Question What to bring vs rent?

[BRT]

We are diving Cozumel right now. One of us is using all his own equipment including tanks. The other 2 are using dive boat supplied tanks, but nothing else.

 

[shopguy]

. I was recently on a boat with eight other people and they were all renting gear and nobody complained. We all had a good time.

Good reminder, thanks. Every boat my wife and I went on in Puerto Rico and Mexico, we have actually been the only people (with a few exceptions) with our own gear so far (brought all our own gear always, except tanks). Most of the divers and crew did make remarks like "see how easy it is for these other people, no gear to clean, carry, etc"... so yeah, I guess you can do it many different ways, and have a good time. Better than being above water, any day.

All 3 of us are able to get all of our gear (still thinking we will not need neoprene) in to a standard size duffle bag.. they do weigh about 20 pounds, which technically leaves us only 2 pounds in our 2nd carry-on for clothes. I think we'll just take it all and pay whatever extra fees we have to, if they even weigh our carry-ons (mixed reviews online, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't). I am not really worried about some extra fees, just don't really want to check bags, it can be a hassle especially with connecting flights and the current mess we are all dealing with (my daughter just had her Alaska Air flight from Seattle to Tucson cancelled, for no real reason other than they felt like it -- no weather problems/etc -- we had to drive 4 hours at 2am to get her in Phoenix).

One clarification... I'm not really a novice diver, just humble. The gear I own is all for more stimulating/rough shore diving at home, in very cold water, harvesting various sushi/sashimi style goodies, with my experienced dive buddies. Myself and my "vacation dive team" don't really have full/favorite/ideal gear for the vacation style diving we do, so open to trying different things on easy relaxing dives, and not having to carry and clean all my gear always.

 

[shopguy]

BTW, none of the dive police have confiscated my dive knife in the park.

Hehe.. this reminded me.. my daughter was flying to join us before our trip in a couple months. I asked her to bring her gear, so she just stuffed it all in a carry-on duffle bag at the last minute. She didn't think about the dive knife in her BCD -- she went through TSA/security with it, they didn't even stop her or anything, she didn't even think about it until after she landed. It's one of those "Auga Lung Squeeze Lock" knives, a little over 3" blade I think, but with a blunt tip. It looks pretty scary/aggressive to a lot of people though, so I'm surprised she didn't get stopped or questioned at all. We'll be leaving those at home.

I'm thinking about getting some of those "line cutter" tools for this trip, the ones that look nothing at all like knives. I can't imagine the dive park would have problems with those, you couldn't hurt marine life or harvest anything with them, or pry anything.

 

[shopguy]

Thanks for all the feedback/comments/suggestions. In the end (well still a long way until Mar 31st) I just added checked bags to our flights, so we can take all of our gear. Our layover in Mexico City is 5 hours on the way there, so I think we'll have plenty of time to deal with baggage transfer and going back through security again, if we need to.

..and since I don't have much gear for warm water, and my buddies don't even have full gear, now I have a good excuse and a couple months to buy some more gear

 

[DandyDon]

I don't have much gear for warm water

I used almost the same gear in Puget sound as I do in Cozumel, aside from thermal protection differences.

 

[waterone]

I used almost the same gear in Puget sound as I do in Cozumel, aside from thermal protection differences.

I'm in the same boat, I just add a 7mm or drysuit and sometimes a hood and gloves for Seattle. Though I am thinking about getting a 24lb wing for travel, not that it is needed but because I like gear.

 

[DandyDon]

7mm or drysuit and sometimes a hood and gloves

Sometimes a hood? I did like my heavy duty boots, but cotton socks were wrong. Got neoprene socks in case I ever did it again.

 

[waterone]

If it's not a deep dive and not winter, I'd rather not if I don't have to.

 

[DandyDon]

If it's not a deep dive and not winter, I'd rather not if I don't have to.

Your posts don't show where you live. I'm guessing that you're more acclimated than I.

 

[waterone]

I lived in from Seattle to Sumas for a couple decades. I can't stand the cold as much as I use to otherwise I'd never wear a hood.