separate travel gear

[RTee]

My gears are more split for the environment or type of diving than it is for travel. My single tank set-up is constant notwithstanding where I am diving ie locally on elsewhere...Zeagle Express Tech with 30 lbs donut Wing (uses minimal space in a suitcase/rubbermaid tub), Sherwood SR1 reg assembly, DC and mask. If I dive wet, then whatever thermal protection I require will be packed with booties (tropical or full size) and my Mares Excel Quattro fins. If diving dry, then Iwill carry my Turtle fins instead due to the fact that I wear rockboots and my Mares do not fit.

I do happen to have an extra Mares BC in my basement that I initially purchased when I resumed diving three years ago but it now only sees water when my son joins me for diving. If he starts diving more regularly, my intent will be to also equip him with a Zeagle Express Tech vest which will support both local and travel scuba diving.

I also own a SS BP/Wg(s) for my set of doubles which is fitted with one wing or two independent bladders (for redundancy) depending on the type of diving I will be doing. Again..it is more type oriented than location oriented.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

My local diving is in cold water with limited viz, and is mostly related to teaching and training. We take 2 or 3 trips per year to tropical venues, and to use the same gear would be like wearing a parka to play golf on a 90 degree day. When you regularly dive in 2 or more contrasting types of conditions, I think separate gear sets are justified. I actually have 3- my "pool stuff", my training stuff, and my warm water stuff. I have an equivalent amount of accessories and other stuff- because I have a tendency to impulse buying anyway when it comes to scuba gear.
DivemasterDennis

 

[fjpatrum]

Coming up in August I will be travelling to Maui/Kona for the family vacation. I currently dive a Zeagle Stiletto BC. The intent was for a BC light enough for travel yet still has enough lift for cold water diving with 7 mm wetsuit. My fins are Atomic splits (not starting blade v spit discussion) and are a little heavy. Still using rental reg mainly because my LDS uses Atomic Z's as their rental reg and have not had the inclination spend a big wad $$ just yet.

I've been noticing a number of posters responding that they have separate gear for both travel and local diving. At what point did you decide to go out and buy a brand new BC for example to travel on vacation? I'm sticking with my current gear and not changing my BC or fins. I will get an inexpensive 3 mm wetsuit since I plan on doing fair number dives with my daughter and it is cheaper and more hygienic go have my own. I might also decide to splurge on a reg before next vacation once the taxes are paid .

Just curious at what point does the decision come in "I need a new 'x' to go on vacation?

First, let me recommend at least a 5mm for diving off Kona. I found the water cold in my 4/3 and ended up adding a 5mm on top of that for the night manta dive. Most of the rental shops are handing out 5mm suits, from what I saw.

As for gear, I bought a full kit while in OW and took it to Kona with me the following summer (2 years ago, now). I did buy used, and from what I've read of your posts I suspect you're more likely to buy new. That might make the difference in what you decide to go ahead and buy. I felt like, for me, it was a matter of how much local diving I was planning (not a lot, actually) and how much money I was saving every dive if I owned versus renting. Buying used, I recovered my costs in less than 6 dive days. Buying new it would have been at least 10-15 dive days before I recouped my costs. You seem to be highly motivated to dive locally as well as on vacation so, from my perspective, it just makes sense for you to spend the money now rather than continuing to rent. I wear the same BC with 14mm+ of neoprene and 16 pounds of weights as I do for 3mm of neoprene and no weight. I haven't dived dry, yet, but I suspect I'll get a bit more lift capacity when I do start diving dry. I currently have about 18-20 pounds of lift and I'd bump that up to 30 pounds for diving dry... other than that, I don't see much point in having different kit for local diving versus travel. (I do have 3 full sets of gear now though...)

I will say the rental fleets at Jack's Dive Locker and Kona Honu Divers were both decent quality from what I could tell. Not top end but not bottom rung, either. I don't remember the brand but they looked to be well maintained so don't feel like you absolutely have to go buy regs unless you want to do so. I can't speak to the other operators though so if you're going with someone else, maybe call and ask them what gear they use in their rental fleet.

 

[Peter Guy]

I love the "I won't pay $25 to check a bag" comments given that you are probably spending way over $1000 for the trip anyway - but I digress.

To the extent that I have "travel gear" it is only related to the temperature/exposure protection. I just got back from Maui where I dove with a 5mm wetsuit & rash gaurd instead of my normal cold water dry suit/heavy undergarment. I used the same steel backplate (without the weight plates) and a wing (it happened to be a smaller wing than normal but only because I have it, otherwise I would have used my bigger wing -- 26 lb vs. 32 lb lift). I used my same fins, same guages, mask, etc.

Diving in warm water is just cheating!

 

[freewillie]

I love the "I won't pay $25 to check a bag" comments given that you are probably spending way over $1000 for the trip anyway - but I digress.

Actually, it's because the baggage fee is waived when you use the appropriate airline credit card and the miles. You also have preferred boarding priveliges so we can board early. I would generally pay the $25 fee if necessary but in that case I would definitely limit the bags to 4 or less. I'd also have to convince the wife the cost is worth taking our own gear.

We are actually vacationing with another family and the mother and daughter are also certified so we plan on doing several dives in Maui, and at least one daytime dive in Kona. The manta ray night dive is a must and I'm planning on lugging our dive lights around with us just for that dive. Haven't told the wife yet that the lights are going too.

 

[Scubanoobi]

I have a travel BC, fins and suit, everything else I use both locally and when I travel. I carry my reg, mask, light, compass on my carry on, so not too worried about weight there. My fins, BCD, bag and suit in my checked baggage and it weighs under 10 lbs. I'm concerned about weight since I also travel with a 3 year old (and wife) and we cram his stuff in our suitcases.

 

[diverrex]

Coming up in August I will be travelling to Maui/Kona for the family vacation. I currently dive a Zeagle Stiletto BC. The intent was for a BC light enough for travel yet still has enough lift for cold water diving with 7 mm wetsuit. My fins are Atomic splits (not starting blade v spit discussion) and are a little heavy. Still using rental reg mainly because my LDS uses Atomic Z's as their rental reg and have not had the inclination spend a big wad $$ just yet.

I've been noticing a number of posters responding that they have separate gear for both travel and local diving. At what point did you decide to go out and buy a brand new BC for example to travel on vacation? I'm sticking with my current gear and not changing my BC or fins. I will get an inexpensive 3 mm wetsuit since I plan on doing fair number dives with my daughter and it is cheaper and more hygienic go have my own. I might also decide to splurge on a reg before next vacation once the taxes are paid .

Just curious at what point does the decision come in "I need a new 'x' to go on vacation?

To answer your specific question about at what point does one decide to get new gear for a dive trip I think for many of us it's when we realize that the gear we use locally is acceptable for the dive trip but maybe not exactly what we want for that location and considering the total cost of the trip, the cost of the extra gear is not really that big of a deal. For instance I'm thinking about getting a new Halcyon travel BP/W at around $550. I don't need one as I have my Halcyon Eclipse and a Seaquest Balance BC, either of which work just fine. But if I do one to two dive trips a year with my wife at $3,000 - $5,000 each trip, it's just not that big of deal to spend another $550 to get me the gear I want. Luckily though my wife is happy in whatever gear she has and never sees the need for anything different for her.

 

[fjpatrum]

Actually, it's because the baggage fee is waived when you use the appropriate airline credit card and the miles. You also have preferred boarding priveliges so we can board early. I would generally pay the $25 fee if necessary but in that case I would definitely limit the bags to 4 or less. I'd also have to convince the wife the cost is worth taking our own gear.

We are actually vacationing with another family and the mother and daughter are also certified so we plan on doing several dives in Maui, and at least one daytime dive in Kona. The manta ray night dive is a must and I'm planning on lugging our dive lights around with us just for that dive. Haven't told the wife yet that the lights are going too.

You can bring your own lights for the manta dive, but I wouldn't bother. They supply massive lights that they stick in a milk crate and point skyward and then every diver also gets an individual light. I think we had about 40 divers from 3 boats the night we did it... no shortage of light there.

 

[dwhthediver]

First, let me say that I have done the night manta dive twice and both times... awesome! As an strict or, I do have multiple sets of gear, pool, o/w training, tech, sidemount, and warm water travel. My advice, if you buy a regulator, I would suggest a cold water regulator. A cold water reg will be fine in warm water, but a warm water reg may freeflow in cold water.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Just curious at what point does the decision come in "I need a new 'x' to go on vacation?

@freewillie: People use the term "need" differently, particularly when it comes to buying scuba gear.

I view "need" and "want" as two ends of a spectrum. Appropriate exposure protection is closer to the "need" end. Lightweight "travel-friendly" regs are decidedly on the "want" end. Most other gear falls in the middle somewhere. Where one is traveling and whether there are weight restrictions for the flight to get there should also be considered. Some divers carry a ton of delicate camera gear (camera, backup body, lenses, ports, housing, strobes, arms/tray, etc.). That can complicate packing logistics (# checked luggage pieces, overweight charges, what goes in carry-on vs. checked).

For my first warm water dive vacation, I bought a 3mm full-length wetsuit. It just made sense to do that since I wasn't interested in bringing along either my 7mm wetsuit (too warm) or a drysuit (neck-chafing, possibility of leaks, etc.). I took along my lighter weight fins (Tusa X-pert Zooms) -- the first set of fins I purchased for OW certification. I didn't feel like hauling around my heavy Turtlefins which were sized for my drysuit [-]clown[/-] rockboots anyway. The rest of my cold water gear (reg, BC, hood) worked fine in warm water.

Prior to warm water vacation #2, I had moved from a jacket BC to a BP/W (steel BP + Eclipse 30 wing). I wanted to drop a couple of extra dry-carry pounds, so I purchased an AL BP. It worked fine with my 30 lb. lift wing.

Before warm water vacation #3, I bought another pair of fins that were more travel-friendly. The APS Mantaray fins aren't super-fast or powerful, but they are short, lightweight, fit both my wetsuit and drysuit boots...and I can do all of my regular kicks in them (frog, flutter, modified frog, modified flutter, back, helicopter turns, etc.). Very happy with them so far.

I haven't purchased anything else before subsequent warm water vacations. I just haven't felt the need to.

In your case, it would make sense to get a 3mm, 4/3mm, or 5mm wetsuit before your Hawaii vacation. Depending on how many dives you do, it might be more cost effective to purchase your own reg set. If you like the Atomic Z regs that your LDS rents out, perhaps you can talk them into purchasing a "used" rental setup from them. It's common for dive shops to sell off their rental reg fleet every year or two. Atomic regs are pretty pricey when new.