Whats in my dive bag?

What’s in my dive bag?

Well after prompting from some of my dive peeps on twitter (@divemistress & @iarediver) I’m going to join in the #scubagearchallenge, this is a very geeky post so for those who are not interested in gear you can tune out now!

I’m not actually sure what makes most of the actual scuba gear in my bag is so I’ll list what I can remember.

Dive gear:

1 BCD (sea quest maybe?): inside the pockets are 1 SMB and 1 whistle. Attached to D rings are: 1 shaker in a little custom diver pouch (to attract my buddies attention). Also attached are several tags from old trips (Raja Ampat tags and Kittewake tags from Cayman). I have a big metal clip to attach my camera lanyard in deep waters (in shallow waters I don’t bother because I can just swim down and get it if I drop it). 1 airhorn (when I remember to put it on).

1 weight belt, my bcd has integrated weights but I dont like them. I like my weights slung low on my hips and around the front.

1 Reg/Octopus/1st stage/gauge/inflator combo (soon to be replaced with Apex Flight regs because they are super light! And a button gauge and air integration).

1 pair of Tusa Liberator fins (in blue) & 1 pair of small neoprene shoes (much lighter than booties but useless for shore diving).

1 5mm wetsuit (my 3mm one is more like 1.5 through wear & tear so I just use my 5mm everywhere now). 1 thermal rash vest. 1 4th element super thermal vest (in case 5mm isn’t enough). I have a shortie that will go over the top but I dont take that unless it’s going to be cold – in which case we probably dont go (only worn this configuration once – snorkelling with Manatees). We dont like water that anything under 25 degrees C 😉

1 mask (with prescription) – I think this is sea vision. I prefer the glass ones so you can toothpaste them. My boyfriend got a plastic one and it took 50-odd dives before it wouldn’t constantly fog.

1 stripy hairband (so my hair doesn’t float in my eyes and scare me underwater)!

2 dive computers, 1 Suunto vyper (that I put on my camera as a backup) and 1 Suunto D6i (and most recently air integration for that, new toy for the nest trip)

Custom made dive pages (to log the bits of the dives that our computers dont log) & a pen, dive certification & DAN insurance cards. Print out of last couple of dives we did.

Extras I take but never seem to use:

Two Mini Q40 torches for night diving (not very bright so they dont scare off the fish, although recently I tend to use my strobe light & take the torch in my jacket as back up).

1 flag, some strong elastic. 4th Element hood & some other brand of gloves.

1 wrench (quite large) just in case regs need tightening or something. Small bag of spare bits for regs. Allen keys of a couple of sizes.

Camera equipment:

Dry: 2 Nikon D300 bodies, 60mm lens, 105 VR lens, Tokina 10-17 FE lens, 18-200 VR (for land only), CF cards, batteries & charger. 16 (at least) enloop batteries and two chargers (for strobes). Air blower. Card reader, laptop (macbook pro) & charger & WD passport hard drive. Magic filter.

Wet: Subal ND30 housing, flat port for 60mm, 105VR port, large dome port & cover (for tokina) & extension ring. Orings for each port and housing, Oring grease and cleaning cloth. 2 Ultralight 5inch strobe arms, 4 Ultralight clamps, 4 Ultralight ball connections (2 for housing and two for strobes) 2 Inon z240 strobes (with diffusers). 1 carry handle (in pink lanyard), two sea & sea sync cords (to connect the strobes). 1 gorilla pod (for off camera strobe) with ball head attachment. One remote strobe sync cord. StiX floatation for strobe arms and a collar for my 105 port.

Spare: oring grease, dual sync cord, 2 strobe arms & 2 clamps, a three clamp (in case I want to attach a torch to my set up). Instruction books for strobe, camera, dive computer etc in case of brain malfunction. Cable ties, useful for loads of things.

Head ache tablets for when I dive on air and accidently skip breathe 😦

Hmmmm… I think that’s it. All our dive gear has to fit in our bags on the plane so we have to keep it light. Add a few clothes to that list, some sunglasses & an ebook and there you go.