Beginner Equipment Questions

[Red Syns]

You've got an inch and about 15-20 pounds on me, but I've got about 30+ years on you!

I shall gladly abuse your knowledge then, as I much prefer learning from the decisions of others when possible! I believe it is the island of O'ahu, but I am under the impression that island hopping is pretty easy in general.

There must also be 20+ easy entry shore dives - most off beaches although a few entries are over lava which will shred your bare feet. My go to boot is a 3MM with a slightly thicker sole.

Thank you all for the advice, it sounds like the mask will just have to be a trial by fire, and that I should go for a moderate weight shoe/boot with a sturdy sole. I have no idea what sites I will dive from, so I have no way of knowing the soil conditions, and a little bit of too much shoe sounds much nicer than bailing on a dive because I couldn't get to the water. I also prefer to make a few changes as possible, so wearing the same size boot with the find will give me a small comfort of familiarity.

Lastly, if you’ll be living on Hawaii, a GUE instructor Meredith Tanguay does classes there. I’d highly recommend GUE Fundamentals when you get to 20 dives or so.

I will definitely look into it once I get some experience!

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

I wear the Fourth Element Pelagic boots and LOVE them. Yes, they say they are 6.5mm but my feet have never been sweaty and I dive in the Middle East where water temps are between 84-92 for most of the year. The coldest I have ever experienced is 19C (66 F)

Masks are a PITA. I have gone through many and found one or two that don't leak. I clearly have an odd shaped face. I am still out shopping for the perfect mask but most of it is trial and error.

 

[Red Syns]

Yes, they say they are 6.5mm but my feet have never been sweaty and I dive in the Middle East where water temps are between 84-92 for most of the year.

I am at the same destination, but a slightly different route: sweating won't phase me much because no matter what I wear, I will undoubtedly sweat a great deal in it. Shirt and shorts in the snow? Sweat.

 

[diversteve]

Just for clarification, that's just for shore dives isn't it? If you're on a boat, weights are thrown in.

Yes and not all the shore operations charge either. I think MDS does, at Lahaina once they pointed me at the gear room and said help yourself. Many of my trips I brought my own b4 the luggage restrictions became so prevalent.

 

[seeker242]

I would skip the ear mask at first and get a regular mask and learn how to equalize properly, which takes practice. Those masks are generally used as a last ditch effort after all else fails. It’s fairly normal to have trouble equalizing when you first start and gets easier with practice.

 

[diversteve]

• Island hopping is fast and easy.I flew over to Oahu one day from Maui to visit Pearl, the aquarium - the Waikiki though small rehabs endangered monk seals and is the only place I've ever seen live Nautilus. It used to be Go, Mokolule or Hawaiian airlines bu I think Go is gone. Hawaiian also pressurizes the cabin between islands so no-fly after dive rules apply. Mokolule uses some twin turbo- props so they don't. About 1/2 our trips to Maui connected in Oahu. With the timezone differences you still arrive around noon from the US.