The more gear you have....

I arrive home from work today happy to find a package on my doorstep. I open it to find my new first and second stages for the doubles set I am putting together. While admiring how shiny and scratch-free they are, I started thinking back to when my husband and I first got certified 2 1/2 years ago. Then, our equipment needs were pretty simple. The first thing we bought (other than our mask/fins/snorkel) were BC's. Then I had to get a shorty, complete with a blue flower design to match my BC. Just in time for our beach and boat dives, we had added regulators complete with air integrated dive computers. After a jelly fish encounter at our safety stop, a 1mm full skin soon made its way into my dive bag (oh yeah, bought a dive bag too). We packed in about 50 dives in that first summer and had no desire for the cold winter water (a bone chilling 68 degrees) to slow us down, so 5mm wetsuits appeared under the Christmas tree. We were having a blast diving! Our gear suited our needs perfectly, but there was still that annoying issue of my husband's air consumption. I would always have at least 15 minutes of air left when we had to end the dive. We figured out a pair of steel 95's would solve that issue! But if he was getting tanks, then I did too. A pair of sapphire blue 80's (to match my BC) now sat next to his white 95's. All was well and we were happy once again. We decided to do some springs diving and headed up to Ginnie Springs for a weekend. As soon as hubby saw the BP/W divers, he wanted to know more. On the way home we stopped at the LDS and he kept the salesman busy for 30 minutes asking questions. Next thing you know, hubby is sporting a BP/W. I had NO desire until I found out he wanted to take Fundies. There was no way I was going to listen to him tell me what I am doing wrong after he took the class, so I decided to take the class too. That meant a BP/W for me. Add 7-foot hoses, simple SPG's and jet fins for 2 and we were broke (again)...but happy. Then hubby decided he wanted to dive doubles. We lucked out and found a used set-up for a great price. Then I started to get "doubles envy", so we are piecing a kit together as quickly as our bank account will allow. Don't forget the drysuits, canister lights, and wrist mount dive computers we are saving for too.

The more we dive, the more gear we acquire, the more gear we [-]wish for[/-] [-]want[/-] must have. Why didn't any one warn us about this?!?!?

Wait 'till you get the scooter bug...

There are far too many cool toys in this game to get along well with a wallet.........
But some things are actually worth it!

Let me tell you about all of the camera gear you can buy.

I've already been looking.

Five sets of doubles, four deco bottles, four single tanks, six BPs, five wings, a dozen or so regulators, five HID lights, not to mention masks, fins, hoods, boots, reels, spools, SMBs . . . Yeah, I empathize.

They told me, "Once you buy all your gear, diving is a pretty cheap sport." They neglected to tell me that you are NEVER done buying all your gear!

Wait until you realize how much more often you can dive if you just owned a boat...

Warning, Warning, dive gear is addictive. Must buy more....... Must buy the most.....
Must buy the best..... There, you have been Warned.

Time out, gear hogs...
I gave my 70lb rebreather away. I barely even used my tanks this year. Trying hard to sell everything redundant piece of dive gear I own or give away the old stuff. Its such a nice feeling to dive with a tiny wing on a stripped down harness. Do I really need D rings - hell no.
I am the epitome of the 21st century globe trotting diver in the face of fuel surcharges. Less is more, no?

Sounds like just about every other hobby.

I can rationalize some of it, to some degree anyway, as a "safety" thing.