Ascending to a lost boat - what should you do?

[CT-Rich]

The SMB goes up first, absolutely. IMHO, Personal locator comes out last, because you are now issuing a general alert that you are in trouble (Given the choice, I would swim to land before I would activate my beacon). I’ve heard of boats leaving divers in the water because of a medical emergency. From the OP’s description, I assumed that was not the issue. A dive boat with an emergency leaving the site intentionally would almost certainly be radioing for another nearby boat to retrieve the divers in the water.

That you had a DM with you probably save you from a lot of stress. Thanks for the clarification about what happened.

 

[MaxTorque]

Whenever i boat dive, i have at least a basic plan for what to do if the boat isn't where it should be! Make that plan!

A simple look at a map (or these days google earth etc) will give you an overlying idea of the terrain (merrain ??) and will let you quickly estimate distances and likely current flows based on local topology. That straight away might suggest "no point trying to swim to shore" or it might suggest "if we aim for that easily identifyable rocky outcrop we can see an easy to approach small cove at the bootom with an access path providing a safe egress point" etc

Carry an dSMB. The only time i don't is when in a pool or aquarium Yes a nice bright, long one is better, but any dSMB is better than none, and it can also be used for redundant buoyancy, u/w and at the surface.

Talk to your dive buddies and group BEFORE you jump in to decide at the very least a basic plan upon surfacing. Who makes up your Team for that particular dive is going to have a huge impact on your plan. You might be diving with a team of ex navy seals, who can swim three and a half miles u/w on a single breath, wrestle through 7 foot of heavy surf in their full kit and run up the beach without so much as getting out of breath. You also might be diving with someone in their 70's, or with children, for whom any kind of excessive physical or mental stress is to be best avoided (although to be fair, some of the older divers i know are the fittest people i've ever met, and would almost certainly already be in the bar with a cold drink by the time i fish myself out of the sea


So, make a plan, and talk about that plan. Certainly doesn't have to be rocket science, but it might just save your life (or at the least turn a stressful, worrying situation into a slightly less stressful, worrying one)

 

[MaxTorque]

Oh yeah, should perhaps have added the most common issue with boats when diving most tourist dive destinations is making sure you know which one is "your" boat!

Whilst comming up to no boat does happen, it's far more common to surface to LOTS of boats, and if you haven't made a deliberate effort to memorise some unique feature of your boat, one boat really does look much like another. Don't rely on your DM/ guide, because if you get seperated or have to thumb the dive, you might have to work it out for yourself..........

 

[Scuba-74]

Here is a short article that makes perfect sense to me:

What To Do If You're Left By The Dive Boat

in addition to what’s in this article, I would say that if I ever end up in this situation with a professional DM or guide, I would do what they say, until it’s obvious they don’t know what to do. There may be local customs, precedents, agreements on how to run dive boats in that particular area that a DM may not be able to adequately explain. So I would follow their lead until it’s clear they are panicking.

 

[TuckerIdaho]

some will have drifted out of sight. No problem.

Have you ever taken part in an MOB drill?

 

[Belzelbub]

Where I typically dive, swimming to shore is not an option. Dive spots are at least 7 miles out, better ones are at least 10 miles out. I usually dive from my own boat, and carry a Nautilus (older style) Lifeline. VHF on the boat monitors both 68 and 16. Chat button on Lifeline is also set to 68, and emergency talk button is 16. If going with a charter, I’d confirm what non-emergency channel they use, and set my Lifeline to the same. Chat channel first, then 16, and if that doesn’t work, I’d press the emergency button. The emergency button will post your position on the compatible and properly connected chartplotters in the area. Though, most boaters don’t properly wire them.

A while back, I caught the CG side of a lost boat situation. Was too far away to hear the diver. But apparently, the boat aptly named “Lowlife” was being operated by someone who had no idea what they were doing. For starters, they managed to let the divers get over a mile away. Then, the CG had to inform them that they had divers missing. Finally, when the CG worked out a bearing for them to go pick up their divers, they headed in the wrong direction. CG boat had to go get the divers and bring to the boat.

 

[inquis]

Deploy DSMB to signal anyone close by and not be run over. After that, flag down ANY passing boat and have them call your boat on the radio. You should know your boat name, captain's name, and radio channel.

If no other boats are thought to be forthcoming after "suitable" wait, well, you gotta do what you gotta do (go for shore). A beacon of some type is a good idea if things are that remote.

 

[boulderjohn]

Have you ever taken part in an MOB drill?

You are attempting to ding me by bringing up an entirely different scenario. Here is the full context of the little snippet you quoted:

This happens a lot in south Florida. If the current is ripping and different groups of drift divers surface at slightly different but reasonably close times, by the time the boat has picked up most of the divers, some will have drifted out of sight. No problem. The captain knows the current and will find you.

There is a big difference between an accidental MOB and a group of divers doing a planned drift dive using a dive flag as they drift along a known reef line. They may be out of sight for a few minutes, but the boat will quickly spot their flag in the distance. This sort of thing happens a lot. It also happens with deep decompression dives, where instead of dive flags the divers send up DSMBs. They may drift that way for an hour or two, with the boat following and stopping to pick up divers as they surface.

 

[jadairiii]

Was your team diving with a surface flag or float that the boat capt could maintain a visual reference to you and your team's location??

 

[TuckerIdaho]

You are attempting to ding me by bringing up an entirely different scenario. Here is the full context of the little snippet you quoted

So the answer is no?