What would you rather see when you dive? All the fish and coral you came to explore, or the inside of your eyelids while you clear your mask? Almost any mask will fit you with the "sniff test." At Ricks we make sure you have a mask that allows maximum fit & comfort. You will have enough to think about while monitoring your gauges, controlling your buoyancy, equalizing, and observing your surroundings. Don't burden yourself with the extra task of constantly clearing an unfit mask. Come take a dive in our indoor heated pool before your dive trip just to make sure your selection is perfect for YOU, and we have a large group for you to select from.

Full-foot fins are useful when diving in warm waters, diving from most liveaboards and snorkeling. They are convenient because you don't need wet suit boots, nor do you have to worry about breaking a fin strap. However, if you're going to dive in cooler waters or make beach-entries, you should consider open heel fins. For cooler waters you will need the extra thermal protection of booties which you cannot usually wear with full-foot fins because of the smaller size of the foot pockets. With beach-entry diving, you more than likely need the protection wet suit boots offer for the bottom of your feet. Most high-performance fins have a pocket design, so usually you'll end up with those anyway.

When using traditional fins you kick from the hips and make broad strokes, moving the water below or above the fin. The split fin is designed to push the water out behind you using a propeller-like design, giving you more energy per kick. Because of the way the split fin is used, lower leg muscles are used instead of abdomen and upper leg muscles. This gives you longer bottom times (because you conserve air), and allows you to use smaller kicking motions. We highly suggest you try a test dive in our pool with the split fins so you don't have to buy twice.  Yes, most split fins are worth the extra bucks!

A dive skin is a full-body spandex/lycra/polypropylene suit that offers some thermal protection but mainly protects you from coral cuts, scrapes, sunburn, jellyfish, fire coral, and also makes putting on a wet suit much much easier. Exposure suits offer the same protection, plus a warming element. Exposure suits range from 0.5mm to 7.0mm, depending on the temperature of water that you will be diving and your susceptibility to cold temperatures. Exposure suits also come in a wide range of styles to cover your whole body or only parts of it; they can be layered for warmth flexibility.  We can assist with this selection! Our dive skin line is usually the starting point for dive wear other than snorkeling equipment.

Dive Gear (see our RECOMMENDED GEAR CHECKLIST), First Aid Kit, towels for Dives, Boat Snacks, Water, Clothes, etc.

Usually,  unless otherwise indicated - accommodations, airfare, entrance/boat fees, air fills, weights, and your trip leader. Rick's attempts to cover most expenses that are allowed so you don't have any unexpected surprises. Some items we aren't able to prepay which are disclosed on each trip flyer in the center. Please see the details for each trip flyer and feel free to contact our travel coordinator or any of our staff members if there is something your are not sure of. This is also discussed on all of our Pre-trip meetings.

Yes,  If it's available for rental. Rick's has top-of-the-line rental dive equipment for most sizes and dive conditions. We offer rental equipment ranging from BCD's, Regulators, Computers, Instruments to hoods and gloves. We highly recommend that you DON'T rent masks, snorkels, fins, or booties. These items are similar to underclothing and should be extremely personalized in fit and comfort! We also recommend you to purchase your own mouthpiece for obvious reasons! Does Hoof & Mouth disease ring a bell? Well not really,  but I sure wouldn't !

For most Caribbean trips – NO! In fact many of our long weekend jaunts to Florida in the winter are planned for open water training dives. These can also be conducted during most of our Caribbean trips as well. However, we welcome divers of all skill levels to join us on our escorted dive vacations. This is where you gain more experience and this would be indicated on our trip flyer. But, you definitely want to increase your experience so you will feel more confident ......you won't regret it!