Travel - what to bring?

[Gombessa]

I have a 2-week vacation planned for later in the year, and may be doing a minimal amount of warm-water diving, but quite a bit of flying/traveling. I'd really like to pack light (as in, carry-on only), and that severely limits the amount of gear I can bring.

So, given that I prefer to dive a hogarthian rig, I'm looking for some recommendations on what one piece of equipment I should bring. It's kind of a "if you were stuck on a desert island and could only have..." type scenario. Long-hose reg setup, or ALbp + singles wing?

I'm leaning towards the regs due to the whole "don't entrust your life to rental gear" mentality, but if it's just not worth the trouble, I'll roll the dice with the other tourists.

Maybe forget it and just go with full rental gear? I have this feeling if I bring the regs, my inflator hose won't work cause the rental BC will have an Air2 connector, or if I bring the wing, the reg set won't have an octo or a proper inflator valve. I don't think I'm quite up for bringing tools and spare parts with me.

I will bring my mask, compass and BT, but that's all that's set in stone so far.

So tell me, what would you do? Is it worth packing anything and attempting to semi-hog it?

 

[highflowdiver]

If I was only doing a couple of dives a week, I would rent. If more than that, I would try
to call ahead and find out that my regs will be operational at those sites. Putting on all
rental recreational kit is sad but I would do it if there was no other option(and everything
looks professional, and even then I would probably think, why didn't I bring my own regs!?).
Kal

 

[Scotty28t]

I just got back from the dominican, I opted to take my 3mm shorty (as I desperately hate renting wetsuits), BT, compass, mask/snorkel.

I would have loved to have my BP/Wing and regulator setup, but of these two, I could get by with a BC rental.

Especially if you are travelling you really don't know what kind of crappy regs you;ll get. Its the little things that will drive you crazy, like my mouthpiece splitting after 3 minutes at the bottom... and yes I looked at it before I got on the boat, which wouldn't have mattered because rather than change it for my next dive they wanted me to take another reg. I opted for the broken mouthpiece, as I figured it was minor compared to what may be lurking in the next one. -- and when were they last serviced??

bottom line for me, I like to be able to breathe underwater, it is much easier to deal with any other disaster if you can still breathe! I will be bringing my regs and a DIN to yolk converter on my next trip. -- and how much extra space will a couple of feet of extra hose really take up?

have a great trip! Dive safe

--S

 

[TSandM]

I'd bring my regs. It's unlikely you'll get a rental BC with an Air2 (at least from what I've seen) and you can check ahead of time to make sure. For me, donating the primary, and having that bungied backup under my chin, are safety items I'm unwilling to do without.

 

[John_B]

You don't say where you are going. I'm assuming its somewhere warm enough that a dive skin is all you'd need.

That said, I'd definitely bring my regs/SPG and (as you said )the wrist mounted computer/timer and compass. If that meant diving a backinflate BCD instead of a BP/W, I'd switch out the 7' long hose on my primary. Probably over to my 5' hose (this is the hog forum after all), but for clear warm water and strictly recreational depths and dive buddies I might switch over to my 40" hose with the 90° elbow (N.B. not a 360° swivel) and route that under my right arm. While I was at it, I'd put a more "standard length" inflator hose that would be more likely to fit a rental BCD.

But I'd miss my backplate.

As always, YMMV.

 

[highflowdiver]

If you decide to not take your regs at least take a necklace
that is set and ready. When you arrive you can slip it over
the mouth piece of the second and now it is necklaced and
you can donate safely,even though it is a short hose.
Kal

 

[Peter_C]

I'd bring my regs. It's unlikely you'll get a rental BC with an Air2 (at least from what I've seen) and you can check ahead of time to make sure. For me, donating the primary, and having that bungied backup under my chin, are safety items I'm unwilling to do without.

^ I agree!

Dealing with a jacket BC and rental fins are doable, but no way can I ever go back to a crappy regulator. Plus I have been doing drills with a long hose...it just comes naturally. A 5 foot hose would be better than a 7 in this case though.

 

[Gombessa]

Thanks all!

I'll likely be in Hawaii for a few days and elsewhere for a few more, but the trip is a few months out so I haven't planned anything yet.

It sounds like regs are the way to go. I don't mind tucking the 7ft, but with a single tank and 3mm suit, I'll look into appropriating a 5ft.

My tropical rental experience is such that I have a harder time finding standard Octos than Air2s, but that hose connection will just be something I'll have to pay more attention to when picking up the rental gear.