Checklist of basic equipment

The three pieces of equipment every diver should buy for themselves and bring along are fins, snorkel and mask: these need to fit to your body closely to be safe and comfortable, they're fairly cheap, and they don't need that much space. Up next is an exposure suit, which is also better fitted than off the shelf, but is bulkier to carry along.

Standard equipment is:

• An eye mask which includes a covering for the nose.
• A snorkel (a short tube allowing you to breathe through it with your head underwater)
• Fins for propelling yourself underwater
• An exposure suit: a wetsuit for warm water or a dry suit for cooler water, perhaps with boots and gloves
• A Buoyancy Control Device (BCD): an inflatable jacket allowing you to sink or float by deflating and inflating it
• An air tank
• A regulator: apparatus for delivering air from the tank to your mouth
• A weight belt or BCD weights
• A depth gauge and air gauge
• A timing device

Optional equipment includes:

• A dive computer to calculate depth limits
• Enriched air (extra oxygen) tanks
• Underwater photography or videography devices

Rent or buy?

But the bigger question for most divers is whether they should also make an investment in a full set of scuba gear, namely regulators, gauges and BCD. In purely financial terms, you have to dive quite a bit to save money this way, especially when you factor in yearly servicing fees. However, perhaps a bigger factor is safety: not only can you ensure that your own gear is kept properly serviced, but you will already be familiar with the controls and performance of your own gear, which makes diving easier and increases the chances of you acting correctly in an emergency.

The two items almost nobody brings along are tanks and weights, as these are extremely heavy and bulky, and practically always included in the dive price. For some destinations well and truly off the beaten track though you may have to take along not just these, but the compressor too!