Carrying a pointer stick

[Waterwulf]

My stick is a "Chicken Stick" with a hooked end for pulling garbage out from nooks and crannies which I then remove from the area. There's nothing wrong with carrying some kind of stick as long as you don't stab stuff or people with it or dig up the bottom. I used to have one that was really cool. It was a cute little plastic child's rake that slid over the end of my Chicken Stick perfectly. It was great for dragging trash out from under the edges of reefs. Then one day, a huge eel slid out of a hole under the reef, grabbed my rake and fought me for it. I lost my neat little rake but didn't get bit so it was a draw.

 

[mcohen1021]

Glad someone else said it 1st... My scuba wish is that I would never see another pointer stick on a dive, much less see someone use one to steady themselves for that next photo. Fix your diving, and leave the stick, I say.

 

[boqurant]

When I was new I used one for about 3 dives before it just p*ssed me off too much: they dont stow well, look silly, get in the way, and dont really add anything. I can see that dive guides need to point out fish - in which case a laser pointer seems more versatile. The common (mis)use for positioning oneself in the water should be met by a reef hook and/or simply mastering bouyancy

 

[Landau]

Mine is still hanging on the shop display wall. It is secure and streamlined there. Don’t like the things.

That said I had a guide in Fiji who used one effectively to point out a multitude of truly tiny critters. It was much easier to spot the critter following the extended line of the pointer than using a finger to point. He never touched anything with it, used it as an anchor or used it as a tank banger. He just used it to point.

 

[tursiops]

More and more places are disallowing them, no matter how how good you are with it or what you use it for.

 

[mcohen1021]

More and more places are disallowing them, no matter how how good you are with it or what you use it for.

I did bring it up to the Aggressor brass, hoping they'd ban them. Here's the reply I got.

 

[NorCalDM]

I call them buoyancy compensation sticks.

 

[mcohen1021]

I call them buoyancy compensation sticks.

LMAO - and that is the most accurate name I've heard for them

 

[Waterwulf]

buoyancy compensation sticks....... more places are disallowing them....... Don’t like the things...... it just p*ssed me off too much: they dont stow well, look silly, get in the way, and dont really add anything...... scuba wish is that I would never see another pointer stick

That's funny. Another prime example of a perfectly good tool being misused by a few and almost justifiably blamed by most for everything from tearing up the reefs and sticking the other divers in the butt to Global Climate Change!

My Stick isn't pointy. It's more of a Shepherds Hook and it saved me a potentially bad injury when a big eel grabbed it instead of my arm. I don,t always carry it but I like having it as an option.

As far as banning them: What's next? Long fins because people keep kicking the reefs? Octo's because some idiots think it's funny to sneak up on other divers and "shoot" them with their octo? How about big knives and tourniquets because they frighten people? Snorkels because they get in the way? How about we just ban ignorant divers and go in for proper instruction about your equipment?

 

[Kendall Raine]

That's funny. Another prime example of a perfectly good tool being misused by a few and almost justifiably blamed by most for everything from tearing up the reefs and sticking the other divers in the butt to Global Climate Change!

As far as banning them: How about we just ban ignorant divers and go in for proper instruction...

Now we're getting somewhere.