buying gear or taking a trip?

[genfu]

okay so i'm a newly qualified ocean diver, with only the minimum dives at present. i'm quite keen to do some more diving, so i'm faced with a dilemma.. if i can save up some money in the next couple of months (or, if my car passes its MOT) its possible i could spend some money on diving. however, i'm trying to decide if its better to:

1. spend the money on taking a solo trip to the red sea to get some more diving experience in a spectacular environment, relax and put my ocean diver qualification into use (and rent equipment while i'm there) or...
2. i could invest the money in some gear which would allow me to continue diving with the BSAC club i'm with and start the sports diver qualification, maybe do one or two UK dive trips.

whichever i choose would postpone the other for at least a year (so i could come back and do sports diver later on or do the red sea trip when i have sports diver)... what would you do?

also, is it a bad idea to rent gear if going on a diving holiday in terms of safety/familiarity? if i were to buy some gear and postpone the trip and continue training (which i think i'm leaning toward) what gear would you recommend (in terms of reg/bcd) considering i want something that would be lightweight and suitable for UK waters and abroad? or is it better to rent gear anyway rather than ship it out in terms of convenience? or just take some gear and rent the rest?

finally, if i do the sports diver course i would certainly get a drysuit, but if i eventually make the trip to the red sea, what is the recommended clothing? (rash guard? warm water wetsuit? none?) does a layer of some kind protect you from jellyfish stings etc.? how much colder does it get when you go deeper (do you need a layer because of that)?

[Frichie79]

Depends what time of year you goto the Red sea, I went in November, their winter, but found the water still warm and was fine in a 3mm wetsuit, my instructor at the time was italian and in a dry suit :confused: hehe

AS to your dilemma, I feel your pain. I am also looking at shiny new kit and weighting the benefits, If i buy that nice expensive reg and wing, it may only get used twice more this year, whereas if I dont I might be able to do another dive holiday and 10 dives if not more.

Since you starting out, I would say do a dive holiday, there are definite benefits to renting, less weight to pack, you will be getting well maintained gear, and you can even try out different kit so you get a feel of what you like and dont like and probably good experience diving with t. Renting is relatively inexpensive in the grander scheme of things, but i would say buy the more personal stuff, like fins, mask and snorkel that fit you well.

[mcroson]

i would say by kit and do some uk diving then when u get to the red sea in a years time you will be able to enjoy it more and use your own kit the cost of equipment hire in the red sea is about £25 per day so next years trip will be alot cheaper if you can pick a set of apeks atx40 regs for £235 which have 1st stage main reg 2nd reg and console and then pick up a good bcd of ebay for £100 and get a cylinder, fins and mask u will nearly be fully kitted u can always hire a wet or dry suit

[NickBCotswold]

hmmm - both options have their pro's and cons...

neither answer is "fully correct" IMO!!

However, just because you wrote you're "newly qualified" and obviously keen to go diving and use all those skills you worked so hard for, I'd opt for the holiday - get some experience - be able to join in with all the conversations after pool night at the pub - - your club should still be able to support you for UK diving by lending you some kit - other stuff like dry suit can be rented if not borrowed.... so the chances are you can continue at some level with some UK diving, depending on how supportive your club is (and your local dive store!)

The other reason why I would choose the holiday is that i found my sports diver course much easier than the ocean diver - this is because i went out as an OD and did some 50 dives (croatia, sharm and uk sites with the club) before starting SD..... so I found the theory much easier as a lot of it I had already experienced. Some others in my club went straight onto SD after OD without any dives and struggled a bit- its harder to learn about "the next step" when you havnt yet experienced the "first step", if you see what I mean! But thats only my opinion and many many people disagree and will suggest just ploughing through training.....

last but not least - CONGRATULATIONS on passing OD - a tough course no doubt you worked hard for - - so why not reward yourself and go diving??!! Anyway, whats the rush to gain SD? Plenty of time for that!

Nick

[Francis James]

I'm tempted to say go for the trip and hire the kit from the dive centre, which will give you the most memorable return on your cash.
However, long term by using club kit and buying your own basics plus building up your diving gradually within a UK club, like mcroson suggests, will give you a more memorable experience when you do visit warmer waters, as you'll be more in control of your diving by then.

[ChristianG]

As a non-UK diver I'd say that you should go for the Red Sea option.

There is nothing like experience, especially in very controlled waters such a you will experience in the Red Sea - guides and all that. And then there are all the other new divers, some of whom might be complete numpties.

Experience counts and that is an experience outside the comfort zone of your local BSAC Club, good as that probably is or, otherwise put, overpowering as that sometimes might be.

Go see the world, others do it differently and you will, most likely, enjoy it. Come back the wiser, refreshed and ready to get on with it. :)

[genfu]

thanks for the tips so far... im still undecided but maybe leaning towards the trip... for one thing i think it could work out cheaper than buying all the kit, and then adding on the cost of the actual UK dive trips (i think the club would let me borrow a cylinder but thats about it.. would definitely need my own regs, BCD etc. and probably a drysuit). i'm also keen to gain more experience within the 20m limit before progressing (and especially red sea diving really appeals to me as one of the goals to do it in the first place); i don't think i'd actually want to start doing deeper dives and deco dives yet without more experience.

if i were to go for the trip option, would you recommend to try and buy my own mask, fins and (warm water) wetsuit? i guess these things are not too expensive and give the benefit of making sure beforehand i have stuff which fits comfortably?

the downside though is i won't even be able to do any pool stuff to keep it up if i don't have my own equipment, as the club only have equipment for the new ocean divers who want to learn... but as you say there is no rush to do sports diver so i can easily come back to the club and continue training when i can actually afford to buy decent equipment

[craigwarren]

I don't presume to tell you how to enjoy your hobby. Do whatever you feel will be more fun. Just a word of warning, be careful about booking a holiday as an ocean diver, make sure that your 20m limit won't get in the way.

[Mike Halligan]

Congratulations on the rich reward of study and application over recent months. In answer to your question, much would depend (for me) on the amount of kit I can still borrow from my club while doing SD later this year.

If, like ours, they will loan everything but drysuits until you've passed SD, then I'd definitely favour the holiday : because -
- you will learn so much from your experience;
- you will see different kit in use;
- you will talk to real divers in a real diving context;
- you will reap the rewards of your hard work to date;
- you will refresh yourself and actually want to do your SD;
- you will have a reason for doing it (35m and freedom); and
- your guides will give you sound advice on skills, knowledge and equipment.

That's the sales pitch but I'm sure Steve can do better than me :D


If you do decide to press on over here : then -
- find a club which will lend you kit;
- build up your kit progressively;
- try to use as many different options as possible;
- ask questions of instructors AND experienced divers;
- go on club trips;
- find out about other skills and knwledge you might pursue;
- enjoy the rare privileges your OD opens up to you; and
- keep enough back for that holiday once you've passed SD. :cool:

[genfu]

thanks for the detailed reply mike

i think if i continue diving with the club it makes sense to continue with the same club (its local, already know the people etc.), however i know that they can only lend limited gear... so i think i would at least need the basic equipment to carry on diving (regs, BCD, mask, fins) i might be able to delay purchasing the drysuit but ultimately it'd be a must for club trips and sports diver training. so i guess the advantage of continuing to dive with the club would be i can gain more experience on a sustained basis in the pool, learning from the divers there, going on one or two uk dive trips with the club, starting the sports diver training... whereas if i go on a dive holiday it'll be a one-off week of diving and probably the only diving i do in a year. but realistically i could do 10 dives in the red sea (2 per day, 5 days) and i doubt i'd get to do alot more than that if i go on one or two UK dive weekends with the club, so the out-of-pool experience of actually getting out there and diving might not be that much different.

[kdtan]

get the dives in first imo.research on good operators that have decent kit rental. the more dives you do, the more you will then get a feel for what kind of kit you want. saves buying selling and rebuying again later..

[Diver@50]

Not sure what is and what isn't covered in the BSAC courses, but can you get yourself qualified to 35 mtrs, and nitrox, then buy a mask, fins and perhaps a wetsuit, then go on a liveabord holiday to the Northern Red Sea?

Having said PADI allows you to dive to 30 metres with an instructor, is BSAC the same, I guess it must be, so would depth pose too much of a problem?

[TerryH]

Having said PADI allows you to dive to 30 metres with an instructor, is BSAC the same, I guess it must be, so would depth pose too much of a problem?

No, even with an Instructor you can only go to the next part of your
depth progression. So if you've just finished Sport diver, you would only
have done 20m and the Instructor could take you to 25m on the next
dive, but not 30m. After that he could take you to 30m.

It will only take two dives to get to the 30m, but thats the standard,
so it has to be done like that.

[Diver@50]

OK PADI is different then, opem water qualifies you to 18m, then you can either do a deep speciality, takes you to 40m, or 'advanced o.w'., takes you to 30m. As far as I am aware PADI allows an instructor to take a diver to 40m. Well they must be other wise you would never qualify:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Praps I ought to join BSAC:confused:

[OneDragons]

Not sure what is and what isn't covered in the BSAC courses, but can you get yourself qualified to 35 mtrs, and nitrox, then buy a mask, fins and perhaps a wetsuit, then go on a liveabord holiday to the Northern Red Sea?

Having said PADI allows you to dive to 30 metres with an instructor, is BSAC the same, I guess it must be, so would depth pose too much of a problem?
You are generally expected to buy your own mask fins and snorkel.
Other than that the club may be able to lend you other gear, certainly up to Ocean diver level though it depends on the club.