A LOCAL DIVE CENTRE IN YOUR LIVING ROOM.
We don’t think you’ll have ever seen a website that sells scuba gear like this one… we’ve brought everything that’s amazing about the experience of buying gear in a bricks and mortar dive shop online.
Where it all started…
We began supplying scuba diving gear a few years ago at The Fifth Point Diving Centre – that’s our training division where we teach everything from beginner to instructor level. Back then, we used to cater to our students and divers from around the North East. This was a conscious decision – we actually chose not to sell online because we didn’t feel like we would be able to offer the same level of service to online customers.
Fast forward nearly 3 years and we have set up a whole new company that is dedicated to providing divers from all over the UK with scuba diving equipment that is perfect for them! We’ve learnt a lot and now we’re super confident that we can bring you an amazing experience when it comes to buying dive gear in person and online.
WHY IT’S DIFFERENT…
There’s an awful lot of scuba diving bumph on the internet. You can buy scuba diving gear online left, right and centre. Trying to cut through the jargon and the opinions (especially as a newbie diver) is tough. And the majority of websites are faceless. You don’t know who you’re talking to and the information that’s provided is just another copy and paste of the waffle you’ve already read somewhere else.
The Honest Diver team has taken every single piece of dive gear that we sell underwater. We know all the kit inside out, and that’s why you’ll find candid descriptions and opinions next to all our products. Sure – the manufacturer’s spiel is there too if you want to read it, but let’s be honest, it’s usually gobbledegook!
HOW IT WORKS…
The Honest Diver HQ is based at The Fifth Point in Blyth, Northumberland. If you’re local to us (or you fancy the trip!) you can come and browse the showroom… We know “showroom” sounds a bit weird, but just like this website, the Honest HQ is not your normal dive store either!
See what we mean?! You can call in and see our feature products on display, and if you let us know you’re coming we’ll have anything specific you’d like to look at waiting for you too. Even better is you can jump in our onsite training tank and try out your gear in the water!
BUT, I’M NOT LOCAL…
So, let’s say you live the other end of the country (which is pretty much anywhere south of the River Tyne to us!), and you can’t call in… how do we replicate the experience of you standing in the Honest HQ online? This was the biggest challenge when it came to building this site, but we hope we’ve done a good job – let us know what you think!
WHEN YOU ORDER…
Not gonna lie, our stock cupboard is tiny. We keep the most popular products in stock, but you’ll be able to tell straight away if we need to order something in for you. There’s a few reasons we work like this…
- We’re only a small business, we ain’t got the money to keep loads of stock! Maybe one day with your help…
- We don’t have enough space, you’ve seen the size of the stock cupboard! One day we’ll have a bigger HQ with your help too!
- We like to keep ahead of the curve in terms of new products. We’re not trying to flog you dusty, old stock from the back of the cupboard, so to allow flexibility we prefer to order things in as you request them.
We know this doesn’t give us the best turnaround times when it comes to delivery, but you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll keep you updated all the way. Every order is packaged with love and you’ll get a handwritten thank you note from the team to show our appreciation for choosing The Honest Diver.
KIND TO OUR OCEANS…
Environmental conservation is so, so important to us. It’s at the heart of our training philosophy at The Fifth Point, and we feel that is just as important to a retailer too. As suppliers of dive equipment, we have an obligation to promote ocean protection and do everything that we can to #ProtectWhatWeLove. We want to make it easy for you guys to do the same so there’s a few little tweaks we’ve made to the website…
THE HONEST ECO RATING
We’ve researched the products we sell to try and gauge their impact on the oceans. We’ve evaluated each bit of kit against our Honest Eco Assessment which includes criteria like materials of construction, manufacturing processes, packaging materials and shipping.
We believe that although a lot of manufacturers are on board with improving their processes, even more can be done. What’s even more awesome is that the power to make these changes lie in your hands. The Honest Eco Rating lays out the facts. You can see which products are the most ocean-friendly, and if it’s as important to you as it is to us, you will use your power as a consumer to prove that eco-friendly products are expected in the diving industry. The more divers that buy environmentally conscious products, the more the manufacturers will listen and a wave of change will begin.
SUPPORTING OCEAN CHARITIES
At check out, you’ll notice that you have the chance to support our favourite charities.
Project AWARE We are massive fans of Project AWARE and we love the work that they do. Every dive done by The Honest team is a Dive Against Debris. We remove litter from underwater whenever we see it and report the data back to Project AWARE. This is then used as evidence of the destruction caused by marine debris, driving changes in regulation and policy.
British Diver Marine Life Rescue The Honest team are all trained marine mammal medics. This means we respond to call-outs to attend sick and injured seals, whales, dolphins, porpoises… you name it! The charity has volunteer medics all around the UK, and donations make it possible for BDMLR to help marine life in need. We also support our local Seal Hospital at Tynemouth Aquarium by raising funds and donating old wetsuits that get turned into makeshift mammies for stranded baby seals!
RNLI As divers we never hope to need the assistance of the Lifeboats, but it’s certainly reassuring to know that they’re there! RNLI stations all over the country attend to divers when they find themselves in trouble, so it seems only right that we do our part to raise money for this incredible organisation. We support our local station in Blyth by raising funds and also helping them during training exercises so they know how to handle divers and their equipment.
CARBON NEUTRAL DELIVERY
We use DPD to deliver our products to you because of their commitment to reducing their carbon footprint.
