Trip to Australia (bring or rent)

[Zeeman]

You are most welcome, enjoy your trip

Z...

 

[benze]

Hi,

I'm in the same predicamment here (except that my trip is in mid Feb - March), and was wondering what you decided to do finally, and how it worked out for you? DId you take your own gear, or rent? How long did you dive for? If rented, was it expensive? I'm in Canada too (Montreal), so I'd love to hear some feedback from your trip.

Thanks!

Eric

 

[Fordan]

Do you have an idea where you're diving, and which outfit you'll dive through? As an example, my liveaboard in Cairns had the gear rental included, and the day boat I just checked added AU$20/day to the cost to rent gear beyond tanks and weights. Most operators will list what their gear rental fees are on their webpage where they list the cost of their dive packages.

I brought what gear I had with me, because I like my gear: I know how it works and that it fits well. I rented what I didn't have. Then again, I had a spare suitcase allowed in checked luggage that I could bring it all in.

 

[almitywife]

this might help you in giving some sydney prices

http://www.frogdive.com.au/hirerates.pdf

cheers

 

[benze]

I'm currently looking at diving either with Mike Ball or Spirit of Freedom (both were highly recommended by other posters here). And I'm only going to have a chance to dive for about 4 days (my wife doesn't want to go for much more than that). Cost seems to be around $130 for gear rental for the 4 days. So it isn't that bad, but when you factor that the 4-day trip itself is listed at close to $1400, it's an extra 10% ontop of that which feels painful. Ideally, I'd love to bring my 3mm suit with me as well, but I have a feeling that it would start becoming too cumbersome to drag around.

Is the rental gear any good? Do they have different sizes for wetsuits? I've rented stuff in the carribean before and was sincerely disappointed by it (octopus leaking, BCD leaking air, etc). I would hate to have that ruin my trip for 4 days....

Thanks for the advice!

Eric

 

[Fordan]

I dove with one of the cheaper Cairns liveaboard options (Pro Dive), and all the gear was fine. I rented a wetsuit (although I only dove with it once, given how warm the water was, at least compared to what I was used to), reg/octo/computer. I brought my own BC, fins, mask, booties, snorkle. I thought my BC since I wanted the airtrim feature it uses because of my limited mobility in my arm, and my fins because I hate the fit of full-foot fins, which is mostly what you'll find there.

Give the reputation of the operators you're looking at, I doubt gear quality will be a problem.

 

[altaskier]

I dove with Mike Ball in August. I brought my own stuff, but many people used the boat's stuff and I heard no complaints about the rental gear. They seemed to have a lot of different wet suits on the boat, too.

 

[Zhe_Phil_GO]

Hi

Was At Cairns, dive with ProDive, was really happy with the boat, food, etc.
Spend a 3 days with them, I brought only my reg, fins, mask, the rest was all from ProDive, it was okay. I mean, it's rental stuff. So it's normal to be a bit used.

Just FYI, all the rented Reg had a Cobra console attach to it.

 

[Sveta]

I dove with ProDive too. And next year i'm booking the same dive operator too. They are just awesome.
Perk - i'm in touch with almost all members of a crew, so if i have any questions i can easily get in touch with some of them and they are happy to assist me. Isn't it nice?

 

[Sveta]

Can you tell me the names of the crew people? I bet i know some of them?
Oli, Steffen, Shane, Ari, Arek - any of those?

Hi

Was At Cairns, dive with ProDive, was really happy with the boat, food, etc.
Spend a 3 days with them, I brought only my reg, fins, mask, the rest was all from ProDive, it was okay. I mean, it's rental stuff. So it's normal to be a bit used.

Just FYI, all the rented Reg had a Cobra console attach to it.