■Mask

In order to clearly see underwater, it is necessary to have airspace between your eyes and the water around you.

■Snorkel

Using a snorkel allows us to breathe while keeping our face submerged. Since we do not have to raise our face out the water while continuing to breathe, when swimming across the surface of the water we conserve our strength.

■Fins

By using fins we get effective propulsive power in the water, since we don’t use our hands in order to keep them free for other tasks.

■Dive Suits and Gloves

Since our skin softens the longer we are underwater, we can easily get injured on rocks and such. Further, due to the risk from poisonous sea life, we can protect ourselves by always wearing a diving suit and gloves.

■Boots

Boots fulfill the function of footwear, sure, but they protect and warm our feet underwater as well. It is best to choose those with a non-slip sole.

■Weights

The combination of diving suit and our body and such increase our buoyancy, making it harder to descend. Thus we use weights to offset this increased buoyancy to make it easier to dive.
Made of lead and coming in 1kg, 1.5kg, and 2 kg, we wear the weights around our waist on a weight belt.
The use of a quick release buckle allows for one-handed release in times of emergency.
We vary the weights according to the type of diving suits worn, equipment used, and so on, to maximize neutral buoyancy.

■Dive Flag

Flags are displayed to indicate that “divers are below”. The red and white American style and, when diving from a boat, the blue and white international ‘A’ style are the two flags used.

■Gear Bag

Since there is so much gear to transport in diving, a gear bag is necessary. Mesh-bottomed bags have mesh material allowing drainage, and so are useful going to and from the beach or boat. Duffle bags, caster bags and hard cases don’t allow water to leak out, and so are useful for transport. Bags that have separate areas for gear and clothing are very useful.