Dive Boat Rinse Tanks found to contain bacteria

[emoreira]

I have not yet bought my reg, so in my last dive, the rented reg I used had a transparent silicone mouth piece.
Normally silicone mouth pieces are black. This was transparent.
I could notice that it was dirty in the borders and difficult access places. If it would be black I could not notice that. Dirt means bacteria and some other things.
We use to say "eyes that don't see, heart that does not feel".

 

[Splash-X]

On the boat I work on the mask bucket gets scrubbed along with the boat when we return to dock. You may get a deck hand that skimps on the duty and just rinses the bucket but thats also the deck hand that doesn't scrub the boat to get the salt off too so they aren't doing their job all around.

Our rinse tank is literally a 50 gallon bucket that we will when we get back to the dock. It too gets the scrubbing with bleach/soap like the rest of the boat. The water never sits in the bucket, it's filled when we dock, and emptied when the customers leave.

I can imagine that places that use bins where the water sits around all day , if those aren't cleaned you can get some nasty stuff brewing. Common sense would tell you that if the rinse bin doesn't look so good, don't use it!

 

[b1draper]

Several of the shops that I've been to give you a new mouth piece when you rent a reg set. That being said It's been a long time since I've rented anything. I'm not much for the whole sanitization thing, carrying around sanitizer and such but the things in the mask buckets are a little more specialized to humans and can become concentrated as the day goes on.

When I put defogger on my mask I've always rubbed it on then reached over the side and scooped up some sea water. Most of the places I go are several miles off-shore so I should be fairly safe from scooping up human snot and poop.

Recently, a report documented the spread of conjunctivitis among divers using two dive boats off of Fiji’s Vitu Levu Island (Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine, 2008 vol. 35, p. 169). Among 29 divers, 14 cases (almost 50 percent) of conjunctivitis were ultimately documented. The pattern by which conjunctivitis was spread among divers and between boats was consistent with the outbreak arising from the divemaster, a Fijian resident, who reported having an eye infection prior to the outbreak and who placed his own mask in the communal mask container (Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine, 2008 vol. 35, p. 169). This study established that disease can be transmitted among scuba divers via communal tanks.

 

[HenrikBP]

AFAIR the story/study was about a good part of the divers on one boat/dive op that all got some form of conjunctivitis due to rinse bucket sharing. Undercurrents maybe?

Ah yes, here it is:

https://www.undercurrent.org/UCnow/articles/BacterialContamination200906.shtml

Not a big fan of putting my mask, regs or snorkel in the communal tanks either

Henrik

 

[Hoomi]

I suppose if you're real concerned about possible infectious microbes, you could always carry your own bottle of clean water for rinsing your mask and reg after a dive.

A disinfectant mouthwash like Listerine can also be used against bacteria on surfaces, or, if it's after the dive, there's always a quick dip in scalding hot water for things that can handle the temperatures.

Anymore, I think if I was going to need to use rental regulators, I'd have my own mouthpiece and zip-ties, so I could remove the rental mouthpiece before the dive and use my own. Even though I'm not that concerned about germs and such, with the kinds of diseases that are going around, it certainly wouldn't hurt. Besides which, it would insure that I was using a mouthpiece that I like and is comfortable.

 

[Buoyant1]

Well, I've stopped using the mask buckets ever since I had a chemical burn in my eye. The Dr. at the ER told me that it's highly possible that my defog did it, but more likely that it mixed with either the disinfectant they use or another defog. So I changed to baby shampoo and bottled water to rinse.

Hoses with running fresh water only for my regs...anything else can get rinsed at the tubs at most of the docks I've been to....no biggie there...

 

[Jayde323]

I never use the gear rinse buckets. By the time we get all our gear off the boat and make it anywhere near the rinse bucket, people are already sticking their wetsuits in there. Last thing I want on my gear is the diluted pee from about a dozen different divers.

All my gear goes in the back of the truck and I give it a good rinse at home. When hubby and I go out of town to do some diving, we take an adjustable shower rod and lots of heavy duty hangers with us. At our hotel, we install the shower rod over the center of the tub and rinse and hang the gear in the tub after we have showered.

As for mask rinse tanks, I am going to think twice after reading this thread...

 

[Jupiter31]

I imagine it's no less disgusting than what you're jumping into. The ocean is full of bacteria.

Maybe so, but just not concentrated in a 5 gallon bucket - sorry, I like my own germs and snot; don't want to experience 10 - 20 other peoples.

Recent article in Undercurrent where many divers (on a livaboard?) came down w/ conjunctivitis spread by a contaminated rinse bucket - I'll stick to the germ filled ocean!

 

[scubadada]

I rinse my mask in the ocean for dives and generally rinse my gear at home or in the hotel when possible, always my regulator. I don't do anything extraordinary to avoid environmental organisms, but at the same time, don't practice behaviors that might enhance exposure from my fellow divers. I've seen many rinse tanks with very, very bad vis

Good diving, Craig
coincidentally, an ID doc

 

[Missdirected]

Those big gatorade type containers that they put water in for people to drink... Recently I was sitting next to one and happened to notice mold growing. Paid attention on a couple more boats - same thing - aaaaack.