Scuba diving is one activity that brings you into contact with the beauty of the underwater world. It may be for the fun of it or maybe it’s for the experience, scuba diving is one desirable event that is on everyone’s bucket list. Some even plan the places to explore but sadly, not all get to carry on with it.
To some, it’s a sport, a recreational or fun activity, a tourist adventure, whatever you make of it. People who dare to dive always talk about their experiences. They speak so highly of it and always yearn to explore the depths even more.
However, as a new diver or a seasoned pro, you must have thought deeply about what diving tool is essential to you and tried to weigh your options on what to go with. Polarized prescription sunglasses for when you’re in the boat, or water goggles, bigger bags, a new tank, or a new dive fin to try out. By weighing your options, it’s safe to say that you understand how equipment-intensive scuba diving is.
To ensure your underwater experience is worth the thrill, this article contains most of the essential accessories you should take along with you on your next dive. Before we proceed, let’s first grasp the concept of scuba diving.
What Is Scuba Diving?
Scuba is an acronym for Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Didn’t you know of it? Well, now you do!
Scuba diving is a water sports activity that involves breathing air from a tank while underwater. A clear difference between this form of diving and others is that in scuba diving, scuba divers are taught to breathe underwater using their tank, while others are taught to hold their breath underwater.
Most scuba divers are reef tourists who yearn to explore the beauty beneath the water’s surface. Some of their go-to water bodies include lakes, quarries, coral reefs, and kelp forests. In addition, underwater diving is not only recreational, there are people who take scuba diving as their job.
While it is important to go along with a dive buddy, in case of an emergency, it is also important that you equip yourself with some quality and useful scuba diving accessories. This is to enhance your experience, and also ensure your safety while you’re beneath the water’s surface, and even on your way to your proposed diving destination.
We want to ensure that you prioritize your scuba equipment by going with those that are necessary. To ensure you have the best scuba adventure, we have carefully curated a selection of essential accessories. Let’s explore them now.
11 Essential Accessories To Enhance Your Scuba Diving Experience
- Scuba Gear Bag
This is essential to keep you organized and hold all your tools in one place. It is advised that you get a quality dive-specific bag. Make sure that the bag doesn’t only protect your gear while in transit but can withstand the sun and salt water.
- Scuba Tank
A scuba tank, also known as a diving cylinder, is made of steel or aluminum. It has a pressure rating of about 2000 to 3000 psi.
This tank enables you the storage of compressed air or a specific gas mixture, which is the air that you will breathe when diving.
- Regulator
This is another essential tool that you need while diving. It works alongside the scuba tank to ensure you’re breathing fine.
How? This equipment makes it possible for you to breathe the compressed air contained in your scuba tank. A regulator converts highly pressurized air into suitable ambient air. This further allows you to breathe underwater.
Furthermore, this equipment often comes in two stages. The first stage connects to the tank that you wear on your back, and then the second stage is to be put in your mouth. Always make sure that any regulator you choose makes you feel secure.
- Diving Mask
This equipment is essential for your eyes. Your diving mask will be around your eyes when you are underwater. To give you complete comfort, ensure that your mask fits perfectly and lets you see underwater.
Additionally, ensure that the mask fits snugly against your face and allows partial breathing through your nose. Do not try to make do with a diving mask, it is a critical tool to enhance your underwater experience.
- Scuba Suit
This equipment brings you options. You could either take a wetsuit or a dry suit.
- Wetsuit
A perfectly fitting wet suit can be the bridge between a pleasurable diving experience or a horrible dive. How? A wetsuit that is too tight will make it difficult for you to move freely around the water. As a diver, you require free body movements to maximize comfort and security.
On the other hand, a loose wet suit will bring you a lorry load of discomfort as it will let water in and you could catch a cold.
An excessively tight or loose diving suit can ruin your dive, so here’s what is ideal. When choosing a wetsuit, opt for one that fits snugly, like a second skin, without any folds or gaps. Make sure it conforms to your body shape.
Your wetsuit should not be too tight or too loose, but free enough to enhance your flexibility in the water.
- Drysuit
This type of suit, unlike the wetsuit, creates a watertight seal. It also enables you to layer any other dive-specific undergarments depending on the thermal protection you desire. Many divers switch from wetsuits to drysuits, particularly when frequently diving in cold waters.
However, before picking a drysuit, consider the amount of time you spend in the water, your type of diving and also the material that best suits you.
- Diving Knife
No, it’s not at all what you think. Diving knives are not defense tools against underwater creatures or ripping off coral for remembrance. Rather, they are used to cut off tangled fishing lines or set yourself free from kelp.
These knives are typically made of stainless steel and some other non-corrosive materials. They often appear with a sharp sturdy blade that is easily accessible and useful while under water.
- Dive Fins
To have control over your movement underwater, and easily glide through, fins are essential. There are several types of fins which serve different purposes.
There are open heels that can be used when diving in either warm water or cold water, and there are full-foot fins that are preferable in warm water, but booties are essential in scuba diving for total comfort.
- Dry Bags
Think about it, diving keeps you in the water most of the time and on boats as well. While sailing, how sure are you that your cell phone, wallet, and clothes didn’t get soaked in the water?
To this effect, a dry bag is essential as it keeps your gadgets and other items that you wouldn’t want to get wet safe from water. An air-tight dry will keep both moisture and water away and keep your items bone-dry.
- Quality Dive Light
Diving preferences differ. There are people who love to explore the water during the day and there are those who prefer to dive in the calm of the night.
If you are one of those who prefer to dive at night, you know that the reefs are not the same as they were in the daytime, you need a good light.
To enable you to move safely through the water, you need a quality dive light. But make sure that you do not go alone, get a dive buddy. It’s always fun and safe when there’s more than one.
- Compass
You can’t seek directions back to your boat from kelps or stingrays. That’s wholly on you and it would be easier if you had a compass.
A good old-fashioned compass is your best bet since most digital compasses may malfunction underwater. The last thing you want is to add confusion to your scuba diving experience.
In addition, if you do not know how to make use of a compass, there’s nothing wrong with asking questions at the store from which you got it. You can also learn from a fellow diver.
- First Aid Kit
No outdoor activity can be done without first aid treatment. Not because we hope for bad events to take place but because we are better off safe than sorry.
Therefore, when looking to explore the water, ensure that you make room for a first aid box. You should also know basic first aid.
Dare to Dive
You can never know what beauty lies beneath the water’s surface until you make up your mind to dive in and explore it. Equipping yourself with every essential accessory is a key step to making your scuba diving experience worth the thrill.
Finally, recall that each diving tool plays a vital role in ensuring your safety and enhancing your underwater diving experience. So do not try to take one over the other when next you dive