All the best! Most importantly, have fun!

There are many dive centers in the city and on island. I'm guessing you wanna do the whole course on the island? If that's the case, then most of the popular dive islands in malaysia have them. Redang, Perhentian, Tioman, are cheaper choices. While Mabul might be slightly more expensive. From what I've gathered, west Malaysia is still the cheapest place to dive. But you'll get VIP treatment if you're diving in Bali or Thailand.

You can get those mask with power at any dive shops.
I got mine when I first started diving, about 5 years ago, at a dive shop in Sunway Mentari for about RM300.

It depends on how high your power is and how common it is. If the dive shop have ready stock then you can get it on the spot. If not, they will have to order and wait for it to come.

However, I still prefer to wear contacts.
Not really need to clean them right after. But it's better and it's recommended la.
Most of the time I'll just get dailies and wear it for one whole day doing 3 or 4 dives. I also remember to always have eye drops with me and my specs and prescription mask just in case I've having trouble with my contacts.

Wow. Really? I thought we can't open our eyes underwater when we are wearing contacts.
And it really hurts when sea water gets in the eye with contacts on. What dailies do you use?

I see. I'll try it next time.
I didn't dare to open eyes when wearing contacts cause my instructor told me before not to.
Without contacts on, I can't see anything when I open my eyes. Everything is just very blur.

I see. Anyone tried with Acuvue before?
Have never used Ciba ones. That's what I heard about contacts underwater, it will drop off from the eyes if we open our eyes.

Trigger fish - very scary. My sister got attacked by it before. It bit her ankle, thru her booties and wetsuit. Then she took her fin and whack that fella kao kao.

I used to dive without contacts, so I only had clear vision when I'm diving cause got power mask on. Bringing specs along can be quite annoying cause scare it will break la, dunno where to put la, break edi then even worst, cannot see for the whole trip. =.= So now I stick to wearing contacts. Can't wait to try opening my eyes with contacts underwater. Swimming pool can ar?

Probably she didn't notice their nesting area that time. According to her, they were already on the surface waiting for the boat to arrive after the dive.

Thank God I haven't encounter any trigger fish experience.

To learn, you don't have to get your own equipment first.
Scuba equipment isn't a cheap, you have to find out what type you like first before you go ahead and buy them. Different types have their own pro and cons.

East Marine is reputable 5 star dive center if not mistaken, they cater more to foreigners. It is more on the high priced side.

Diving at Langkawi is expensive, because of the boat ride to the island, I can't remember what island it is.

Ah I see. Also, seldom see local dive centers organize trips to Langkawi for diving. A bit hard to get a bigger group then I guess.

Haven't dived in Langkawi before so I dunno.
Would be nice to dive in less known areas...

You don't have to do discovery before you take OWD. It's not a requirement nor do I see any need for it. It's more for those who don't really know what diving is all about and wanna try it out, just like a trial dive

I did two discovery dives before I took my OWD. First one was just for fun. Second was with my bf cause he hasn't tried it before. Then a year after that we took up OWD.

You don't really need to be a professional swimmer to learn diving. As long as you can swim, in your own way, and also keep yourself afloat. That's good enough.

My instructor is based in Sunway Mentari. He conducts his lessons in a few areas. He's actually quite well known as well. PM me if you're interested.

I agree completely.
From my yum cha session with my dive instructor and two of my friends who wanna learn diving today. It seems that those crash course at islands are cheaper.
And I would strongly recommend beginners to not take island crash course. I had to experience it the hard way.

Although I admit Sipadan is really awesome but I don't really like seeing a turtle at every angel I turn. Prefer searching for small stuff.
Still prefer Mabul. And other ship wreck dive sites. Wanna try diving at layang layang, but it's so expensive

Getting an underwater camera before you're OWD license. That's a first for me!

Till now I don't even dare to whip out my underwater camera. Still trying to perfect my buoyancy.

I wouldn't really take that risk of spoiling my camera. Better get a proper camera with underwater casing next time.

I finish my rescue edi but still no camera. Lol.

Nice story there etigge.
Thanks for sharing.

True, like what the others said. It's not really a dangerous sport, its the people themselves who made it dangerous. I've been told snorkeling is more dangerous than diving, basically because we learn the correct ways of diving but we have never go thru a course for snorkeling.

My bf use Suunto D9. It's his watch already.

Yea he got the one with the one with the titanium band one. Can wear out for casual or formal events also. Haha.

For wetsuits, Hong Kong is much cheaper. Especially custom made.
Stuff back home in Malaysia can be quite expensive. Go for MIDE in July to get good deals.

Fins will cost around RM300+ or so for a decent good pair. There are cheaper ones as well.
Mask varies, depends on brand. Cheap good ones can get around RM70-100.
BCD, most expensive. Depends on what type you want and what brand.

Brands mainly Bare, Scubapro, IST (taiwan brand I think) and quite a few more.

Australia will have more choices and I would definitely buy there if given the opportunity. But if you're looking for cheaper alternatives (not so brand conscious) then maybe you can come back and buy here. Try checking http://www.scubatexpro.com/index.php (this shop always packed with people during MIDE. )

RM350 for a wetsuit is very very very worth it!
Here the cheapest wetsuit you can get, the cheapest Bare one, after discount is about RM350 also. That was about 3-4 years ago.

I think the BCDs are very cheap as well.
I bought mine in US actually. The BCDs here are at least RM1k and above.

There are many places that have that. Just walk into any dive shops in the city and they'll be glad to help you. I'm pretty sure almost all the dive shops has it now. Even those shops that sell swimming stuff also sell prescription snorkel mask.

Up till now, I've not gotten myself a dive comp. My buddy has one. So I just rely on his.
I would get one in the future but I don't see it as a necessity for me now yet.

I wouldn't recommend it for beginners who just want to start diving though. It's not something that's easy to use and understand. Have to familiarize with all the many functions and even the basics of diving, decomp and all that.

Haha. My buddy is my bf so he'll never let go of me and make sure I'm next to him almost every minute. So I pretty much rely on him and his dive comp completely.
I do sometimes borrow my sister's dive comp to go as well if she's not using it. Yea just get one that has the functions you are looking for and is practical, doesn't need to have everything which will be super expensive.

Not that easy to spot molar molar. Better check when is the season first before booking your trip. Also, Bali is not an easy place to dive. The current can be quite strong, water temperature might be cold as well compared to our local divesites.

Snorkelling ar. Go sipadan lor.

Yea the snorkeling was for the other guy who asked.

That's good. Get lots and lots of experience before you go for diving in Bali! As long as you're well prepared with the layers of rash guards and wetsuit, I don't think it will be a problem. You might wanna book early to get good rates as well.

Tulamben isn't that cold. And it's very much suitable for OWD. It isn't very challenging. Just the wreck only. And the very weird black stone beach.
I wore just a bikini and wetsuit over only. Didn't even wear a rash guard.

Other places like what blackwhitechipsKL mentioned is more cold and has more current.