How much of your gear do you carry on?

[Blackwood]

I checked everything excepting my reg set. My intent was to carry my light and camera, but security made me check the light and the only bag I had left also had my camera in it.

 

[TSandM]

I carry on stuff that's fragile, and stuff that's essentially irreplaceable. Thus my canister light heads go on (although TSA's bounced them once as being big enough to hit someone with!) and my computer and compass go on. Peter carries on his camera. Everything else goes in checked luggage.

 

[moneysavr]

reg set,
dive computer & BT
mask
back up c cards & cash
T -shirt's
shorts
speedo
towel
toiletries & med's
they loose the rest I am still divin!

 

[diver 85]

I carry on my regulators, wrist dive computer, & my UW housing for my A570 camera(along with 4 rechargeable AAs & recharger.....

 

[Trace Malinowski]

How much of your dive gear do you carry on v. check when you fly? l'm packing for a trip tomorrow and I've pretty much settled on carrying my camera and equipment and my regulator set and computer. I'm planning to check everything else.

What do you do? Check it all, and carry it all on or just carry on the most expensive stuff?

Carry-on:

Halcyon pocket containing:
- primary face mask
- two back-up lights
- compass
- digital depth gauge/bottom timer
- Casio G-Shock Watch
Primary DIN regulator with 7' long hose and wing inflater
Back-up DIN regulator with SPG
Canister light, battery and charger
Wetnotes containing:
- air gun
- two pencils
- space pen
- spare necklace
- spare hair tie
- signal mirror
- 3 line arrows & two cookies
- spare bolt snap with cave line
Notebook computer
Log book

Checked:

Wetsuit/Drysuit
X -shorts
Backplate
Wing(s)
Fins
Boots
Hood
Yoke first stage & yoke adapter
Gloves
Extra hose kit
Finger spools
DSMB
Primary reel
Specialty items such as spearguns, etc.

My last warm water flight was to Bermuda to meet my girlfriend who had arrived for work on the Quincy Jones show with her cases loaded with production equipment. I carried all of her DIR gear and all of my DIR gear. With weight restrictions, I had room and weight for a handful of T-shirts, board shorts, sandals, and cargo shorts. I carried her regs and canister light in my carry-on as well. The rest of her gear in my backpack & my gear in the Action Packer.

I normally pack my scuba gear in an Action Packer secured with two TSA locks, carry my freediving stuff and wetsuits in my Kelty expedition internal frame backpack, and my carry-on items in a roll-a-board suitcase or a Kelty summit pack.

I label any suspicious-looking items and place a Halcyon catalog in carry-on and checked bags with pages marked to assist TSA in understanding the identity and purpose of such items.

So far, the only TSA issue I've had involved the reason for having a watch on my wrist while having a digital in my carry-on. They held me up until a supervisor interviewed me.

 

[muddiver]

The answers you are going to get will depend on the dive destination, the type of diver (i.e TraceMalin the uber tech diver vs. the PADI dude going to Cancun) and the anciliary equipment that diver intends to use such as a camera, lights, etc. All of which may varry in bulk or weight depending on the diver (i.e. 35 mm custom camera housing with dome port v.s digital camera, pistole dive light vs. can light, etc.).

Therefore, a hard core DIR/Tech dive like Trace will give you an extended laundry list of stuff the average scuba diver does not own, use or even know what it is.

The average open circuit scuba diver going on vacation might have a regulator set, fins, mask and light weight wet suit. Most of that will fit in a Dive Caddy type scuba equipment carrying system and will all fit in the overhead DiveCaddy - Home

I have no beef with either form of diver, because we all make choices as to what we use, and why we use it.

On my last trip I tried out bringing a 13 cu ft pony bottle so I could go through the SDI Solo Diver course. Since I checked it, there was no problem.

What I typically cary to a warm water destination is:

Carry on -
Dive Computer because it is very expensive
Digital camera in it's housing with strobe
Regulator set on the way over
Log book with C-cards
Valve from pony to save weight in checked bag

Checked bag -
Mask (mine and wife's)
Fins (mine and wife's)
3/2 wet suit
Harness
Wings (i.e. BCD)
Pony cylinder
Dive skin (mine and wife's for snorkeling)
Save-a-Dive/tool kit
Booties/hood/gloves
Lights with battries removed
Regulator set on way home because bag was over weight anyway and my Sherwood warm water regulators are cheap compaired to my Poseidon oxygen clean regulators.

My rule of thumb is "if it is realatively expensive, fragle or hard to replace" cary it on.

 

[Atomic_Diver]

As much as i can, mostly the expensive stuff like Computers,Regulators, my Transpac and Wing, the stuff like fins, reels, masks, weights, back up lights go as checked bags

 

[Atomic_Diver]

However I have learned that carrying on weights instead of checking them in the bags can help bring the cost of checking bags that are over 50lbs way way down....so most time I either don't take weights, or I carry them on..

 

[kathydee]

I like to carry the expensive/fragile gear:
compass
computer
regs
lights
and sometimes steel plate if weight is an issue (remembering to remove my knife


I check everything

 

[din7]

I like to learn things the hard way, apparently. when my wife and I went to cozumel in october, we carried on our regs, computers, dive skins, and her mask, and checked the bag with the BCs and fins. oh, and my Rx dive mask. frontier left our bag in denver, and while the resort said that we could use their rental gear with no charge, they didn't have any prescription masks. by the time the airline got our bag to us we ended up with only one day to dive out of the week we were there. I will never, ever check anything but my fins anymore.