Packing your snorkel gear

[DeeDee1214]

For those of you who have your own snorkeling gear, how do you pack it? My boyfriend and I bought gear that has it's own special mesh bag, but I'm afraid it will take up too much room in my big suitcase with my clothes. It doesn't fit in the small suitcase we are bringing to keep souveniers and other miscellaneous stuff... we are thinking about buying a duffel bag just for that, but that's just another bag to have to carry.

 

What do you guys do?

[budaman]

When just planning to snorkle, we have one bag that is the length & depth of the largest set of fins and put one fin on each side and the other pair side by side and then pack over them. We take mask in our carry-on. Snorkle gets thrown in whichever bag has most room.

 

When diving, we have a regular dive bag that is large enough for fins, BC's and wetsuits. We always take masks & regulators in carry-on.

 

If by some chance your taking Golf Clubs, most fins will fit in Travel Bags and make for great head protectors especially if you have to fly.

 

Mike

 

www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

[masterbaker]

If we are not flying we just leave our gear in the mesh gear bag and carry it on. If we are flying we take the gear out of the mesh bag, separate the masks from the snorkles and pack them in between clothing to protect them. Fins and the folded mesh bag go on top of everything in the suitcase. I stuff things like socks or small items into the fins and masks to save space.

[kchesneylover]

Wrap your goggles in Towels and carry it all on as your board in your mesh bag. That is what we did. Safest bet.

[MikeInPgh]

Since I dive and my wife snorkels, we end up with a lot of stuff. 2 masks, 2 sets of fins, 2 snorkels and my wetsuit. Plus all the other misc do-dads.

 

I bought an Eagle Creek 30 in rolling duffle. It has more than enough room for all our gear. Plus on the way to the cruise, I dump the extra sneakers in there and the t-shirts (anything that can get wrinkled actually).

 

On the way home, it holds all the shoes, all the gear and anything wet or smelly.

 

We usually end up with 1 large rolling suitcase, 1 rolling garment bag (for dresses and such), the rolling duffle and a carry-on for each of us. Iv'e seen people pack more and they don't even have the dive gear.

 

Mike

[simonv]

I always packed the mask in the middle of a suitcase among underwear and shirts, for softness and to save room, throw in fins, wetsuit and a mesh bag in wherever I can find room. I've always checked the suitcase and never had a problem, even on some very long overseas flights with a few flight changes. I've never hand carried the gear and see no need for it.

[10X]

When my wife and I both were just snorkeling, we had a hardside suitcase dedicated to our snorkeling gear. Since the gear didn't fill the suitcase, it left us a little extra room on the way home for anything we might have purchased.

 

Now that I dive, and she still just snorkels, we take even more gear, so I went with a 30" rolling duffle. This takes all of my dive gear, her snorkel gear, and again, room left over.

 

We pack mesh bags inside the suitcase for handling the gear in port.

 

My underwater camera equipment is taken aboard in my carryon.

[Steve13]

We used to pack our masks, snorkels and fins, but it was too much of a pain. Now we just throw the mask and snorkes in our suitcase (along with our mesh bag), but we just use the fins that they typically offer as part of the snorkeling package.

 

I don't mind using "community" fins, but I feel much better knowing that the only mouth and nose that's been in the snorkel and mask is mine.

[Steve13]

We used to pack our masks, snorkels and fins, but it was too much of a pain. Now we just throw the mask and snorkes in our suitcase (along with our mesh bag), but we just use the fins that they typically offer as part of the snorkeling package.

 

I don't mind using "community" fins, but I feel much better knowing that the only mouth and nose that's been in the snorkel and mask is mine.

[Ninjachyck]

We packed all our snorkel gear in our carry on bag. We figured if all our luggage went missing, we'd at least have that, our bathing suits, shorts and our toiletries. Even the fins fit! :D

[Glamourgal]

We purchased a wonderful garment bag on wheels that is rather large. It has a front pocket and with some maneuvering both of our snorkel bags fit in there. Tux, suit, and gowns were wrinkle free, a double bonus!!

[Snorkelcat]

My friend and I have a duffle type gear bag just for all our water gear. It is a back pack type bag so we don't have to change things around and repack when it is excursion time. Just grab it and go. I usually 'wear' it so I won't wear out my arms carrying it. We bought it at a kayak store.

That bag goes inside a larger rolling duffle that is packed with other items that we don't want in suitcases, ie: sundries, etc that are liquid, shoes, misc items. Took us 2 yrs to figure out how to pack for the cruises. This works great for us.

[nho9504]

I usually only packed mask and snorkel now I hardly dive any more. I have full set of diving equipment but the last 3 dives (spread around 4 years in 3 different corners of the world) I used the equipments provided by the operators, except the mask and snorkel.

 

I have 2 sets of fins - I am seriously thinking about cut them into 1/2 length so it can be carried much easier. I dont need a "power" long fins for what I normally do. What do you guys think ?

[jandn]

What are the mesh bags all of you use for your snorkeling gear? Is this just a mesh drawstring bag or something more elaborate? Where do you purchase these mesh bag?

[DeeDee1214]

Mine came with the snorkel set we bought from snorkel mart, but they sell it separately :)

 

http://www.snorkel-mart.com/files/products/details.cfm?ProductID=58

[Arubalisa]

For those of you who have your own snorkeling gear, how do you pack it? My boyfriend and I bought gear that has it's own special mesh bag, but I'm afraid it will take up too much room in my big suitcase with my clothes. It doesn't fit in the small suitcase we are bringing to keep souveniers and other miscellaneous stuff... we are thinking about buying a duffel bag just for that, but that's just another bag to have to carry.

 

What do you guys do?

For a dive trip we take the extra suitcase. If we have to check one, doesn't really matter having to wait for the 2nd and 3rd at the luggage carousel.

 

Our last trip we knew for certain we would be snorkeling, but maybe only one dive. To save space in our suitcase we took only our mask and snorkels. The fins and bc's take up the most space so we left them home. The operators we snorkeled and dove with had terrific fins. The dive operator had very so-so bc's. They made up for that though by loaning my daughter a wetsuit free of charge for our dive. :)

What are the mesh bags all of you use for your snorkeling gear? Is this just a mesh drawstring bag or something more elaborate? Where do you purchase these mesh bag?

Good question as to the "exact" purpose of a mesh bag. There are a few types: duffel, backpack, fin bags...

 

Of course, when flying all the gear goes in a suitcase. We then use our mesh bag for carrying our dive gear, except BC's, back and forth from our accommodations (ship or hotel). When we are finished with our dive(s), if we are rushed and do not have time to rinse off our gear, the mesh bag is convenient for a quick hose down or dunk in the rinse tank. Later back at our accommodations we can take everything out and give it a thorough rinsing.

 

To prevent breakage and scratches, for the small investment, I highly suggest a hard plastic case for storage of your mask.

[ldock]

keep in mind that if you try to pack everything into one large suitcase, it may become too heavy for airline guidelines, flippers are not that light. Airline max is 50lb, if you are over you will have a chance to remove some weight or you are charged a extra $50 (according to united). Im planning on taking one large and one med. suitcase, which my fins fit perfecty into. However the comments about a rolling duffle bag sounds smart.

[Arubalisa]

I forgot to mention in my last post, especially if you are using one big suitcase, one of the best investments we have made is this75 lb Luggage Scale. For $10 + shipping it has really come in handy and saved some major scrambling on the floors of airports.

:) I like to think my dh loves me more because of it. :)

[golfer1966]

Since most excursions supply the gear, we normally we just take our masks and dry snorkels and rent just fins or use the excursions fins. I pack them in my carry on so they dont get wrecked on the plane. Then we have room for misc stuff to bring home in that bag too. Works well for us.

 

Good Luck...

[Marlissa]

We use an Army Parachute / Duffle bag. It can carry three sets of snorkel gear (the masks are inside mask boxes for extra protection) and swim shoes with no problem. Even had extra room that we were able to fill with other things from our suitcase because we were over the limit with the regular bags.

[dforeigner]

I forgot to mention in my last post, especially if you are using one big suitcase, one of the best investments we have made is this75 lb Luggage Scale. For $10 + shipping it has really come in handy and saved some major scrambling on the floors of airports.

:) I like to think my dh loves me more because of it. :)

 

Or if you already have one, use the scale in your bathroom.

[10X]

We use a small portable scale to weigh our luggage. We can pack it and take it with us for weighing luggage on the return trip.

 

It's much easier to pack than your bathroom scale.

[MoneyGuy]

The missus wants me to leave my fins at home because of their weight. What do others think? Would you leave your fins behind and rent them? They are heavy.

[Jacqueline]

Well, they are the most generic part of the kit. What kind do you have (just curious) ?

I always debate what to bring. How many times do you think that you wiill go out ?

[Host Star]

we use a rolling duffel we bought long ago in a dive shop.. it has outside pockets and fits everything including the wine (shhhhh)..for off the ship we bought these great mesh bags with zippers.. they're part mesh, part nylon and are easy to carry either over your shoulder or not .. i could never leave my fins home.. they are hot pink :).. to go with my hot pink mask and hot pink snorkel :) so when yu'all see lots of bubbles and a hot pink flash go by..you'll know its Host Star from Cruise Critic.. :)