the amount of nitrogen that the diver’s body contains, and alert the divers when these levels become too high. This will all help the diver to function in a safe and efficient manner. These scuba diving computer functions can also help the diver to take suitable decompression stops whenever necessary.

* How the Scuba Diving Computer Works

When the diver performs a traditional scuba dive there are just two variables that are used to describe the dive: maximum depth and time. In calculating the amount of nitrogen absorbed, the diver must work on the assumption that a diver plunges immediately to maximum depth and remains there for some time and later returns to the surface. If plotted on and X-Y axis this would look like a square and is referred to as such.

In reality the dive is not like that. Divers typically descend slowly, swim about, and change depth to find their way around reefs or bottom formations. Then they return slowly back to the surface. The square profiles must be based on very conservative estimates. Since a scuba diving computer allows for longer bottom lines, it enables a curved profile and allows the diver to stay submerged for longer periods of time.

If you are considering purchasing a scuba diving computer, the best place to start would be at your local dive shop. Seek out others who use or own their own scuba diving computers and inquire as to which models they like, and what the benefits of each are. Then, compare prices. A scuba diving computer is a great investment for any diver who wants to increase his or her bottom time, and focus on other aspects of the dive.

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Amazingly, choosing the best scuba fin can be fair complicated considering how simple scuba fin appears! However, though they look very simple, they are actually quite finely engineered to be very efficient in helping a diver move smoothly and easily in the water. Here are the basics on choosing the best scuba fins:

1) Barefoot or Not?

If you are always going to be diving in warm water, you may want to have Scuba Fins that fit over bare feet. If you are always diving in colder water, it is strongly recommended to have your fins sized to include dive boots (often nicknamed booties). If you tend to be cold, dive boots are very nice for keeping your feet warm.

2) Fit Matters

Scuba Fins need to fit properly to function effectively. You also want them to be comfortable for an enjoyable experience. You want them to fit right when you buy them as changing booties (if you choose to use them) is usually not possible in the middle of a dive.

To check the fit of your fins, you will want to test several pairs of fins. If you are going to wear your fins with booties, trying them on with booties is recommended. Alternately, if you are hoping to go barefoot, be sure your feet are clean before testing out fins.

To test fins, sit down and raise the fins up and down while wearing them. This will help test the fit. In an ideal world, you would be able to test your fins in water, but generally, testing them in the air is a good start.

You want to ensure that your fins are seal well and are snug but not too tight around the foot. If you are trying full fins, you want them to also fit comfortably around the ankle. If you can’t find a pair that works well barefoot, you may have to wear dive boots. If your fins are too tight, you will not be able to move freely; if they are too loose, they will minimally scrape your foot and/or ankle and possibly come off.

3) Best Fin Consistency and Design – Regular or Split Fin?

Fins need to be firm enough to create a good thrust yet flexible enough to not work your legs muscles out too much. This is a fine balance and differs with each individual.

Some divers prefer Scuba Split Fins to enable them to have an easier thrust. However, in return they have less ease of movement. If you want to or need to turn quickly (like someone with a camera), split scuba fins are not for you.

A regular fin is made of one continuous triangle like piece of material. It is narrow at the heel of the foot. The fin then extends out about 16 inches. like a large paddle surrounding your foot.

A split fin basically has the same surface area of a normal fin but has an open space in the middle of the fin. So the fins are wider with a cutout in the middle.

4) Will Your New Fin Float?

Often new divers don’t think about whether their fins will float, and what the consequences are if they do. If a fin floats and comes off your foot while diving .. it goes up to the surface for easier retrieval. However, it is recommended to choose neutrally buoyant fins for easier diving. If you purchase fins that float, you will need ankle weights.

5) Fin Styles

There are many styles of fins. Full fitting fins go up to your ankles, quick release clasp fins for easy removal or a fin with a heel strap. If you decided that dive boots are for you, be certain to get one with the proper insert.

Have fun diving!

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Scuba diving wetsuits offer divers protection from the often harsh and unpredictable underwater world as well as the ability to enter otherwise impossible dive sites. Scuba diving wetsuits use innovative technology to give divers an incredible array of choices in style, fit and comfort. Most scuba diving wetsuits are made from an adaptable nylon polymer that allows its wearer to adjust to various extreme deep-water conditions.

-What You Need to Know About Scuba Diving Wetsuits

When considering scuba diving wetsuits you will need to look at factors such as ease of movement, strength of materials, design and functionality. Since comfort and mobility are key factors in choosing a suitable wetsuit many will include super-stretch neoprene panels that make it possible to use glide-skin materials. Also, getting into and out of the scuba diving wetsuits is extremely easy because of their design pattern and the materials that are used in constructing it.

Durability is another requirement for scuba diving wetsuits. Many are comprised of tough exterior materials with scuff-resistant knee and shoulder protection. They should be comfortable in different climatic conditions, especially in tropical environments. Even when you think you know the temperatures of your dive site, the security of scuba diving wetsuits is that they protect you from unexpected temperature changes.

-Protection in Your Scuba Diving Wetsuit

Scuba diving wetsuits should also be able to stretch and protect the wearer from scrapes, cuts, stinging jellyfish as well as sunburns and make the dive an exciting experience. As well, the scuba diving wetsuits will usually be constructed using 5mm thickness with 5mm steamers and double lined 5mm neoprene throughout having plush lining to make the wearer feel comfortable and luxurious and there should also be enough protection for the knees and shoulders.

-Materials for Scuba Diving Wetsuits

Depending on where and how you dive, a Titanium Lined Wetsuit may fit your needs better than any other wetsuit. These scuba diving wetsuits also offer features like adjustable wrist and ankle entry systems and interior back panels with blind-stitched construction. Neoprene is the component of scuba diving wetsuits that enables them to control temperatures inside the suit and protect the wearer from harsh outside elements. An exterior nylon coat is affixed to the neoprene, which strengthens the constructions. The Titanium adds an additional layer of insulation to monitor and maintain body heat. Scuba diving wetsuits are a necessary piece of equipment for the safety and comfort of any diver.

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