A good gift for a diver comes along on the next trip. I take all my equipment on every diving trip, and this bag is where the ideas here come from, especially if you are looking for something for Christmas or a birthday. Some things you can simply buy and pack. With a mask, suit, and fins, fit is what matters, so an exchange policy or a joint visit to the store helps.
Gifts that don't need to be tried on
A dive light
In caves, at wrecks, and at night, a light brings back the colors that disappear first underwater. I dive with the Wurkkos DL10R, the manufacturer states up to 4500 lumens, and it charges via USB-C. On the plane, it belongs in carry-on luggage with its battery.
A bag on the suit
On the leg of my suit, I carry the Advanced Expandable Pocket by Waterproof, a bag with zippers at the top and bottom, a stainless steel D-ring, and a fold that makes it larger. There is room for small items that should be within reach underwater. I carry it on a holder that Waterproof has on its suits. Check beforehand what the recipient can attach a bag to.
The next service for the regulator
A personal regulator must be taken to the dealer regularly for servicing. When it is due is stated in the regulator's documents or on the receipt of the last maintenance. If you take over the next service, you are gifting something that is due before every trip anyway. Ask the dealer for the price of the model; they usually tell you beforehand.
Gifts that have to fit
Mask
What many call a diving mask is called a mask in diving because it includes the nose. It must fit tightly against the face, and every face is different. Therefore, only buy it with an exchange policy, or go together to a store where you can try it on. For some masks, there are prescription lenses. For my TUSA Ceos, you choose them individually for each eye, and so I see clearly underwater without contact lenses.
Suit, booties, and fins
With the suit, size and thickness count, and the thickness depends on the water in which someone dives. I wear a long 5-mm suit, the Waterproof W50. If the water is colder than 25 °C, I put the O1 ice vest with an attached hood over it. If you get cold easily, you need more sooner. Therefore, ask beforehand where the next trip is going.
Fins with open heels need booties, and both must fit together. I wear my Apeks RK4 in size L with the B2 booties from Waterproof at 6.5 mm. Instead of rubber bands, the RK4 has stainless steel spring bands, into which you can also quickly get with thick booties.
Larger gifts
A dive computer
The mask and dive computer are the two pieces that every diver should bring themselves. A computer that you know, you read underwater without thinking. I dive with the Apple Watch Ultra 3. Apple releases it together with a suitable diving app from the App Store for recreational diving up to 40 m, tested according to the EN 13319 standard. No-decompression time and ascent are only calculated by a diving app like Oceanic+, whose full features cost a subscription. Keep that in mind if you give the Watch as a gift.
If the computer should also show the cylinder pressure, take a model with air integration. The Shearwater Tern TX shows the pressure of up to four cylinders via a transmitter on the regulator, the Garmin Descent X50i reads up to eight via the Descent T2 transmitter. You usually buy the transmitter as an add-on for both.
A course
A course opens new places. Nitrox fills your bases only with a Nitrox certificate, on Koh Tao for an additional 200 to 400 baht, at Silent Divers on Koh Samui without an additional charge. For deeper places, the bases often require the Advanced certificate, before Koh Tao for the Chumphon Pinnacle, where you can see whale sharks, and the wreck of the HTMS Sattakut. You can most easily gift a course as a voucher from a nearby diving school. Ask them there if they issue vouchers and how long it is valid.
If the trip is already set
What needs to be done before departure, from the medical form to the dive-free last day, is stated in the Checklist for the diving holiday. All the models I wear, you can find in My diving equipment, piece by piece. Where the equipment can go is shown by the Atlas.