Need to orient myself

[utnapistim]

hi guys,

my question is: in your country/state/city/community where is/are the Local Dive Shops located? how far away from where you live? is dive equipment available where you live? do you have to go to another city or state to get dive gear?

and: do you have to own you own tank where you live? is dive site equal to dive resort in your area? is dive resort/operator equal to dive stuff sales where you come from/ where you dive?

Jag

Hi,

In Cyprus there are LDS prety close to the shore just about everywhere; also, they usually have everything, from masks to bcd and regs. Unfortunately they don't have a wide range of products (since the island is somewhat isolated this applies to all commerce here) but you can find the known brands.

Regarding tanks ... the divers I went with used to rent their tanks.

danone

 

[Dive-aholic]

WAHAHAHAHAHA ROFL

well you do know how diving is here (where the dive ops pretty much do all but breathe for you), seriously though, what am i missing from the my-pickup-truck-is-my-dive-shop experience? i don't know anywhere here where i could do that so i might not be able to compare (i mean if so many people do it, then there definitely must be something in it)

Jag

Here's what you're missing. You don't live in a land-locked state where your choices are 1) to not dive until your next trip to some exotic dive destination or 2) load up the pickup truck every weekend and drive to your local quarry or lake just so you can get wet and breathe through a regulator. Many of us choose #2 because we don't want to wait until next year to dive. Would we rather be diving in the quarry or lake? I can't speak for everyone else, but I would rather be diving a wreck or a reef any day. But we dive the lakes every couple of weeks because they're the closest bodies of water. We own our own tanks for convenience of not having to pick up the tanks from our LDS and drop them off the next day. We can just stop by for fills when we get a chance. If only we lived somewhere like Manila! Can you feel the envy?!?! It's there! We do what we have to do, though. After all, a dive is a dive.

As for your other question concerning our LDSs, they are not your typical resort. They are typically full service dive stores that sell all of the equipment necessary to dive. They offer training. They put together trips to exotic dive destinations so every once in a while we get to actually see what's under water rather than just feel it. The bulk of the money they make comes from equipment sales, not training or trips.

I hope this clears things up for you. Again, the envy is there! But I must say this, even if I lived in an exotic dive location, I would still dive the quarries and lakes. There's just something about the experience. You oughta try it if you ever come state side.

 

[miketsp]

Well here in Brazil I live in the largest city, São Paulo, which also happens to be the place with the most LDSs. There must be at least 20 even though there is no good diving within 80km. Over a 6 month period I probably call in at at least 10 of them to chat, exchange ideas and check out what gear they are carrying and at what prices. In my family we have 3 sets of regs and these are serviced annually at 2 different shops. We dive fairly regularly with one LDS, mainly due to the great friendly atmosphere - not chosen for technical reasons since we have enough experience to be independant from their DMs on trips. However we also dive with whatever local operator is available if we do an independant trip somewhere. Some of them are pretty precarious in terms of infra-structure so it's good to have some experience before getting too much off the beaten track.
In Brazil, cylinders and air are always included in outings. Weight belts are included if you need to fly to get where you are going.
So if we dive in the states of São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, we take our own weights and belts. Anywhere else in the country we use locally provided weights and belts.

 

[Bretagne]

Here, diving shops are usually disconnected from diving operators (even if these sell some small stuff, usually of one brand only). Dive shops are in towns, diving operator close to diving sites whcich is often quite different. Dives often include tanks, belts and weights (but you can bring your own).
Where I live, I do not have to own my tank as there is no diving site except for artificial ones (deep pools) where tanks are provided. There are several big dive shops in Paris, but dive sites are more than 100 km away.
I have two favourite diving shops: one in Paris where I can get things a little cheaper through my dive club, and one relatively close to my holiday diving place (30km). This second shop is also the one where I buy online, as they have organised quite well online purchase (so even on line, I do not buy on e-bay)

 

[lostinspace]

here in Borneo it's very much club-oriented, unless we fancy a weekend in Sipadan (s****** - yes, I can do Sipadan at the weekend) and then we just use the resort's tanks. I don't own my own tanks, I just rent from the club. But I am tempted to buy my own (though god knows where from) because I want stubby cylinders for my short back.
My LDS (that I trust) is actually in Singapore... not so handy.

 

[hvulin]

First of all, I come from Europe and I live in a continental part of my country (150miles to my house by the sea )

hi guys,

my question is: in your country/state/city/community where is/are the Local Dive Shops located? how far away from where you live? is dive equipment available where you live? do you have to go to another city or state to get dive gear?

I have a couple of small shops at some 10km distance but with very limited equipment available. (we are a small country and to do some real shopping we go to Italy )

and: do you have to own you own tank where you live? is dive site equal to dive resort in your area? is dive resort/operator equal to dive stuff sales where you come from/ where you dive?

I own my tank but, since our law changed it became useless since they force us to dive through dive centers and price of the air fill is almost the same as price of renting the cylinder. Our laws suck big time! (but I still go diving solo during winter)

 

[CaptSaaz]

Hiya,
I live on LongIsland, about an hours drive east of New York City. The LDS I use is about 10 miles away plus there are about 5 more shops within a 30 minute drive. A virtual mecca of LDS's. None of them are "on the water" but they do supply anything you need from BCD's, tanks, wet and dry suits and tank fills (air, nitrox and a couple trimix). New divers can rent tanks, or any other equipment needed at any of these shops. If you intend to doing alot of local diving, you buy your own tanks.

Though the water here is cold and viz a bit low, the diving is either shore dives or boats dives onto wrecks. They are boat operations that are not affiliated with any shops. There are no resorts here to speak of.

Happy Diving! Dan

 

[SeanQ]

The LDS I go to most often is a 3 minutes away from my house. When I want a larger selection, I go to another store that is 15 minutes away. However, both stores are owned by the same person so i can drop of rented gear at either of them. The nearest dive site is 10 minutes away. How is that for convience?

 

[Don Burke]

hi guys,

this is to sate my curiosity plus allow me to get a perspective to better understand what other people are posting and where they come from when they post...

my question is: in your country/state/city/community where is/are the Local Dive Shops located?

Most of the shops around here are some distance from the water. The one I use most has the boat tied up behind the shop.

how far away from where you live?

I drive about ten miles to get to the closest shop.

is dive equipment available where you live?

Yes

do you have to go to another city or state to get dive gear?

Technically yes. The cities with dive shops border on my city.

and: do you have to own you own tank where you live?

no

is dive site equal to dive resort in your area?

We are too far north to be considered a resort. If someone if going to get on a plane to get to a dive site, he is unlikely to get off the plane here.

is dive resort/operator equal to dive stuff sales where you come from/ where you dive?

no

the reason i ask is there are stuff that confuse me when i've been reading through other's posts... there are some that say it's better to get stuff at an LDS so you can get tank fills... others want to have an LDS contact in another state to buy stuff from... many seem to rely on online dive equipment sales...

need input here to clarify myself on the context of how diving is for you where you live...

in the philippines, manila at least (and other major cities where most divers reside), the LDS are right smack in the middle of the metropolis, no where close to any body of water worth mentioning... some dive shops along dive areas sell equipment but mostly quick-replacement stuff (snorks, masks, accessories, lights, suits) rather than the whole slew of stuff... usually also their selection is very limited and not often as a result of a dealership for a certain brand (e.g. mares, cressi, etc.)

also, not many divers own tanks here as it's sooo much more convenient to get tanks and fills where you dive (tanks, air and weights are inclusive in all dive rates)... not to mention it cuts down on a lot of maintenance concerns and weight when traveling

i'm relatively new to most of this so i don't know how the world blows their bubbles

Jag

Many divers around here do not own tanks. The shops I deal with do not rent weights, although they will probably loan you some if you are from out of town.

Owning tanks can cost a bit more than renting tanks if the diver does not dive a lot. I consider it worth it since going diving just involves going out to the garage and I can have some odd sizes around.

I would not even consider taking a tank or weights on a plane. I could probably buy an AL80 at my destination and give it back to the shop when I left for not much more than the airline would charge me for transport.

 

[shugar]

that's pretty much the same setup we have here... most of the time dive ops are separate and distinct from dive shops... although the bigger shops have their own ops

Jag