Left Behind...
- Thread starter Fish_Whisperer
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OP
Fish_Whisperer
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Well, I don't want to name names, because the guys running the boat were outstanding, otherwise. And if I hadn't burned through my air so quickly, no one would have been the wiser. I haven't got a whistle yet, but yeah, I can see where that would be pretty handy, too. Speaking of the movie, "Open Water," I noticed that one of the couple had a whistle on their BC, and wondered why they never used it... (Then again, that movie was one of the worst movies I've ever seen, so... whatEVER!) LOL
blobubbles
New
It's good that you are able to laugh. A potential nightmare. I've read too many letters like yours. Luckily yours ended rather painlessly, and rather quickly. I have learned by other peoples situations and experiences. To avoid being an author of such a letter, I feel somewhat safer taking the sausage, a strobe, a whistle, and reflecting mirror with me on all dives. They are all small and fit in 1 BC pocket. They are also inexpensive. The strobe was the most at about 35$. More expensive strobes are avail. If you can't find a mirror, a great sub. is a CD back. Good luck and be safe.
Fish_Whisperer:
Aside from getting the Harbor Master's panties in a wad and possibly spending an unplanned surface interval with the Mexican Navy, it's Murphy's luck one would come steaming into port while you are bobbing around in its path. Even if you submerged to try and avoid being run down, the silt out would kill the viz and put you into a hit or miss situation. The giant screws on the ships sitting at the pier can suck you in even if they're not moving. Too many hazards.
Shore would be an option and holding onto the buoy line would be another.
OP
Fish_Whisperer
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Okay. Thanks for that, Mama. I was thinking of swimming for shore, but was increasingly considering grabbing the buoy. It was only 20-30 yards away.
Just read a good article in this month's Dive Training Mag ... You can usually pick these up for free at the local dive shop .. or www.dtmag.com
"When a Winning Smile Just Isn't Enough: Scuba Accessories That Will Help You Get Noticed "
This story seems to be a good example for the article.
Glad everything worked out for the best!
jcf
PS - Might also want to pick up a $2 glow stick and keep it in your pocket. Never know how long you might have been floating out there.
"When a Winning Smile Just Isn't Enough: Scuba Accessories That Will Help You Get Noticed "
This story seems to be a good example for the article.
Glad everything worked out for the best!
jcf
PS - Might also want to pick up a $2 glow stick and keep it in your pocket. Never know how long you might have been floating out there.
Fish_Whisperer:
hey, dont blame yourself at all. What if you had a malfunction, a freeflow, anything that experienced divers as welll as new divers may experience. You burned your air faster, that's why they are supposed to follow.
I know you say they were outstanding but as for security, someone should have realized it was stupid (the captain, or other) so IMO, the operator is responsible for the actions of his crew. It might then be important to name the operator unless they fired all their unwise personnel because I wouldn't want to go with them.
I still cant believe how stupid a decision it was. If they had to go ashore for a diver with dcs, maybe... but even then, asking another boat for help would have been a minimum.
BTW, I also carry a safety sausage. It helped me when me and my buddy were drifting in the Thousand Islands (St-Lawrence river after the Great Lakes) and we surfaced on the US side instead of the canadian side. The boat crew was looking at the north shore and didn't see us untill my buddy used his whistle. They turned their heads and finally saw my orange sausage. The first question the captain asked was if we had touched shore. We answered negatively and he was relieved that we wouldn't have to go trough all the customs buraucratic paperstuff. So anyway, I would also recommend a combined use of sound and sight signaling devices
dkktsunami
Contributor
Terrible and irresponsible dive service - instructor could have handled his problems in the water or in a 5 gal. bucket, but leaving his divers submerged in open water to preserve a little modesty and comfort is clearly the wrong thing to do. Good move with the safety sausage. Also good idea to carry a small mirror, such as plastic encased top to a woman's small compact.
Fr3d
Registered
It's pretty scary surfacing and not seeing what you expect to see. Was on a shore dive in low vis murky conditions. Was following buddy to our surface point, we got separated. Was running low on air and knew that there was about a 2% chance i'd find him or anyone else in the group. Found a marker buoy I thought was the target. Once I surfaced I saw nobody around. Wasn't too impressed with what was going on (yep, was mostly my fault), was floating at a buoy surrounded by moored yachts and other buoys. Luckily buddy surfaced a few mins later and shouted from behind a boat. Not something i want to repeat, but it must be infinatly worse when ur diveboat disappears.
I had a similar experience in Coz.
My wife had used her air quickly fighting the current to watch a huge Cuda so we notified the DM that we were going to 15 feet to SS and surface. He released his sausage but never came up with us.
At the surface the current was much stronger and we left the group in the dust. I lost site of his sausage after a minute or so doing our SS. When I looked around there were a few dive boats around but none were even close and ours was not in sight. I got the attention of one boat after a few minutes and they came over to us and radioed our boat. It seems they cover each other well there and spot other boats divers.
I was never really worried as we could see many boats around and figured sooner or later we would come close to one but it was a little unnerving at the time.
It seems to me that this is modus operandi in Coz. Dump em in and everyone watches for you to surface. It may be a ** mess but it must work.
I have a sausage but left it on the boat.
That’s a great place for it cause it won't get wet there :05:
My wife had used her air quickly fighting the current to watch a huge Cuda so we notified the DM that we were going to 15 feet to SS and surface. He released his sausage but never came up with us.
At the surface the current was much stronger and we left the group in the dust. I lost site of his sausage after a minute or so doing our SS. When I looked around there were a few dive boats around but none were even close and ours was not in sight. I got the attention of one boat after a few minutes and they came over to us and radioed our boat. It seems they cover each other well there and spot other boats divers.
I was never really worried as we could see many boats around and figured sooner or later we would come close to one but it was a little unnerving at the time.
It seems to me that this is modus operandi in Coz. Dump em in and everyone watches for you to surface. It may be a ** mess but it must work.
I have a sausage but left it on the boat.
That’s a great place for it cause it won't get wet there :05:
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