FWIW.....here are my suggestions. I cave dive and ow dive....
Airline travel. Get a good sturdy rolling duffle. LLBean has a great one.....called the adventure duffle. That sucker holds everything and is guaranteed for life and comes in a rainbow of colors....so it's easy to see at baggage claim. So let the gorilla baggage handlers have at it. Whatever you do, don't get a bag from the dive shop that says some scuba name on the side....no need to advertise you are carrying scuba gear. I've known several people who's bags have disappeared because they said Mares or US Divers on the side. Same with those huge Pelican boxes with a padlock. (Can you say, "HEY, I've got something delicate and expensive inside me.....Steal me!")
Diveboats. Get a mesh duffle bag that zips from end to end. Compresses when empty and is easy to stow. Plus it doesn't get sopping wet like a regular bag does should you be on a small boat. Definitely get a drybag big enough to hold towel, dry clothes, small money, snackie stuff...etc. to carry within your mesh bag. Mine has a shoulder strap and I just drape my towel over the bag and heft it up on my shoulder.....no wet hip that way.
Local diving from car. Have you ever been on a dive trip in your personal vehicle and gotten in your car the next day to hit the divesite again and about died from that warm neoprene funk in your car, SUB (sport utility box) or van?? EWWWW!!! You never never want your nose in the same compartment with your wet gear. ICK! If you've got a pickup truck (like I do now) you toss your stuff in the container of your choice in the bed and be done with it.....BUT, if you're stuck with your nose in the same place as your gear.....invest in a tub of whatever brand that fits best in the space you have. PUT the lid on and no ODE DE FUNK in the same area as your nose. Plus it also keeps the carpet of your vehicle from getting musty from being wet all the time.
Lastly.....I tried this on my trip to Akumal a few weeks ago and it worked pretty nifty! I've got hip issues and it's painful for me to sleep on a mattress that's too hard. I got one of those egg crate type foam mattresses from WalMart and had a friend cut it smaller for me.....around my torso while I was laying on it. Got a couple three pads out of it for future use when the first gets chewed up. Anyway.....I took the pad, placed my HID and backup lights in it and rolled it up nice and compact.....all foam padded. I then placed it in my adventure duffle from LLBean that has a hard bottom and packed the rest of my soft gear around it. Fins on the outside inside edges to protect the light. Can you say cool??? My lights arrived unscathed and I had a nice foam pad for the hard bed I was subjected to. Did the same thing for the return home and joila'! Double duty packing!
After you've been at this sport for a while and tried this and that, you'll find what works best for you.
Lori
Airline travel. Get a good sturdy rolling duffle. LLBean has a great one.....called the adventure duffle. That sucker holds everything and is guaranteed for life and comes in a rainbow of colors....so it's easy to see at baggage claim. So let the gorilla baggage handlers have at it. Whatever you do, don't get a bag from the dive shop that says some scuba name on the side....no need to advertise you are carrying scuba gear. I've known several people who's bags have disappeared because they said Mares or US Divers on the side. Same with those huge Pelican boxes with a padlock. (Can you say, "HEY, I've got something delicate and expensive inside me.....Steal me!")
Diveboats. Get a mesh duffle bag that zips from end to end. Compresses when empty and is easy to stow. Plus it doesn't get sopping wet like a regular bag does should you be on a small boat. Definitely get a drybag big enough to hold towel, dry clothes, small money, snackie stuff...etc. to carry within your mesh bag. Mine has a shoulder strap and I just drape my towel over the bag and heft it up on my shoulder.....no wet hip that way.
Local diving from car. Have you ever been on a dive trip in your personal vehicle and gotten in your car the next day to hit the divesite again and about died from that warm neoprene funk in your car, SUB (sport utility box) or van?? EWWWW!!! You never never want your nose in the same compartment with your wet gear. ICK! If you've got a pickup truck (like I do now) you toss your stuff in the container of your choice in the bed and be done with it.....BUT, if you're stuck with your nose in the same place as your gear.....invest in a tub of whatever brand that fits best in the space you have. PUT the lid on and no ODE DE FUNK in the same area as your nose. Plus it also keeps the carpet of your vehicle from getting musty from being wet all the time.
Lastly.....I tried this on my trip to Akumal a few weeks ago and it worked pretty nifty! I've got hip issues and it's painful for me to sleep on a mattress that's too hard. I got one of those egg crate type foam mattresses from WalMart and had a friend cut it smaller for me.....around my torso while I was laying on it. Got a couple three pads out of it for future use when the first gets chewed up. Anyway.....I took the pad, placed my HID and backup lights in it and rolled it up nice and compact.....all foam padded. I then placed it in my adventure duffle from LLBean that has a hard bottom and packed the rest of my soft gear around it. Fins on the outside inside edges to protect the light. Can you say cool??? My lights arrived unscathed and I had a nice foam pad for the hard bed I was subjected to. Did the same thing for the return home and joila'! Double duty packing!
After you've been at this sport for a while and tried this and that, you'll find what works best for you.
Lori
