Scuba gear taxes

**MgicTwnger** · 09-02-2007, 12:13 PM

A few months ago one of my usual dive buddies, Fat Bob, was lucky enough to do a live aboard on the Great Barrier Reef and became good buddies with his cabin mate Mark, a police officer from Victoria.
It seems that the taxes/import duties on scuba gear in Australia are horrendous and Mark asked Bob to pick up a specific model BCD for him here in the US and ship it Down Under. We found the best price at my LDS (what a shock!) and I handled the pickup and shipping. Even with $75 shipping cost Mark saved a lot of $$$.

My question to the board is: does your country have any strange or oppressive laws affecting the diving community. One I can think of off the top of my head is Israel: all dives must be accompanied by a DM.

So what's your beef?

**Scuba Mama** · 09-04-2007, 06:51 PM

I have had two occasions where people had made it clear diving gear cost a lot more overseas and at times a lot more difficult to find.

One was while I was working in a shop. I guy from England came in he was looking a very specific BCD, he said the cost and wait time in the UK was not worth it but because he was in the US it was easy to find and a lot cheaper he even dove with his buddy while he was here in Lake Michigan and said the BCD was great.

One trip into Cozumel, I had opened my repair kit because a student had pulled off a part. I soon became very popular on the boat just because I had zip ties. Every divemaster in the group had one part or another that they needed fixed. They said zip ties were hard to come by. I left all my extra zips and cutters for them at the end of the trip, it was one of the best tips of could have left. One of the divemasters made arrangements with me to ship him a dive watch, just because the cost was double what I would pay. I was surprised on how little gear they use and for a diving area the cost of everything is much higher. I now also make it point to bring extra repair stuff, the divemaster will treat you real well for being a supplier.