With airline baggage allowances getting tighter and tighter, the need for proper planning has become paramount.

My suggestions are based on my own experiences, there are of course many ways to skin a rabbit, I thought I’d just let you know how I go about my selection of gear, and how I travel with it.

The first place to start is to draw up a list of what gear I could take, then I go through the list and decide if it is really necessary and if there is an alternative.

The equipment I start with is mask, fins and snorkel.
As a drysuit diver here in New Zealand, I use huge fins that are open heel, meaning in the tropics I would need a boot to use them.
For overseas trips I chose a good quality pair of slip on fins, the type used by underwater hockey players. These are reasonably stiff yet considerably lighter than open heel fins and neoprene boots. I once tried cheap snorkeling fins but found them to be too unresponsive underwater and a real pain when swimming with a mild current.
Next is your mask and snorkel, this is easy, just take your favorite mask and snorkel. No reason to compromise fit and comfort here. One thing to consider is many divers do not use a snorkel at home, but may find many opportunities to use one on holiday.

Exposure suits will generally be thinner than domestic diving in NZ but one thing I feel strongly about is avoiding missing any dives due to being cold. I therefore suggest that you pack a high performance garment like a Fourth Element Thermocline or Sharkskin.
This will make a 3mm suit equivalent to 5mm and a 5mm suit more like a 7mm. The Polarfleece lining dries very quickly and the wind proof properties ensure added comfort when out of the water.
They are light, they pack easily and they keep the sun off your back when snorkeling

Regulators are often heavy, especially high performance models.
This is an area where you can save a lot of weight through the following tips. The first involves using one of the new breed of lightweight regulators such as the Aqualung Micron or Apeks Flight. These regs can save a couple of KG against your old reg, especially when you consider the following; take off your large twin gauge and replace with a compact SPG and wrist computer, then consider upgrading your hoses to the new lightweight Miflex style. Not only are they lighter, they are more durable, with a life expectancy of closer to 10 years than 5 with standard rubber hoses.

Your BCD gets a look at next.

Here again there are travel specific versions, or alternatively, what I have settled on is a lightweight wing system from OMS consisting of an aluminium plate, webbing harness and small single tank bladder. This gives me strength and durability all year round in NZ, with a small profile and light weight come holiday time.

Torches are often a standard piece of kit at home but I would usually consider just taking a small LED back up torch to the tropics.
If you plan to do a few night dives then you might consider taking a second light, but again I have found the large lights used domestically to be a luxury I can do without.
The other good thing about the LED’s is they are cool so can be used out of the water such as finding your way home after sampling the local nightlife or in case of powercuts.

Surface marker buoys and reels are another item that has to be considered.
They can be a life saver, yet often are bulky and heavy. I choose to take a small finger spool and a small marker buoy such as the 1m SMB by Halcyon. These take up no room and are very light. Anna and I relied on this combination in Papua New Guinea when we were caught in a massive current and aborted our dive. We were over a kilometer away from the live-aboard by the time we reached the surface, yet the tender had seen our marker buoy and followed us with the current. I would not like to imagine the consequences of us not having that marker and reel, my guess is we would still be out there!!

For the actual flight, I like to carry my regulators and computer, this started because of the high number of instances of lost or delayed luggage.

To use a loan bcd was in my opinion better than using a loan regulator or computer. The other benefit is these items are reasonably heavy so you can save some of your check in weight allowance. I use a specific regulator bag, which is light, yet padded to give added protection. It is worth mentioning here that you need to take care where you store your dive knife. I use a bcd knife, preferring the small size and weight, plus they are handy in there position either on your inflator hose or waist band.
Now care need to be taken so you remember not to carry your dive knife as hand luggage. Next time you are in the store, ask Anna about how she discovered she had done just this, through 3 different Airports!!

Some divers like to use a large wheeled bag.
My suggestion is to use either a lightweight dive bag, or a standard hold-all, with a light weight mesh bag inside. The mesh bags are not favoured through an airport as everyone can see your gear, however, once at the resort, they are great for transporting your equipment from room to boat. Then after the dives, your whole gear bag can be hosed down and then dried in situ.

Your mask can be protected in transit by either being stowed in the foot pocket of your fins, or a specific mask box/bag.

Photographers are probably the worst offenders for pushing the weight limits.
A couple of hints and tips here include carry as much of your camera gear as you can. Often Airport check in desks will allow you to carry 7kg hand luggage plus your camera.
If your strobes use Alkaline batteries, consider purchasing them in country or use rechargeable cells. It is worth noting that airline security now requires you to disassemble batteries from their strobes. I usually compromise my weight saving here a little by using a dry case for my camera, housing and lenses. It is a balance between protection and weight. In this case I go for protection first. The equipment is secure in a waterproof, shockproof case with foam padding.
This case is then also very usefull on the boat for storing any dry items you want to keep dry, such as your ipods, phones or even your favourite holiday novel. Another choice for your dry gear is a compact drybag. On one overseas trip we had an event where divers had to transfer from one boat to another, many of the passengers damaged cameras and ruined their paperbacks on the transfer.
Ever since, I now take a dry case or compact drybag on tropical dive holidays.

Dive Boats at Volivoli Resort / Photograph by Andrew Simpson

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On one day, around the world, 15,000 AWARE Divers in more than 100 countries around the globe will document every item found beneath the water’s surface to help prevent the marine debris epidemic affecting our ocean planet

At least 6 million tones of debris enter the world’s oceans each year, harming wildlife and underwater environments. The scuba diving community is influencing change by using their unique skills to remove underwater debris and gathering data to inform conservation.

Project AWARE Foundation tackles the devastating impacts of marine debris by supporting divers and volunteers in year round underwater and shoreline cleanups. In 2009, AWARE divers worldwide took the plunge and collected 555,000 lbs of debris that would have continued to be out of sight and mind for most.  

Global Dive gets organised for Cleanup Day by our Conservation Crusader, Instructor Alex, and this year is no different.

Register your details with the shop and come along for the day.

When: Saturday, 25 September 2010, 9:00am (divers to meet at 8:30am)

Where: Mission Bay

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With the latest busy lifestyles its amazing how quickly we can forget the basics.

As a divemaster I have been able to take people through the Scuba review and in the short 2 – 3 hour pool session it is amazing to see the student’s memory of skills suddenly flood back to them.
They start off quite rusty and nervous and after the first few basic skills of mask clearing, regulator recovery and snorkel to regulator exchange, it suddenly clicks and they start feeling more relaxed and comfortable being back in the water.

It can also be a great opportunity to pick up a few new skills or just meet other divers to buddy up with.

So if you have been hibernating for the winter or just having a break due to other commitments, remember, for your own safety, treat yourself to a refresher before jumping into the big blue again.

Leigh

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Apeks regulators always offered good options with hose routing and have recently stepped it up a notch with the release of the tech 3 specifically designed for double tank setup’s. Now they have taken it a step further. Many divers already have one reg setup for single cylinder diving and upon upgrading to twins realize that they need another first stage as opposed to two entire new sets of regs. Some divers will opt for a complete new setup as it allows easy changeability between singles and doubles, but for others they would prefer to just simply upgrade their existing setup. With this in mind Apeks have announced a 5th port upgrade kit for the DST first stage that allows both twin and single tank divers to re-configure the hose routing for a more user friendly and streamlined rig.

The 5th port replaces the HP (high pressure) balance chamber on the 1st stage with a new one which re directs LP (low pressure) gas to a new LP port for a regulator, without compromising the overall performance of the 1st stage. The new LP port is located on the lower end of the reg making it easier to use an under arm hose routing for a second stage eg. a 2m hose on a singles tank system. It also allows doubles configuration the chance to rout the backup regulator and BCD inflator neatly behind the neck (see pictures).

I have personally used this system with both the double’s and single tank system and found them extremely comfortable to breathe and wear in water. The upgrade must be installed by a Service technician but can be done while you wait as it is a 5 minute job. For anyone thinking of getting into double tank diving or simply want a 2m hose for short wreck penetration’s I would highly recommend this option as it’s simple, reliable and you won’t have to take out a mortgage to get one (or two).

Tom Crisp

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Some of it’s key features are:

• A full delrin body making the light extremely robust
• a heat dissipation tube giving it an extra two hours burn time (8 in total)
• and a fully floodable 4W LED module

The beam of the torch has a tight hotspot and wide halo making it perfect for signaling whilst still illuminating everything close by.

I initially bought these for cave and wreck diving, as you need good reliable backup torches. I have also used them comfortably as a primary on night dives several times. Another small feature which is a nice touch is they have an attachment point for a bolt snap so you can clip them off when you’re not using them. Personally I find this a little better than stashing them away in a pocket as you tend to loose things when there not clipped off (speaking from experience).

I guess I could rant on about how good these are but the only way for you to find out for yourself is to try them out or just come and have a look at them. For me these are a priceless piece of equipment as I regularly put my life in their hands and will continue to do so for years to come.

Tom Crisp

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There are many different reasons why people make the transition, including extending diving knowledge, reduced costs of deeper dives, additional bottom time or even for photography.

Most rebreather divers will tell you that when you start out on a unit it’s like learning to dive again.

My experience was completely different.

Personally I found the hardest thing to get used to was buoyancy, as you don’t expel bubbles you can’t use your breath to fine tune your position in the water column. All the other skills are just like learning new drills.

Once over the buoyancy barrier, diving my rebreather became much more comfortable and enjoyable.  For recreational diving, a rebreather is slightly more expensive per dive, as you have to buy sorb (CO2 absorbing compound) and oxygen instead of just an air fill.
Where you really start to see the advantage is on deeper dives not only for decompression reasons but cost. A twinset of trimix 21/35 costs around $170+ compared to a measly $15 needed for the same dive on a CCR.
For me this was the deciding factor in purchasing a rebreather as I do a fair amount of deep diving and have recently experienced the advantages of OC trimix beyond the 30m mark.
My trimix training on a rebreather is a little way off at the moment but I’ll get there soon enough.

Along with cheaper deep diving (in the future) I’m enjoying some of the other benefits of a CCR, none of which I really took into consideration when making the swap but just add to the experience any way.
It’s easy to see how photographers reap the rewards as it’s so easy to get close to fish, even the timid ones. By not making bubbles you blend right in with the aquatic realm allowing you to interact with it much more.
This means that photographers may be able to get closer to a subject allowing them to get that priceless shot.

Watch this space as I keep you up to date with my progress, sharing my experiences along the way.

Tom Crisp

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Crayfish / Photograph by Andrew Simpson

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Grey Moray Eels / Photograph by Ian Skipworth

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You often read articles about learning to dive but the teaching team here at Global Dive get to look at it from the other side.

People come to us with all sorts of reasons to learn to dive and we have to adapt and cater to these in order to give the client the course they need and want.

‘I’ve always wanted to learn to dive’, ‘it’s been on my list of things to do’, ‘I want to get crayfish’, ‘I’m sick being left on the boat’, ‘I’m scared of fish’, ‘snorkeling is not enough for me any more’, ‘I’m going to Fiji next month’, ‘my partner dives’.

These are all valid reasons to learn to dive but all need to be taught slightly differently.

The basics are always the same – Reg recovery, mask clearing, buoyancy skills, dive tracking – but to keep a diver diving you need to know what motivates them and this starts and continues from the learning stage.

Divers are a social bunch!

Now some of these are easy to address.

We can get the diver out for a scallop dive, show them how to identify a male Sandagers wrasse from a female, or take them to Fiji but sometimes even the diver doesn’t know what it is that gets them in water each time.

This is where the social element comes into it.
We take them for a drink at the local or get them along to a club night so they can meet, mix, mingle and chat to as many other divers with as many different interests, abilities and diver levels as possible so that they can find their diving mojo, not to mention a buddy or two.

So this is where you come in.

Every one of us can help other divers – of all levels – to get into diving.

Whether it be by offering a space on your boat or a lift to the dive site, showing the photos or video you took, researching and planning the next wreck dive, sharing the scallops and crayfish you caught at a summer BBQ, showing off your latest piece of dive equipment, or that thing that divers do best…talking to anyone and everyone about diving.

We do.

Anna Clague

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At the Poor Knights / Photograph by Andrew Simpson

I have done most watersports (wake boarding, surfing, wind surfing, swimming, snorkeling and spearfishing) and I have always wanted to learn to dive.

So from the first Open Water dive, I was totally hooked and this year has pretty much seen me completing a life long dream.
I have spent almost more time in the water this year than out of it and I am quite happy about that.

In the last six months, I have learned to dive, completed my Advanced Open Water and Rescue Diver courses; as well as completing the Nitrox, Deep, Dry Suit specialties and am now looking forward to wreck diving.

I didnt really get a choice when it came to Divemaster.
I finished Rescue and Tara and Anna made sure that there was a Divemaster pack waiting in the shop for me that day.

I have just completed the TDI Introduction to Tech course with Andrew – which is good timing as I have just done my first dives with my twinset.

If I am not diving, I am snowboarding – or fishing – or thinking about my last dive; or hopefully my next dive.

I have met a lot of great new friends through Global Dive – both Instructors and divers.

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