DSMB norms in Cozumel?

[Christi]

Just curious -- do many Cozumel divers carry their own deployable surface markers? Deploy them on many/most dives for the safety stop?

In response to your question.

It is standard procedure for the DM on all dives to deploy an SMB when the first dive pair or group is ready to surface.

HOWEVER - if you have your own and need to use it for whatever reason - proper communication with the DM and Captain as I said in another post is prudent and expected.

I encourage ALL divers to have one that can be blown up on the surface - and I discourage those without experience from deploying an SMB from depth.

 

[cvchief]

Yes.

Emergencies are when it's most important to follow procedures and take things step-by-step.

They should. Of course those are two different questions:

1. Should you and is it important;
2. Do most people in emergencies?

 

[Sideways]

I can't imagine not having a SMB in both mine and my wife's kit. Last trip alone, because of wicked down currents, I needed to deploy mine on 3 occasions. On other trips, it never got removed from my BC. The bottom line though is....it's there if needed. I think I actually carried mine for a hundred dives or so before I ever used it. First time was a bit akward, especially having a DSLR in hand. I would recommend to anyone who hasn't deployed one before, to chat with your DM/DG and have them assist you actually deploy yours during a safety stop. I mean... it's not like you're doing anything for that 3 mins As far as the Captain being unaware, or unable to figure out who's SMB is who's, in my experience they can. At least the ones I've deployed with. On that last trip where I used mine 3 times, every time the captain worked his way right over to me. On the other hand, no other boats did. So... I think they were very savvy.

I've read a story or two about lost divers in Coz, and with drift diving in general I think it's only prudent to have every type of signaling device you can muster. Might be 99 times out of 100 you don't need them, but that one time you do......

 

[mstevens]

They should. Of course those are two different questions:

1. Should you and is it important;
2. Do most people in emergencies?

I agree those are two different but interrelated questions. I personally believe the answer to 1 is "yes". On 2 I'd probably have to weasel and say "sure, some do but probably not as many as should".

This is one of the areas in which I think the integrated team diving / DIR / GUE etc. people are 100% right. If you don't train regularly for dealing with problems, you're not very likely to be able to deal with those problems if they arise. If you do train regularly, there's a reasonably good chance the training will kick in even in the face of panic and disaster and help push things in the direction of a better outcome. Further, that training can in itself be rewarding and even fun so there is every reason to do it.

As you well know from your own work, this is why pilots, medical people, security personnel, and those who work in many other fields involving risk spend seemingly disproportionate amounts of time and energy preparing for events that they could reasonably believe might never happen. I actually started to think my little podunk hospital was overdoing it when they put a decontamination unit in the new ER and spent tons of time with mass casualty drills out in the boonies. Then last week a local ball bearing plant exploded due to a nitric acid reaction and 14 towns had to dispatch first responders to the scene. All that training kicked in and the scene and ER ran like clockwork. Many of the personnel involved had spouses, parents, and children working there and were frantically worried, but the training took over and everything worked the way it was supposed to. Everyone survived and got the care they needed.

My opinion is that scuba diving is one of those areas where things rarely go wrong but where they can go disastrously wrong at times. From my first day of class in 1980 to now, part of diving for me has been doing drills to prepare for some of those events. It turns out that the most dangerous thing ever to happen to a member of my family while diving wasn't something we'd ever drilled for, but my son in his mid-teens (whose life was the one endangered) was able to respond calmly and think through what needed to be done even while events were unfolding at breakneck speed.

At one point or another, we've eventually needed to use every skill we've practiced, from swapping masks underwater, to buddy breathing from a single regulator, ditch-and-don at the bottom, CESA due to regulator failure, rebuilding a BCD power inflator at depth, etc.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I'll defer to Cozumel dive ops like Christi as to what the "norms" are. All I can say is that in Cozumel my wife and I carried our SMBs (aka DSMBs aka safety sausages) just as we do everywhere we dive in open ocean. If we were to become separated from the DM, I would deploy my SMB or deploy my DSMB or "shoot my bag" etc etc before my surface interval. Or if for some reason I neglected to do that (shame shame) and I surfaced to find no DM or boat nearby, I would deploy it on the surface.

Such a use for my SMB has arisen several times elsewhere but only once in Cozumel. On a night dive the DM advised us we were likely to surface apart from each other and that we should shine our lights on ourselves to alert the boat of our presence. But it seemed to me that inflating my SMB and shining a light up into it, causing it to glow a nice orange color, would be even better. It worked fine.

 

[BettyfromToronto]

My husband & I bought one each before our first trip to Cozumel because of what I read on SB. We had to use it on the first dive when the DM didn't deploy his when we were the first ones out of air. We surfaced and there were NO boats around. We inflated one and waited until our boat came for us.

Next trip we had a different DM and he always inflated his DSMB for the first divers out of air but luckily we got better and we are now usually the last ones to go up. He sends it up and then we just keep following him until it is time and when we surface the boat is right there and waiting.

Since that first time we have never used it again but it is there if ever required.

 

[Mossman]

rebuilding a BCD power inflator at depth, etc.

Seriously, you and your family actually practice rebuilding BCD power inflators at depth? Perhaps photography might be a more interesting pastime.

 

[dfx]

I always carry one simply for the sake of being self sufficient. I'd rather have my own to shoot than having to rely on the DM to do it.

 

[mstevens]

Seriously, you and your family actually practice rebuilding BCD power inflators at depth?

Weird as it sounds, yes. We do now because my wife had a significant issue with hers that led to a dive having to be scrubbed because her BCD bladder kept filling with air.* If she'd been able to disassemble it and re-seat the valve (which is really not at all difficult) she wouldn't have missed the dive. We go over this roughly once or twice a year at the kitchen table to make sure we remember how they go back together. Not all practice necessarily needs to be underwater. We know the skill can come in handy because the second time it happened to her she knew what to do and enjoyed the remainder of the dive.

*Yes, simply disconnecting the power inflator hose would also be a short-term solution for this problem.

 

[Diver Kat]

The DH & I always carry our SMB's with us. Now we also dive with the same op as Skittles & cvchief, have for nearly 10 years now. And cv isn't kidding when he says she'd anal about safety!! (Although we also dove with a few other ops over the years as well.) Don't think we ever needed to use it diving Coz, but we have used it in Florida. Don't know if it's still true, but when we first started diving Florida, you were required to have one on you.

I agree that it's a good thing to have one - even if you never need it!