[Adrian]

Welcome Elvis, I deleted the other identical thread, no problem there. Taking a course will be one of the best things you can do, as it will provide many shortcuts on the learning curve and teach you about safety as well. As Mishu says, be comfortable with the equipment and being in the water in different conditions. At this point, equipment is not so important in any other sense. With time you'll end up testing more stuff and "profiling" what your real needs are depending what you want to do.