GBR essentials?

[wsmc831]

Headed to Aus on wednesday, and plan on doing a 4 day liveaboard while we're there, hopefully the diversity. I was planning on just taking my reg, but the wife thinks we should also bring our 3 mil suits. Personally, if the water is warmer than 70 I much prefer not to have a suit, was wondering if there are any other reasons we might want to bring em? Would love to bring all the gear, but impractical for a 4 day trip while we're down there for 3 weeks...

anything else you experienced people would suggest bringing?

 

[HamsterHuey]

My wife and I dove in mid-November. All the boat operators give you 5mm suits. I dove in a rash guard and swimming shorts, and was hot in the 85 degree water. If it's cold, they'll give you a suit. They'll have them. If you have the room to pack suits, I would pack my fins and mask before anything else. Order of packing, given all the room I could want, would be fins and mask, then BC, then reg, then suit if it were winter.

Hope this helps.

 

[wsmc831]

85?? yikes, I'll need to cool off between dives ;-) I'll tell the wife, but she's not much into packing the gear around all the time for just a couple days, though I like the idea of mask, it's small..I'm sure I can throw it in. We have really good fins, but I suppose I can deal with rentals for a few days.

Thanks for the info!

 

[HamsterHuey]

85?? yikes, I'll need to cool off between dives ;-) I'll tell the wife, but she's not much into packing the gear around all the time for just a couple days, though I like the idea of mask, it's small..I'm sure I can throw it in. We have really good fins, but I suppose I can deal with rentals for a few days.

Thanks for the info!

A word of advice on the fins. My wife and I wear strap fins with felt sole booties when we dive here in Okinawa (coral, urchins and...bears...oh my!). Anyway, that's what we were used to. Most of the dive operators we dove with use full-foot fins. Now, I'm not sure what everyone's stance on full-foot vs. strap fins is, but we wear straps because (a) you have to wear booties, and (b) I like being about to customize the fit.

Anyway.

We had to wear full-foot fins, and you get an okay fit, but not a perfect one. My wife and I got some pretty juicy blisters after the first dive trip. So, lesson learned, we bought some .5 mm bootie socks. They pack tight, give you a slightly better fit, and prevent blisters. If you're not going to pack your own booties, I'd invest in some of these. I would DEFINITELY take my own mask/snorkel. We got some pretty sketchy "Hey, this looks like PVC pipe and duct tape" sorta gear, and longed for our own stuff.

Or, buy your own boat, hire a crew, and sail down yourself. Enjoy your trip. We did, whether we were underwater or above it!

 

[caymaniac]

Headed to Aus on wednesday, and plan on doing a 4 day liveaboard while we're there, hopefully the diversity. I was planning on just taking my reg, but the wife thinks we should also bring our 3 mil suits. Personally, if the water is warmer than 70 I much prefer not to have a suit, was wondering if there are any other reasons we might want to bring em? Would love to bring all the gear, but impractical for a 4 day trip while we're down there for 3 weeks...

anything else you experienced people would suggest bringing?

My wife and I were on Diversity in July (Aussie winter), it was 85 every day and the water was 81 at North Horn, and 77 at Steve's Bommie. We wore 3mm body suit while diving, the night dives seemed a bit cooler because there was no sun and it was the forth dive of the day, even 80 degree water will eventaully suck the heat out of you. We brought all our gear, after diving in Aus. we went to Hawaii for ten days and dove on both Hawaii (the Big Island) and Maui. The Coral Sea was excellent compared to Hawaii's water, the fish life, the coral, the diversity was so good in Aus. Say Hi to Sara the chef and captain Mark, hope you have a hoot!

Dive Safe,
Caymaniac

 

[wsmc831]

Thanks people! I've gotten so used to strap type fins and my booties I just didn't think about it.

I'll see if I can squeeze in a couple pairs of fins and booties while the wife isn't looking ;-)

LESS THAN 24 HOURS, WOOHOO!

 

[h3o]

I would leave all the gear at home… maybe just bring your own mask for personal comfort.

I went on a 4 day, and was in OZ for about 3 weeks total. I left my BC and reg at home and brought:

1. Olympus with Ikelite housing (no strobes)
2. Fins
3. Booties
4. Mask/Snorkel
5. Wrist Computer
6. 4C flashlight
7. 2mm shorty

It was way too much gear to bring, and it was a hassle toting it all for the rest of the trip. Next time, I'm just bringing my mask, housing, and maybe my 2mm shorty cause it's pretty small. Everything else you can rent for fairly cheap there (rent from a dive shop and not from the boat if you're on a budget).