Traveling With SCUBA and Camera Gear

[jjoeldm]

I've been traveling with all or part of my Nikonos setup and my Nikon stuff and Mini-DV (no housing yet) all in a large Pelican rolling case for a while now in the Caribbean and Mexico, but have been reluctant to take it with me on longer international trips for security reasons. I didn't take it to Fiji or Bali for mobilitiy reasons and regret the photos I didn't get, though travel was a lot easier and we made several stops in both countries, diving and non-diving.

I'm contemplating a dive trip to Chuuk/Truk in a few weeks and have been looking at my gear and thinking about Continental's size restrictions. I have a large North Face bag into which I can put all of my dive gear and my clothes for such a trip that fits their limits. And I was just trying out my camera gear in a smaller 18X13X7 Pelican box in which I can squeeze all of my Nikonos outfit if I use padded dividers. It's a tight fit, but I'd carry it on, not check it.

My question is this, how comfortable do people feel about checking cameras, even in padlocked Pelican boxes? I'm taking three sets of regs and I always carry those, but if I carry my camera, I'll have one medium-sized Pelican box in the overhead and a reg bag under the seat. It'd be a tight fit for a mini-DV and Nikon. I suppose I could find a bag that fits their requirements for a camera bag as the second carry on (maybe) but it'd have to be pretty big.

The advantage of taking my rolling Pelican is that I can put all my cameras, strobes, flashes & accessories, Nikonos & Nikon in there and possibly even my regs, lock it up for the duration and carry my Mini-DV for shooting stuff on the way there. Then my dive gear and clothes would go in the North Face bag.

My gear is insured, but it would be a bummer if I got to Truk with no Nikonos . . . not to mention regs. But just carrying a small carry-on would make all those plane changes a lot easier. Usually when I carry a couple of large bags I take my boater's foldup dolly. It can hold several large bags and it makes life pretty easy between planes and between the airport and ground transport. But sometimes you have to check it.

I wonder if I'm being overly paranoid and I wonder what other people's experiences have been mixing dive gear and cameras with international baggage restrictions and through multiple airports.

I'll be flying through JFK, Tokyo, Guam, Truk, then back through Honolulu and into Newark, then taking a train into Philly. That's a lot of people handling my gear.

JoeL

 

[jcclink]

The TSA tells us NOT to lock checked baggage. Use nylon cable ties instead. However there are now custom locks approved by TSA that can be used.

http://www.tamperseal.com/

I tried to put one on my Pelican 1550 case but it didn't fit, so back to cable ties. I always check all my dive gear except computers. I know everyone prefers their own gear, especially regulators, but you can always rent stuff if your bag gets lost. (They typically show up in a day or two anyway.) I also check my video housing, lights, batteries, misc stuff because of the weight. It goes in a Pelican 1550 which used to be carry-on before 9-11, & before I got heavier light batteries. Always hand carry items that are not available for rent such as cameras, lenses, video tape, film, dive computers, strobes. I've been traveling to SE Asia & surrounding areas for the past 10-12 yrs without problems with baggage. Once out of the US, they don't seem to care if you lock the checked bags. Truk is basically like the US, so I'd guess that TSA regs would apply for your whole trip, especially if you check bags all the way to Truk. I give photo gear top priority in my carry-on. Things that won't fit in legal size carry-on gets checked. I typically travel with the same bags for every dive trip. One big one with dive gear, clothes, misc (70 lbs). Pelican 1550 for video system except cameras (35 lbs). Just got into digital stills, so now that whole system goes in a carry-on. My personnal item is a small backpack for the laptop computer. This has worked fine for my over many trips. It gets more interesting if I decide to take both video & still systems, which I'm doing for the first time next month. Hope it all fits.

 

[mjh]

I pack the camera/lens in carry on. Everything else goes in a Pelican 1620. I got two locks at Brookstone that are TSA approved. Brookstone will replace them free if they are cut by an Airport.

 

[XJae]

Personally, I never ever check any of my cameras or computers.
So maybe I look a little like a pack mule in the terminal, I don't care, I get two carry-ons.
And with the new 50# per checked bag restriction, I need to balance and carry some of the heavier stuff anyway.

I think I'm somewhat permanently scared from seeing all those old samsonite commercials with the gorrilla.

Of course you should know that I missed a flight once, going to FLA to Ginnie, because TSA at Newark Airport thought my brothers camera gear in a pelican case was an uzzi. No joke, almost a two hour delay.

This is easily remedied by demanding a visual inspection. I usually say it's camera gear and of course has 1000 speed film.