Where’s my light, my SMB, my knife? Those are not questions you want to have to think about 50 ft under water. It should always be where you need it, if and when. It’s why I stressed to my dive students to always set you gear up the same way, every time. It doesn’t matter if it’s your gear or rental on the other side of the world.
New divers already have too many things to try to remember; check my depth, look at my SPG, what’s my NDL? Oh look, fish! Keep everything in the same place for every dive. Developing the muscle memory of make reaching and finding it an automatic process. When I set my gear up, I always clip my light to the top D-ring of my right side. With the visibility in the Gulf, I know I will use it on every dive. When diving on the Dive Boat Down Under, a Surface Marker Buoy is required. I always clip it to the lower D-ring on my left. That keeps it out of the way of everything else. Sometimes, I have a small mesh bag on the ring also. I just started taking it on boat dives to see if it proves useful. I should probably move to my top ring on the left. I’ve recently started carrying a lift bag tucked away on my BCD. A couple of bungee loops keep it rolled and tucked away just behind my left pocket. I was on a dive recently when one of the divemasters came over to see if I had one. There was a 35 lb boat anchor he wanted to retrieve. Didn’t have one that day but I do now.
There seems to be some controversy about knives. Should you or should you not? Sharp tip, blunt tip, serrated or sharp edge? Whatever your style, do yourself a favor and spend the money for titanium. Some dive sites in the world prohibit carrying them altogether. Here on the Gulf, most of our dive sites are also popular fishing sites too. You will pretty much find line wrapped around most everything. I try to at least cut loose hooks and weights. Carrying a cork in my collecting bag makes hooks see to handle. Single hooks that is. Treble hooks are just a something to bury under a rock.
Invariably there’s gonna be at least one diver on the boat with a giant knife strapped to the outside of his lower leg. Guess that works for him. It did not work for me. Nor did having it screwed to the nifty designated holes on my Mares BCD. When I wore a leg strap arrangement, I had it on the inside of my lower left leg, handle just below the knee. There I could reach it with either hand and it wasn’t at some weird unnatural angle. Since it was on the inside, it was also less likely to get caught in something. But the straps themselves started giving me leg cramps so I had to make a switch. Somewhere in a batch of junk gear brought to the store I found an UK remora knife, I screwed it to the lower pocket of my BCD. It has a nice flat profile and so it works well there. I also now have an Akona line cutter attached to my inflator hose. I use it just about every dive.
I recently started carrying the old GoPro on a u-shaped frame rather than the stick handle. I first attached it to the same d-ring as my light but that did not work. Not because it interfered with my light. More importantly, it was in the perfect place to get wrapped up in the buoy line. That happened on a recent dive in rough seas. Of course I also had a bunch of novice divers with me that day too. Gotta figure out where the best place to hook that on. The lower right d-ring may work but I will need to experiment with its placement in calmer conditions.
The Red Fins 