Need a flag/float - which one?
- Thread starter Marie13
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tarponchik
Contributor
Yeah, right. I can imagine a headline in The Onion: "Florida Man Says He Always Stays At Least 300 ft Away From Dive Flags". Last time I was diving at erojacks a month ago some morons ran their boat almost on top of me when I was returning to the shore and was already at 10 ft. 15 min before that, another (or maybe the same) boat came up and I felt something was pulling my flag. I looked up and realized someone from that boat was pushing my flag away with a paddle or something.
tarponchik
Contributor
Off Jupiter?
OP
I always let the DM pull the flag when drift diving in South Florida. So they can use whatever they like. 
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West Palm and Jupiter
I always let the DM pull the flag when drift diving in South Florida. So they can use whatever they like.
None of the operators put a guide in the water in Boynton Beach, you take your own flag. The operators I use in Jupiter and West Palm put a guide with flag in the water, included in the charter. You can ascend with the guide at the end of the dive or use your own SMB
The problem with Florida dive flag laws is that they don't have any teeth.
1. For a first offense, $50.
2. For a second offense occurring within 12 months after a prior conviction, $250.
3. For a third offense occurring within 36 months after a prior conviction, $500.
4. For a fourth or subsequent offense occurring within 72 months after a prior conviction, $1,000.
Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine
Report back if you get a chance - curious to hear what that Three Oaks\Crystal Lake location is like. Do they have power boats in there? Don't know why they would make you tow a flag, particularly if they don't allow solo diving.
I get to that area once in a while, so I'm always wondering what is available in the north Chicago suburbs\south Wisconsin that doesn't involve getting up at the crack of dawn to drive to a boat. (Of course, if I packed the family scuba gear in the car, there would be no room for the family . . . decisions, decisions.) Really off topic now, but are there any recreational charters that go out of Illinois between, say, Evanston and the Wisconsin border?
OP
There’s a charter op out of Winthrop Harbor called Go Deep, LLC. My dive club uses them for charters, but they seem from their website to only do private charters. No walk on stuff.
Three Oaks only allows use of their rental canoes and such to avoid invasive species. No power boats at all. There is a different marked off scuba area. This is run by a city government. It’s IL. They’re going to be way over the line cautious.
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