Lots of dry bags come with external pockets. They allow you to have a few smaller personal items close at all time. Opening and closing dry bags and especially searching for smaller things when they drop to the bottom of the bag can bit a bit annoying. So an external pocket comes in handy. The catch here is, that if dry bag is intended for wet conditions, then the external pocket will also get its fair share of water abuse. And if your smaller personal items aren’t waterproof you are usually out of luck. External pockets usually aren’t watertight. They use splash proof zippers that don’t really stop the water.
This is why, when we designed the Whale dry bag backpack with 30 liters of space and an external pocket, we wanted the pocket to be waterproof. Here is a short test of the pocket that I did when I was kayaking the Adriatic sea coastline in February. Check it out and see how the external pocket takes floating on the sea surface. The 30l Whale dry bag is a perfect bag for kayaking trip, multi day sup trips, surf trips, days at the beach etc…