How to not look like a Christmas tree?

[fnfalman]

I don't want to look like a Christmas tree

Believe it or not, you can safely dive without havin double or triple redundancy on everything. Gear up for that particular dive. If you're going to plan for all contingencies, then might as well stay home.

I don't want to get abandoned by a dive boat without proper signaling devices either.

Then ask them about their divers check-in procedure. See if they even have one. How do they control the roster?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Speaking of Christmas trees ... I once saw a group gearing up for a night dive at our local cove. All of the divers were wearing multiple glow sticks. One gal had them tied onto her BCD like a pair of bandoleros. It was a class dive ... and each student had their own color. I suspect the shop was running a special on cyalume sticks that day ... either that or the instructor was insecure about being able to keep track of everyone. At any rate, I thought it was probably more distracting than helpful for the students ... but they sure looked festive underwater ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[g1138]

The wee antenna on a personal locator beacon sends a distress signal to a satellite, which is "forwarded to a rescue coordination center within typically 3 minutes." This is the one item you'd sell your soul for if you happen to be lost and adrift in open water. Whether that scenario is likely enough to merit carrying one is another topic.

Let me clarify, that wee little antenna won't help at all if you're using the VHF radio function. The EPIRB satellite feature I'm not familiar with, I saw a post questioning it's reliability. Perhaps I should read that before knocking it though.

*Fixed my original post, thanks!*

 

[Downing]

Speaking of glow sticks, last summer in Belize I went on a night dive off the southern tip of the Turneffe Atoll. We were joined by a Mom and her three teenagers. As we were gearing up, they pulled out their glowsticks and attached them to their tanks. Our dive master warned them that there would be a lot of bloodworms where we were going and the worms would be attracted to the lights. The kids wanted to take the glow sticks back off, but Mom insisted they stay on.

Sure enough, it was blood worm city down there. I could see them swirling around in the light from my flashlight and could feel them on my hands, face and occasionally even in my ears.

The entire family, including Mom, turned off their glow sticks about five minutes into the dive.

 

[cocoajoe]

I think I've been spending WAY too much time on the Accidents and Incidents board

I just got my OW cert last weekend and will be doing AOW dives next month in Kaua'i.

After that I plan on doing a few local dives in lakes and preferably vacation/recreational dives in places like Hawaii, Honduras, Belize, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Australia, Florida, etc. I don't have much desire to do deep dives other than what's required for AOW and wreck dives don't much appeal to me. I like reefs and pretty fish

So, reading about that couple who were left behind to die at the Great Barrier Reef was a little scary.

So far I have basic dive gear (mask, fins, snorkel, boots, BC, reg, octo, compass) and no accessories. However; based on things I've read on SB, I should be shopping around for the following:

O rings
Light
Mirror
Whistle
Extra mask
Fin strap
Slate
Knife
Shears/line cutter
SMB/spool
Pony bottle
Glow sticks
Air horn
VHF Radio/EPIRB
Dye


I don't want to look like a Christmas tree

I don't want to get abandoned by a dive boat without proper signaling devices either.

The subject has been pretty well covered but I don't see a dive computer on your basic list. Also, recommend a safety sausage (SMB). You may or may not know it's pretty much the same as a DSMB. The 'D' as in delayed meaning you deploy at depths. The diff is a you inflate it on the surface. Inflating at the surface doesn't reguire much if any training. And I have been on some boats that require them.