BOOTLESS? If you prefer to dive without boots, these two new slipper-fin designs from Mares might appeal to you. The Frontier is an entry-level fin with a fetching transparent blade that will suit holiday snorkellers. The Volo Race is a slipper version of the open-heel scuba diver's fin with the same name. Both are available in a full range of sizes. The Mares Frontier costs £18.50 a pair and the Mares Volo Race £42.

VISIBLY TECHNICAL Are you looking to upgrade your technical diving certifications, but in clearer visibility than you might find in home waters? TDI (Middle East) is based at Divers' Lodge in Hurghada and can offer the full range of technical courses, whether it be simply nitrox diving or accelerated-deco techniques all the way up to the black arts of multi-gas trimix diving at instructor level. Divers' Lodge has been an international pioneer of technical diving and has hosted numerous visits by all manner of technical diving gurus, from Brett Gilliam to Richie Stevenson.

USE YOUR HEAD This hands-free micro-torch could be just what you need for those fiddly jobs that always need doing when it's too dark to see properly. These tasks include putting your underwater camera together or working down in the engine-room. Mounted on your head, the Pettzl Zipka uses the latest LED technology and runs on three AAA alkaline cells that are claimed to give more than 150 hours of use. Available from any good outdoor retailer, the Pettzl Zipka costs £30.

NEW BUDDY A new BC from AP Valves, the maker of Buddy jackets, is always an event. The Buddy Sport and Buddy Sport PD are aimed at travelling divers and as such have no emergency inflation mini-cylinder. However, they still benefit from the renowned Buddy double-bag construction with an 1100 denier Cordura outer and around 15kg of maximum buoyancy in size M. Two stainless-steel D-rings plus all the normal features one associates with Buddy jackets are supplied and the PD version has extras such as a comfort cushion and an extra exhaust fitted as a pull-dump to the top of its corrugated hose. From £249 with AP200 inflator.

SERIOUSLY DIGITAL Serious underwater photographers who want to go digital are now served by the Nikon D100 single-lens-reflex camera and Sea & Sea DX-D100 acrylic submarine housing. SLR cameras allow through-the-lens viewing but, more importantly, do away with the time lag suffered by non-reflex digital cameras while they grab the image - something that's essential for action shots. The D100 is the first affordable digital SLR in the Nikon range and the Sea & Sea housing is equally affordable at around £1300, depending on the port chosen.

FOR ART LOVERS Acclaimed young underwater photographer Zena Holloway has released a collection 0f 20 underwater images available as limited edition (1 of 150) prints. Her subjects range from surreal seascapes to amazing views of swimming horses. It forms a prelude to her forthcoming book SirŽnes, due to be published next November. Prints are 33 by 48 cm paper, though image sizes vary, andcost £117.50 each, including delivery within the UK. They are also on sale at the Hopper and Lupe photographic gallery in central London.

MIXED MESSAGES The ultimate computer for technical divers? That's what Dive Rite claims for the NiTek HE, a direct development of the well-received NiTek3. It can program in up to seven gas mixes per dive and its large buttons give you the facility under water to pick the mix when you select the mouthpiece. For use with air, nitrox and helium mixes, it gives a constant display of PO2 levels, and monitors exposure to inert gases, too. It runs on a long-life user-replaceable battery and costs £906.

GET THE SHAPE The Zubzor Pro 3mm semi-dry wetsuit from Waterproof of Sweden is full of interesting ideas. Besides having seals at ankles and wrists covered by zipped cuffs, it is stitched both inside and out like a drysuit, and features a non-slip seat and kidney pads. It has a rear zip and a comfort zip at the throat for when you're sitting around waiting to dive. Some of us will be impressed by the embossed six-pack effect at the midriff, too! Available in a wide range of sizes from XS to XXL for both ladies and gents, it costs £129. There is also a shortie version for £84.

INTO THE MAINSTREAM The new 100-page Hayes & Jarvis brochure covers diving destinations as far apart as the Red Sea, Tahiti, the Bahamas, the Maldives, Kenya, Australia and Cyprus. Liveaboards vary from sailing ketch sy Crescent to the luxurious catamaran mv Island Explorer. Whether you're learning to dive or want a tailor-made scuba vacation, there should be something here to suit you.

MORE FLASH, LESS CASH These simple cameras represent a capital-risk-free entry into the world of underwater photography. One is a single-use camera in a multi-use underwater housing called Splash & Flash, rated to 25m (£15 approx), while the other is a waterproof motor-drive camera rated to 15m, called Wet & Wild (£25 approx). Both have built-in flashes. AA batteries are not included.

WINGING IT This T52 Hover BC combines a conventional jacket with a compact wing in what its manufacturer, Tigullio, calls the "Sequential Buoyancy System". Loaded down with every feature imaginable, it has optional integrated weights, trim-weight pockets, big zipped pockets and four ways to dump air. Under water, air is designed to enter the wing to give an ideal attitude, and to fill the front of the BC to give an upright stance at the surface. Available in S, M, L and XL, the Tigullio T52 Hover costs £365.

EIGHTY METRES UP The McMurdo Pains Wessex Miniflare 3 Distress Signalling Kit provides a good way of summoning help should you need it. The eight red aerial flares and the penjector from which to fire them are small enough to keep in a pocket or waterproof grab-bag. Each flare will burn for 6 seconds, travelling up to 80m high to be seen from as far away as 10 miles at night or 5 miles in daylight. If you're going by small boat, don't leave home without them! Around £28 from marine chandlers.

RED SEA PANORAMIC Emperor Divers has a new dive base at Soma Bay, a half-hour drive south of Hurghada and near the Sheraton hotel. Its architecture is reminiscent of the Temple of Karnak and it is well-placed for trips out to the less-often-dived offshore Panorama Reef, and the wreck of the Salem Express. This facility is available to you even if you dive with Emperor in Hurghada, and the short road journey saves you having to get up at the crack of dawn to do it by boat. Soma Bay also has a pretty home reef accessed by a purpose-built jetty.