Melinda's 7 scuba gear pack hacks for women

Every time I prepare for a dive trip, I start off with a mammoth wish list pack pile & have to whittle it down to an airline approved weight.  Many a time I have reflected on how little a tennis ball and racquet weigh and wondered why I had to fall in love with scuba diving.

So, towards the end goal of getting to bring more of your favorite scuba gear items with you on your adventure, here are some of my top pack hacks.

Buy comfy dive boots that fit properly and let them double as tennis shoes for hitting the gym and having terrestrial adventures.  This means you will get to trade up to open heel fins and these have more surface area and thus, more thrust.  The additional benefit is that if you are doing shore diving, you get protection from hot sand and owies.

Buy an “s” hook at a hardware store.  You can find these in the wardrobe accessories section.   These awesome critters belong in your dive bag so just about anywhere, you can create a spot to hang your wetsuit or clothes to store or to dry.  You can stick it over your shower door back at the hotel after the rinse, too.  Pack two and use one for all of your jewelry, jammies and hanging toiletry kit. This will set you back a couple of painless dollars.

Bring a small travel talcum powder to make it easier to don your neoprene wetsuit, to deodorize your much used booties & to spruce up dirty or greasy hair if shower facilities are not readily available.

If u have a modern mobile phone, dress it in a life proof case and leave your land camera behind.  The image quality is too close nowadays to have to muck about with a separate camera & worry about packing extra chargers, carry  bags and accessories.  Besides all of this, you will not hesitate to take it out and use it under sub-optimal conditions like sand, rain, and splash.

If you are going to the tropics, buy and bring a hooded after dive jacket and that can replace your rain coat and umbrella & it will offer some warmth on cool evenings while allowing u to dress “SCUBA lifestyle.”

Buy a cool and colorful dive skin.  You can use it for wardrobe, gym, warm water scuba and underneath your wetsuit to make it easier to don.  I recommend an interesting print like this one by Slip-In and u will have some wardrobe fun with it for sure…and during the day, your skin will be protected by spf 100.

Bring a light weight, neutral colored sarong.  This can do practically everything: becoming a beach towel, dress, skirt, shirt or neck scarf on a chilly night.

These ideas should free up enough space in your dive bag to let u bring that new cool new led dive light or Sea Life micro HD camera that you have had in your radar.   Here is wishing you heaps and heaps of Happy Diving.