A little while ago, I uploaded a new video to the Splashpacker YouTube channel, with 3 packing tips for female travelers to take on their scuba diving holiday. The video includes items for women to add to their female travel packing list, especially for solo travel and dive travel. In this post, I will describe the items on my female travel packing list in a bit more detail, and also explain why I really benefit from this female packing list for scuba diving holidays and solo vacations. As a bonus, I will add two more items. So in total, I share five travel packing list articles that I always carry with me when I go on a diving trip or as a female solo traveler.
Here is the YouTube video. Feel free to subscribe to this channel, which is completely free!
A bit about me to share a women’s travel packing list for female dive travel & solo vacation
I’m an ex-scuba diving instructor and have traveled a lot (still am), and this especially includes solo travel as a woman. I left my home country (the Netherlands) in 2006 and worked as a diving instructor in the Canary Islands, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, the Maldives, New Zealand, and Australia. I’ve also traveled to countries such as Egypt, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Europe, and more. I’m also writing a travel memoir book about that now.
What’s in this post about my female travel packing list for solo travel & scuba diving?
Most of the above travels I did as a female solo traveler, and often also included scuba diving holidays. So I’ve got lots of travel tips for you to create your female travel packing list for dive travel, solo travel, and female travel! There are many more items I can recommend to add to your female travel packing list. And I might share more posts about that in the future. For now, I’d like to share 5 tips of useful things I have on my dive trip packing list and female travel packing list.
Other packing list posts for diving holidays, solo travel & female vacations
You might also be interested in reading my other post about the travel electronics packing list for solo travel and long-term travels, and the Nikon Coolpix waterproof camera which is great for diving holidays, and the waterproof, rugged Blackview phone. Or click here for an overview of all my packing list posts as a solo female dive traveler.
So what’s on my packing list as a solo female dive traveler?
Here’s a summary of the 5 women’s dive travel accessories that I’ve got on my female travel packing list. Further down in this post, I will share why each item is so handy and useful for me as a solo female dive traveler who often needs to pack for long-term travels or backpacking trips.
- The small waterproof dry bag (that can also be used as a handbag in the evenings)
- The menstrual cup is essential for female dive travel to places where Tampax is not as easily available
- The microfiber travel towel (compact and light in your bag to bring on the dive boat, and also great for drying your hair)
- The wash mitt for washing or drying your face, cleaning your dive mask or camera lens, and can be used as a sweat cloth during exercising
- A pink stainless steel water bottle for saving plastic and to travel more sustainable
I’ve also got a list of useful cosmetics to add to your female travel packing list but will save them for a future post. Let’s stick to those five items for this post!
This packing list for solo female travel & diving holidays is made up of personal experience
As mentioned before, I came up with the items in this list out of personal experience. I’m not sponsored by any company, but to comply with the advertising laws I state here that as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases through the links to products I recommend.
The waterproof dry bag is on my female travel packing list
The little waterproof dry bag, which you can buy in many scuba dive destinations like Thailand for example, is useful on the female travel packing list for different reasons. First of all, obviously, the bags are invented to keep stuff dry on either a scuba dive boat or any other watersports activity you might be doing.
They are very simple in use. In order to close them waterproof, you just roll the end up and then click it together. There are many different sizes available. I used a bigger size when I worked as an instructor to carry a dry swimsuit, clothes, and a towel on the boat. They come in different versions, and the one below is also a little backpack. This version might be useful for other excursions during your travels too.
The little dry pack can also be used as a female travel handbag for women on holiday!
One of the reasons I really like the little 2-litre version is that you can also use it as a handbag. Of course, we females always need some kind of a handbag. Whether you go for dinner at night or just for a walk, I rarely go without a little bag. But I don´t always have space in my backpack to carry yet another bag. This is where this one really becomes handy! It exactly fits my phone, wallet, maybe sunglasses, and/or my e-reader. Find your drybag on Amazon here, or use the photo below for a budget 2L drybag like I have. I can recommend adding this little bag to your female travel packing list for the reasons mentioned above.
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I often also use the little pack as my hand luggage bag during the flight too
Besides the above, I sometimes carry the little dry bag as hand luggage on a plane, next to another carry-on bag. If I have a little backpack as hand luggage, I put my passport, waterproof cell phone, and wallet in this one. It´s safe because it´s rolled before closed so nobody can grab into it and if someone unclicks it, it will roll off and you feel that on your shoulder. Also, when I’m in my plane seat, I use it to take some things I like to use during the flight like my e-reader, one of the electronics I pack for traveling.
The menstrual cup is indispensable on the female travel packing list
More than 10 years ago, I often found it hard to find Tampax when I worked as a scuba diving instructor. In some places I worked, like the Dominican Republic and Mexico, these products were so expensive and sometimes hard to find. After that, when taking off for a new job in the Maldives in 2010, I added a bag full of Tampax to my female travel packing list.
Yet still, I needed to ask my aunty to send me more because they were not available at all on the Atoll where I worked! Also, I remember traveling in the Philippines and not being able to find them anywhere in Manila! So, when the menstrual cup came out, about a decade ago, I instantly bought one! Click here for an overview of the cups available on Amazon., Or check out this one, made with medical-grade silicone and with a handy travel case:
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As a female scuba diving instructor working abroad, I was so relieved by the invention of the reusable period cup!
If I remember correctly, the first I bought was called the DivaCup. But soon a lot of other brands appeared on the market and now you have so many different options available. There are different sizes for younger girls or women who have given birth. And you also have a travel version. That´s the one I now carry with me now, it’s called the Lily Cup. You can fold it and take it with you without taking up any space in your luggage! Also, it’s environmentally friendly because you don´t produce any waste with this! But there are even organic versions available.
The microfiber travel towel is super handy for the women’s travel packing list too!
The microfiber towel is lightweight and won´t take up much space in your luggage. Especially if you roll it, it’s almost nothing compared to a normal towel. I always carry this towel with me and only use normal towels if the accommodation provides them for me. This towel can be carried on the dive boat or you can use it to lie down on the beach. Another benefit of this towel is that dries very quickly and for females can it be used to dry long hair quickly. Click here to find your microfiber travel towel on Amazon. (ad)
Likewise, the bath mitt is so good to have on your dive trip packing list
In the Netherlands, you will find this thing literally translated as ‘the washing hand’. You can find it in almost every family’s bathroom. It’s used simply to wash your body under the shower, to just wash your face, or to clean little children´s hands or face. I figured out that they are also available in other countries and are called the wash mitt, or bath mitt. Well, this is great because I can recommend adding them to your female travel packing list too. I always carry a couple of them with me on a scuba diving trip for a variety of reasons. They are so useful for female travel and dive travel!
Why pack the wash mitt for female travel & dive travel?
I have three reasons for carrying the bath mitt on my dive travels as well as solo female travels. First of all, it can be used the same way as a dry cloth: to clean the dive mask or a camera lens. Second, I use it to wash my face, but also sometimes to dry my face. If my microfiber travel towel is not clean and the accommodation did not provide me with a clean towel. A bigger towel can be used for your body for several days, but I find it very nice to use something clean for my face every day. Third, it can be used as a sweat cloth in the gym or during other exercises.
You can also use a dry cloth instead to add to your female & dive travel packing list
Instead of using the bath mitt, you can also use a little dry cloth. No matter if you´re a female traveler or not, it can be very useful, especially for scuba diving holidays and dive travel in general. I’m living on the Canary Islands and bought the ones below just at the Ikea store here.
The stainless steel drinking bottle is recommended for any travel packing, but especially for dive travel
My last recommendation is not specifically related to the female travel packing list. But because mine is pink, I include it as well in this post. Since I´m always looking for ways to protect our environment and reduce plastic, this is one of the easiest things to have to help the environment. Think about how many plastic bottles are saved each time this one gets filled up! Not only does this plastic-free bottle serve the environment, but it also serves you.
Adding a plastic-free water bottle to your travel packing list serves you too!
I suggest adding a stainless steel water bottle to the packing list for any kind of traveling. First of all, the water stays much colder in this kind of bottle compared to a plastic bottle. And second, you save money. A little plastic bottle of water might not cost you too much, but calculate how many you buy in a year! And even if the tap water is not of drinking quality, you still save money and plastic by buying big 5- or 8-litre water containers.
Besides this, in many places, there are free water refill stations, and also often in airports. Click here for an overview of eco-friendly and conscious scuba dive centers! Be an environmentally conscious female traveler, or dive traveler, and add a bottle like this to your travel packing list!
Conclusion about the women’s packing list
Sometimes it´s hard to decide what to pack for your holiday, no matter is this is a diving holiday or a solo female vacation. Getting a clear female travel packing list for you as a women traveler can be very useful to help you plan to pack for your travels. Sometimes not everything you like to pack fits in your bag, but there are always tips for traveling lighter.
Also, it’s hard not to forget to pack an important travel item, especially for female travelers who just need a little bit more stuff than men. And then as scuba divers, we even need more things! So I hope this post has helped you in some way with some ideas for your female travel packing list for solo female vacations and diving holidays. Click here for an overview of all my packing lists.
NEW! For male & female scuba divers: My review about the Nikon Coolpix as a dive travel camera. Click below to read the full post!
Nikon Coolpix Underwater Camera: the waterproof W300 for scuba dive photos
Share your ideas for the female travel packing list!
If you have any great ideas to add to this female travel packing list, please share them in the comments. It might help other female travelers too! Also, feel free to subscribe to my mailing list below to stay up-to-date when I post something new. You’ll receive once a week max an e-mail, but only when I have published a new travel blogpost.
Next to packing ideas for dive travel and as a solo female traveler, I also write about scuba diving destinations around the world, sustainable tourism and eco-friendly traveling, and I keep a travel blog. You can also follow me on social media (scroll down to the very end of this page) or subscribe to my YouTube channel below. Here is the link to the video related to this post!
Happy splashpacking!
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