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Equipment cost and rental guide

Equipment Considerations

Here are some guidelines on what to look for when buying your own personal diving equipment.

For exact requirements, approximate costs, and availability in the UAE, please refer to the Equipment Guide.

Regarding Face Masks: When novice divers experience discomfort underwater, this can often be attributed to a poorly fitting face mask, so it is important to get one that fits properly.

• Your mask should pass this test: It probably fits if you can place it over your eyes and nose and then hold it onto your face unsupported except by the suction from breathing in through your nose.

Regarding Fins: You won't have problems in the pool if you have inadequate fins, but in the ocean where distances are greater, you don't want to be either underpowered or overpowered.

• The larger the fins, the more power you get from each kick, but fins that are too large for your leg strength can cause cramps. Fins that are too small can result in inefficient expenditure of effort to cover ground.
• Fins that pull over boots tend to be more suitable for diving than the slipper kind. I strongly recommend that you use fins with boots, as protection from sea urchins in particular.

Exposure protection: You will need exposure protection for most of the year in the UAE (though not in summer) and almost all the year in Oman and in the waters off the Northern Emirates. You need protection particularly in the pool during the cooler months (the ocean tends to be warmer than the pool in winter and cooler in the summer, but you tend to spend longer in the pool, which drains your body's heat energy). Protection is needed not just from exposure to cold temperatures, but also for protection from jellyfish stingers that might be drifting in the water (stray cnidoblasts, not necessarily the tentacles).

A cheap option in spring/summer is the one-piece cover-alls sold in oil industry supply stores. A wetsuit is better -- a 3 mm. full-length one is ideal for Gulf waters. Another option is a light lycra body suit.

• In the Arabian Gulf in the summertime it is comfortable to go diving in your street clothes. Your clothes will dry off after a few minutes out of the water.
• You should wear in pool training any gear you plan to wear in the ocean, in order to become accustomed to it.

Contact Lenses: You may wear contacts while diving, but you may be inconvenienced in some of the exercises underwater where you flood your mask.

• One solution is to avoid wearing contacts during the initial pool sessions and wear them once you've already learned the skills.

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Last updated: July 2, 1999