2) Light weight, quick dry shorts - Dewerstone shorts

I paddled and swam in these shorts. I really like them, they’re light and dry fast, as well as looking cool (well, I think so). I struggled with the sizing a little on my first purchase. I am wearing a size 10 in this photo, if that is any use to you 😊

3) SPF 50 + hoodie - NRS silkweight hoodie

The sun was so intense whilst out paddling. You needed everything covered. This hoodie was light weight and cooling. The first few days I tried just the silkweight top with a buff, but having the hood covering my neck and sides of my face was much better. We struggled to protect the backs of our hands. We lathered sunscreen on them, but with sand and sea water it was often a little tricky to top up throughout the day. I would take the paddling gloves with sun protection for next time.

5) Bondi Suncream

I never thought too much about sun protection in my 20s. But in recent years and spending so much time on the water, I do make the effort and so buying some suncream that did the job and didn’t feel horrible was important to me and so now I am a bit of sunscreen collector haha. I have settled on this brand and have several variations of it. I really like the SPF50 face spray for a light coverage and top up around town etc. in the day. I use the SPF50 moisturising face cream in the mornings, which just feels like a moisturiser. We took a SPF50 aerosol body spray for the days we weren’t paddling; this foams up and you rub it in and didn’t feel greasy. Finally, for paddling we used their sport SPF50 spray. This felt thicker compared to the others but it’s water resistant, so it’s to be expected. We did get a little spotty after a few days paddling, I guess our pores were a bit blocked from this one. But’s it’s tricky when you’re camping.

The other thing you may or may not have thought about, is how the sunscreen is then polluting the sea when you’re swimming. It can be quite bad for the coral. So, this one is Australian, they’ve taken this into consideration, and I have read that it is safe to use in the sea.

4) Wrap around shades

We both had a decent pair of shades but after a conversation at the airport we decided we needed a bit more to protect our eyes and so made quite an expensive pre-holiday purchase on some Oakleys that provided full coverage. Following on from the last point, we were very glad we had made this decision, they were vital out on the sea. These or any other decent wrap around shades are a necessity. My only concern was, if one of us had a bit of moment and broke/lost our glasses, we would have been a bit screwed during the exped, I think I would take a back up pair on the next trip. These are PPE!

6) Mahoosive tough bag - Sea to summit duffle bag

We picked up this bag as a bargain from Pro Adventure, at 130Ltrs we could fit a ton in it. It had a large opening, to get in and rustle around and it was super tough, so we didn’t mind it being chucked around on boats, tuktuks and hotel receptions.  There are multiple ways to attach the straps too. But be aware, once you fill this bad boy, it is going to be heavy! Good job Nic was feeling strong.

7) Packing cubes

GAME CHANGER! For so many trips I have wasted time trying to find things in big duffle bags and kit spreading out all over your clothes. We bought some cubes from Ikea, duct taped labels on them and categorised our clothes a bit. It was so helpful and made the moving around and packing up process so much easier. Also, when Nic was being Florence Nightingale and I was too unwell to do stuff, she was able to grab clothes for me quite easily from the different cubes. We’ve already used them again numerous times since.

8) Overboard bumbag

This is Nic’s and to be honest, I wasn’t keen. I thought it was a bit over kill, but boy did I eat my words. This little bag was brilliant and so handy! Nic used it as a deck bag, we had our suncream, meds, Go Pro shizzle and other things in it that we needed to hand. We then also used it when were snorkelling to keep our valuables/meds in, it was 100% dry. I would totally recommend it for your travels and boating.

9) MSR Elixir 3 tent

I’m a big fan of the MSR tents and have collected a few over the years. This one I picked up on a deal at Blacks to use when I am doing DofE exped etc. where I don’t have to carry it (it’s not that light!). It was brilliant because we didn’t have to rely on pegs and guy lines, it is self-standing, so on the beach and platform we were all good. It was 100% sealed to keep the creepy crawlies out (our other choice was not). The three-person meant that we had a bit more room for kit and to spread out and sit up, it was really hot overnight too! And we slept sometimes without the outer. So yes, it’s not the lightest, but we didn’t notice it much in the boats and well, our duffle bags were already heavy, we didn’t plan to walk too far with them.

10) Double sleeping mat - Exped Ultra 3R Duo

We were on holiday, so we wanted to be comfy in bed, plus, why should you have to sleep separate on holiday 😊 So we had a lil Google for a double mattress and found this one. Quick to inflate, comfy and relatively small pack downsize. We were pleased with our decision, and I reckon it’s small enough to take bike touring in the future too.