# ultimate getaway live aboard dive charter



## Berry (Mar 8, 2011)

I know several of you guys have gone on the dry tortugas trip, any words of wisdom on what crap you wished you brought or left at home. Leaving for fort Meyers Wednesday so starting to pack up some gear and extras.


----------



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

Make sure your snorkeling fins fit well, and that you either have full booties on your feet, or at least neoprene socks ( for full foot fins).
Your feet will thank you - when you DONT wear huge blisters in your feet the first day.
I usually dive open heel fins with booties - but for some reason end up switching to full foot fins for snorkeling - and am usually very sorry i did.
I tried the neoprene socks this year (after I already had blisters) ....they help - but still not as good as my nice thick booties.


----------



## aquatic argobull (Mar 2, 2009)

Berry said:


> I know several of you guys have gone on the dry tortugas trip, any words of wisdom on what crap you wished you brought or left at home. Leaving for fort Meyers Wednesday so starting to pack up some gear and extras.


Most important thing, is when you catch a bunch of lobster, don't forget about your dive buddy who couldn't make it. :whistling::whistling:


----------



## Brady (Sep 6, 2012)

Gas Money.


----------



## Hangover (Aug 5, 2013)

+1 on foot care, bring duct tape too. I found some waterproof brown spongy tape at wallmart that worked well for me. Powder, cream etc...whatever it takes to keep your tender bits functional, all of them.

With Lobster & Hogfish on the table I just dove with a speargun and bag opting to shoot no more than a bag full of hogs & lobster on any dive. Worked for me. I left my tickle stick, net and stringer on the boat for most dives. Gonna shoot one of the 2-5 black grouper that are taken on a trip and you may regret this strategy. I used an extra shaft as a tickle stick.

I prefer the aft bunks. Depending on how your group does it, get there early enough to score one of those bunks.

Bring hard liquor instead of beer, they only load up the cooler once with ice at the dock. Ice never keeps.

Don't overpack. Bring all of your necessary gopro stuff. Be mindful of your gear bag (I use a 5 gal bucket which fits under my seat).

Bring a 10 ft sausage....seriously, get the biggest you can find and go orange not yellow. You want to be seen. Also, I use an open bottom SMB and find it easier to manage than the ones you blow into manually.

Inflate your sausage at your safety stop and clip it to the band of your gun. This should put you ~15 ft and shorten your pickup time by a few minutes.

Group up for pickup. Swim to the next guy and cluster in groups. It will make the process much quicker.

Other than that....shoot fish and grab lobster. Bring a big cooler for the ride home or tip the deckhands to clean your fish.

Here's some video of our recent trip.


----------

