2 more upper keys dive fatalities, 8/6/2011

[diversteve]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

some posts have been edited or removed...

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Please stay on topic...

 

[jldodd]

The moderator has taken it upon himself to remove my post asking these people to stay on topic. I guess calling people out for bad behavior is frowned upon by the moderators on this forum.

 

[DandyDon]

The moderator has taken it upon himself to remove my post asking these people to stay on topic. I guess calling people out for bad behavior is frowned upon by the moderators on this forum.

Yeah, good intentions but adds fuel to the fire really. Just use the black triangle icon to report.

 

[bleeb]

The moderator has taken it upon himself to remove my post asking these people to stay on topic. I guess calling people out for bad behavior is frowned upon by the moderators on this forum.

Don't know if this is what happened to you, but in defence of the mods, please be aware that as I understand it, if you reply to a post, and that post you're replying to is subsequently moderated away, your post, and any subsequent replies in the 'chain' will all disappear. Think of it like removing a branch. Maybe twigs can be grafted back on to the thread, but it's likely a whole lot of extra work for the mods, so I would imagine would only be done for posts of exceptional value.

 

[d_lafleur]

If you CHOOSE to do this in order to facilitate some other underwater activity such as lobster hunting or spearfishing --- KNOW that you are risking your life for an $8 lobster tail. IF you are OK with that, then go ahead and do it. Personally, I'm not OK with that.....

I believe the sign is on the southbound side of US1 in Key Largo, stating "Your life is worth more than a lobster" or something to that effect. We were bug hunting in the Marathon area, when all that went down, we listened to parts of it on the radio also. All the radio chatter talked about 3 divers.

For what its worth, I can swim up with my rec rig at any time, I will not add weight for spearfishing or bug hunting, thats what them things on your feet are for.

 

[openmindOW]

It's for this reason that I don't like the idea of clipping off the SPG on a D ring with a snap bolt DIR style.

One possible alternative FOR RECREATIONAL OW DIVERS on vacation dives is the following. The diver Slide the console through the "shoulder loop" of the left side of the diver's BCD. tThe consodle can then sit directly in front of the diver.

 

[openmindOW]

Most divers will never see another weight belt in their life (speaking in the context of warm water diving) -- they will buy or rent weight integrated BCs....

My friend, I fully respect your position, but that has not been my experience. I have a seen Dive Operatorions that do not have weight-integrated BCDs for rent. In these cases, the dive boat has a bucket full of weights and weight-belts. I've seen that in Florida, NC, Honduras, and Mexico. Again, that's just my experience.

For my OW teaching I have access to weight-integrated BCDs. But I bought a bunch of weight-belts so that my students could have practice with belts.

 

[wtcreaux]

One possible alternative FOR RECREATIONAL OW DIVERS on vacation dives is the following. The diver Slide the console through the "shoulder loop" of the left side of the diver's BCD. tThe consodle can then sit directly in front of the diver.

This is partly what I did for my daughter and myself. The gauge console comes off my L side, under my L armpit (but outside the BC) and gets clipped off (via bungee cord and snap bolt) to my R shoulder D-ring. I find it is MUCH more convenient to monitor without having to move my hands much. Also prevents danglies. As a bonus for my daughter (newbie), since its right in front of her, I've noticed she monitors her gauges more frequently.

When we get back on the boat, we unsnap from the R shoulder and move to the L shoulder, thereby allowing easy removal/donning of BC. As a bonus on the boat, it keeps my gauges AWAY from the benches where I see other people sitting themselves or their equipment on "dangling" consoles.

 

[DoNotDstrb]

My friend, I fully respect your position, but that has not been my experience. I have a seen Dive Operatorions that do not have weight-integrated BCDs for rent. In these cases, the dive boat has a bucket full of weights and weight-belts. I've seen that in Florida, NC, Honduras, and Mexico. Again, that's just my experience.

For my OW teaching I have access to weight-integrated BCDs. But I bought a bunch of weight-belts so that my students could have practice with belts.

Surely there are different customs and practices in different places. Most dive outfits I dive with here in SoFla do not use weight belts although they are available -- most people do prefer integrated.

As for OW training, I believe the PADI curriculum calls for weight belts...... All OW classes I assist with DO use weight belts. I later see those same divers on boats and most have moved on to integrated...... Different strokes for different folks..... EITHER system is perfectly safe if the operator is familiar with its operation..... Personally, I prefer integrated for non-tech diving because of convenience.... one less thing to mess with.

 

[Steve50]

I believe the PADI curriculum calls for weight belts...... .

Nope.