Greetings Fellow Divers!

[NYCNaiad]

Unfortunately not, by the time I found out about it, it was too late. My friend did hear some words from me for not updating me on time lol.

Another classic example of the state our dive industry is in. Very unorganized. I know more about expos happening around the world than India at any given time.

Luckily its changing slowly.

Another issue is cost of equipment. Custom Duty kills you. I just imported some stuff and paid nearly 45% on top after everything delivered. My Reg is arriving end of the month, need to arrange about 300 usd just for the duty for that lol.

Ah, too bad, but hopefully this will be a regular thing & you can go next year!

By the way, there's a site people use to deliver & receive goods from travelers to other countries. A number of friends of friends have used it quite successfully both to make a little money on the side as well as receive stuff. You post what you need, where it needs to go & how much of a reward you're willing to offer. I did a quick check & there are others in India doing this. For example: One person wants an Amazon Echo & is willing to pay a $18 (₹1160) reward. Another wants an Asus Gaming Laptop & is willing to pay a $114 (₹7349) reward. Even with the site taking a 7% service fee, it sounds like this could be very helpful for you. https://grabr.io/.

 

[donarundas]

Hi Ankush,

India is definitely picking up as a hot spot in terms of diving, whether you consider the islands (Andaman did take a punch after the boat ban) or Lakshadweep (considered as poor man's Maldives). The mainland is well known for wrecks, explorations, deep sites, technical diving, and most of all Instructor Development courses for both PADI and SSI.

Although granted that it is still in the nascent stage, but with people like you and me we can definitely help the world know about us.

Just to check, if you follow the dive groups across FB connecting indian divers such as Scuba Info India, Diving Bubbles India, or like the better know dive centres in INdia's FB pages? A lot of events and dive trips happening in India are posted in these pages / groups.

I am bit surprised and sad to hear that you had to buy your gear from abroad, when there is a lot of options available in country for dive gear. Scubapro has its retail presence here and I have personally bought all my gear here, devoid of any duty Check out proscuba.in for your gear needs!! Although the prices would match and sometimes goes either cheaper or expensive, the local service in country means you do not have to worry about your gear at all!!!

Glad to see someone taking interest in the diving scene in the country, but also would be worthwhile for you to even do a simple google search on Scuba diving in india, and first dive and then connect with the thousand of divers across the country!!

 

[Ankush Mittal]

I am not sure whether I checked proscuba before making my purchases, but I did buy my BCD from Vinnie.

I bought my entire reg set from outside the country and even after paying custom duties on getting it shipped here it was still 25 - 30% cheaper than anyone in India was offering me.

As far as service is concerned, companies like Scubapro and Aqualung offer worldwide servicing, so if a dive shop in India refuses to service in the event the product wasn't purchased from them, I'll just get it services on one of my dive trips, while in my experience this shouldn't be an issue.

I am already a member of most of the dive groups on fb and know enough about Scuba Diving in India.

I have also sent you guys an email on your DM and IDC courses, and am looking at it probably sometime next year.

Will be in touch. Cheers.

Hi Ankush,

India is definitely picking up as a hot spot in terms of diving, whether you consider the islands (Andaman did take a punch after the boat ban) or Lakshadweep (considered as poor man's Maldives). The mainland is well known for wrecks, explorations, deep sites, technical diving, and most of all Instructor Development courses for both PADI and SSI.

Although granted that it is still in the nascent stage, but with people like you and me we can definitely help the world know about us.

Just to check, if you follow the dive groups across FB connecting indian divers such as Scuba Info India, Diving Bubbles India, or like the better know dive centres in INdia's FB pages? A lot of events and dive trips happening in India are posted in these pages / groups.

I am bit surprised and sad to hear that you had to buy your gear from abroad, when there is a lot of options available in country for dive gear. Scubapro has its retail presence here and I have personally bought all my gear here, devoid of any duty Check out proscuba.in for your gear needs!! Although the prices would match and sometimes goes either cheaper or expensive, the local service in country means you do not have to worry about your gear at all!!!

Glad to see someone taking interest in the diving scene in the country, but also would be worthwhile for you to even do a simple google search on Scuba diving in india, and first dive and then connect with the thousand of divers across the country!!