I'm planning a liveaboard in early Aug and from reading several trip reports, it seems that a number of boats now request divers to demonstrate deployment of a SMB during the checkout dive.
Can anyone confirm this?
This is certainly a good practice considering a number of dives in Maldives are probably drift dives and you want to be easily spotted by the boat when you surface.
But what if i do not have an SMB? Will i be sent to the back of the class and not allowed to join the more challenging dives? I'm currently looking around to purchase one but may not get the opportunity to practice deploying it before August. And i don't think it'll be wise to try it for the first time while on holiday.
Also, how necessary are reef hooks? Are these just nice-to-haves as there are enough rocks to hold onto, or perhaps even necessary in order to enjoy the dive wihle watching the big stuff?
(There's alraady been much discussion on the pros/cons of their use on SB which i've already read, and so don't wish to start another round here)
Can anyone confirm this?
This is certainly a good practice considering a number of dives in Maldives are probably drift dives and you want to be easily spotted by the boat when you surface.
But what if i do not have an SMB? Will i be sent to the back of the class and not allowed to join the more challenging dives? I'm currently looking around to purchase one but may not get the opportunity to practice deploying it before August. And i don't think it'll be wise to try it for the first time while on holiday.
Also, how necessary are reef hooks? Are these just nice-to-haves as there are enough rocks to hold onto, or perhaps even necessary in order to enjoy the dive wihle watching the big stuff?
(There's alraady been much discussion on the pros/cons of their use on SB which i've already read, and so don't wish to start another round here)