Candice LandauLast Updated on April 16, 2025 by Candice Landau
If you’ve ever met a South African, chances are you’ve met someone who incessantly marks the things they own, likely in anonymous stalker-style big block letters—easy to read and completely lacking in subtlety and tact. Well, there’s a reason for this and it begins with South African schools.
As kids we were made to mark every item we owned. Every year, at the start of the school year (which began, logically, in January), our teachers sent home letters telling our parents to write our names on our clothes, on stationery, on bags, and, well everything in between. Though this probably had more to do with kids leaving items around, it was probably done to prevent or discourage theft too. It’s much easier to knick something and potentially sell it if isn’t labelled. Needless to say, it gave me a lot of practice.
Every January—because who wouldn’t start a school year in January?—our teachers sent home letters demanding our parents label every single item we owned: clothes, stationery, lunch boxes, you name it. It was mostly so we’d find our stuff after losing it. Like any good mother tasked with a chore, mine outsourced it straight back to me. And thus began my not-lucrative career as a labeling ninja.
Today, decked out in full scuba gear, my name is all over me—impossible for anyone to forget. Basically, if I leave my gear on the dive boat, you know it’s mine. Does it mean I have a trust problem? Maybe. Do I care? Nope, not a jot.
The question you’re asking, however, is:
“How do I mark my scuba gear, Candice? Come on, stop writing another long article…“
Okay, I hear you! I just love starting with a story. You can blame my mom for that too.
When it comes to marking gear there are two things you need to keep in mind.
Firstly, water—and more specifically, salt water—can be pretty destructive. Expect it to wear down writing and labels, or rub them out if you’re not using the right medium on the right material.
Secondly, divers are tough on their gear. Sometimes the dive environment is too. If you live in a place like Oregon you might find yourself clambering over sharp jetty rocks. If you teach scuba a lot you might be mucking about in the sand a bit more than you want to, wearing down those beautifully illustrated dive fins…
Over the last nine years this label-happy South African diver has tested multiple different ways to appease her incessant desire to shout her name from all items. Here are my tried and tested methods, broken down by type of gear.
How to mark clothing and soft items that won’t get very wet
Perhaps the easiest gear to mark is regular clothing. Dive thermals might occasionally get wet but marking them as your territory is easy.
For the most part I use a clothing-friendly Sharpie (it doesn’t bleed) on labels though if you’re lazy you could just use a Sharpie too. I don’t usually as I’m afraid it will “run” in the wash.
For clothes that don’t have labels I can easily write on, I take a different approach—a bit old school and “foreign” to most Americans. In South Africa, school supply shops made material labels with our names on them. You could buy dozens of these in one go. Your mom would then stitch them on to your clothing whenever needed. Funnily, there are plenty of Etsy sellers that do just this (perhaps they’re all South African?). Today there are even iron-on name tags that offer an even slicker version of what we did.
If clothing loss or theft isn’t a worry to you, it’s still a great way to make everybody’s life easier, especially if you’re sharing a room with other divers, or likely to get things mixed up as they dry.
For items like deck jackets or boat coats (more expensive) I suggest you buy a customizable iron-on patch. I bought one for my deck jacket (it’s a cold water diving thing). I iron these on and then I hand stitch around the edge just to ensure they don’t peel off over time. It’s super quick and you don’t need much sewing skill. I don’t think I stitched this one on at all as it seemed to be holding. I honestly love it as it helps dive students remember my name. From the less mature it sometimes draws a snicker too. Don’t worry, it’s an American thing…
Items I make sure to label:
- My deck jacket and boat coat (they’re expensive!)
- My thermals (also expensive)
- Anything I regularly share (like thick socks used with my drysuit)
- My liner gloves for my drysuit (gloves are easy to lose)
- Any other jackets or hoodies I take with me diving on a regular basis
- My wellies (or rain boots as the Americans like to say)
How to mark hard plastic or metal items like camera equipment, flashlights, backplates or regulator first stages
For these items, my go to purchase and method for labelling are these 3M labels by Active Trends. They’re customizable even sold on Amazon. I bought two sets of them. One set has my name and one set has my Instagram handle. I use both on my gear.
They’ve held up seriously well and I think I’ve only ever had them come off when I’ve stuck them on equipment with notable ridges, such that they’re not properly stuck in the first place. Mine have held secure for years. They’ve also got a lovely somewhat glossy-glittery sheen that makes them look and feel far more expensive than they are.
For my name, I used their standard dive flag logo. For my Instagram handle I uploaded my own logo—a little favicon I created for my website (the mola mola you see on my tabs). You can make your own in Canva. Create a 100 x 100 canvas and add your own graphics. Remember if will be shrunk down to an absolutely tiny size so don’t add too many details. Download with a transparent background. This is a fun way to customize your stickers, though totally not necessary. The dive flags you see on the image above are standard options you can choose from.
The other methods I use for labelling items:
- A traditional Sharpie for things like power outlets (don’t not label those. They labels will remind YOU not to leave or forget them).
- This solid paint marker for window, wood and glass. It works beautifully on scuba tanks too. I’ve been using in on my steel tanks since 2019 and it nothing I labelled back then has rubbed off. I’m an active diver so these tanks have seen some salt!
- An engraving pen for things like first stages and dive computers. Be careful where you mark as you don’t want to damage structural integrity. This may also make them a pain to sell if you ever want to do that. I bought a regulator from someone who’d done this and I’ll never be able to remove his initials. Super annoying! Also, do not engrave your tanks! That’s never going to fly when you get them inspected/hydro’d. Personally, I’d avoid this option.
- My GUE member stickers (Silver level and up). When I signed up for a GUE membership, they sent me stickers with my name on them. They were pretty big which made them ideal for my backplate and larger items. Plus, they look slick. I guess you could make your own or get a GUE membership. Note, you don’t need to have done a GUE course to get the membership.
How to mark softer gear like neoprene that gets wet
Ah, the age old question, how do you mark the actually-hard-to-mark gear? Historically, I’ve used 3D fabric paint to do this. For the most part it works pretty well. In fact, I wrote an entire article on it. I used this for wetsuits, Seasoft weight belts, and my BCD. Eventually 3D paint will peel off. It’s not an IF, it’s a WHEN. That said, it’s easy to re-apply. Many dive shops use it to mark their wetsuits, booties and fins. Sometimes they do this to mark sizes too.
My advice to you: don’t buy 3D paint from a dive shop or a dive brand (they mark up the prices—often double) and sometimes for worse quality paint. I wrote about this in the article I linked to above. Just buy good old fabric paint from the craft store or a site like Amazon. Make sure to shake it before use and to keep the tip clean so it extrudes neatly. I’m all for supporting dive shops but not when the same thing is sold (better) elsewhere. Plus, this isn’t what’s keeping their doors open, it’s YOU buying more expensive dive gear.
Oh, PS: Not all fabric paint is made equal. Some brands are significantly worse than others. For the most part I’ve stuck to the Scribbles brand. The quality is much higher than some of the ones labelled puff paint. Pus it extrudes well.
The reason I don’t use 3D paint for hard gear is that you can literally just peel it off when it’s dried which almost negates the point of marking it at all. For hard gear refer to my suggestions above.
I also label literally every single soft weight I own with my name. This stuff is easily switched or nicked because weights are expensive! Plus, if you teach or divemaster, sometimes you need to loan them to students or leave them on the shore. Use a sharpie for those. If they’re black, use a solid paint marker.
How to mark dive fins
Okay, this one’s a doozy. I’m not going to lie—I’ve yet to find a foolproof way to mark my dive fins. They just see so much action. Every type of marker I’ve used on fins has eventually peeled or scraped off—oil paint based markers, spray paint with primer, sharpies, other types of marker. Nothing seems to stay.
The problem isn’t as bad if you have white fins. My Apeks RK3 fins have held regular old Sharpie well. Granted, I haven’t made a design on them, just labelled them with my name, but the name has yet to wear off. Next time I’ll sharpie a design on them so it’s a little sexier.
If you have dark fins, I suppose you could try some sort of tape that holds up well underwater (at least that’s what divers who frequent Scuba Board think), perhaps a reflective duct tape. Then, you can Sharpie your name on that.
These days you can buy pretty narrow duct tape rolls, which could even make spelling your name out fun. I haven’t tried that yet. If you do, let me know how it goes. I did buy some of this thin tape but with my new semi-nomadic lifestyle, I’ve yet to find the breathing room to use it.
How to mark accessories like bolt snaps
Okay, sure you could probably stick an Active Trends sticker on them (wrap it around) but I prefer something that also more obviously identifies them as mine. For that reason, I first wrap my bolt snaps and double enders in this waterproof self-fusing silicone tape. I wrote about it in my article on How to Mark Your Bolt Snaps and Double-Enders (So You Know They’re Yours).
Once you’ve marked them, label them with your dive sticker or write on them with a Sharpie. Of course, you could also use duct tape to mark yours but that leaves ugly sticker goop when you peel it off. Mine is tasteful and plumber-tested! If you’re feeling daring just leave them wrapped. That will show them!
How to mark dive tanks
Fortunately, dive tanks are pretty easy to mark. I’ve used black nail polish and a white oil-based paint marker as well as Sharpie. All of these markers have stood the test of time. So take your pick.
As you can see below, the other thing that’s stood the test of time is someone else’s name—SLB2—a mister Scott Boyd who sadly passed recently but had the most wonderful website all self-respecting PNW cold water divers frequented. I bought four steel tanks from him a few years back when he was cleaning shop.
A word of warning before I continue: Do NOT engrave your tank. That’s never going to hold up when you get it visually inspected (which you have to do every year) and hydro’d. Just use a pen or paint like everybody else.
The other thing I do to make my tanks super easy to recognize is attach a waterproof vinyl South African flag sticker. There aren’t that many South African divers living stateside so most people can rapidly tell which tanks are mine which makes it nice and easy for dive shops.
If you’re looking for a fun way to mark your own tanks, I highly recommend Kolin Hansen’s stickers. He runs “Getting Salty” and makes gorgeous tank wraps. Like seriously GORGEOUS. Go. Look but don’t buy the wolf eel ones. Those are MINE.
How to mark dive bags, luggage and suitcases
Okay, for starters, ensure every single piece of luggage that’s going to go through an airport has a luggage tag on it with your name, email and phone number.
Personally, I don’t write my address on mine as I want them to ask where to send it. If I’m flying overseas to a remote location and they misplace it, I want them to forward to my current destination so I can actually use my dive gear.
If we’re talking dive bags that go on a boat, however, use a permanent marker or paint pen and write your name on them. Trust me, on a dive boat with 10 other divers, it’s makes everybody’s life easier. 3D paint will work too if your bag is fabric or similar.
Dry bags should be labelled with a Sharpie. 3D paint will peel off of them. Also, put an Apple Air Tag or Tile in every bag you take on a plane.
Cute ways to identify (and mark) your gear
Now we get to the fun part! What can you put on your gear to mark it as yours without scrawling your name—as tactlessly as a South African—all over it.
Ugh, so many things! My favorite recent discovery is literally all the stuff Oceanarium makes. They have cute animal-shaped regulator covers, regulator bags, nudibranch gear labels (see this picture), mask straps, and more. The stuff is so cute it makes me sick. I came across the brand when I was attending DEMA last year but I have since seen them selling their wares on Etsy. It’s legit and it feels like good quality stuff.
I purchased some of their nudibranch gear labels just to mark my gear on the dive boat. This made it easier for people to remember which was mine. I also bought a whale-shaped regulator bag because it was adorable. Next purchase is undoubtedly going to be a turtle octopus holder, just to protect my reg when in storage (so no cockroaches enter it).
Another good way to mark your gear is to focus on buying items that others are unlikely to own. For example, buy a unique mask strap and write or 3D paint your name on the inside of it.
Some gear companies will also customize wings. Halcyon and XDeep, for example, both offer customizable wings, both in terms of color and label. You can even have them a stitch a logo on. It’s wild!
One day, when it’s time to upgrade my own gear, I’ll probably go that route. I mean multi-colored camo?! Sign me up. Tech diving is entering a whole new world that’s bursting with color. Fins, wings…what’s next?
These days it’s even easy to make your serious dive computers unique if you buy a colored strap, or one of the many silicone protective cases sold on Amazon. AMXTeknology also makes covers for dive computers though they’re made of aluminum and are substantially pricer compared with the silicone cases. I own both.
DAN’s customizable tags are also a great two for one. You can slip them on to most types of equipment. Just be sure that whatever your connection is, it’s stainless steel, or something that won’t rust. A lot of metal is not and breaks off or slowly erodes and becomes sharp over time.
Now, going back to gear that gets wet…rashguards. Spacefish Army, Waterlust and SlipIns all make unique warm water diving wear. Personally, I love me a Spacefish Army rashguard. They’re thick and their patterns are totally unique. SlipIns by contrast is thin but gorgeously glossy. I like to wear them in uber warm water when I want to stand out in a photographer’s pictures, or when I want an extra layer under my wetsuit in slightly less warm water.
Finally, water bottles. Mark your water bottles with unique stickers. You’ll get hundreds of them in the dive world. Maybe it will give you something fun to collect.
If your water bottle has a harness or strap, buy pins from Fin Pins to mark it! They’re so cute. Honestly you probably just want to buy a bunch of pins from them anyway, even if you don’t yet know what to use them for. They do also make stickers.
Okay, I’m tired. What have I missed? Please teach me. Leave a comment yo!
