Dive Boat Unattended By Dive Op With Divers Below - Safe Practice?

[grantwiscour]

We were recently on a dive trip off of Kauai with a PADI dive shop.
Upon surfacing, we found the boat to be unattended and the captain and watcher in the water snorkeling.

Is this a sanctioned and allowable practice according to Coast Guard and/or PADI safety standards?

I'm interested in thoughts from the group.

 

[wedivebc]

I don't know PADI's policy but I know of one case where this practice ended badly, with the divers returning to an empty boat and the captain rescued by Coast Guard hours later.

 

[Lorenzoid]

It's a terrible practice, as unattended boats have led to numerous incidents. But I doubt PADI or any other dive training agency has any relevance to the issue.

 

[grantwiscour]

It's a terrible practice, as unattended boats have led to numerous incidents. But I doubt PADI or any other dive training agency has any relevance to the issue.

Only relevant to PADI as they were a PADI shop.

I have requested input and clarification from PADI and will update the board when I hear back from them.

 

[flyboy08]

Just bad practice no matter who the agency is!

 

[Wookie]

^^^what they said....

 

[elgoog]

Are there any USCG regulations pertaining to this? To me, it seems like duty of care would be applicable here since it's a paid charter and, hence, preclude any activities by the crew that would leave the boat unattended.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Only relevant to PADI as they were a PADI shop.

I have requested input and clarification from PADI and will update the board when I hear back from them.

If I recall, after PADI settled with the woman who sued a "PADI 5-star" resort for filling a tank with bad air, PADI removed from its materials anything relating to breathing gas quality. I would imagine PADI has learned enough of a lesson to not have anything that could be construed as a standard for boat safety, either. But yes please, let us know what PADI says.

edit: I suppose PADI might defer to local regulations and require affiliate shops/resorts to agree to adhere to USCG or other application regulations. (good point, elgoog)

 

[Wookie]

Are there any USCG regulations pertaining to this? To me, it seems like duty of care would be applicable here since it's a paid charter and, hence, preclude any activities by the crew that would leave the boat unattended.

I expect the coast guard assumes that the operator is on the boat because anything else is unthinkable.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

This is not an uncommon practice from my limited experience in locations outside of the US with no current or waves where the boat captain is the dive op owner and guide. The boat is anchored just off shore, so in the unlikely event of it breaking lose (it would take a while for any wind to make it drift away), you'd just swim 10 to 50 meters or so to shore.