Pony on vacation

[Dr Wu]

Your instincts are correct.

Leave it at home.

 

[Doc]

I know the arguments for and against a pony, but that is not what i am getting at. How many of you carry a pony with you for resort diving? I am heading to the Turks and Caicos Islands in a couple of months and trying to decide if packing my pony is worth it. Dives are limited to 100fsw and all done on an AL80 in great viz. In my previous visit to TCI there were no ponies in sight. I already know I am but don't want to be the uber on the trip. So what is it take the pony or leave it at home?

I can not follow the logic of your decision path.

You know the "arguments", but claim that is not the issue. (Either running out of gas or catastrophic regulator failure ?)

You mention 100fsw and good viz, but I'm not sure how that would effect "the arguments".

What you also say is that your equipment selection is apparently determined by how you will appear to others.

Maybe post a picture with and one without the pony?

Dorky or not?

Or is it a matter of degree?

 

[rjack321]

So what is it take the pony or leave it at home?

Bring a reliable buddy and leave the pony at home.

The buddy will mitigate more issues than a pony could ever solve, and be more fun to boot.

 

[DandyDon]

Guess we should have had a poll. :silly: Traveling with my pony is a bit of a hassle, removing the valve & taping the neck, more weight in luggage and boarding bag, getting it to the fill shack the night before early enough to get it filled when the compressor runs once only, but - I got it mainly for dive travel. It's been to several states and countries with me as it will always go.

What's the deepest CESA you have survived anyway?

 

[Big John]

Thank you for all your replies, I guess my not wanting to appear dorky was a little flip, it just seems to be a prevailing thought that the resort kind of diving in warm clear water is somehow easier than open ocean diving. While I would not consider a NC dive without my little friend, tropical diving exudes an air of ease. While it does not equate to safety the mind tends to think it safer. Carrying gear that is not the "norm" to a destination does not bother me, I was the only BP/W diver at the resort last year. I am struggling whether the hassle of bringing it is worth it.

 

[DandyDon]

Thank you for all your replies, I guess my not wanting to appear dorky was a little flip, it just seems to be a prevailing thought that the resort kind of diving in warm clear water is somehow easier than open ocean diving. While I would not consider a NC dive without my little friend, tropical diving exudes an air of ease. While it does not equate to safety the mind tends to think it safer. Carrying gear that is not the "norm" to a destination does not bother me, I was the only BP/W diver at the resort last year. I am struggling whether the hassle of bringing it is worth it.

That could part of why we lose more divers in tourist locations than there? You want dorky? I'll get pics of me being the only one on the boat wearing a snorkel vest on the way out. :silly: Yeah, I look dumb but I still believe in it, and besides - I am not a safe person, so I have to work at it more anyway.

Texas fishermen don't like to wear life vests either. They found the body of one the other day who hit a Confederate steamboat. "Surprise, surprise, surprise...!" Gomer Pyle

 

[Water Monkey]

Resort diving is easier and the visibility is better but that is exactly the problem. While diving in that clear blue water you tend to dive deeper because it just doesn’t seem that deep. You go a little deeper to look at cool sponge and then there is a turtle just a little deeper then something else is a little deeper. Next thing you know you are beyond your planned depth, and you’re buddy is further away because when the water is clear it doesn’t seem that far.

I always take my pony bottle with me. The only problem I have had with it is sometimes you’re gear doesn’t fit in the tank racks on the boat, but I make it work.

 

[charlesml3]

I carry my pony everywhere I go. Palau, the Carribbean, everywhere. A 19 is just too heavy for me so I take a 13. The pony with the reg and a fill is about 1.3 pounds negative so I compensate for that by removing a bit of lead from my weights.

I've never actually needed it but I like having it around. I've been nick-named "Two-Tank" on a couple of trips now. I use the Zeagle pony bands and it sits on my right side. I loop the hose up in the wing webbing and just clip the 2nd. Works like a champ!

-Charles

 

[drydiver]

It depends on whether logistics can be arranged with you flying with your pony and putting it back back together and filling afterwards do not walk into a shop with it in pieces, they will make you pay for a visual inspection, stateside, anyway, have no clue what would happen internationally . . .

Donna

 

[idocsteve]

I was on a 5 day cruise last week, with stops in Cozumel and Caymans, and I did a few dives in South Florida beforehand.

My pony bottle came with me. No big deal to let all the gas out, and then screw the valve back on again, no tools required and usually you only need to fill it once.

It was quite useful during a shore dive when it took me a bit longer to get back to shore due to an outgoing current. Sure a snorkel might have done the job if I had one but the surface was quite choppy and it wouldn't have been an easy task.

A pony does add some weight to your luggage, and if you're not going to carry it on with your regs and computers, those 50 lb limits come up real quick so watch out for that. A digital luggage scale is quite useful for those who travel close to the limit, and that's most divers...