Interesting dive off Palm beach yesterday

[Divin'Papaw]

Then why have any debates or discussion on this forum? Science doesn't matter. Skills and experience don't matter. People should just do what they want because it's their neck. According to you.

You're the one who is violating the clear and consistent guidelines for diving EAN currently taught by every single training agency globally. Those guidelines are established based upon science and the opinion of experts far smarter than you and me. That is why I said that it is your neck and you can dive as you wish. The vast majority of the rest of us will choose to follow established guidelines.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Since nobody has come up with the correct scenario and this thread is diverging all over the place, maybe it is time to finish the story before everyone forgets where I left off.

Even though my buddy has two brand new engines (less than 20 hrs) he has had some issues with the engines failing to start. I had never experienced it when I was operating the boat, nor had it occurred when either of use were diving and a recent modification/trip-to-shop, lead us to believe that the previous issue had been completely resolved,

However, apparently while I was diving, he turned both engines off and neither would even turn over or start. The trim worked but the engines acted like they were not in neutral which electronically precludes starting. He checked fuses, shut off the power, switched batteries and tried everything he could think of.

So he was kinda freaking out because he is dead in the water and I am drifting away with the float ball continuing my dive, oblivious to any problems topside. He noticed this fisherman in the area and (apparently there was enough communication established, since he speaks some Spanish) to request that the fisherman, go over, grab the float and then pull me in so I would not be lost.

That is exactly what the nice fisherman did, however, I was ignorant of the situation, not able to communicate, unhappy and was not even considering the option to possibly board his boat. At least I didn’t cuss him out.

Luckily, and for no apparent reason after 10-15minutes, the captain was able to start the motors and came over to pick me up (as I resumed drifting on the surface for just a minute or so).

My buddy had thrown out his anchor earlier when the initial problem occurred, to prevent drifting too far. When the engines eventually started, he just ditched it (rather than haul it all in on the boat by himself) in order to recover me ASAP.

It took me two more dives to find and then recover the anchor and line he ditched, I asked him to leave the engines running while I did these dives, LOL.

Six drops yesterday, I went to bed early last night.

Wonder if the nice fisherman will ever try to help out a few divers again?

Interesting. Yea, well, the rest of the story makes quite a bit of difference. I still stand on my comment that IF the fisherman had decided to just "haul you up", to me that would be a crime. But glad to hear the rest of the story and glad everything turned out well.

 

[Still Kicking]

Since nobody has come up with the correct scenario and this thread is diverging all over the place, maybe it is time to finish the story before everyone forgets where I left off.

Even though my buddy has two brand new engines (less than 20 hrs) he has had some issues with the engines failing to start. I had never experienced it when I was operating the boat, nor had it occurred when either of use were diving and a recent modification/trip-to-shop, lead us to believe that the previous issue had been completely resolved,

However, apparently while I was diving, he turned both engines off and neither would even turn over or start. The trim worked but the engines acted like they were not in neutral which electronically precludes starting. He checked fuses, shut off the power, switched batteries and tried everything he could think of.

So he was kinda freaking out because he is dead in the water and I am drifting away with the float ball continuing my dive, oblivious to any problems topside. He noticed this fisherman in the area and (apparently there was enough communication established, since he speaks some Spanish) to request that the fisherman, go over, grab the float and then pull me in so I would not be lost.

That is exactly what the nice fisherman did, however, I was ignorant of the situation, not able to communicate, unhappy and was not even considering the option to possibly board his boat. At least I didn’t cuss him out.

Luckily, and for no apparent reason after 10-15minutes, the captain was able to start the motors and came over to pick me up (as I resumed drifting on the surface for just a minute or so).

My buddy had thrown out his anchor earlier when the initial problem occurred, to prevent drifting too far. When the engines eventually started, he just ditched it (rather than haul it all in on the boat by himself) in order to recover me ASAP.

It took me two more dives to find and then recover the anchor and line he ditched, I asked him to leave the engines running while I did these dives, LOL.

Six drops yesterday, I went to bed early last night.

Wonder if the nice fisherman will ever try to help out a few divers again?

Have you checked the neutral safety switch? I have a suzuki snd it's very touchy. I replaced the switch and it didn't help.

 

[NothingClever]

@johndiver999 - That's a great dive story!

@Johnoly - very kind of you to share your expertise.

 

[Jonah Kowall]

I had a pretty wild experience during a dive off Miami Beach. I was doing deco after a wreck dive near the Deep Freeze wreck with about 12 other divers. They were part of another group, so I was alone with my thoughts, enjoying the great visibility and recording footage with my heads-up camera.

Out of nowhere, some guy in a boat drives up to my SMB, yanks it right out of the water while I’m mid-deco, and starts pulling on the line! I was stuck between staying down and dealing with this fool. So I started letting out line, hoping he'd get the hint, but eventually, I ran out of spool. I didn’t want to blow my deco, so I gave up and threw the spool. The whole time I am pulling back and yanking to see if maybe he figures out a person is there. Nope!

When I got back to the dive boat, the other divers were excited, showing off this "nice SMB" they found. The spool was a tangled mess, of course. I told them what happened, and we all realized the idiot who grabbed my SMB had just tossed the whole thing back into the ocean.

Thankfully, the boat captain knew a cop. They managed to track down the guy through the boat’s ID. Turns out he was part of a boat club, and the officer paid him a visit. The cop laid it on thick, telling him what he did was dangerous, and warned him he’d be arrested if he ever pulled a stunt like that again. Safe to say, the guy was thoroughly scared out of trying that again! Miami boat drivers....

 

[tekkydiver]

I am pulling a floatball ...

I'll admit, I didn't read the thread all that carefully, but... A floatball has no standing. A dive flag on the other hand means something. Where was the boat that put you in the water?

 

[NothingClever]

I'll admit, I didn't read the thread all that carefully, but... A floatball has no standing. A dive flag on the other hand means something. Where was the boat that put you in the water?

A floatball has the DD flag at the top.

 

[johndiver999]

A floatball has the DD flag at the top.

no we use an inflatable buoy that is somewhat elongated. Can't seem to find a picture of it.

 

[NothingClever]

no we use an inflatable buoy that is somewhat elongated. Can't seem to find a picture of it.

A torpedo float? That’s what I use. It has a DD flag on it, too.

 

[johndiver999]

A torpedo float? That’s what I use. It has a DD flag on it, too.

like this https://polyformus.com/cdn/shop/products/Polyform-LD1-SF-red.jpg?v=1696081388&width=900