Packing for a Tropical Destination

Packing for a tropical trip

By the time you read this, I should be immersed in warm blue water filming a dive segment for my part on the TV Show Fishy Business, which will air on TV One in February.

We are travelling to Bligh Reef (named after Captain Bligh who stopped off there on his way to Tahiti) right up towards the northern tip of the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, approximately 85km from shore.

We will be on a live-aboard boat for around eight days. There are no dive shops out there, so I need to pack sensibly without cutting myself short on necessary equipment.

The amount of gear you can fly with, especially oboard the smaller planes like those we’ll be using on our last leg, has become a real issue in recent times. I have booked two big bags for the flight: one will consist of two speargun bags roped together for all my guns, fins, masks, snorkels, wetsuit and floats, while the other holds the camera gear and a few clothes. I will also include a large net bag to put my wet dive gear in and hang up somewhere on the boat at night so my gear can drip-dry inside it, secure and unable to blow away or drop over the side.

Water temperature should be in the mid 20s. This may sound really warm, but after a week of diving your body gets tired and struggles to stay warm after a couple of hours, so the least I will take for this temp is a full 3mm suit. Even so, I will also pack my Line 7 raincoat so I can put it on after diving on windy days. It keeps the wind off my wet nylon wetsuit, keeping the wind-chill factor at bay.

Gloves are obviously a must, but as I like very light ones for the tropics, there’s a chance of wearing them out, so I’ll take two pairs. The coral and some of the tropical fishes’ gills are very hard on gloves – you don’t want holes anywhere when dealing with either of these.

I will take my Workhorse booties. They are still a sock, but have a very durable sole that will handle reef walking, should I need to do any.

Mask and snorkel: I always take a spare of each. One thing I don’t like doing is borrowing or hiring these items. Imagine what has gone through a snorkel over the years! And a mask is so personal; there is nothing worse than a leaky mask that doesn’t fit – it can spoil your dive.

A knife needs to be sharp, and if you’re likely to lose anything on a trip, it’s your knife, so again I will take a spare. My knife always has a serrated edge for cutting lines and through fish-frame bones (something I like to grab for berley before the deckhand discards them after filleting the day’s catch). However, keep in mind that although the tropics can provide great opportunities to distribute berley, sharks can prove dangerous in some situations, so proceed with caution if trying this.

I always take my rubber weight belt – less the weight of course. I hate webbing belts; once you have worn a rubber belt you’ll never go back. Rubber belts don’t move once tightened up and are far more comfortable to wear. A note here: make sure they have lead available where you’re going!

Floats to travel with should always be inflatable and of a very high quality. Deflate them before travelling and make sure you inflate them as soon as possible. I have been caught out on a boat that had no means of inflating my floats once at sea.

Inflatable floats also save room in your bag and are best for game fish, as you will have no problems with them crushing if dragged down (I have seen very good, solid floats get totally destroyed after being towed down deep). I will take two big floats, one semi-stretchy line, and one hard line with a small rope bag to hold the line in between the floats.

Guns are where the thought needs to go. The area offers some great reef and bombie diving, meaning small, semi-round coral reefs the size of cars scattered all over the inside of the reef on the sand. These are normally hangouts for good snapper-type species. For them I will use a 130cm Carbon gun with a reel and 7mm spear. I will not use a float line for this style of diving, as the rope attached to the gun moves when you’re lying still on the sand, and fish don’t like this. The reel allows you to be totally still on the bottom, and if you shoot something of reasonable size, the reel acts just like it does on a rod, except you pull the line in by hand when fighting the fish.

For bigger species, such as mackerel and wahoo, I also use a Carbon 130cm gun, but the spear will have an icepick-style head with better holding capabilities. Also, the float line will be attached directly to the spear line with a breakaway system, so after shooting you’re left with the gun in your hand and the spear attached to the float. Consequently, if a fish goes deep, the only equipment that will be ruined or lost if they get to the coral is your spear. I may also consider taking a larger gun with a similar spear setup, but a heavier shaft and multiple rubbers for dogtooth tuna. Bigger fish like these need more punch and holding power.

Last, but not least from a spearing angle, is a flasher. This is like a lure you jiggle up and down in the water to attract fish. They work a treat on predatory species.

The other major aspects of my trip are filming and photography. Unfortunately, as camera gear has a habit of playing up, again I need spares to cover myself should this occur. Again, some very smart packing is required to avoid exceeding the 23kg limit, but this is achievable.