Everyone has this strange fascination with what lies under the ocean. We’ve seen so much beautiful photos and read about places like the Great Barrier Reef. The only thing we have left to do is explore it for ourselves. In order to do that we need some help. It’s not like you can turn up at the beach and stick your head under the water. It’s not too easy to see when your eyes are filled with saltwater.

You need to get your hands on some gadgets. Luckily you don’t need to spend all your pocket-money on a full-sized submarine. That can come later if you decide you love spending time under the water, but at the moment you just want to get a taste of it and decide if it’s for you. Here’s some cool gadgets you could use to get started.

Portable SeaJet
This is the cheapest submarine you will ever find. That’s because instead of you sitting inside some underwater vessel, you are right in the thick of the action. It’s been shrunken down to something you hold in front of you and it pulls you through the water. You’re only going to get dragged along at 5mph, but it’s got to be better than using all your energy kicking your legs without any help. Just make sure you don’t end up too far away from the boat.

Liquid Image Underwater Mask
The only thing wrong with taking a camera under the water is the fact you have to carry it about with you. It’s pretty safe if you connect it to your wrist, but it’s still not ideal if you need your hands free. That’s why underwater masks from Liquid Image are so great. The actual camera is built into your swimming mask so you don’t have to bother holding it. You can also take some great pictures and shoot some cool videos.

GoPro Cameras
GoPro cameras are excellent for taking amazing footage in places you wouldn’t think was possible. If you have ever thrown one up in the air while it was recording you know how amazing the world looks from different places. One place that definitely looks different is under the sea and you can get special underwater housing so you can now take your camera with you in the water. With this option you can still use your amazing camera out of the water, so it’s well worth the money.

GNOM Baby
This one is a baby because there’s other much bigger and powerful versions, but don’t let the name fool you. For personal use in diving and boat inspection it’s a fantastic piece of kit. When you start talking about the larger models it’s moving well into the realms of industrial equipment. This is almost like a computer game because you control the underwater vehicle with a controller, much like you would use on a Playstation. You’ll have tons of fun capturing some amazing photos at depths you wouldn’t like to go down to unless you were a professional diver.

Jefferey Holmes, the author of this article is a very adventurous person. He works for Aquability, a scuba training centre. They have a dive store in Melbourne which provides them with the latest and the safest diving gears.