We Asked Five Professional Dive Instructors What Their Most Precious Piece of Dive Equipment Was. The Results Were Not What We Expected!
Equipment is very personal and having your own can make your dives so much more enjoyable. Why get your own equipment? No blisters from fins that don’t fit, better buoyancy from a BCD that suits you, moldable mouthpieces on your reg, masks that don’t leak or fog, and wetsuits that haven’t been peed in by strangers. Here we share with you our most precious equipment.
Suunto Zoop Computer Orange – Emma
When I started my Divemaster course I needed to have my own computer, so I got the same as everybody else doing their DM on Koh Tao. I was an 18-year-old backpacker with not a lot of cash to spend, so I got the Suunto Zoop. The Suunto Zoop is world renowned for being easy to use, conservative and reliable. I have had it for six years now and done over 200 dives with it and it has never let me down. It may not be modern and sleek like a ScubaPro Mantis – it is massive, child-like and bright orange – but I adore it.
ScubaPro Hydros Pro Yellow Colour Kit – Ron
The ScubaPro Hydros Pro is a sexy BCD if ever there were one. What makes it even more special is that you can customise your BCD with a colour kit so that the weight pockets stand out. Ron’s favourite piece of equipment is his marine yellow colour kit because it makes his BCD personal. A few of the instructors at Orca Scuba have the Hydros and all our colours are different – for now! I’m waiting patiently for the new turquoise colour kit to come out next year.
Cressi Big Eye Mask – Gabe
Gabe makes a good point – without a mask you can’t see and if you can’t see then what is the point in diving? The magic of scuba diving is that we can temporarily visit the vastly different underwater world. We can see the creatures, corals and dramatic landscapes. Gabe’s mask is a transparent silicon so that he can use his peripheral vision and the soft silicon moulds comfortably to his face.
Scubapro MK25/A700 Regulator – Sim
Diving would not be possible if it weren’t for the mighty regulator – our life-support system. The regulator is what supplies us with air from the tank and it is often the most expensive piece of dive equipment. Sim has a new regulator, which she describes as being really easy to breathe from. The A700 has an extremely low resistance when it comes to inhaling, so breathing feels much more natural. Sim also likes that the second stage is smaller and less bulky than most.
Magnetic Slate – Kevin
For many years, Kevin has dived with a magnetic slate – you write onto it and swipe to come back to a blank canvas. Obviously, underwater we can’t talk to each other so divers have come up with various signals to communicate. The stillness and break from constant chit-chatter is refreshing, but sometimes putting a pen to paper (magnet to magnetic slate) is necessary or at least helpful. Kevin uses the slate mostly with children who really enjoy expressing themselves underwater or he uses it to write down fish or critters he sees which don’t have a scuba signal.
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