Finding your way back to the boat

[Diver0001]

I would like some input on how you guys/ gals find your way back to an anchored boat at the end of your dive. I raise this question because of two things that happened to me while diving in Cozumel and Belize.

Story: My second ocean dive was in Cozumel and to make the story short, there was a swim through I didn't feel comfortable going through so I didn't. I was the last in the group and by myself (buddy had long since gone through along with everyone else). Initially I was very concerned but figured that worst case I could surface properly and the boat would pick me up since this was a drift dive. No big deal. Saw the group comming out and swam over the reef to rejoin them.

In Belize, the boat was tied off (first time I had dove this way and location). At 1/2 tank we were to let DM know so we could turn around. Well DM wasn't paying much attention and at 1200psi I finally got his attention. The DM trainee who was taking the rear of the group had been taking someone else back who was low on air. I started getting pretty nervous before I got the DM's attention because again my rental buddy was off doing thier own thing and I had no idea where the boat was. It got me to thinking that even if my buddy had stayed with me, had we gotten separated from the group could we have found the boat. I can do basic compass navigation but I have to have the compass in hand the whole time and pay attention to it. Meaning planning it to be a compass dive.

How do you find your way back to the boat if you are separated from the DM?

PS sorry this was long. :11:

I think in your case one of the habits you need to develop is to talk about what you are comfortable doing before you get in the water. If the DM was leading a swimthrough and you got alarm bells about it then the right place to bring that up is during the briefing and not when you're down there looking at it and potentially getting separated from the group. It's obviously much easier to stay with the group if you are comfortable going where the group goes. You're a new diver so it's perfectly reasonable for you to expect others to accommodate your comfort zone in the planning. That's what happened to you in Cozumel and if you had brought it up in the briefing the DM would have told you to go over and rejoin the group and you could have saved yourself a lot of stress and worry.

The second thing I think is important is learning how to use a compass and to develop some situational awareness. Unfortunately there are no silver bullets to acquiring these skills quickly. Learning to relax and look around you as you go is a big step in gaining situational awareness but basically this just takes making the dives. If you can use a compass you have a big jump start. if you can't then you can learn it fairly easily topside. Refer to your compass often under water and you'll start to develop a feeling for how much you need to look at it. You don't need to stare at it the whole time to use it for navigation unless you're running precision navigational patterns (searching)

And navigation has as much to do with how much air you have as it does with which way to go. If you swim for 30 min away from teh boat but only have enough air left to swim for 10 min back before surfacing then you're going to be forced to surface 20 min from the boat. This is what happened to you in Belize. In order to run an out-and-back pattern and get back to your starting point with 500psi reserve then you need to turn the dive at 1750psi, not 1200.

It also really helps to watch the number of minutes of swimming. If you swim 10 min in one direction and turn around then ignoring current it will typically take you 10 mn to get back again. Adjusting for current is a matter of situational awareness so it's a skill you'll have to fine-tune but the point is that your watch is an important navigational tool.

Someone already covered the other gear requirements for boat diving.

Hope that helps.

R..

 

[Allison Finch]

Over the years I have developed a habit of picking out landmarks as I move along. I keep them in mind as I backtrack (assuming the boat is at anchor). I rarely get lost and will almost always find the anchor line again. I admit, though, that I dive very clear water. I always carry a SMB and a dive alert. This is especially important with current dives.

 

[jstuart1]

Rule #4 Always have a signalling sausage with you. I like the kind that you plug into your LPH and inflate that way.

I have a sausage clipped to my bc at all times, dive alert and a flashlight. Which sausage can you inflate with the LPH?

 

[Marek K]

I have a sausage clipped to my bc at all times, dive alert and a flashlight. Which sausage can you inflate with the LPH?

Where do you keep your sausage clipped?

I just got one, and haven't dived with it yet. I don't like the idea of it flopping around just clipped on. It's in a case, that's got a loop designed for horizontal 2" webbing -- the flap of the case would then open vertically.

I also have a jacket BC, and can't find a good place to keep it. Pretty bulky for a pocket. No available horizontal webbing. Only place I can think of is on the right shoulder strap, where the quick release is; I can get it on by un-clipping the release, and the case is the horizontal -- the quick release is still accessible under the sausage case.

But, man, it's still bulky!! And, um, colorful...

--Marek

 

[miketsp]

..snip..
If there is any sand the ripples will paralel the shore line.
..snip..

Tip. In most situations the steep side of a sand ripple will face the shore.

 

[MichaelBaranows]

This might only be me, but I noticed no one said anything about reading the nav book or enrolling on a nav course with your LDS.

 

[jstuart1]

Where do you keep your sausage clipped? --Marek

I have a jacket style BC and keep it clipped to the bottom D-ring. Mine rolls up tight and is held that way by a velcro strap. Yep it's big and orange but it doesn't flop around and I know it's always there. :11: Only thing I don't like though is that it's hard to inflate. That's why I'd like to find one to inflate with the LP hose.

 

[Diver0001]

I have a jacket style BC and keep it clipped to the bottom D-ring. Mine rolls up tight and is held that way by a velcro strap. Yep it's big and orange but it doesn't flop around and I know it's always there. :11: Only thing I don't like though is that it's hard to inflate. That's why I'd like to find one to inflate with the LP hose.

How does your blob inflate?

R..

 

[Marek K]

I have a jacket style BC and keep it clipped to the bottom D-ring. Mine rolls up tight and is held that way by a velcro strap. Yep it's big and orange but it doesn't flop around and I know it's always there.

Yeah, mine has a velcro strap too, with an attached clip. So another option would be to do what you do. But I can't believe it doesn't flop around!

How does your blob inflate?

I don't know about his; but mine has a rubber one-way oral valve, with a stem in the center that you depress to deflate it... sort of like a skinny car tire valve, except you can put air in without depressing the stem. Only takes a few lung-fulls (lungs-full?) of air to inflate. I don't think there's any other way to inflate it...

Hmmm... sounds like jstuart's sausage might be from Triple-L, too...

--Marek

 

[triton94949]

I have a sausage clipped to my bc at all times, dive alert and a flashlight. Which sausage can you inflate with the LPH?

There are at least 3 kinds of signalling sausages.

Some are open at the bottom and are inflated by holding your 2nd stage under them and pressing the purge.

Some have a valve like a pool toy and must be orally inflated at the surface.

Some have a fitting which inserts into your Low Pressure Hose.