i think level of certification is not that important as long as you can control your buoyancy very well you can take good photos.

the other thing of course is the comfort level when going underwater with so many equipments. if you can't even manage yourself without having anything, then how to carry a camera?

the reason why most DM/DI don't allow new divers to bring camera is because they don't want the new divers to concentrate so much on the camera instead of their own safety.

Every game and activity has it's own procedures or level of competitiveness, maybe except X-Games One must know how to walk first before attempting to run. Especially in scuba diving, procedures must be adhered very strictly. The emergency supply of air, the depth, the decompression time, the dive interval is there for a reason. The sport is for our leisure and it is not a vocation where we have to take risk. PADI's most important motto is, " If you don't enjoy it , don't do it." I have many times jump into the sea and find that I can't even see my fins properly, so I gave the thumb an upward motion. The DI have to agree as it is a standard rule. Above I said I am not going to enjoy this dive and I want to stay in the boat and a few were adamant on carrying on. A few 'mat sallehs' also aborted the dive. This already have demonstrated the stubborness of our divers. Like the dive instructor that allows you to bring the camera, the DI is also not very strict to the rules but wants to please the divers.

Maybe in our famous Datuk Alex Lee case, who knows, he was stubborn or insist on diving even when conditions were not favourable. His body was never found. Scuba diving is not a dangerous sport but it is the divers who made it dangerous. I am not talking about simple matters like taking photos but the rules that has to be followed. In Langkawi, I have seen many who is not certified but still dives and they spear fish too. Those familiar with Langkawi definately knows 'Ah Aun'. He died not at that instant but many months later due to something in his brains. It has after effects that might not show at that moment of breaking the rules.

Many of 'Ah Aun's' clicques also suffers from too much dives without proper dive intervals. They were spear fishing and this joker was holding his fish baggie. Ah Aun shoots a grouper in the depths of 80 feet. They described the blood was greenish. The grouper pulls the diver (the spear is attached to a cord to the gun) into the depths and then they go up and down for a few minutes. This poor guy at the back is also a lazy diver and he just hold on to Ah Aun's regulator so he too dove up and down. All seems fine when they surfaced and they joked about it on the boat. Later that night this poor guy had a seizure and was going into spasm. The nearest decompression chambers is either in Phuket or Lumut. Calling for helicopter is going to be too late. Panickly, they bundled him onto the boat and brought dive gears and went out to sea. They check the depth sounder and found the spot deep enough. Hook him into dive gears and another two brought him down to 50 feet and then later to 30 feet and then changed another tank and change buddies. after two tanks they brought him back and now he is OK but for now. He was lucky but situations like this should not have arise at all if you follow the rules.

We dive just for the fun of it and to enjoy the world beneath the waves. We don't have to risk anything to enjoy it.

well said..

thanks for usefull info and story bro etigge
yup u are right, always dive safe ya..and have more fun

etigge

agree with this comment. ppl scared of scuba diving cos say dangerous, but actually, scuba diving is LESS dangerous than driving. you learn how to drive, you get a license. you learn scuba diving, you get a license. as long as you do what you are supposed to do while scuba diving, you wont get in trouble, just like driving. obey the rules, you have fun. dont obey, then cry later when things happen.

anyway, i'll be off to tenggol in early june. gonna let my new suunto Zoop kiss some salt water and hopefully see some hammerheads. my other group of friends just saw it off tenggol last weekend....

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.

guys..do you wear any watch or dive computer (wrist type) during diving? mind to share your model?

bought a Suunto Zoop but yet to try it. will be using it in my coming Tenggol dive

Nice, that yellow color rite? how much u bought bro?

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

hehe ya i think Suunto D9 looks more formal. if the one with metal band would looks cool to wear to office

RM700+, forgot the exact price but its on promotion now. not naming shop names but if you want more info, pm me

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

hello everyone! dive newbie here. me and my partner just got our owd license 2 months ago and we have logged a total of 8 dives ever since.
will be back in malaysia for our break soon and i was just wondering if anybody could shed some light regarding the pricing of diving gears in malaysia. right now what we have are just wetsuits (have to get them cos i always get rashes/irritations from worn out rental suits.. plus they were on sale anyway).
so yeah, just wanted to know if gears in malaysia are cheaper compared to here, australia. i'm not really sure about the malaysia market but dive shops here often carry brands like aqualung, mares, oceanic, cressi, probe and so forth.. too many to be named.
do feel free do blast away with suggestions and opinions. i'm here to learn. thanks!

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. )

since you guys are new divers, probably best to get a fin and mask. investing in a BCD and regulator is gonna cost a bit unless you plan to dive often. as for fins, best to buy open heel fins and get a bootie to go along with it. getting full foot might be cheaper, but in the long run, (and after many dives) your water soaked feet might be easier to get blister with the constant rubbing with rubber of the fin.

for mask, i always advice ppl to get the mask with easy lock removal (those with button and just press and release). it's a little more expensive, but the trouble to adjust your mask everytime is worth the extra ringgit.

if you do plan to get BCD, then take a look at your budget and then decide what you wanna get. there are essentially 3 types of BCD (though some might differ), which are the normal jacket type, then there are the back inflate but with jacket style (sort of hybrid) and there are the backplate/wing combo. depending on the brand, these can range from RM1000-3000.

as for regulators, i would say, get the best your budget can afford. also, make sure your local dive shop is able to service the regulator as some brands are less stocked, thus changing parts might take longer than usual. in malaysia, scubapro is pretty well known and easy access to parts and stuffs

dive in Perhentian island tomorrow~ just a short trip for diving. 2D1N...

dive centre : Seahorse Dive Centre,Perhentian Besar.

friendly staff~

wow. thanks so much for those wonderful inputs. they're going to have an end of financial year sale soon so there will be lots of stuffs with clearance price.
like for example, the wetsuit that i purchased was the mares trilastic 7-5-3mm. got it for like RM350 after conversion. i don't know if it was a deal or not. okay, it was an impulse buy, i confess.
recently there was 2 mares bcd that went on sale. they were mares origin sport at mrs plus (RM480) and mares kaila with mrs plus for my partner (RM650). wanna know what you guys think about the pricing?

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.