A dive shop will offer you everything you need for your diving needs both for sale and for rent. You should know that everyone who shows up at a dive shop to rent equipment or book a chartered dive will be asked to show their dive certificate cards.
If you’re looking for just about any type of scuba gear, the best prices are possible in late fall when dive shops are trying to cut down on old inventory and are busy stocking new products that typically show up in early winter. You can shop from a wide selection of dive bags, duffel bags, scuba gear travel systems, regulator bags, and wheeled travel bags to make traveling with scuba gear easy and comfortable.
Diving lessons
Whenever you start a diving adventure, you should take diving classes on site. A dive shop should provide open water training courses that will allow you to do some good dives for as little as $200 or so. Responsible associations such as PADI and NAUI advise comprehensive training and certification before diving in the ocean. You can take an intensive training course and dive with an instructor in just a few hours to a maximum depth of 30 feet. If you live in an area that doesn’t lend itself to open water diving, you can take your classes in a pool that includes a pool familiarization session and two open water ocean dives.
Normally there are no more than 4 student divers per teacher. Choose Masters and Dive Masters who are dedicated PADI professionals with advanced training and proficiency. Most boats do three tank dives a day. Training is completed off the dive boats each day as beginners finish their dive session and students complete their open water training programs. Normally, all PADI scuba courses up to Dive Instructor are conducted in solo courses, taught by experienced, flexible and multilingual dive instructors.
Classes offered by most dive shops:
- 4 day ocean rescue diver
- 2-Day Advanced Open Water
- dive master
- more advanced
- Four hour introductory course.
If you are part of a law enforcement group, search and rescue group, or other special organization that requires training and certification on a regular basis, most dive schools offer contract and group rates.
A good dive shop will provide high-quality equipment sales and rentals, equipment maintenance, and trip preparation for their customers. Although renting scuba equipment on a travel excursion may prevent you from enjoying the dive, as you will be adjusting and learning to use the unfamiliar equipment during the dive.
The surest way to ensure that your scuba gear fits correctly and comfortably is to wear your own.