How to Pack for a Scuba Diving Vacation

One area of scuba diving education that seems to get little attention is how to pack your gear. My very first scuba diving vacation was when my wife and I got married in Hawaii and did our honeymoon in Tahiti. I toted a full sized, scuba suitcase from Chicago to Maui to Honolulu to Papeete to Bora Bora to Moorea, then back to Honolulu and finally Chicago. Each leg of the journey, I had to pay extra for the weight (and extra bag) of scuba gear. I carried way too much unneeded stuff. In today’s economy, the airlines are looking for any reason to bend you over and nail you in the keester with luggage fees. So planning how you pack, can save you some money in the future.

The Thinking Dive Traveler

Before you start putting anything in a bag, you first have to go over everything and look for items that can be removed. I’m currently packing for a trip to Turks and Caicos. As I was folding up my mesh bag for carrying gear on a boat, I noticed that I still had a bunch of teaching slates in one of the pockets. I removed the backup light from my harness as well as the backup double ender I keep and stainless steel buckle used to hold my canister light in place. Even though I could really use my stainless steel backplate, I’m taking my aluminum plate to reduce the weight of the bag (I’ll add a weight belt when I get there). By making these small changes, I was able to shave off 8 pounds from the bag. That may not seem like much, but it will help me get below the “heavy” bag weight limit the airlines impose. Remember, every ounce counts. So get into the mindset to eliminate even the smallest item if it isn’t needed. If your bag is even 1 pound over the weight limit, you can bet a paycheck the airline will charge you extra. There’s a war raging for your dollar. You need to fight to keep it. Make sure you know the weight limits for the airline you are traveling with prior to packing up your dive gear.

The Rental Option

Even if you own your own gear, you can still opt to rent gear from the dive operator you are diving with. This way you won’t have to worry about packing, and maybe losing your dive gear. I’m always skeptical about renting gear in other countries. Who knows how well it has been taken care of. I get the willies just thinking about donning a wet suit that a thousand people may have puked on, peed in or done something worse. So I prefer to take my own gear. Certainly renting gear at your destination is a viable option. Just do your homework into how they service their gear.

Maximizing Bag Space

Looking at how you pack your gear can be a big benefit to you. You are only given a finite space to place your gear in a bag. My shorty wetsuit and mesh gear bag will lay perfectly flat on the bottom of my travel case (when it’s laying down). I then put my backplate and wing on top of that. Make sure all of the air is out of your BCD prior to packing. My regulator bag sits nicely inside the harness next to the backplate. I have fin “pockets” on the inside of my travel case. Even my Jet fins will fit in them. My wet suit boots go in the foot pocket of my fins. The lid of my travel case has a padded zipper pocket on the inside of it. My mask fits in there nicely. I carry my bottom timer/depth gauge on my carry-on bag. By packing this way, I have plenty of room for souvenirs to bring home. Just as long as they don’t push me over the bag weight limit. In the past, I made mistakes by packing things I thought I needed. For example, I own two regulator bags. One is a very nice, thickly padded XS Scuba one. I love that reg bag. But it is too bulky to travel with. So I have a less bulky one, that isn’t as nice, to carry my regulators in. I’ve also stopped carrying multiple Pelican cases. In the past, I took as many as three Pelican cases to hold “stuff”. I’m now down to only one small case, to hold my wallet and sunglasses when I’m in the water.

Make Sound Travel Decisions

If you take frequent scuba vacations, make sure that you think through your gear choices when traveling. It doesn’t hurt to have a travel BCD that is smaller and lighter than your home BCD. Same thing with fins. As much as I love my Scubapro Jet fins, my old Dacor Panthers save me 4 extra pounds and I can move through warm water just as efficiently as my Jets. I also have warm water boots that are low cut and a thin rubber sole. Whereas my home wet suit boots are high tops with a thick, hard sole.

Otherwise, if you don’t mind paying the extra fees for exceeding your checked bag weight limit, then feel free to keep stimulating the economy. We could use all the help we can get.

Dive Safe,
Duane
Precision Diving