| By :
Mark Jenner
Scuba divers really should visit the Red Sea at some point and booking a holiday on a live-aboard is one great way of making sure that as many dive sites as possible are seen. It pays to know what equipment to take and what to leave behind. When you book a holiday in the Red Sea that involves staying on a boat for the whole week, you can expect to get around 20 dives in during the first 6 days, with the last day resting before your flight home. With up to four dives each day your scuba diving equipment takes a lot of wear. As a result it is sensible to thoroughly check all your gear before the trip. If your regulator is due for service make sure that it is done before you go. Flights to Red Sea destinations for your diving trip will likely be with a package holiday company. These use charter flights and therefore you must check in advance how much luggage allowance you will be able to take and the cost of anything over and above this. Many airline carriers do not treat scuba divers the same as, for example golfers, when handing out luggage allowance. Make sure that you take the biggest piece of hand luggage that is permissible as often a further 10 kilograms can be carried in this way. Valuable and heavy items including regulators, torch and diving computer can be carried in your cabin luggage taking a lot of pressure from your hold allowance. You need to consider what equipment to take very carefully given that the weight allowance can be a problem. Your diving suit is the most important item to get right. For much of the year the Red Sea provides superb warm water diving allowing many people to get away with 3mm shorties at the height of the season. In the winter, from around November to March, many switch to a dry suit as the temperatures can drop below 20 degrees centigrade. A popular time to visit the Red Sea is between Spring and Autumn and a good 5mm one piece wet suit could be used during this period. Everybody has different tolerances to cold and it is better to err on the warm side than to be too cold! The chances are that you will get to dive at night on perhaps three or four occasions and a good torch will increase the pleasure of doing this. By law a torch must be carried by each diver as part of their emergency equipment. Instead of taking your heavy lantern a good back up torch with a spare between a buddy pair will be adequate in the clear waters of the Red Sea. All the other equipment you need to take is fairly ordinary, just try to keep the items as light as possible. A reel and marker buoy is needed but instead of bringing your normal piece of gear buy a light finger spool. Taking the spring clips off your fins and putting back the plastic ones can save you around 200 grams in baggage allowance! Staying on a live-aboard is a very relaxed experience, so fortunately there is no need for any formal attire. Shorts, swimming trunks and a couple of tee shirts are all that are required. If you have at least three pairs of swimming shorts with you this means that there should always be a dry pair waiting for you after a dive. And remember - don't leave your sun cream behind!
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