Full Set Of Gear Lost To Davy Jones' Locker

[hlsooner]

While diving yesterday, I saw firsthand why you should always be careful to check that you gear is securely bungied and/or put some air in your BC as you setup your rig.

As our boat was heading out, a full set of gear in the position closest to the stern somehow came undone and fell off the back of the boat, injuring the owner's leg as it went overboard. Others immediately threw a float in the area and notified the captain to stop. However, this happened in the middle of one of the busiest shipping channels in America, where diving is illegal. There was no air in the BC, and the gear sank straight to the bottom before we could even get back to where it fell overboard.

The diver lost everything but their mask and fins.

Lessons reinforced: (1) repeatedly check to see that your gear is secure; (2) put some air in your BC whenever you setup for a dive; (3) leave the weight pockets out (if integrated) until you get ready to dive.

 

[erparamedic]

Wow! That's a costly and tough lesson to learn!

I'm assuming the diver's leg will recover. Could have been worse... it could have been a diver that fell overboard never to return.

All things considered... if I'm gonna make a mistake, I'd rather lose my gear than my life. The cost to replace the gear is gonna suck though!

 

[Ice9]

Oh man! I'd be heart-broken! Good advise though. Hadn't thought about that before....

 

[JDog]

Bummer.

 

[diverdiver8]

My condolences to the owner....

 

[johnny_bravo]

Do you have Lat and Lon for the location? :14:

Sunken Treasure search coming up.

-J.-

 

[hlsooner]

The guy's gear fell off the boat right in the middle of the shipping channel leading to the Port of Miami, just about directly off from Smith & Wollensky in South Beach. As for a salvage mission, any diving in this area is illegal and the Coast Guard and Homeland Security would probably not react well to someone diving near cruise ships full of thousands of people. Likewise, you would get to dodge giant cargo ships and dozens of recreational boaters. Challenging would be a huge understatement.

 

[2905luvsbubbles]

Wow, what a bummer, but also excellent advice to keep some air in the BC. Hopefully he had some insurance, although I am not sure if that would be considered a covered loss.

 

[NadMat]

a good reminder to test your inflator as well as regs on set up and leave that air in the bc till you are ready for your gear to submerge.

 

[joystershell]

What a bummer! I've personally seen this happen to someone who is near and dear to Scubaboard. Luckily, although his gear was lost out in the sand, rather than on the reef, we were able to put teams in the water and recover his gear. I sure learned a valuable lesson that day. Especially prudent when equipped with a state of the art rig, including steel tank, weight integrated back plate, high tech reg and redundant computers.