Things I've learned along the way

[Kimela]

I am 15 dives away from 500! And no, nobody wants to see my birthday suit so I will not be diving naked!!! I wanted to share some things I've learned along the way, in case they help anyone else. This is all based on my own experience and my own opinions - so take it for what it's worth and what it is costing you. PLEASE add what you have learned as well.

• Wear the same bathing suit, rash guards and dive socks every day and I guarantee, nobody will know. I love the women I meet on dive boats – and I don’t remember what they were wearing.
• If the water and/or air is cold, it’s ok to have a second set of the above so they’re dry the next dive.
• Bring a 2nd set of socks on the boat in case you lose a sock or someone else forgets theirs.
• If you dive an air integrated computer you can take the transmitter off your regulator and plug it for travel. In fact, if you really wanted to, you could take off all the hoses from your first stage and plug all those holes if it will make it all pack more compactly. Just make sure you also pack the right tool to reassemble it on location.
• If you dive a Zeagle Zena, take off that front panel and pack your BC with the INSIDE facing the bottom of your suitcase. Now the cam bands will be facing up and become a protective cage for other things, and you save space. Put the panels wherever they’ll fit.
• Figure out how many evenings you will need clothes for and bring that many changes of clothes plus one or two. If you think you can get two days out of a black skirt, or something else, go for it. One black skirt worn on Monday, and again on Thursday with a different cami and wrap, will save you space. My experience is that after doing two morning dives I usually get lunch and nap and then it's dinner time. Not a lot of time to need a second set of clothes in the afternoon. But if you're planning on afternoon excursions forget what I just wrote.
• Use your wrap from the plane as a pareo at the pool/beach. No need to have two – but if you’re going to have more than one of anything, make it a wrap. It will help change up outfits and keep you warm in over-air conditioned stores and restaurants.
• If the only time you wear waterproof mascara is when diving, just keep that in your dive kit – and waterproof whatever other makeup you use on a dive trip. (I have an entire kit of makeup that stays in my dive suitcase).
• I’ve had 7 Mohs surgeries to remove basal and squamous skin cancers – 3 of those were on my face and two were front and center on my chest, so when I'm on the boat I wear a hooded top that also has a built in gaitor. Yes, I look like a bandit, but it works. The one I wear is made by Baleaf and is $25 on amazon. It’s UPF50, and where it doesn’t cover me I have my sunglasses and baseball hat. I have the hoodie in light green for hotter months and dark gray for cooler months.
• We have tried every cool defog we've been able to get our hands on (right @Janie88 ?), and we have finally settled on water mixed with a little bit of baby shampoo in a spray bottle. I also use a toothbrush to get all the oils from my fingers and sunscreen off the skirt of the mask. Works better than anything else has ... so far!
• If you have bad vision, consider a prescription mask. I've used one for years but recently got it updated with my new script. I used a place called SeeTheSeaRx and am VERY happy with the script. They give you the option to get the bifocal part a little bigger than standard, and with the macro pics I like to take it's great. We just did a trip hunting for meg teeth in Venice Beach and they worked fantastic. Btw, I tried the stick-on readers and they came off in the water - actually, one came off and the other stayed on. Not good.
• When I got my new script I also got a new mask. The new mask doesn't leak nearly as much as the other one did, and I'm wondering if the other one was just past its prime? If yours is leaking, maybe go to a dive shop and see if something else fits better or makes a better seal?
• We always pack 2 portable clotheslines to dry clothes overnight - and turn on the fans, if there are any, to accelerate the process. We have taken pictures down from the walls to hook the lines to the screws, attached them to railings - whatever it takes. These stretchy lines work great!
• When I'm diving with a 3mil or more I wear a sports bra and exercise shorts underneath. The reason is that between dives I want to get as dry and warm as I can, and if I'm wearing rash guards they hold water and keep me colder. My sports bra covers a lot and holds the girls in place so my modesty is protected. Let me know what fun ideas you have for this issue. Also, if there's a marine head it's a lot easier to use if wearing two pieces than one.
• I've started diving with a hood to keep my hair out of my dive mask. Once my hair is slicked back and I pull on the hood there are never any problems. I use the Lavacore hood, sold for $30 at scuba.com - what used to be leisurepro.
• If you're doing shore dives bring a mini-tank o-ring kit attached to your BC ($13). There won't be any extra o-rings like on a boat - or that cool hook gadget to get out the disintegrated o-ring.
• Double check your dive computer's battery the night before you dive - every day you're diving - just in case. And make sure your dive computers buttons are working properly because you RINSED them well with warm, fresh water. There's a story here. I have the Peregrine, which is known for being a bit finicky in salt water if you don't rinse it. I didn't rinse it properly at the end of a dive trip and then, a few months later when I was on the dive boat I couldn't get it to turn on. Oh no! Was it the battery? I borrowed my buddies backup dive computer. When I got back to the hotel I put it in water to see if the water would activate it. Yes - full battery. But those buttons were stuck from the sticky salt water. So now I rinse in warm water -pushing the buttons several times - every day I dive.
• If you have ANY predisposition toward sea sickness, take your dramamine the night before and the morning of each dive. Put on your patch the night before. If you wait too long you're toast. I've never actually gotten seasick - I gagged once on a rough ride when I decided I wanted to go to the head, where it was super hot and smelled of diesel. But ever since then, just in case that was the beginning of me actually being sea sick, I've taken dramamine the night before and the morning of dives that had the potential to be rough ride out.

Ok ladies - and gents, because experience tells me you're there too, and have lots to share as well - what would you add?

 

[Marie13]

I dive cold(er) water almost exclusively and just laughed as hardly any of your post applies. I have short hair, don’t know anyone who wears makeup while diving, and worry more about if I’m going to have She-P leaks.

It was a good post, just don’t relate.

The Stream2Sea defog is fab. Used it my entire recent trip to MX for full cave class and didn’t have any fogging issues.

 

[Kimela]

I dive cold(er) water almost exclusively and just laughed as hardly any of your post applies. I have short hair, don’t know anyone who wears makeup while diving, and worry more about if I’m going to have She-P leaks.

It was a good post, just don’t relate.

The Stream2Sea defog is fab. Used it my entire recent trip to MX for full cave class and didn’t have any fogging issues.

Hadn’t thought about it Marie, but all my diving has been warm water - completely different experience! I got the Stream2Sea defog and gave it away because I didn’t like it - “different strokes”.

 

[kaylee_ann]

Oh my lord, I remember the first time I wore a hood. It was heaven- my hair finally wasn’t super tangled after the dive! Or in my mask.
I do the opposite when packing- bring as little as possible. Just easier to carry the bags plus dive gear that way, lol.

 

[txdamselfish]

great advice @Kimela Thank you. I love SheFit Bras as bathing suits tops, it’s not a quick dry material, but boobs stay put during all the shimmies & wiggles to don wetsuits & gear.

 

[Johnoly]

(I have an entire kit of makeup that stays in my dive suitcase).

With boogers in their noses and hair like a spider web, hands down the prettiest women on the dive boats just always have a HUGE smile and that's the only thing guys admire on the boat. Congrats on upcoming 500 !!

 

[Kimela]

great advice @Kimela Thank you. I love SheFit Bras as bathing suits tops, it’s not a quick dry material, but boobs stay put during all the shimmies & wiggles to don wetsuits & gear.

I really like the look of those front-closure bras! And you can adjust them in the back as well? That's revolutionary. Thanks! I got a couple of the 'Energy Bra High Support' bras by lululemon. I like them, but they close in the back so I either have to do some acrobatics or get help from Roger! They have a fun criss-cross in the back, and the front is high enough to show zero cleavage). I got oddball colors to pay less money (forest green and lime green like the one shown). I also paid full boat for a black one. (That's not me in the picture, nor does my back look anything like that, nor do I have any cool tattoos)

Definitely looking at SheFit now ...

​

 

[drrich2]

Wear the same bathing suit, rash guards and dive socks every day and I guarantee, nobody will know. I love the women I meet on dive boats – and I don’t remember what they were wearing.

I had a laugh at this. Even before I got married years ago, and we had our daughter, I'd been fascinated with the various little ways males and females see the world differently. Somehow I've gotten the impression some women get a bit mortified at the idea someone might notice they've worn the same clothes more than once!

What I learned in Bonaire was, whatever I wear diving, take it in the shower with me and shower over it, so soap and hot water helps rinse out the dead microbes. Otherwise the clothes get funky after a few days.

Same planet, different worlds. It's a good thing I'm a guy...I would've made a terrible woman.

 

[scubadada]

I take 3 bathing suits to Bonaire, I could get away with 2 but this way I always have a dry one. We usually do two dives in the morning, return to the condo for lunch, and then do 1 or 2 dives in the afternoon. My wife takes more than 3 bathing suits, I think she just likes using them all. Nobody knows what you are wearing under your wetsuit. Getting the pee out between dives is the key

 

[Jeff_O]

I had a laugh at this. Even before I got married years ago, and we had our daughter, I'd been fascinated with the various little ways males and females see the world differently. Somehow I've gotten the impression some women get a bit mortified at the idea someone might notice they've worn the same clothes more than once!

What I learned in Bonaire was, whatever I wear diving, take it in the shower with me and shower over it, so soap and hot water helps rinse out the dead microbes. Otherwise the clothes get funky after a few days.

Same planet, different worlds. It's a good thing I'm a guy...I would've made a terrible woman.

The hoodie with gator 50spf I checked and they have men's and kid size also. I have a Sun hat, but this might be also useful. For all my wet suit an dry suit I used the shampoo and odor eliminator stuff that's specifically made for them. Interesting mention of microbes. The Revex odor eliminator has to be mixed only with cold water. Drip dry too. Heat kills the good microbes. I know they say sun harms the neoprene, but my windsurfing booties I put outside in sun and wind to air after a day drying indoors. That really gets them to pass the sniff test. The Peet Dryer I use on the legs and attached boots of my CF200. I always keep cycling on an off the dryer. It is only like 40 watts, but I am careful and there is no thermostat. Actually I could use a thermostat I have for beer brewing when not using, with the Peet dryer. I have not totally washed inside of the drysuit. It is a new replacement as 20+ years the old one material kept leaking. I have space to put drysuit lying down unfolded for storage. I can't feel it is good to hand the suit. I only have it over a bath towel padded shower bar for couple days drying. I might replace more often these, but feet have to be ready when the diving is cancelled and windsurfing is a go.