Gulliamo,

Maybe I should have started with this first, read up on a few dive magazines. In europe there are about 3 or 4 really good ones. Over in the US I know there's a lot more than that.

Magazine's give you a lot of info, sites for gear, training, dive locations.

Have you dived before or are you just interested in starting?

Many places have dive clubs, or go to your local swimming pool as that's where most clubs practise, unless they're lucky enough to have a fair size lake nearby.

Every club in the world will be only too happy to give you a trial dive. 20 minutes or so with an instructor in the safety of a pool. I knew a few lads that have done this for friends for free, so go talk to some of them.

If you've not done this first step, I warmly invite you to try. It's the time when you find out you whether you either like it or love it. Only a very small minority of people don't like it because they can't get over the breathing underwater experience either it's fear or a phobia I'm no expert in that area.

Let's us know a bit more.