Ascending to a lost boat - what should you do?

[divinh]

I've replaced batteries on several items you weren't supposed to be able to replace batteries on. However, it's not something I'd want to do in the middle of an ocean, hah.

It's certainly possible, but this item needs to be waterproof to depth, which may require replacing o-rings or seals not available to the general public.

 

[2airishuman]

I carry a storm whistle, 3' smb, mirror, light, 6' dsmb, and spool on every dive. The 6' dsmb is rolled up in a mesh bag attached to the bottom of my backplate. I don't even know it's there. A snorkel is a handy thing when floating in the ocean

The bias should be towards staying in place. It is difficult to gauge distance from the surface of the water and rarely realistic to reach shore. There may be underwater hazards. It is difficult to accomplish a safe shore exit without the benefit of scouting the area before the dive and choosing a suitable location. Some shores are not particularly safe even once the water has been exited, rocks/cliffs, industrial facilities, fences, toxic or injurious vegetation.

 

[Belzelbub]

The bias should be towards staying in place. It is difficult to gauge distance from the surface of the water and rarely realistic to reach shore. There may be underwater hazards. It is difficult to accomplish a safe shore exit without the benefit of scouting the area before the dive and choosing a suitable location. Some shores are not particularly safe even once the water has been exited, rocks/cliffs, industrial facilities, fences, toxic or injurious vegetation.

This reminded me of a recent story I found on another forum, but quite appropriate for this one.

Boca Raton Resident Ryan Dingle Rescued After More Than 4 Hours At Sea | BIG 105.9 | The Paul Castronovo Show

 

[SlyStrat]

My wife and I were left behind in the 90's off Roatan. Maybe 300 yards from shore.
We started swimming and another dive boat picked us up.

 

[ATJ]

Reminds me of an incident on a liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef a few years ago.

We were doing a night dive at Steve's Bommie (Ribbon Reef No 3, GBR). The top of Steve's Bommie is at a depth of around 5m. All the surrounding reefs are submerged. It is around 60km to the coast. There's a buoy that's attached to the top of the bommie.

While the boat we were travelling on did have a tender, we rarely used it for dives and just jumped in straight off the back of the boat and got back on to the dive deck which was lowered to just below the water line.

There were 10-15 of us that went on the night dive in buddy pairs. We started at the bottom of the bommie and circled it getting ever shallower and then did a safety stop on the top of he bommie - which was actually a lot of fun as there were quite a few anemones and a number of different species of anemonefish.

My buddy and I were the last to surface and all the other divers were hanging around the buoy. They seemed a bit agitated. At the time we surfaced the boat was around 50m away motoring towards us but when the first divers surfaced the boat was not in sight at all and they were somewhat freaked.

Turns out the boat had broken its mooring and drifted around 400m (I had a GPS tracker running on the boat at the time) before anyone noticed.

For my buddy and I it was humorous but not so much for those that surfaced first. The good thing is they all stayed at the buoy and waited for the boat to return.

 

[Stoo]

I swear I'm going to get one of these things... 20' tall should do it. My only concern is blacking out while I'm blowing it up, so I guess I'll sidemount a spare 80 just for that purpose.

 

[Still Kicking]

Based on my experience, a powerful light is a more effective signal than an SMB.

I was drifting 30 mins in a remote spot and the boat never saw my 6' SMB but they saw my light. Obviously it works at night, too. Having a Nautilus in my pocket was good peace of mind but i didnt activate it.

 

[CT-Rich]

This reminded me of a recent story I found on another forum, but quite appropriate for this one.

Boca Raton Resident Ryan Dingle Rescued After More Than 4 Hours At Sea | BIG 105.9 | The Paul Castronovo Show

A light, any light would have made this guy’s situation better. That and a descent sized spool.

 

[Jake 10]

how many times does incidents like this happen?

 

[Wookie]

how many times does incidents like this happen?

That a captain loses a diver?

I probably lost 3 or 4 over 20 years. I found all but 1.