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Diving Gear

Diving gear can be broken up into a few simple categories. There are the things that you need to breathe, the things you wear for protection, and the things that you take that are situational. You’ll always have a few pieces from the first two categories. More often than not you’ll need at least a few items from the last as well.

Breathing aids are the type of diving gear that really makes scuba diving what it is. They are comprised of the air tanks you strap on your back, the air delivery system, and your mouthpiece. The most common setup features an open circuit. This means that when you breathe out, the air is released into the environment.

Protective diving gear is normally comprised of your mask or helmet, your wetsuit (or dry suit), and a set of gloves and flippers. The wetsuit helps keep your body temperature up while you are immersed in water that is significantly below the 100 degree core temperature humans keep. The face mask or helmet allows you to see while underwater, and also protects your eyes. The flippers aid your movement and the gloves protect your hands from cuts.

Situational diving gear is appropriate on some dives but not others. weights that can be used as ballast are a great example of situational gear. A diver needs to have a zero buoyancy while below the surface, this means that they need to weigh the same amount as the volume of water they displace does. This is achieved by adding small weights to the vest and belt of a diver. These weights are necessary because as a diver goes through the air in their tanks, they actually weigh less, causing them to be more buoyant at the end of a dive than they were at the beginning.

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