What equipment do you bring?

[Paulmal]

I bring everything but the weights and the tanks. Just pay the overages.
But if you are not down with that, I would bring regs, BC, mask, roll snorkel ( so you don't have to ware it on your mask), with me.
You can rent booties, wet suits, fins, lights, camera and strobes ( if you want to try photography), when you get there from most resort locations.
The overage charges will probably cost you less than the rental fees for a week or longer trip. I have seen people pay more to rent their gear than a mid- level package at most dive shops, but hey the resorts gotta stay open too.

 

[uncfnp]

Out of curiosity I just packed my BCD with SMB, mask, snorkel, wet suit, booties, reg and computer into my standard carry on bag and still have room to stuff a toothbrush! Weight exactly 22.5 lbs. I have never had my carry on weighed. Is this within limits if it ever is?

Lisa

 

[Bratface]

I have done plenty of dive travel but have limited experience traveling with my dive gear on the small planes that serve the island chains. I do fly often between islands and can tell you that just traveling with a small carry on is limiting. Just about everything except your electronics and wallet get packed in the hold. My buddy and I did island hop last year and took our dive bags and back packs only.

That said, I still would not hesitate to take my own gear, I am more comfortable and familiar with it and I know when it was serviced last and how it has been taken care of. I want to have my own safety gear with me too, and I have a custom mouthpiece on my regulator. No need to drag along weights and tank those are always available.

To save space, you can roll your regulator up inside of your BC, no fancy reg bag needed. Place your fins on the bottom or along the sides of the bag and pad your wetsuit around everything. A small dive light can fit down in your booties. Mask, computer and camera will fit in a backpack along with some or most of your clothes. You can roll the rest up and put them in ziplock bags and put in your dive bag. You really won't need a lot of clothes, so think of double duty for some things. You can sleep in tee shirts and a sarong makes a shawl or can even be turned into a skirt for the ladies. Board shorts can double as regular shorts.

Take a bottle of baby shampoo. You can wash your hair, yourself, your clothes and your gear with it. You can even use it to defog your mask. If traveling with a buddy or your loved one, you can share a lot of the toiletries and save space.

 

[nimoh]

I take pretty much everything. I don't take tanks, but I will bring a sta weight if diving single AL80s, because I like how I trim out with it, rather than using a weight belt.

I try to plan my trips so that I meet at least the minimum for elite status with my airline, and end up getting 2 checked bags free for domestic trips, 3 for international. Although this may end up being more expensive than baggage fees, the trips are all fun!

 

[RichmondKYdiver]

On most TSA points they will ask you to pull out your regs...don't know what it is they see there but got tagged 100% of the time this year. As for buying and bringing your own gear...a big yes!! It's worth diving with your own equipment.

 

[uncfnp]

Just shows the variation in check points. I have had my camera pulled for inspection but never my reg.

 

[Kryssa]

We bring everything but tanks and weight. We've started checking all the dive gear except masks, cameras, and computers. Then we pack clothes in the carry-on. It comes out to 1 checked back, 1 carry on, and 1 backpack each.