I took my classes in 2008 and aow in 2009 and it was not taught. I learned to properly deploy with a dm in coz back in 2009 on a few days out diving. I also still call it a safety sausage and now so does my 5 year old, who can't wait to start diving and have his own he told me.
Divers Found Drifting Way Offshore
- Thread starter JFS
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When I first dove Cozumel near the end of the last millenium, the DMs I used never deployed a DSMB. I had never even seen one myself. A few years later, deploying a DSMB before surfacing seemed to be the norm, at least with the DMs I had. That's when I bought my first one.
I am guessing it has been at least 10 years since I first recommended on the Cozumel forum on ScubaBoard that SMBs be required in Cozumel, if not by the local government then by the dive operations. I wrote that in a number of threads. I got pushback from people saying that requiring SMBs would be so costly it would bankrupt some dive operations. Seriously. A dive operation should be able to get them for $20 or so. If you tell people that if they don't have one of their own, they can rent or buy one from you, I would guess they would actually run a small profit on such a requirement.
I am guessing it has been at least 10 years since I first recommended on the Cozumel forum on ScubaBoard that SMBs be required in Cozumel, if not by the local government then by the dive operations. I wrote that in a number of threads. I got pushback from people saying that requiring SMBs would be so costly it would bankrupt some dive operations. Seriously. A dive operation should be able to get them for $20 or so. If you tell people that if they don't have one of their own, they can rent or buy one from you, I would guess they would actually run a small profit on such a requirement.
Johnoly
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This is just a tangently related post so ignore. Long time ago when 6 of us would go to Coz just before the very last dive of the trip, we had to warn both the captain and the DM. Cause we had to drain our small pony's for the flight home, we told the DM all of us were switching to backups at 45feet and then everyone was shooting all 6 SMB's at 30feet so they wouldn't freak out. Captain would take a picture and laugh with his buddies how it was always safety first on his boat. It looked like a corn field in the middle of the water, lol!
I cannot imagine diving in Coz without a DSMB. Common sense and all....
Agree. Just like some dive ops rent computers, they could rent SMBs as well. At a minimum divers should have something they can inflate at the surface when in Cozumel. In my experience, getting separated from either the DM or surfacing away from the boat is not likely to happen, but if it does it is best to have the safety equipment to help.
+1 for Cozumel being a good place to practice deploying a DSMB. DMs and Captains never mind as long as they know in advance.
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My home bud was never going to bother learning one so I insisted he wear the same model as me so I wouldn't have to learn a new brand as I watched his. My favorite encounter was when we took on a couple of minutes of deco at Cathedral as expected from the dive briefing, which we cleared comfortably, then back on the boat his remark: "What was all that beeping about?"
LOL! So frickin" (and pathetically) true!
I recall a Coz dive where a "diver" with some of the worst dive-skills I have ever witnessed somehow sent her computer into deco. It was beeping and flashing and the entire group could hear it. She started to bicycle kick and wave her arms frantically as if she wanted to shoot to the surface from about 80'. She also had a Go-Pro on a stick. The DM went to her aid and she obviously had no clue what the computer was doing. The DM managed to calm her down and then he slowly ascended with her doing an extended Safety Stop.
When we all got back on the boat, we learned that she had the computer upside down on her wrist. She also had it set for AIR and not Nitrox. She was not paying any attention to it because she was shooting video. This was the first dive and the DM sat her down for the second dive. The DM booted her and her useless dive-buddy, who separated from her and had no clue of the incident, from the rest of the trips for the week. Thank God!
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