Disturbing trend in diving?

[The Chairman]

I dove with J-Valves also....but once SPG's became a viable option it was a no brainer to move forward with the tech.

Same with bladders/BCDs. What a gift, especially after the dive! After the first incident of having the j-valve already tripped when I went to pull the rod, I think I started having nightmares. Nothing is as butt puckering as feeling that there is no air, to pulling an already tripped valve only to discover there really is NO AIR!!! It happened 3 times and once was fairly deep. Well, that's what I remember! I haven't run out of air since I adopted the SPG.

what if the DM has a heart attack and dies?

Shark feeding dive! Woo woo!

I also grew up as kid using dead reckoning and chart plotting to navigate the ocean outside the Golden Gate.

As an avid Boy Scout, I've always been into orienteering. As a canoe racer, with over 4500 miles logged, I was able to navigate the Gulf of Mexico (nope, not changing it), and the Atlantic early on. The skills it gave me in being able to read and ameliorate currents while diving (especially in a cave) have been tremendous.

Funny, and I won't mention names, someone sent me a DM, referring to me as "Grandpa" and included a pic of an old man on a walker, in asking about the red ribbon I started out with. I'm happy to report that I haven't used it this century. I do have my old capillary depth gauge, my Orca Skinny Dipper, and a few other accoutrements I haven't used this century, either. I will say that many of today's divers have horrid trim and buoyancy, with far, far better equipment than I had back then. You know, back when we used bicycle pumps to air up our tanks.

 

[The Chairman]

They are local to me here in the DFW area. I have visited them and on my list is their Tec-50 course some day in the (hopefully) near future when I can put together the bux.

I don't want to go inside of sunken wrecks and I have no interest in ever going into a hole. But I'd like the training in deco theory and technique for more time down and the ability to do something like go stand on the Oriskany flight deck or drop down and peer into the hangar deck. And then drop on the sunken carcass of the SS United States.

I think I'm almost done with all the requirements. Something about a blood sacrifice, I think.

 

[scubadada]

It is strange that there seems to be such a divergence in operating procedures between Boynton and West Palm and Jupiter. Do you think it is because the current is typically much less in Boynton, or something else? The two inlets are only like 12-14 miles apart?

I don't know the answer. I only started diving in SE FL in 2009 and now have a few over 1,300 dives in Boynton, Palm Beach, and Jupiter.

All of the operators I have ever used in Jupiter and Palm Beach have always put a guide in the water who you could follow or not. Underwater Explorers put a guide in the water out of Boynton from at least 2009 until a few years later, when that was discontinued. None of the other operators I have used in Boynton have ever put a guide in the water. As above, all groups and solo divers carry a flag.

Just like in Jupiter and Palm Beach, the current in Boynton is usually north, but can be south, and varies between nothing and absolutely ripping. The outside reef in Boynton is nearly as deep as the inside in Jupiter but is a bit harder to dive, particularly in current, due to the spur and groove (fingers and channels) rather than reef wall. The inside at Boynton is generally shallow, 50-60 ft.

I wish I knew the answer to this question, maybe someone else does.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

As I read all of this, I am baffled, because my experiences in recent years has been just the opposite--dive operators sticking to very strict rules to make it as certain as possible that no one has a problem on their boats. In many cases, that absolutely means following a DM and not departing in the slightest from that route, but it also means having all the proper equipment in order to dive. I have been getting very frustrated by this.

But that's US waters where the injury lawyers at Dewy, Cheetum, and Howe are looping their "If you did something stupid and got hurt, we'll find a way to make somebody else pay for your stupididity!" ad every 20 minutes on channel 4 from 09:00 AM til 02:00 AM every day.

 

[The Chairman]

As above, all groups and solo divers carry a flag.

I've been on a few boats that operated outside Florida waters, where Sausages were the rule. This is especially true on Tech and wreck penetration dives.

 

[The Chairman]

Dewy, Cheetum, and Howe

Shades of the Clacket Brothers.

 

[Leatherboot69]

I dove with J-Valves also....but once SPG's became a viable option it was a no brainer to move forward with the tech.

I also grew up as kid using dead reckoning and chart plotting to navigate the ocean outside the Golden Gate... Then they came out with Loran C and I thought that was the cats pajamas. Then they came out with GPS and that was the cats tuxedo. Point being that if the electronics ever failed, I still had some basic manual nav skills that might pay off.

As far as the topic of relying on a DM goes, what if the DM has a heart attack and dies? What does this group of totally reliant snowflakes do then?

I get following a DM. It can be totally relaxing sometimes to just kick back and generally follow the group. But I still monitor my computer and my compass to confirm that the DM is not putting me somewhere I don't want to be.

If the DM has a heart attack won’t they just go to the surface?

And what are the chances of a DM having a heart attack? Particularly given that an annual dive medical is a prerequisite. The stats don’t seem to indicate this is any more a risk worth legislating for than being struck by lightning.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

But that's US waters where the injury lawyers at Dewy, Cheetum, and Howe are looping their "If you did something stupid and got hurt, we'll find a way to make somebody else pay for your stupididity!" ad every 20 minutes on channel 4 from 09:00 AM til 02:00 AM every day.

Here it's Sweet James and Ann Phoong plastered on every billboard on I-80 between the city and Reno, NV.

 

[Nemrod]

Nobody puts a guide in the water out of Boynton Beach. Every group or solo diver carries a flag

Okay. I do not think I said always are only . I have done a few dives from that area and down Ft Lauderdale way, several hundreds, and true, it is common for each group to tow their own flag which is a PITA for a photographer like me thus I look for shops who assign that job to an employee leaving me free.

At BHB I usually (not always or only ) hire a guide, not because I am going to get lost but they get to tote the flag and undo it from all of the bathers, boats, pilings and other divers and sometimes find me critters so I can play with my camera.

 

[NothingClever]

We are all a bunch of opinionated bloviating elitists…

Well, I think the ScubaBoard Internet Bloviating Association (SIBA) has done a superb job training Basic and Advanced Bloviaters but nobody’s truly elite until he trains to be a Mixed Gas Bloviater. Only a select few achieve that level of proficiency in technical, litigious bloviating.