Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
LessMore
Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
Quick answers
Which local rescue or training agency should I check first?
Use the local lens: coastguard/federation norms and the shop briefing for that bay — not a blog visibility claim.
What is a typical first depth limit?
Many Open Water cards are written to 18 m. Further training raises that toward 30–40 m inside recreational no-stop diving.
Who invented the Aqua-Lung?
Emile Gagnan and Jacques Cousteau’s 1943 demand regulator is the usual origin of open-circuit scuba.
Is Nitrox required?
No. Enriched air is a common extra course. Air remains the default.
Can people stop after a course?
Yes. Skills decay. A checkout after a layoff is normal.
What does recreational exclude?
Planned decompression, overhead wreck or cave penetration, and untrained solo diving.
A full recreational kit is a BCD or wing, regulator, computer, exposure suit and weights. Travel divers rent lead and cylinders; they should own the mask that seals.
If the bag is complete and the buoyancy is not, the money went to the wrong shop.
Core kit
- Mask, fins, snorkel — The snorkel still matters on the surface.
- Regulator and alternate — Serviced on the shop schedule.
- BCD or wing — Fits the cylinder in use.
- Computer — With a backup time and depth plan.
- Exposure suit — Shorty in the tropics; thicker elsewhere.
- Weights, whistle, SMB — Local lead, global signalling.
Optional
- Nitrox analyser — If diving enriched air.
- Compass and slate — Navigation made real.
- Reef pointer — For sand, not coral.
- Backup bottom timer — Plan B if the computer dies.
Care
- Annual regulator service — Not optional folklore.
- Rinse the BCD bladder — The smell is neglect.
- Watch the computer battery — They die on the boat.
- No kit in a hot car — Heat and regulators.
Budget bands
- Course plus rental — The honest start.
- Own mask and computer — Fit and familiarity.
- Full kit — After the hobby survives a year.
- Skip — A custom wing before fifty dives.
Rent cylinders and lead. Own the things that touch the face and the plan.