Need Help with ideas on how to pack gear for travel

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junior2725

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Location
Sarasta,FL
# of dives
100 - 199
I need some help with some ideas on how to pack my camera gear for a trip to Cozumel. I believe that I would like to take all of my camera gear a carry on. That would leave me with the ability to still check 2 bags - one for clothes and one for my actual dive gear. I currently have a Tamarac backpack (I believe the Adventure 74-Model 5374).
Tamarac.jpg


Almost all of my topside gear fits in this bag. I was thinking about getting another bag most likely with wheels to put the rest of my gear and then carrying them both on the plane with me. This second bag would also need to fit my 17" macbook pro. I figure if I just stuff my purse somewhere then I should be good as far as the airlines are concerned. Does this seem like a good plan? Does anyone have any other ideas? Does anyone know of a good bag to purchase? Below is a list of my current gear.
Canon EOS 20D
18-55mm lens
75-300mm lens
50mm macro lens
100mm macro lens
10-22mm lens
580ex speedlight
Ikelite housing for camera
Two DS-125 substrobes
8" dome port
port body for 10-22mm lens
flat port w/focus for 100mm macro lens
Two ikelite arms SA-100
Chargers for both stobes and camera
Other misc filters/CF Cards

Thanks for any suggestions or ideas.

Michelle
 
I always seem to forget about something when writing a post. Anyway, should I not pack my reg setup in the checked lugguge? I was going to buy the scubapro bag - pic below and put that kind of stuff the hardside part of the bag. Is this not a good idea? I also will be purchasing the galileo sol before the trip and will need to fit that into my carry on luggage. Not willing for that to possibly get lost.

Scubaprobag.jpg


Michelle
 
Who are you flying

and is it non-stop?

Sounds like a good plan if you don't mind carrying all that. (is it just you and no sherpa/mate?)

these are the factors I consider:

theft risk at layovers (San Juan, for instance)

Insured?

risk of ME losing items (long middle of the night layovers, desire to sleep, risk of forgetting a bag somewhere) Micronesia and many destinations from Hawaii involve comatose stumbling around and I have pretty much decided that I would be more likely to lose something, leave it in the plane, than have someone steal my baggage. Something like a photo-course, carry it.

Airline weight requirements (small planes might have limits on carry-on)

travel partners I can exploit (hey, they get pictures!)

Scubapro bags are overpriced, IMO. better to pack under the radar in a generic bag...there are many roller styles out there. Use clothes to pad gear. Put your mask in a booty, etc. Hard cases are too heavy if I want to take long list of my non essential "essentials".

Stay flexible! redistributing items last minute to meet the requirements is very useful, I find. I used to think a system would serve me, now I think the opposite. Often the hotel will be able to bring a scale to your room, we are at the limit pretty often coming home. 49.999 is nice to know.

I always take one large inexpensive hockey style sports bag for overflow--even if we just put dirty clothes in it, it frees up some space.

I have two camera back packs, a big one and a small one for once I am there and in case we want to hike or ride a bike, they are wonderful and can double as a purse.

If asked to gate check something last minute just tell them it is 20 thousand dollars worth of camera gear and they will let you slide--they won't want the liabilty.

basically, I think each trip through with these things in mind and it always seems to vary.
 
I will be flying out of Tampa and into either cancun or cozumel. So far my searches have yielded cancun as a lot cheaper. I haven't purchased my airline tickets yet - my trip is in January. Most of the flights either go through Dallas or Miami. If miami is the case I may just drive down there for my flight. Anyway the most common airlines seem to be American, US Air, or Continental. My boyfriend may come but probably not for the whole time, so it seems I will be on my own as far as getting my gear there. I liked the scubapro bag because the front zips off and can be a backpack. Also, smaller section zips off for a fanny pack. This seemed like something I could take on the boat with me to hold my mask, fins, snorkel, etc together. Luckily my LDS will give me a discount on the bag. They are great. I'm sure it won't be any fun trying to carry on this stuff but it seems like my best option. I'm pretty good at packing to the maximum. When we went to Japan a couple of months ago, one of my checked bags weighed in at exactly 50lbs - the max. I hadn't even weighed it in advance. I also may be taking a trip to Indonesia next September. I'm not sure what the restrictions there are concerning luggage. I would like to come up with some kind of system that would work for that trip also. I don't currently have anything insured, but I was going to look into that before my trip. I have DAN and was thinking about getting their equipment insurance.

Michelle
 
I've traveled alone to Galapagos, Pt. Hardy, Bahamas 2x and have developed a plan that seems to always work. I get as much as I can with wheels. My dive bag does not advertise diving, has a pull out handle with wheels. I also have a medium suitcase with wheels and a strap to hold other things (like camera bag) so I don't have to carry it. I use a small backpack and a "standard" carryon. I don't carry on my reg. I pad it well in the dive bag.

Going to Pt. Hardy was my most chalenging trip - I needed so much more gear for cold diving. I still made it but people saw one pair of sweat pants for on the boat the whole time.:warning:

In all that traveling I have not had anything stolen. I know I'm battling the odds there. I have taken a flight in a smaller plane (Bahamas) and my caryon was checked at the plane. When that happened, I pulled my 17" laptop out of the now checked caryon and put it in the pocket of the seat in front of me on the plane. My checked caryon was given back to me at the plane after we landed. It didn't get sent to the carousel in the terminal like the other baggage.

Good for you - keep traveling. :)
 
I liked the scubapro bag because the front zips off and can be a backpack.

If you like it, buy it. At some point, your gear should just make you happy and if you enjoy using it, that is a big part of a gear purchase.

Staying flexible and developing a "feel" for weight will serve you well.

Check State Farm personal articles rider for gear insurance also, you have a lot of gear and the rate is lower. I found they had very few exclusions and asked no questions when my D-200 flooded.

I needed so much more gear for cold diving.
I just cannot imagine...

I know I'm battling the odds there.
me too, but it is all about the odds.
...I am battling bigger odds when I carry all those bags in and out of bathrooms restaurants, and overheads, that is what I finally realized.
 
How long are you going for? That's a lot of lenses etc to carry for a shortish trip and even on a longer trip to Cozumel, there are at least a couple that I'd dump out. Remember, you get to leave all this gear in your room when you're out for dinners, diving etc... Are you shooting extensively on land while you're there? What types of shots are you looking for?

I'd remove the blatant scuba tags from the bag if you go with it. You really don't want to scream "look at me, I have expensive gear inside" no matter what airport you fly through, though some are worse than others. And sometimes it doesn't matter what the bag looks like...

Like Catherine, flexibility is a great thing. And I also make sure I have a big bag to pack in and a small one to actually wander around with.

I often check a great deal of my camera gear and packing the gear in the bags, then surround with clothes etc works a treat.
 
The trip for cozumel is going to be for 10 nights. I will definately be taking topside pics also. I'm sure I can probabaly ditch my 50mm macro and possibly 18-55mm lens. I read on one of the airlines websites that they would not be responsible for scuba gear unless it was in a hard case suitcase. I guess maybe I should just purchase a regular hard suitcase and then some type of duffel to take on the boat with me. I could just throw the duffel in the new suitcase to get it there. I'm looking into getting insurance for my dive and camera gear as it totals about 14,000 and I definately couldn't afford to replace it myself. I planned on taking all my camera stuff as carry on mainly because I don't think I will have the room available in my checked bags as far as weight limit and I also don't want it delayed by the airlines and then not be able to take pics. My friend just recently went to portugal for 10 days and then came back to the states just to fly back out to Japan with us. Anyway, her bags were sent to somewhere else and the airline couldn't get them back to her until the day before she left to come back to the states. I can always rent my dive gear but I wouldn't be able to capture everything on film if I didn't have my camera. That's my thinking at least. So my thoughts were to carry on all of my camera gear along with dive computer and wireless transmitter. This is my line of thinking at least. I should be able to get a rolling carry on bag and be able to fit my computer and rest of my camera gear and hopefully a change of clothes. Everyone seems to recommend staying away from a bag that has any dive logos so I guess I will skip the scubapro bag.
 
It's a short flight so you don't need to worry about a change of clothes, extra books and all the other rubbish I seem to always have in my bag for long hauls. Can't see any reason not to carry on at least enough enough of your camera kit to get you diving for a day. I hate carryons so try to minimize as much as I can - I'd just take what I know I'd want and check the rest, but you have to fly in the way that suits you!

Haven't seen that about hard sided luggage to Cozumel. I dumped my hard sided stuff years ago and now that the weight restrictions are so tight, I wouldn't dream of going back to it. I always use soft sided luggage and those roller duffles.

For only ten days I'd think you could pack all your needed dive gear and clothes into a single bag, but since you get two might as well take them :wink: MIght make the weight thing easier, too.

Have a great time!
 
Stay flexible! redistributing items last minute to meet the requirements is very useful, I find. I used to think a system would serve me, now I think the opposite. Often the hotel will be able to bring a scale to your room, we are at the limit pretty often coming home. 49.999 is nice to know.

Because of the weight limitations, and the very real fact that my dive gear is always heavier going home (no way to get it 100% dry), I've purchased a portable digital luggage scale: Magellans

Regarding a couple other issues raised on this thread. Being alone, you might want to consider that if you fly into Cancun rather than Cozumel, you're going to have to drag all that luggage from the Cancun Airport to the ferry terminal, by bus or taxi, then on and off the ferry. It's definitely do-able alone (I have a similar bag to that Scubapro - Armor made one in that shape a few years back) by piggy-backing, but you're going to be schlepping a lot some distances. Consider that when you evaluate the relative costs of Cozumel Airport and Cancun Airport + ferry.

About that bag, if you like the design (and it works well for dive gear), just put bright duct tape over the logos. Not only does that help you identify it on the luggage carousel, but you've now neutralized the "I've got expensive dive gear in here - steal me" issue.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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