You may have heard of a “go-bag” from spy novels, airline staff, traveling reporters, or other people who may need to travel at a moment’s notice. Because of this, they keep a packed bag at the ready, so all they have to do is grab it and go. We scuba divers can take a page from this book as well.
Scuba diving is not exactly equipment-light, so making sure we remember everything we use on an average trip is hard enough. Apart from our dive gear, there are number of useful things that we don’t necessarily bring every time — but that we should. During my years of diving, a few things have snuck into my bag and just remained there; I find that keeping a dedicated diving go-bag means that I don’t worry about packing these items for each trip. I grab the bag on my way out the door, and I know I have the little stuff that I may otherwise to forget.
The actual contents of a go-bag will vary based on personal needs and wants, as well as the type of diving you do and the climate you do it in. But for all my local diving, the bag stays largely the same, although I add and subtract a few things when I travel. Below are the contents of my own go-bag, which you can use as an inspiration for creating your own.
- A diver’s tool kit. This store-bought kit features tools that any diver may need if something breaks or needs adjustment before a dive. This includes a few Allen wrenches in various sizes, a couple of adjustable wrenches, a pair of pliers, etc. I’ve added a few things of my own, such as a few wire strips (as these seem universally useful in scuba diving) and an Allen wrench that allows me to remove the insert in a yoke-prepared scuba tank to make it accommodate my DIN-regulator.
- A diver’s fix-it kit with spare parts for the things most likely to break. See a previous article of mine for the contents of one of these.
- Marine species ID book. This, of course, has to be localized, and if you’re uninterested in the name of the fish you saw during your dive, this is clearly an optional item, although knowing what you’re looking at will greatly enhance your dive experience. I use it particularly when I have students or act as a guide. I’ve got books covering the countries I travel to most commonly for diving.
- As a personal choice, I rarely dive with a snorkel, but they can be handy for certain situations, such as long surface swims or assisting a diver in distress after you’ve taken off your gear. So I include a snorkel that includes a quick-release and mounting system for attaching it to my dive mask, just in case.
- Again, should you ever find yourself in a lost-diver or other rescue scenario, a pair of binoculars can be invaluable when scanning the surface. They come in handy for a number of other situations as well, such as scanning the surface to identify a ship, or to observe anything from dolphins to flying fish. Make sure your binoculars are good quality, compact and weather-resistant.
- These are another one of those things that I’ve often found myself needing but being without, so I usually carry one or two of them in my bag, just in case.
- I carry a backup torch in my bag for two reasons. First of all, it can serve as a dive light or backup if the one I’ve brought turns out to be out of power, and second, it can serve as a flashlight if I suddenly have to spend time searching for lost or dropped gear and dusk starts sneaking up on us.
- I don’t always carry a dive knife, sometimes only a set of trauma shears. But that doesn’t mean that a knife can’t come in handy before or after the dive, so a small, sturdy pocketknife gets you a long way (check local laws on this).
- Dive log. I log my dives on my smartphone these days, but when I do instruction and similar, there’s still some paperwork, so I carry my certificates, logbook stamps, etc., in a logbook binder.
- A light sweatshirt. Even in warm climates, having a light sweatshirt to put on after the dive can be nice, so I usually keep one handy. For cold-water dives, I’ll of course wear much warmer clothes, including my trusty beanie that helps me warm up after the dive.
- The bag itself is a duffel bag that doubles as a backpack, and is both weather- and water-resistant. A medium-sized duffel bag offers the right combination of roomy and compact for my needs.
