Dive Bag Security

[agwatts]

I'm leaving in a few hours and want to know about securing my dive bag. I have a rolling dive bag that I will pack all of my gear into, with the exception of my reg/computer, etc..

Can I secure the bag openings with zip ties and check the bag?

Greg

 

[Trixxie]

you can but they will prolly cut them off at the airport....

I put all my gear into a rolling suitcase (except reg/computer) and everything was still there when I got to Roatan.

Ok when you get to RTB - you will have to have your bags x-rayed before you can leave the airport - which I thought was pretty strange.

have a great time

 

[agwatts]

Thanks for the info. mauigal.

Greg

 

[oly5050user]

Use tie wraps..Thats what I do ..Sometimes they cut them to inspect and at times they even replace the cut ones with new ones..I pack regulator and all in there and have had nothing miss yet.I carry on camera gear..

 

[mfalco]

They sell TSA approved padlocks for luggage. They have a TSA master key that can open them.

 

[CoyKoi]

Yes. I use zip ties all the time. Airport security only cuts them off if they open your bags to inspect them, which isn't all the time. Have fun and dive safe!

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Some people get the TSA locks cut off too, and those aren't always cheap locks.

Put a black ziptie on the bag. Inside, very visibly put an envelope labled "replacement zip tie--please use!" or something similar, and put several red/green/blue whatever colour other than black zip ties on there. That way you can tell immediately if they opened your bag, and I've had good luck wtih the people using one of my replacement zipties too when the bag is opened.

 

[Doc]

I have a rolling dive bag that I will pack all of my gear into, with the exception of my reg/computer, etc..

Regulators are not high on anybody's theft list... if that's what you were worried about. Poor resale value as compared with anything else anybody might steal. TSA is so tight nowadays that everybody is "more honest" than ever, and did you ever try to hide a regulator in your pocket at shift change?

Carry your camera and computer. The housing, regs and everything else..? Check it. Start looking at very experienced travelers- aint nobody carrying all that stuff.

Ok when you get to RTB - you will have to have your bags x-rayed before you can leave the airport - which I thought was pretty strange.

As with everything else in Roatan, truth is stranger than fiction. Those X-Ray machines are an "agricultural" thing- at least that's how they were paid for and the operators got funded. (They actually did argue over the electricity costs) Why? The Honduran government had gotten into a pishing contest with the US over Honduran meat and veggies being barred from import to the US. Honduras came up with the excuse that US meats and cheese were not safe, so they started this silliness.

The X-Raying of inbound baggag was, in theory, designed to put pressure on the wealthiest visitors from the US to Honduras so they would convey their displeasure to their US Representatives. It worked! The US portion of the ban got lifted but as with all things bureaucratic in Honduras- the machines stayed.

Why should they be any different?

Welcome to the land of the looking glass, second only to Russia.

Smile and observe. (The whole Honduran paperwork thing is harmless) Don't argue, it will do you no good and the poor sap you're arguing with will have to got get his manager, and his manager will have to call Tegucigalpa and... you get the idea?

 

[Trixxie]

TSA is so tight nowadays that everybody is "more honest" than ever, and did you ever try to hide a regulator in your pocket at shift change?

no.... but did you hear about the TSA workers who were busted recently for trafficking drugs? sheeez wonder what else they were letting through.