Have you seen the movie Open Water?

[miketsp]

..snip..
Most of it's "diving" related footage was bogus...too numerous errors to mention, but lets start with no SMB, whistle or any of the normal safety gear a responsible diver carries in open water..
..snip..

I have to agree with mislav, I'm regularly the only guy on the boat carrying an SMB, spool, whistle & mirror. Unfortunately that's the standard in many tourist areas.

 

[Storm]

I have to agree with mislav, I'm regularly the only guy on the boat carrying an SMB, spool, whistle & mirror. Unfortunately that's the standard in many tourist areas.

Now that's just scary. Even when my wife and I are doing basic shore dives, our safety and signalling gear is with us. You never know when you're going to have to pop where there's a potential for boat traffic, etc.

Anyway, like I said, I liked the movie, but then again I've been a fan of indie flicks for a long time.

 

[Meng_Tze]

Any one diving without proper precautions (in this case signaling devices for OW) should not complain if the sh hits the fan.............we are all responsible for our own safety and management of emergencies in this activity we call diving.

I am stopping short of saying that anyone who gets left behind and does not have means to signal the boat deserves what comes next............

 

[isurus]

Tell that to the men of the USS Indianapolis many of whom were victims of the oceanic (Pelagic) white tip shark.

Yeah - if they'd filmed it on the w/e with a load of baited up oceanics that would've been some oscar winningly pant-soiling method acting.

As regards being left behind - are you all positive that if the boat is careless enough to forget you they'll be ok to see you're signalling mirror/blob/flag a couple of hours later when you've drifted a mile or two with the current (I'm not - not that it stops me bringing all that with me every dive)?

 

[Web Monkey]

As regards being left behind - are you all positive that if the boat is careless enough to forget you they'll be ok to see you're signalling mirror/blob/flag a couple of hours later when you've drifted a mile or two with the current (I'm not - not that it stops me bringing all that with me every dive)?

I'm confident that I'd be found once my wife called the Coast Guard and told them to go look for (2) 9' SMBs with a strobe on top, attached to a guy with a screechy air horn and a 50 Watt light.

Terry

 

[Meng_Tze]

I'm confident that I'd be found once my wife called the Coast Guard and told them to go look for (2) 9' SMBs with a strobe on top, attached to a guy with a screechy air horn and a 50 Watt light.

Terry

Thats right

 

[Puck]

I'm thinking about taking my kite along next time, it breaks down to the size of a snorkel, is easy to assemble, and I'm thinking that a rainbow box kite on the end of 50' of kite string will make me un-missable.

 

[Stormbringer]

I find it interesting that the film crew still found the need to chum the water to attract the sharks for their footage. It aparently wasn't enough to just have the two actor/divers float for hours and get sharks to naturally come by for those shark filming scenes. I just found it way too staged and hokie as a film. True, sharks have attacked divers, spearfisherman, surfers and other people in the water but such incidents are rare despite what even "Open Water" depicts.

The incident involving the USS Indianapolis is not the norm. Many men were injured during the torpedo attack and thrown/jumped into the water and the pelagic sharks were probably first attracted to the wounded and dieing. Of the Indianapolis crew 887 died and 317 survived and not everyone was attacked by a shark even though they were all in the water for 5 days. We have no idea how many of the 887 were severely injured and died or were dieing as a result of the injuries sustained in the original torpedo attack. In fact it would be fair to say that these sailors died because of the torpedo attack rather than by shark attack. Torpedos destroyed many other ships in WWII and caused more deaths than just those of the USS Indianapolis. Far more deaths by torpedo than by shark, I would suspect. Its funny how many continue to foster the belief of man eating sharks. Under normal circumstances sharks are not out to eat people regardless of what Hollywood and the press continue to report.

 

[SparticleBrane]

"Have you seen the movie Open Water?"

No.

 

[Stormbringer]

Yes I saw it....and I didn't like it. I think it could have been better if they just left the sharks out of the film...not because they don't exist in the water...of course they do...just didn't need to press that lets use sharks to get people scared button. I think it would have been better just having it end with them floating out to sea and then post in the credits something about them being missing and presumed dead. I didn't see the need to drag out the shark attack thing during the last few minutes of the film, especially when saying the movie was based on "real events." It just seems a cheap shot using the sharks. Its like having lions attack a couple of vacationers visiting Kenya's bush country while looking at Elephants and getting lost. While I'm sure it has happened I doubt its an everyday occurance.