What is the first piece of equipment a scuba diver should buy?

Okay, you have completed your Open Water Diver Course and you love diving. But what do you need to buy first? What is the first piece of equipment a scuba diver should buy?

My First Scuba Equipment: Scuba Mask and Snorkel

I was 12 years old when i started diving, so money was a big issue for me. Because of that i didn’t get my scuba gear at once. My dad had me forced to do a introduction dive and from there i never stopped diving. The first scuba equipment i got was a Scuba Mask and a Snorkel, i hear you thinking why? On a vacation you can always snorkel, so even when you not diving it’s handy to have a dive mask and a snorkel for just snorkeling. The second reason why a scuba mask is really important is that every face is different. A not fitting scuba mask is terrible and can ruin your dive. Every time you stick your head underwater and you will have water in the mask on every moment of the dive. On that moment you’re not relaxed underwater and just busy blowing water out of your mask. When buying a scuba mask and a snorkel a really nice add on is your own diving shoes and scuba fins. I’m not a fan of full foot diving fins and a lot of dive centers/resorts are renting those out. If you use a full foot diving fins there need to fit really good otherwise you will get sore feet or you can’t fin properly. Right now i use the Aqua Lung Reveal X2 scuba mask and the Tusa Hyflex Switch Fins My advice: First buy a Dive mask and a Snorkel! Check out our Scuba Dive Mask reviews The Tusa Hyflex Switch on Amazon  The Aqua Lung Reveal X2 on Amazon 

Second addition to your Scuba Equipment: Dive Computer

A dive computer is almost the most important scuba gear there! It assure you that your are diving safe. More and more dive centers/resorts a starting to renting out dive computers but the most don’t do it. A dive computer will tell you how long you can dive till you enter your decompression limits. Also when you are a Open Water Diver your depth limit is 18 meters, when you have a dive computer you can set a alarm when you are exceeding the 18 meters. When you start diving the ascend is always difficult, most of the time you will are ascending to fast. If you have a dive computer on your wrist it will give a alarm when you’re exceeding the ascend speed. In our top 3 beginner dive computers the Suunto Zoop Novo is the one to get! Click here for the Suunto Zoop Novo on Amazon So for your own safety get a Dive Computer second!

Don’t get cold out of the water: Buy a Wetsuit

Underwater you getting cold 20 times faster then on the surface. When you don’t have a good fitting wetsuit you get cold really fast. A good fitting wetsuit will assure you to have a warm and comfortable dive. I’m a skinny guy and i’m relative long, so renting a suit is always a nightmare. I never get a fitting wetsuit, so i’m always bringing my own suit when i’m diving abroad. What does a exposure suit? When you have a wetsuit, which is fitting correctly, then it will hold the water inside the suit. You’ll heat up the water with your own body temperature and the water in the wetsuit will hold you warm during your dive. If you have a exposure suit which isn’t fitting correctly the water will refresh every now a then. The water isn’t heating up and you are getting cold. Right now i’m using the Bare Reactive 7mm as my main wetsuit. Are you diving regularly in cold water? Then you definitely need a 5mm shorty for over your wetsuit, a cap and gloves. But it is also wise to look at a drysuit, maybe not when you just start diving but after you do 30 dives or more. Get warm and get a good fitting wetsuit!

And now what?

You’ve got your starting dive kit and now you can look at a BCD, a regulator and all kind of accessoires.  Let us know what you bought first!