A few images from the Galapagos

[kidsdream]

The reason that I don't think shooting a safety sausage from depth is necessary at Wolf or Darwin is because there isn't much boat traffic. It's not like being in Jupiter,FL where there are boats everywhere. Yes, you can drift, but the flags they give you hold up better than sausages in the chop. I like the idea of using the Dive Alert to get the panga drivers attention, but when all else fails, you have your GPS.

I totally disagree about you comments about shooting a sausage/bag at depth. IMHO it is the most important thing you can do from a safety standpoint when doing an open water accent. The biggest reason to have surface marker while you are doing a drifting accent or safety stop is it give the panga (or ordinary boat captain) an idea where you are at. This lets them know you may have drifted away from the group and in what direction you are heading.

If anything I should have shot my bag from a deeper depth to let the drivers know earlier what direction I was drifting. By the time I did my thing I was most likely 1/2 mile from where they expected the divers to surface. Also I did not all have a locater as the one for my station# was missing from day one. Plus I would not bet my life that those devices had been recently tested

I'll keep shooting my bag, and checking the flight monitors regularly for gate changes - LOL.

 

[fairybasslet]

I'll keep shooting my bag, and checking the flight monitors regularly for gate changes - LOL.

Well, you got me there.
You saw what kept happening with Chris' reel, right? I thought the flags were much more streamlined and that the panga drivers really wouldn't be looking for sausages. In any case, I forgot you didn't have a GPS device and I did read about some people having trouble with theirs, so I guess redundancy isn't a bad thing.