Long term Travel with dive gear

[DK_Scuba]

My wife and I are both experienced divers and are planning on backpacking 6-12 months in Southeast Asia in just over a years time. However we are not certain on what to do gear wise.

Our plan is to backpack starting in Bangkok through the north of Thailand followed by Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. This section will have very minimal diving and probably last 2-3 months. After that the bulk of our time will be spent from the south of Thailand and the many islands of Malaysia/Indonesia and the Phillippines where we will be diving a lot. We are also both dive professionals currently working P/T in Canada (She is a DM and I am an instructor) and have tossed around he idea of guiding/teaching in SE Asia whilst we travel as well.

My main question is how viable do you think it'll be to carry around our full dive setups throughout Asia. Do shops in this region usually include gear rentals for free in their price and do shops always require a full personal kit to work PT for them??

Here at home I dive primarily SM as well and hope to do some more advanced tec divers/wreck penetrations whilst traveling as well. How easy is it to rent this type of gear in the more wreck heavy locations? (coron Bay for example)

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[broncobowsher]

The amount of gear needed to dive your style of diving is a huge unknown.
I've seen people pack a fairly small and lightweight set of gear all the way up to hauling hundreds of pounds of gear. How much space do you have available in your backpack? I tend to pack heavy, there is no way I could do it. But with good creative and minimalistic selection I am sure it could be done.
What you bring for exposure protection is another question as that stuff gets rather bulky pretty fast.

 

[Kendall Raine]

Sounds like an awesome trip (drool) and I hope you have the time of your lives. As for dragging full dive gear around, I would personally try to avoid that at all costs. Alternatives would include 1) long term storage at one or several airports (e.g. BKK), 2) shipping gear (either from Canada or BKK to avoid extra cost/duty) to your first intended dive destination, 3) buying new gear at same. Cost in reverse order. You have plenty of time to work out this logistical Swiss watch so should be able to contrive something/anything better than dragging the gear around SE Asia.

If you’re like me my side mount setup is so specific to me (fit, bungie length, hardwear) I would really prefer to have my own rather than fiddle farting with rental gear.

Good luck.

 

[Bump_Head]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[DK_Scuba]

The amount of gear needed to dive your style of diving is a huge unknown.
I've seen people pack a fairly small and lightweight set of gear all the way up to hauling hundreds of pounds of gear. How much space do you have available in your backpack? I tend to pack heavy, there is no way I could do it. But with good creative and minimalistic selection I am sure it could be done.
What you bring for exposure protection is another question as that stuff gets rather bulky pretty fast.

We will both be using 70L backpack. My main setup is the katana 2 sidemount bcd and my wife's is a Hollis bp&w.

We are leaning towards renting exposure protection and find but don't want to end with shoddy rental gear either.

 

[DK_Scuba]

Sounds like an awesome trip (drool) and I hope you have the time of your lives. As for dragging full dive gear around, I would personally try to avoid that at all costs. Alternatives would include 1) long term storage at one or several airports (e.g. BKK), 2) shipping gear (either from Canada or BKK to avoid extra cost/duty) to your first intended dive destination, 3) buying new gear at same. Cost in reverse order. You have plenty of time to work out this logistical Swiss watch so should be able to contrive something/anything better than dragging the gear around SE Asia.

If you’re like me my side mount setup is so specific to me (fit, bungie length, hardwear) I would really prefer to have my own rather than fiddle farting with rental gear.

Good luck.

Ooh I love the idea of storing our gear in BKK that's definitely something I'll look into!

 

[DK_Scuba]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That sounds great, if you want to chat and compare trip plans that would be fun! We actually moved to N Vancouver this past spring but if Im by VIctoria we should head out for a day one day!

 

[Kendall Raine]

We are leaning towards renting exposure protection

As long as you can find a good storage solution I suggest bringing your own. A 3 mm full suit (plus hooded cheater for layering) should be fine in Thailand and the Phils. Places in Indonesia can get cooler at some times of the year (e.g. Komodo) so maybe pack several cheaters of different thicknesses (1 mm, 2mm, 3/5mm) to be on the safe side.

Renting wetsuits just sounds like an invitation to contact/irritant dermatitis. For example, I get a rash if my wetsuit is washed in Dettol because of a reaction to CHG/PCMX. As such, I wash my wetsuit by itself in fresh water instead of the communal rinse tank (aka petri dish).

 

[Wobbegong_th]

Rental wetsuit in most place in Thailand would be Short sleeve&leg. However, you might get by for Thailand water with rashguard & legging under the shorty.
Most dive shop rental gear would be normal jacket style BCD, full-foot fin, and beginner level regs. Sidemount rental may be available, but quite rare. Although sidemount market is expanding in Thailand but still minority.

Which airline do you plan to use going around? if you're going with low cost airline, carry on weight & size is pretty strict.

 

[DK_Scuba]

Rental wetsuit in most place in Thailand would be Short sleeve&leg. However, you might get by for Thailand water with rashguard & legging under the shorty.
Most dive shop rental gear would be normal jacket style BCD, full-foot fin, and beginner level regs. Sidemount rental may be available, but quite rare. Although sidemount market is expanding in Thailand but still minority.

Which airline do you plan to use going around? if you're going with low cost airline, carry on weight & size is pretty strict.

Hmm thanks for the insight! I'm pretty comfortable monkey diving if necessary at all so hopefully SM will work out.

For our flights all our inter-country travel will be done using points as we have saved up a vast amount of points with different airline programs. The smaller regional airlines will by the only flights we have to pay cash for. So Batik/Lion air for Indo etc.