After almost 2 glorious weeks of diving in the Cayman Islands, it was finally time to head back to the real world.
Our return flight was on Sept 10, and we had to switch planes in Miami on our way back to Houston.
Security was tight, but didnt cause any excessive delays. For one I was glad to see things a little more stringent. Of course I had the inevitable stops when they X-rayed my carry on luggage because I insist on carrying my regulators and dive computer in my hand. I just don't trust them in the checked baggage. This usually requires me to open my carry on and let them peek inside at to see what the bundle of hoses, etc. is but causes no real delay.
After checking in and boarding the plane, we relax for the short trip from Cayman to Miami. I took this opportunity to catch up on my dive log, so I pull out my log book and my computer and turn it on to retrieve the data. I use an Aeris500 Air Integrated computer that has a factory quick disconnect, so it is convenient for me to review my dive data.
By the time I finished with the logs, we are approaching Miami, so everything is put away for landing. We collect our baggage, go through Immigration and Customs with no problem, then go to check in at the gate for our Houston flight.
My carry on goes through the x-ray machine while I walk through the metal detector and I have to wait a moment for it to come out.
Of course they want to look in it again, so I open it up and my regulator bag is beeping.... RUH ROH!
The security agent is suddenly rather alarmed and asks me to open the bag. When I pull my computer out, it is flashing 5, 5, 5, 5, 5.... Apparently just after I finished my log, we started our descent. My computer hadnt cut off yet, so when that happened, it thought I was doing a dive at a depth of 5 feet.
The beeping was from my gas alarm. Since it wasnt hooked to the tank, it thought I was out of air and wanted to make darn sure I knew it.
Needless to say, the security agents didnt find any of this amusing. Even less so the fact that there was no way for me to turn it off until you cleared the alarms. And not having an air source, well you get the picture....
So I got to go see yet another agent who swabbed a little cloth thingy all over to make sure there was no type of explosive residue and then sent on my way.
All in all, it was handled very quickly and professionally, and I for one was glad to know that. It did make for a few rather tense moments at first tho.
So, I learned... DO YOUR LOGS AFTER YOUR DIVE, NOT ON THE PLANE HOME!
Our return flight was on Sept 10, and we had to switch planes in Miami on our way back to Houston.
Security was tight, but didnt cause any excessive delays. For one I was glad to see things a little more stringent. Of course I had the inevitable stops when they X-rayed my carry on luggage because I insist on carrying my regulators and dive computer in my hand. I just don't trust them in the checked baggage. This usually requires me to open my carry on and let them peek inside at to see what the bundle of hoses, etc. is but causes no real delay.
After checking in and boarding the plane, we relax for the short trip from Cayman to Miami. I took this opportunity to catch up on my dive log, so I pull out my log book and my computer and turn it on to retrieve the data. I use an Aeris500 Air Integrated computer that has a factory quick disconnect, so it is convenient for me to review my dive data.
By the time I finished with the logs, we are approaching Miami, so everything is put away for landing. We collect our baggage, go through Immigration and Customs with no problem, then go to check in at the gate for our Houston flight.
My carry on goes through the x-ray machine while I walk through the metal detector and I have to wait a moment for it to come out.
Of course they want to look in it again, so I open it up and my regulator bag is beeping.... RUH ROH!
The security agent is suddenly rather alarmed and asks me to open the bag. When I pull my computer out, it is flashing 5, 5, 5, 5, 5.... Apparently just after I finished my log, we started our descent. My computer hadnt cut off yet, so when that happened, it thought I was doing a dive at a depth of 5 feet.
The beeping was from my gas alarm. Since it wasnt hooked to the tank, it thought I was out of air and wanted to make darn sure I knew it.
Needless to say, the security agents didnt find any of this amusing. Even less so the fact that there was no way for me to turn it off until you cleared the alarms. And not having an air source, well you get the picture....
So I got to go see yet another agent who swabbed a little cloth thingy all over to make sure there was no type of explosive residue and then sent on my way.
All in all, it was handled very quickly and professionally, and I for one was glad to know that. It did make for a few rather tense moments at first tho.
So, I learned... DO YOUR LOGS AFTER YOUR DIVE, NOT ON THE PLANE HOME!
