Scuba diving is an exciting but potentially expensive hobby! The basic kit required to start training is a properly fitting mask, snorkel and a pair of fins.
Your mask must be the right size and shape for you. The glass must be toughened or tempered and the nose piece must be separate to the glass and open to the surrounding water pressure. Nowadays if you wear glasses you can have prescription lenses in your mask (but for a price!!).
Pool fins fit like a shoe, are worn with bare feet and are designed for use when snorkelling and pool training. Open water fins are more robust and have a half shoe arrangement. They are designed to be worn with diving boots and have a heel strap to secure them.
A good mask costs from £40 upwards, a snorkel costs around £10, pool fins from £15 upwards and open water fins from around £45.
As your training progresses you may wish to purchase additional kit such as a BCD (buoyancy control device), a cylinder, regulators, weight belt etc. Once open water training starts you will need to purchase a suit of some kind. This is obviously where the costs start to rise significantly but good second hand kit is available and remember that we have agreements with local dive shops to get members a discount!.
Semi-dry suits are like a thick wet suit but have tight cuffs to keep the water inside the suit (and so maintain temperature). A semi dry can be worn in UK waters in the summer months. A dry suit is designed to keep water out of the suit and these can be membrane or neoprene. Dry suits can be worn year round in UK waters.