I've been looking for a simple solution to keep my wallet, phone, and Bluetooth headset dry and secure while I'm swimming, but every waterproof bag was either very tiny, very difficult to open and push things into because of the tacky plastic coating, or expensive and only useful for one purpose.
After scoping out the options at sports stores, I realized I already had a very strong, lightweight polyester day bag so I went bought a large round screw-top container with a rubber gasket and I was done.
easy to put everything in and take everything out, very good seal.
Took it into some crashing waves for an hour with my phone, wallet, and t-shirt inside(and some tissue papers so that I could periodically check if any water was getting in) and the thing works like a charm.
Bonus buoyancy means I can use the container as a small pillow while floating
The water was pretty busy today, but I'll definitely have to try floating again, the neck pillow was very comfortable during the short test runs i was allowed.
Again, I don’t know where you get your dry bags but they can be submerged just fine and stay dry inside. If you’re talking about how aggressively they float, that can be controlled by how much air you trap inside before closing them. I’ve done quite a bit of kayaking and never had a dry bag fail, even when repeatedly rolling the kayak (usually on purpose).
maybe we're using different terminology.
I think I've found the type of kayaking waterproof dry bags you're talking about:
those look very effective for kayaking, floating and keeping spray off.
I'm watching videos to see if the seal maintains integrity while diving or against some heavy waves.
the videos all seem to focus on slightly expensive, bulky bags used for specifically surface water sports.
the fact the kayaking dry bags float is a big selling point in these videos, which goes against the use case of a waterproof submersible dive bag.
if those bags do stay sealed underwater for extended periods, i don't think I'd like to compress them every time i used them.
they look great for kayaking or wading, but don't appear to do the job as a convenient, lightweight, airtight, fully submersible, compact waterproof container i can dive or roll in the waves with.
some of these "waterproof dry bags" only use magnets and velcro to maintain their seal, which a wave or strong current would easily rip wide open.
also, you can get a good rubber sealed container at most supermarkets for a couple bucks that'll protect your phone, wallet, shirt whatever.
i appreciate your perspective, and it's pushing me more toward the rubber sealed container being a pretty valuable lifehack for extended submersible beach use.