How practical is it to travel with a pony?

[DPJ]

Getting stuck with instabuddies, has made me seriously consider a pony bottle. Based on the regulations and the fact most US airlines do not weigh carry ones, I would pack it in a roll aboard and carry it with a copy of the TSA regulations through the security checkpoints.

 

[IceBergSlim]

If you are within recreational limits, you can easily do a CESA from 130 feet in the unlikely event you get to that point.

I'm not sure I would call a 130fsw CESA easy.

 

[greg98072]

I went on a western Caribbean cruise within the last month. There where approximately ten divers on the dive boat. During the pre-dive brief, one of the divers was not paying attention and was scolded by the dive master for not listening. His reply was he did not have any gas in his tank. When the dive master turned his gauge over and showed him the pressure gauge instead of the depth gauge that he had been reading he was satisfied. Another diver promptly sank to the bottom upon entering the water and had to be helped by another after choking and not finding his reg. She helped him with the reg and continued the dive. His excuse was he is used to diving with an Air2 instead of octopus. Still another diver was sitting and walking on coral most of the dive. He should of had shoes on instead of fins! My instabuddy was great and we ended the dive within 100 psi of each other. I had my 19 cu ft pony slung with a necklace reg. Also used my own primary reg and computer. I took two breaths from the pony before the dive to make sure it was working and when our two dives where over I drained it when we got back to the shop, removed the valve and installed the plastic plug with desiccant.

It was no problem at the airport. I had the pony in my checked bag and the valve, regs, and computer in my carry on. When we got to the shop I asked for a wrench and within five minutes had a warm tank in my hand that read 3000psi (cost 0 dollars). I had no worries about tank corrosion plugging up my first stage because I checked the tank before installing the valve.

I dive in the Seattle area always with instabuddies and would dive with any one of them again. It surprised me the lack of skill of some of the divers on the cruise. I will be bringing my pony bottle on all future trips. A CESA is very easy but my bottle is weightless in the water, creates minimal drag and I believe emergencies should be handled underwater if possible. Performing a CESA after spending 40 minutes at 70ft has a higher risk of DCS than coming up slowly using the pony and performing a safety stop.

Seeing other divers with or without ponies does not influence my opinion about them being good or bad buddies in any way. JMHO

 

[SkullDeformity]

The LDS in Hilo will charge you for a visual inspection if you bring in an empty tank before they fill it. I'd be worried about getting shafted in that way.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

The LDS in Hilo will charge you for a visual inspection if you bring in an empty tank before they fill it. I'd be worried about getting shafted in that way.

And how much is a VI? $15-$20 including a fill? Seems worth it to me for the peace of mind of having some redundancy.

 

[SkullDeformity]

All that happens in his visual inspection is looking inside with a flashlight and banging it on the ground to see if there are any debris in there.....If I have personally taken the valve off, capped it, etc, I would not feel good about paying for the VIP and then even more for the air fill.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

All that happens in his visual inspection is looking inside with a flashlight and banging it on the ground to see if there are any debris in there.....If I have personally taken the valve off, capped it, etc, I would not feel good about paying for the VIP and then even more for the air fill.

Definitely all good points. I guess I was saying that while I also wouldn't be happy either, as long as they were only charging me $5-$10 extra, I'd let it go. Now I'd probably take it out of the tip for the charter.

 

[jim T.]

Has anyone who's done repeated Cruise Ship travel, had the boarding inspection crew question or refuse to have you board/reboard with a full pony bottle?

I can maybe bring a full one on an Amtrak train. If not, I can get it filled at the lst
"shore excursion" dive operator's shop and then keep it full for subsequent stops at other destinations until the end of my trip? The only problem so far has been that sometimes the operators pick you up right at your ship in their boat (with no compressor.) Been trying to figure out a way to manage all of this as we aren't currently flying and do train and ship travel instead.

Anyone? Thanks.

 

[tonka97]

In 2002, I took my al30 pony to Bonaire to dive solo for two weeks, since my wife only snorkels.

I managed to keep the checked bag just under 50 lbs by putting some of the heavy items in my carry-on. The carry-on had the tank valve, two regulators, Ikelite camera housing, etc.

My checked bag had enough room for the pony, Highland band, wetsuit, bcd, mask, fins and clothes, etc.

Not being a "slave to fashion" definitely helped....

Dave C

I had the same experience. No problem at all. Glad I took it!

 

[markfm]

I've done four vacations the last 2 years, Keys, Utila, Roatan, Curacao -- zero problems traveling with a pony. Checked luggage, valve removed and a plastic bag put over the end, in my main dive travel bag (a rolling Aeris) with BC, fins, lights. The only thing that the destinations asked is that I have a current VIS on it.

Note the 50 lb limit is per bag -- never had a problem keeping under 50 lb in my gear bag, and I check a second small suitcase with some clothes if I expect to do something other than dive.

(You might want to check on baggage limits -- all 4 trips I went on did allow two checked bags, and that limit was per bag.)

Sure, it's gotten inspected, but not a problem to carry -- TSA has left an inspection note in the bag, and on the way back from Honduras I was called to open the bag so they could see it.

As always, things can change, but one of the trips was last August, during a heightened inspection period, not an issue.

As to deep vs. shallow, all of the trips involved at least some deep, times when I certainly preferred to have my own redundant gas. Cheap insurance, in my opinion.

Getting charged on site for a VIS could be a drag -- I sent the local operators a message in advance in all cases, they were good about it (since I was their guest, they knew it had to have been emptied for the flight, entirely different from a random walk-in with a 0 PSI tank.)