Kayak diving...

Not sure if this has been covered I tryed search and came up with a millions results on kayak diving. My question may seem stupid but How do you dive from a kayak? Where do you put all your gear? how do you get back in the Kayak? Maybe I'm thinking too much into it. Seems like a really small craft to carry all your stuff to dive and keep it close to you as your diving.

Sorry if this has been asked a million times but I coudln't find my answers in the search feature.

I have yet to do it, but bought the kayak that is great for it. I have tested carrying my gear in it while paddling.

I bought an Ocean Kayak ScramblerXL, it isn't shown on their website anymore, but is about 2' longer than the scrambler 11. I have enough room for my dive gear, myself and even some of a buddies dive gear.

The one dive I had planned to do off of it got called due to weather. I have a dive flag on it, and planned on tying it off with a reel to use it as a float.

Hey Racedude,
I dive from a kayak and it's easy and a lot of fun. The most important thing is to make sure everything is leashed or lashed down tight. I dive with an Ocean Kayak Prowler Trident 15' . It is what's known as a sit on top kayak. It has a tank well in the back. I put my BC and tank there. All of the rest of my gear like mask and fins is in my divebag leashed to the yak. I paddle out, put on mask and fins, inflate the BC and put it overboard. Then jump in and put it on. I have a line that I tie off to the kayak attached to a dive flag. I do my dive them take off the BC leash it to the side of the kayak. Putting one arm across the kayak and one hand on the close side I fin hard and pull myself up. Then it's just a matter of pulling up the tank and BC and lashing and leashing everything back up. There are a ton of websites with helpful info like Kayuba and kayakdiving.com with helpful info. If you have any more specific questions, shoot me a PM. Good luck!

Oh I forgot about this site! We have a Florida kayak divers place right here on Scubaboard! Florida Kayak Divers

noreastDIVER84:

I have yet to do it, but bought the kayak that is great for it. I have tested carrying my gear in it while paddling.

I bought an Ocean Kayak ScramblerXL, it isn't shown on their website anymore, but is about 2' longer than the scrambler 11. I have enough room for my dive gear, myself and even some of a buddies dive gear.

The one dive I had planned to do off of it got called due to weather. I have a dive flag on it, and planned on tying it off with a reel to use it as a float.

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I'm not sure about where you are, but in Florida if you attach the flag to the kayak it has to be a larger flag. I have one but haven't rigged it yet. I have my flag attached to a dive buoy I then pull the yak while I dive.

seems like it would be hard to fit all the gear in the kayak anybody have a picture of someone and there gear in the kayak? Can you dive with a buddy while kayaking?

racedude1984:

seems like it would be hard to fit all the gear in the kayak anybody have a picture of someone and there gear in the kayak? Can you dive with a buddy while kayaking?

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Click on my profile. I have one on my page. My kayak is rated to 450 lbs I think. It's a single I have plenty of room for me and my gear. I often visit the 3rd reef which is about a mile or so offshore. If you have friends with kayaks you can buddy dive. I don't think a tandem kayak could carry two divers and their gear.

I have a flag that is quite large, something like 2'x3', so I dont think they can give me a hard time. I have not gotten a chance to dive from it yet, but I know it is easy to get in and out of.

racedude1984:

seems like it would be hard to fit all the gear in the kayak anybody have a picture of someone and there gear in the kayak? Can you dive with a buddy while kayaking?

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You start off with eliminating some gear, that helps a ton. You can dive with any "buddy" that has their own kayak.

N

racedude1984:

How do you dive from a kayak?

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Speaking from how kayak diving is taught by NAUI at one shop in Alberta, the kayak is the means to get you to the dive site, not necessarily what you will dive off of. The kayaks depicted in this thread are suitable to that end.

Having done a "scuba bail out" in ACUC basic OW training, I can (and do practice) getting outfitted while floating in the water. In a kayak, put on your fins and facemask, fill your bc, dump it overboard, and hit the water. Getting your gear on will be a pain initially, but it can be done - float it tank-up and swim up under it. In this exercise integrated weights are far safer than a weight belt as the weight belt will have to be put on before you hit the water (without your bc), making you dangerously overweighted (in a cold water scenario) - you will have to be careful by hanging onto the kayak or make sure your drysuit is over-inflated. If there are any problems, dump your weight belt and buy another one later.

Post-script inspired by the "wit" of halemano: Putting on your weight belt first, in the kayak, is not necessarily a great idea. However, not having the benefit of diving Hawaii regularly, I am a cold water diver and find it very challenging to don 30 lbs of weight while floating in the water with all of my other gear on, wearing three-finger gloves or drygloves. I am sure that donning an 8 lb belt would be easy as pie.