Do you carry basic safety equipment on dives? If not, why?

[bowlofpetunias]

I answered yes I always carry safety equipment but it depends on the dive what I consider needed. Not normally a signal mirror and SMB depends on dive site. Cutting devices, whistle, refective tape on equipment pretty easy to carry so why wouldn't you

 

[jimthediver]

In February of 1994 my wife and I were on a dive trip to Palau with a group of friends. One afternoon we were diving at Peleliu. The waves were about 3 foot when we went in and the current was ripping. It was a wild ride down the wall. They had told us we needed to be up well before the dog leg near the end of the island or our next stop would be well out into the open ocean. It was exceptionally clear so we easily saw the dogleg coming up. Everyone did a quick safety stop and we popped up. When we hit the surface the waves were 10-12 feet and the boat was no where in sight! We all had "safety sausages" which we inflated and then waited for the boat to find us. They eventually picked us all up. They had one of the crew standing up in a harness on the roof and they told us the only time they could see us was when they were up on top of a wave. They told us they might not have been able to find us without the sausages.

Another group was not so lucky. When we got on board the radio was cracking with emergency traffic. There was a group of six divers lost. The operator on their boat was pretty sure they had gotten past the end of the island and they were out in the open ocean. We wanted to go help but the conditions were deteriorating rapidly and the CG was ordering everyone back in. The missing were a group of five Japanese divers and a Paluan guide. One of the Japanese divers was a woman with a slate. On the second day she was floating alone on the ocean she wrote "I see boats and planes searching, they can't see me." The third day there were just scribles on the slate. The fourth day they found her dead. The only trace of the others ever found was a BC and tank washed up on the shore.

The first thing I did when I got back from that trip was start gathering additional safety gear including:

7 Ft SMBs with a tube at the top to hold a glow stick.
Rescue strobes with we mount on the shoulder strap of our bcds. Can be seen for miles from a plane a night.
Glow sticks stored in a pocket in case the batteries in the strobe run out before we are found.
Storm whistles, the sound carriers farther than a Dive Alert. Stored in a pocket.
A signal mirror, no batteries to run out. You have to aim it but it can be seen more than a mile from a plane. Stored in a pocket.

We don't dive in the open ocean anymore without all of the above.

jimthediver

 

[vladimir]

The first thing I did when I got back from that trip was start gathering additional safety gear ....

We don't dive in the open ocean anymore without all of the above.

My collection of safety gear burgeoned to include the aforementioned dye, horn, PLB...a 25-foot RESCUE STREAMER that I just recalled, etc, after a much less dramatic (and tragic) event that left me and another diver drifting in the Celebes Sea for an hour awaiting our pickup. It amounted to nothing more than an inconvenience and a stressful 45 minutes, but it brought home the potential risk. But I don't bring most of the stuff with me anymore. I just don't have the room for everything, in my bags or on my gear, and my diving has gotten tamer since then as well. But if I go back to Palau, for example, I will reassess.

 

[Mossman]

I had a little scare also in Peleliu, a night dive off Orange Beach in some crazy currents (I swear that place is haunted). I was trying really hard to shoot a tiny nudibranch using manual focus so I could get my 105mm lens even closer. When I finally got the shot, I saw the lights of other 3 in the group I had been loosely been diving with off in the distance. Unfortunately, a strong current was carrying me in the other direction and we quickly separated out of visual range. I had already sucked down a good bit of my tank trying to keep in place against the current to shoot the damn nudibranch, so I figured it was a good time to ascend before I drifted off too far. When I did surface, the boat was a long way from me (1/4 mile perhaps?) and the 2-man crew was looking for bubbles in the other direction. Each of my strobes has a built in light, so I waved them in the boat's direction but they failed to notice. Fortunately I have big lungs and can scream pretty loudly when I need to and it was otherwise a quiet still night in a sheltered bay, so my voice carried enough that they finally turned, saw my lights, and sped after me.

I was never really worried. If they hadn't heard me, I would have tried again with the DiveAlert air horn, but I like to save the big ammo until it's absolutely needed. Failing to get any contact at all, I would have continued to drift toward a point of land that demarcated the bay from the open ocean and probably would have managed to swim ashore. Still, I shudder to think what could have happened if the current drifted me around the point and into the open ocean at a speed I couldn't swim against because they probably wouldn't have thought to start looking for me in that direction for a long time.

Still, the only reason why I had the DiveAlert was because it was Palau. For other situations, say easy reef dives off Bonaire, or boat dives in congested Cozumel, my only safety device is a small sausage.

 

[Thalassamania]

I don't think anybody's mentioned FLUORESCENT DYE. I used to carry a tube of it but no longer do--another casualty of travel streamlining.

I did mention it earlier.

I don't think anybody's mentioned FLUORESCENT DYE. I used to carry a tube of it but no longer do--another casualty of travel streamlining.

View attachment 100030

Everything in my emergency kit is "standard." It goes on every dive with me.

Currently I use the same pouch and it contains: strobe, small flashlight, 2 x red rocket flare, 2 x hand flare, 2 x red smoke, 2 x dye packs, signal mirror, safety sausage, and whistle.

The pouch is about 8 x 4 inches that I hang on the bottom of backpack. I currently have two Skyblazer Diver's Flares

I've wrapped them top and bottom with 3M Self Vulcanizing Tape, an arrangement that I've tested down to 200 feet. I also have two similarly packaged hand held flares and smokes. I also use dye packs. I keep them in doubled up heavy duty ziplocks. Add a compass, two glowsticks, a little flashlight, a strobe, a whistle, a mirror and a thin safety sausage finishes it out.

Other threads of interest: Lost at Sea! What Signal Devices ... Exactly What Supplies do You Dive With?

Great minds think alike, on the other hand, so do ours.

 

[drbill]

Much of my diving is in the dive park at Casino Point on Catalina. I am very fortunate in that there are probably very few dive sites with such quick access to well-trained paramedics, a hospital and a recompression chamber a boat ride away. When I dive here, I often forego much of what others might consider necessary safety equipment. When I dive elsewhere, I adjust my kit for the conditions at the site. However, I certainly understand why others might prefer to standardize their kit so the equipment is present anywhere they might be diving.

 

[Thalassamania]

I "standardize" not because it is better, just because I'm too lazy to "customize."

 

[finbob]

Fortunately, I have never been separated or swept away.
However, I usually carry:

1. Flashlight with a strobe capability
2. DiveAlert Air Horn + Whistle
3. SMB

After reading the posts I think I will add a mirror.

 

[Mossman]

After reading the posts I think I will add a mirror.

Good idea. At the very least, you can check to see if there's any sinus discharge (aka snot) on your face. It's much harder to pick up chicks post-dive with a big booger on your cheek.

 

[ibj40]

Do you carry the basic safety equipment when you dive, especially ocean diving?

1. SMB (Surface Market Buoy) Yes
2. Working Light with fresh batteries Yes
3. Reflective Signaling Device (mirror) Yes
4. Noise Signaling Device No

If not, please tell us why?

Probably need to get a whistle or something similar, but I have always carried a small light, plus have a sausage on a small reel, and an aimable mirror.