Drift Diving VS Anchor line

[Sas]

I love both kinds Drift diving is fun as it is little work but you really need to keep an eye on how cold you are getting due to the fact you aren't moving much. Also you have to watch out for bommies and try to go around them or remember not to hold your breath when you realise one is coming right at you and you need to swim over it! My first drift dive I nearly face planted into one so don't look behind you for long ;p oops. I think drift diving has helped my buoyancy a lot too due to the changing depths, you really need to keep an eye on it. I have gone on drift lines though so just ascend back up that to the buoy when I am done. Now that I have an SMB I would always carry that on drifts in case I get lost though.

I have not done much navigation yet so a few times when I have done dives with a shot line, the boat has said just to send up an SMB where I end up and they come to pick me up. Though last weekend I managed to get myself back to the shot line as I was trying navigation out.

Anyway, it is good to get some experience in both types of diving in case you miss slack water or something and they give you different perspectives on reefs and the like.

 

[pipefish]

What's a bommie?

 

[Sas]

Basically slang for a smallish rock/reef formation. It is short for bombora which is an Australian Aboriginal word, forgot that it wouldn't translate well outside of Australia. bombora - Wiktionary

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I....... Finally, I had to call it and surface..I peek up, I see the ship...quite a distance away, muster all my energy, and go under 3 feet to swim to it. ( Like I said, I heard, I did not listen) after complete and total exhaustion set in......I surface,

This is a very dangerous thing to do on a drift dive. Never swim horizontally at a very shallow depth without a surface marker protecting you. You need to stay under your bubbles when anywhere near the surface, this gives the boat operator a fighting chance not to run you over. I have seen near death incidents where a diver THINKS the boat operator sees him and decises to casual swim just below the surface toward the boat. You are not under your bubbles and the operator can very easily kill you.

If you ever have to ascend without a float and you suspect a boat may be near, another technique to increase your odds for survival is to purge the reg for a little at 6 feet sending a huge plume of bubbles up immediately before you ascend in the middle of it.

 

[Splitlip]

Got advise by all. Learn to shoot a marker if you cannot come up under the protection of the float as on choppy days bubbles are dificult to see.

I was hit by a speeding boat once. Not pleasant.

Palm Beach drift divers are the worst navigators on the planet.

 

[dbulmer]

TSandM,
A tip (you may well have thought of this already) if you are on the surface and the water is choppy and running, deploy the long hose - this avoids buddy separation and also helps the boat driver.

 

[Sher1026]

This is a very dangerous thing to do on a drift dive. Never swim horizontally at a very shallow depth without a surface marker protecting you. You need to stay under your bubbles when anywhere near the surface, this gives the boat operator a fighting chance not to run you over. I have seen near death incidents where a diver THINKS the boat operator sees him and decises to casual swim just below the surface toward the boat. You are not under your bubbles and the operator can very easily kill you.

If you ever have to ascend without a float and you suspect a boat may be near, another technique to increase your odds for survival is to purge the reg for a little at 6 feet sending a huge plume of bubbles up immediately before you ascend in the middle of it.

Yes it is, I found that out after I actually saw how it worked when I called my second dive. Diving is like flying its usually a series of errors that cause a catastrophy, and im the first one to preach it, I just got complacent and focused on my daughter rather than planning my own dive and listening to the capt. Lucky for me I survived it with only a bruised ego and not enough strength to lift a coke can.

 

[Splitlip]

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[Jrock1062]

. .

Is that you ??

 

[flw]

TSandM,
A tip (you may well have thought of this already) if you are on the surface and the water is choppy and running, deploy the long hose - this avoids buddy separation and also helps the boat driver.

???? - I've been in plenty of rough waters and never had any real problem staying together once back on the surface, though I've had a few separations midwater due to tides/vis.
I can't see how a long hose is going to help anything