Johnoly
Contributor
- Messages
- 4,426
- Reaction score
- 6,289
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
Like you said it comes down to the Statue and enforcement(LEO).Boynton boats have each group carry a flag because they don’t put a guide in the water with the divers. That’s the main reason.
*) Anything over a UI six pack is required to only have a capt & a deckhand. A DM in water is not in the statues and it is an increase in both insurance/benefits costs and another share of the tips to split.
*)You dive all 3 BOY/WPB/JUP so you'll understand this because you've seen it on the boats. The statue only says that diver's are required to stay within 300ft of the dive flag (be that flag on the vessel or with the inwater DM holding it or the individual dive group leader. Jupiter is arguably(?) more experienced boat divers(not always). When the Capt yells 'dive',,Generally all the divers are off the boat in 60 seconds. By quickly getting off the boat and if a LEO is nearby watching>>>>The Capt has met the requirement of dropping ALL the divers withing 300ft of the DM flag. If a capt has a slow passenger, he will yell to the deckhand, STOP letting diver's off. He'll confirm the water is safe to engage the props and then reposition the boat to meet the 300ft rule usually infront of the now moving DM flag so the slower divers can drop down & the join the DM + group.
Under this diver deployment, the responsibility is on the individual diver to stay within 300ft of the flag. It's not the captain's responsibility after he has correctly deployed the divers if those diver's 'stray". It's also not the DM's responsibility if the other's 'stray' because the DM is never lost since they are holding the flag line. If a diver has not been diving in a long while they will be required to hire a private guide that pulls a flag and makes sure they stay within 300ft. The only Captain requirement is to deploy the diver within 300ft of the flag, then the responsibility shifts to the diver.
So why does 'south of WPB' make all diver groups carry their own flag. Simply because the captain can not get all the divers's off the boat quick enough to meet the 300ft rule on an everyday basis. It's much easier to meet the requirements to deploy a group of 4 divers with a single flag than it is to put 20 diver's with a single flag. Boats south of WPB can certainly do the same as Jup/WPB, but in their experience the deployment time to get all the diver's in the water exceeds the 300ft statue rule.
Lastly to muddy up the toilet bowl futher,,,,,Then why do south FLA captains due 'split drops" which exceed the 300ft statue? I don't know and I wouldn't do it. Also there are a thousand different " What If " scenarios from other posters that I can't or won't answer "WHY?" BUT the statue is 300ft just like the school zone speed limit is 20mph and people still get passed by others with kids standing next to the X-guard.