Scuba Diver Issue 1/2013, AA No. 73
Diveaholic Buyer's Guide
Welcome to a special edition of Scuba Diver AustralAsia – our first-ever Diveaholic Buyer’s Guide.
We’ve jammed these pages full of this year’s top gear to add to your scuba kit, with all the specs and side-by-side comparisons to satisfy the staunchest value-hunters out there.
Of all the scuba gear on the market, is it just me or have BCDs really exploded? When we put the word out to the manufacturers, we were expecting a handful of new models, but with so many new categories, from lightweight “travel” vests to those designed especially for “her”, to feature-rich pro and hardcore tech – to tell you the truth, we just couldn’t fit them all in (page 38).
And for you camera nerds (like me), we’ve got the latest underwater rigs for the year’s sweetest DSLR offerings, like the Canon 5D Mark III (page 82), compact options like the Canon G15, and even the tike-sized Hero 3 (page 84).
How’d we ever dive without this stuff?
Diego A. Garcia, Senior Editor
Contents
Diveaholic Buyer's Guide
The latest gear and killer deals from the world’s top scuba diving equipment manufacturers
Destination: Lombok
A Little Piece of Heaven
By Imran Ahmad and Cassandra Dragon
Overshadowed by Komodo to the east and Bali to the west, Lombok’s time to shine appears to be on the horizon
Special
Liveaboard Spectacular
By Joseph Tepper and Matt Weiss
If you really want to spend more time on remote reefs than by a resort pool, the liveaboard lifestyle is the best way to go
Destination: Palau
Nature's Masterpiece
By Ethan Daniels
Palau's verdant forests, extensive mangroves, seagrass beds, marine lakes - an unembellished utopia for marine life and divers
Destination: Raja Ampat
Realm of the Four Kings
By Hergen Spalink
Diving Raja Ampat, Indonesia - the epitome of underwater biodiversity
Destination: Wakatobi
Passage on the Pelagian
By Richard Smith
The only liveaboard dedicated to exploring the greater Wakatobi region but it's the special touches on boeard that make this boat stand out from the crowd
