Diver Pick-up Boats

[johndiver999]

No way. A single point of failure (ship's main engine) means divers lost/dead.

Thousands of dives are done each day from boats with a single engine. I bet most live aboards have two anyway.

 

[bakodiver391]

My dive boat is single engine, so I whole-heartedly agree. But there is a huge difference between running a day boat in a populated area with rescue services on tap to running a liveaboard in a remote area (which is the whole point of a liveaboard), probably in a third world country.
I worked in extremely remote locations on two liveaboards with single engines, and there was no diving without a chase boat in the water, no exceptions.
On another note, I have encountered a number of twin engine boats that could not manouver on one engine, only run in circles, so checking that the vessel can, in fact, run on one engine is a good idea before relying on that redundancy.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @John Bantin

I added a poll to your thread, I hope you do not mind. The question had to be shortened a bit. This is an important question. I look forward to seeing the replies

 

[Johnoly]

No, I would not dive on a vessel whose owners had that level of concern, or lack thereof for diver safety.

The “U.G.” was a former beast of a spearfishing liveaboard running to the Dry Tortugas area from Fort Meyers FL with 20 divers packing 12 drops in 3 days. NO CHASE BOAT,everyone diving solo and popping up a half mile from that huge 2knot SLOW boat that was 21 feet wide and 90 feet long!!. For 30 minutes,you floated with a stringer of dead bleeding fish, pushing sharks off and that slow boat was still taking it's slow time picking up other divers before you. It was a fight for survival. And he picked us up one by one and never turned the engines off, with 2 giant props spinning. You climbed up on the steel grate platform totally exhausted and your friends congratulated you by spraying beer & a water hose on you from the rear deck. That diving forced you to not panic, trust & use your training, and to never give up & cry.
You don't need a chase boat,,,,you need better training, better equipment & be a stronger diver.
PS..The boat was sold and also frequently ran bird photography trips not just hunting trips.

 

[Altamira]

The “U.G.” was a former beast of a spearfishing liveaboard running to the Dry Tortugas area from Fort Meyers FL with 20 divers packing 12 drops in 3 days. NO CHASE BOAT,everyone diving solo and popping up a half mile from that huge 2knot SLOW boat that was 21 feet wide and 90 feet long!!. For 30 minutes,you floated with a stringer of dead bleeding fish, pushing sharks off and that slow boat was still taking it's slow time picking up other divers before you. It was a fight for survival. And he picked us up one by one and never turned the engines off, with 2 giant props spinning. You climbed up on the steel grate platform totally exhausted and your friends congratulated you by spraying beer & a water hose on you from the rear deck. That diving forced you to not panic, trust & use your training, and to never give up & cry.
You don't need a chase boat,,,,you need better training, better equipment & be a stronger diver.
PS..The boat was sold and also frequently ran bird photography trips not just hunting trips.

View attachment 865477

That sounds like a s$%& show to me. I can think of many things more enjoyable than a "fighting for survival" type of dive as you have described. Maybe I'm just getting old, and wanting to stay that way.

 

[scubadada]

The “U.G.” was a former beast of a spearfishing liveaboard running to the Dry Tortugas area from Fort Meyers FL with 20 divers packing 12 drops in 3 days. NO CHASE BOAT,everyone diving solo and popping up a half mile from that huge 2knot SLOW boat that was 21 feet wide and 90 feet long!!. For 30 minutes,you floated with a stringer of dead bleeding fish, pushing sharks off and that slow boat was still taking it's slow time picking up other divers before you. It was a fight for survival. And he picked us up one by one and never turned the engines off, with 2 giant props spinning. You climbed up on the steel grate platform totally exhausted and your friends congratulated you by spraying beer & a water hose on you from the rear deck. That diving forced you to not panic, trust & use your training, and to never give up & cry.
You don't need a chase boat,,,,you need better training, better equipment & be a stronger diver.
PS..The boat was sold and also frequently ran bird photography trips not just hunting trips.

View attachment 865477

Hi my friend,

You are not the average diver and you are not the average hunter.

I'm glad the U.G. never lost a diver.

 

[Lorenzoid]

The U.G. also doesn't sound like a liveaboard in the "open ocean." It's not clear whether "open ocean" means near-coastal waters or something more remote. And why liveaboards specifically? Perhaps @John Bantin will clarify what the significance of those elements is to the question.

 

[scubadada]

The U.G. also doesn't sound like a liveaboard in the "open ocean." It's not clear whether "open ocean" means near-coastal waters or something more remote. And why liveaboards specifically? Perhaps @John Bantin will clarify what the significance of those elements is to the question.

I would imagine that @John Bantin means diving from the mother ship when swimming to the shore is prohibitive. He can answer for himself

 

[Steelyeyes]

The “U.G.” was a former beast of a spearfishing liveaboard running to the Dry Tortugas area from Fort Meyers FL with 20 divers packing 12 drops in 3 days. NO CHASE BOAT,everyone diving solo and popping up a half mile from that huge 2knot SLOW boat that was 21 feet wide and 90 feet long!!. For 30 minutes,you floated with a stringer of dead bleeding fish, pushing sharks off and that slow boat was still taking it's slow time picking up other divers before you. It was a fight for survival. And he picked us up one by one and never turned the engines off, with 2 giant props spinning. You climbed up on the steel grate platform totally exhausted and your friends congratulated you by spraying beer & a water hose on you from the rear deck. That diving forced you to not panic, trust & use your training, and to never give up & cry.
You don't need a chase boat,,,,you need better training, better equipment & be a stronger diver.
PS..The boat was sold and also frequently ran bird photography trips not just hunting trips.

View attachment 865477

I stopped trying to impress myself with my manhood a lot time ago. Nice fish though. We did do dives in the Dry Tortugas but it was a live boat pickup with four divers and one driver. Found a pretty cool old dinner plate from what we figured was a yacht or old cruise ship. Left it where it was.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I would imagine that @John Bantin means diving from the mother ship when swimming to the shore is prohibitive. He can answer for himself

If so, it would include most dive boats, liveaboard or day boat.