Last Updated on 04/06/2024

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Scuba Diving Packing List

The following scuba diving packing list is a guide for useful items to take on a dive boat in tropical waters. This includes what to pack for diving liveaboard trips and scuba diving day trips. I’m a qualified PADI divemaster, I have over 200+ dives and have dived all around Asia and collated this scuba diving packing list as a result of many years’ experience of scuba dive trips.

Scuba Packing List: Underwater Phone Housing

Since buying my underwater diving phone housing I am a total convert. If you have a phone that takes great photos, then this is a great choice of product for your scuba diving packing. My underwater phone dive housing is diveVOLK and I now take it on every dive trip. Compare Amazon prices here for diveVOLK and see if it is compatible with your phone:

Scuba Diving Packing List: GoPro

There are many other similar video cameras for diving but the Gopro is still a popular, small and useful item for diving. It took me too long to get mine and I missed out on some great footage of diving with turtles in the Gili islands in Indonesia. Scuba Diving Tip: When learning to do your Open Water or Advanced qualification and doing other dive courses you are, generally speaking, not permitted to use cameras. Compare prices for GoPros on Amazon here. I recommend one with a screen so you can see what you are videoing or taking photos of underwater. Make sure your Gopro has a protective dive housing to 30 metres, some recent Gopro releases are waterproof but not diveproof.

Scuba Diving Packing Guide : GoPro Accessories for diving: A red filter

A red filter for the GoPro is an absolute must for my diving holiday packing list. In different waters, the sea is different colours but a red filter will suit most tropical diving. See the below underwater photo with no red filter! They are all blue or green and you lose the colour the deeper you dive. See which red filter fits your underwater camera here. 

Packing for Diving Holiday: GoPro essentials for diving – floating stick

I have been on so many dive boats where divers have dropped their gopros over the side of the boat and without a floating device they sink. A floating stick or handle is ideal and I never go on a boat without this floating device. You can also use orange floating devices to stick onto the back of your Gopro but these will cover the screen portion of the GoPro. Compare different floating sticks on Amazon here. Be aware that the floating selfie sticks that extend often have air in the middle so will not be suitable for scuba diving.

Packing List Diving : Seasick Bands

Even if going in dry season when the ocean is calmer, it can still get rough when crossing the atolls. I swear by these travel sickness bands. They go around your wrist with a small bead that pushes gently on a pressure point. Even if it’s psychological they work! Buy a pair on Amazon here.

Liveaboard Packing List: Best swimwear for diving trip

I have tried diving with a variety of different swimwear and I also wear a wetsuit because I get cold even in 29C water. I always choose a bikini because it is easier to wear under a wetsuit for going to the toilet on the boat. I also make sure I don’t have any ties on the bikini bottoms or a halterneck tie on the bikini top so that it doesn’t irritate me when my wetsuit is zipped up. A bikini like the one I am wearing below is best for under a wetsuit.

Diving Wetsuits: Best women’s wetsuit on a budget for warm waters

This is my exact wetsuit below on Amazon which I actually ordered from www.lazada.com (the Asian Amazon)  as I was living in Thailand at the time. I’m a UK size 8 and it fits like a glove. It’s 5mm which keeps me warm as I am a wimp and get cold easily! If I get cold underwater I shiver a lot and I go through my air so much quicker so I definitely recommend keeping warm.

See my exact wetsuit on Amazon which won’t break the bank!

Scuba Checklist: Rash Vest and Leggings

If you feel a wetsuit is a bit extreme for warm water diving then I definitely recommend taking a rash vest instead. It’s a very useful item that I always take on diving or snorkelling trips.  I recommend rash vests with a zip up the middle to make it easier to get on and off. Browse brand name rash vests here.

For leggings for diving or snorkelling,  I am obsessed with Waterlust leggings, all made from recycled plastic packaging.

Diving Packing Essentials: Decongestant to help equalise ears

Tiger balm is a useful item to pack for a dive boat. You cannot equalise with a cold or blocked nose so these are useful for keeping your sinuses open, especially if you are on a liveaboard dive boat or are doing multiple dives in one day. Buy from Amazon here or if you are diving in Asia wait until you are there to get it much cheaper.

I have  previously used Actifed as a very strong decongestant which always helps me equalise my ears but you shouldn’t use it for diving consecutive days. There is also a risk of reverse block so after consulting with an ENT specialist I was recommend this nose spray which I use every day for the week leading up to diving and it really helps with ear equalisation problems of which I used to have many!

Scuba Packing List – Socks

You might not look like the coolest diver out there but if you’re wearing fins without booties for days on end then socks will stop them from rubbing (and protect my nail varnish!) Also very useful for liveaboard diving packing lists because of diving multiple dives a day.

Dive Trip Packing List: Dry Bag

I am forever a fan of these dry bags for keeping everything safe from waves, water and rain. I love the 5l bags. Buy yours here for a reasonable price.

Scuba Diving Packing List: Daily contact lenses

Spare contact lenses – if like me you need to wear contacts to actually see the fish or sharks or mantas then make sure you take a spare pair with you. I find that clearing your mask underwater particularly stings when wearing contacts and changing them between two dives can help. I use daily contacts for diving but monthlies normally. I prefer to use daily contact lenses when diving. Please note, according to my optician, only soft contact lens can be used for scuba diving.

What to take on a liveaboard boat: Some warm clothes

A hoody or a jumper – maybe just for people who feel the cold but multiple dives lowers your body temperature so at the end of the diving day I’m often feeling the cold.

Scuba Diving Checklist: Reef friendly suncream

I am still always looking out for reef friendly suncream with a high SPF and so far I can recommend Sunbum brands and the Cerave suncream.

Diving Packing List:  Log Book

Make sure to take your log book to log all your fun dives as well as dive courses. Recently I’ve made sure I write in my log book in between dives – especially when doing three or four dives a day, to help me remember and write about the moment.

Packing for a dive trip: A sarong

A sarong – I never bother with heavy beach towels nowadays and I prefer to travel with lightweight, quick drying sarongs instead. I might not always head straight home after a dive and I don’t want to be carrying around a wet, heavy towel to the bar for post diving beers. I love a turtle themed one like this one 

Diving Packing Checklist: Dive Computer

I’ve found the best dive equipment for a low budget which includes an affordable dive computer that I’ve been using for years. I use this budget dive computer, brand Cressi Leonardo because I thought it was a great value dive computer. I bought it from Amazon after a recommendation from a friend. It is very basic and doesn’t have a free diving mode but it suits scuba diving very well. I know instructors who use it and it has a long battery life. I haven’t had to replace mine in 2 years of fairly regular diving trips. One thing to note is that this cheap dive computer is very conservative in that it will flash “no fly” for 24 hours after only one dive. It comes in a range of colours with slightly different price tags. I have the white one.

Scuba Diving Checklist: The best mask for a small face

I bought my Oceanic Ice Mini last year and I absolutely love it. It has a wide range of vision and I love that the mask is all one piece of glass rather than divided into two. I would definitely buy this again and I am very happy. I put toothpaste overnight a couple of times at the beginning to make sure it doesn’t fog and now I have no problems with it. I also love mask strap at the back as my hair never gets stuck in it. I bought my clear one from Simply Scuba in the UK but there is an Amazon version only in black.

For more about diving in Asia, read more of my blog posts:

Click here to find out more about the best dive sites in Thailand. 

For the best dive destinations in South East Asia check out my countries list

For diving in the Maldives, (and the best diving in the world in my opinion!) check out the little known island of Fuvahmulah

And if you are obsessed with manta rays consider a holiday to Baa Atoll for the best manta ray experience in the world.

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