Diveboat empty on surface?

[fisherdvm]

We dove with a mom and pop outfit in the Bahama's last week. What surprised me that 2 out of 3 times, the boat was empty when we got back. I dove with my 12 yo son, so we return to the boat with plenty of air for safety, and staying well in the NDL.

Is this typical in foreign countries? It seems extremely unsafe not to have a surface spotter. The captain was the instructor, one divemaster, and one divemaster trainee (who walks underwater rather than finned, and was being reprimanded by the DM for kicking the corals - again, it was a family business).

When the captain was doing an OW check out dive, the DM would lead a group of discovery scuba student, and the DM trainee was tagging behind ("walking" behind).
The boat was left empty at least 1/2 if not 2/3 of the time.

 

[tuner fish]

While that might be ok in some situations, it was certainly wrong in this case. Sounds like a risky situation with students. Essentially, you became the "tender" once you surfaced, right?

Would you like to name the operator?

 

[don Francisco]

The practice of leaving an unmanned boat on a mooring while diving seems common throught the Carribean. Like you, I would greatly prefer to leave someone on board for emergencies.

My concern isn't about the boat comming off the mooring, since that isn't likely. (though it did happen once during a dive in the Caymans) The reason I'd prefer a manned boat is for other unforeseen circumstances such as an injured diver surfacing in distress, the divers surfacing down current and unable to swim back, or a sudden change in the weather.

I don't consider it an absolute rule to leave a man on board, and have no problems not doing so in certain circumstances, such as on lakes or in bays. But in the open sea, a distance from shore I think you really need to have a man on board.

 

[Doc]

They did all come back, right? Or was this in the Bermuda Triangle thingie?

What the two guys above said, goes for me, too.

 

[fisherdvm]

While I am not going to name names, it was the only shop on Freeport catering to shallow dives and discovery scuba. I wanted some shallow dives for my son first before heading to deeper water. It worked out fine for us. I simply boarded the boat first, and help my son get on afterward.

We had some great dives. Everytime we went down on the Orsen Wells (shark alley, about 45 ft), the sharks came. The dive I took my son on, within 5 minutes of getting to the bottom, 5 large caribbean reef circled within 3 or 4 ft, a large loggerhead turtle appeared, and a stingray swam by. It was as it the whole thing was staged! Simply amazing, and likely will never happen again. I am not sure if the loggerhead waits for hand outs or not, but as soon as another boat hit with real food, the sharks were all gone.

If you want to see sharks, the orsen wells is the place to dive.

 

[knotical]

So you were essentially diving with a dive float, not a dive boat. Were the conditions (current, distance from shore, etc.) such that you’d be comfortable diving there from a moored dive float?

 

[diver 85]

I would give the name of this operation so others don't get a chance of hooking up with them......

EDIT: this is the kind of diving we did in Belize in the mid 80's ie divers & a DM only on the boat---DV acted as boat captain & surface spotter-- no one left in the boat during diving.....last important thing he did was after we descended to the bottom he took the anchor & drove it in the reef to make sure the boat would still be there upon ascent......

 

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

I think it would depend on where the boat is?? I've dived with lots of ops in the caribbean that only use the little Carolina skiffs and always leave them tethered to the moorings.

 

[fisherdvm]

PM me, and I'll give you their name. Second clue, lowest price on the island (any tour book will list them as lowest). I went with them, as they are the only one to guaranteed a shallow dive every day.

The shallow dives were quite safely moored. Only one day did we have current on the deeper dives, and a woman panicked as she drifted pass the down line on a 65 ft dive. We were anchored to a mooring ball, which is quite secure.

The captain and owner of the dive shop was quite laid back. We forgot my luggage with the regs/computers/masks at home, and had to rent.

He tuned many of his octos way too light, and they freeflow in the current or surges. I had one that freeflowed so badly, and tried to tell the DM as soon as I hit the water... He yelled at me to keep it turned up side down. Couldn't get it to stop after diving to 4 or 5 ft, so I swam back to the boat.... The very prideful captain chastised me again, "turn it upside down". I told him I did, and as soon as you dive, it would free flow. Then he said, "I am a master scuba instructor and have thousands of dives, listen to me". Then he said, you are diving a brand new reg, there is no problem with it. Later on the boat, he said "I just tuned that reg, there's nothing wrong with it!"

Can't argue with him, so I dove while holding the reg in my hand upside down. Got sick of doing it, so I stuck the free flowing octo in my mouth, and left my primary as an octo. Tried to discuss the issue with him on the boat, and he simply ignored me, as if I was an idiot.

What really bugs me is that every day, he issued the same reg to me.... Then I simply asked the DM to get me another one, so I don't have to deal with it again. If you dive with this shop, stay away from regs set up with black sherwood brut primary and black oceanic octo on a black hose (so you can't tell which is the primary)..... Unless he finally listen to his divers for a change.

Other issues we had was bad O rings. Rather than repairing them on the spot like other dive opts, they said "wouldn't hurt to dive with it". I said fine, "you dive with it, and it it blows at 50 ft, you can deal with the OOA situation". Then they let me have another tank. They don't tag it, so next day, you'll run into more leaky O rings.

Not to put this shop down, as I saw very bad regs and badly maintained BC's at the "premier" diving shop there (the biggest and most popular shop at freeport) 2 years ago. So, do a good predive check on all rental equipments, no matter who you dive with.

 

[Dr Neil]

One question..... who took role to ensure that everyone was back on the boat? Obviously you made it back safely so someone reboarded who knew how to drive the boat back to the dock.