LIfe Threatening Dive Experience - Fiji

[vincent54]

Could be why the resort is always for sale .

 

[Beau640]

I keep reading about these scenarios in books and on here. How many people are carrying a Nautilus Lifeline? I've been waiting to grab one but the more I read about these lost at sea episodes the closer I'm getting to pulling the trigger.

 

[Marie13]

6 ft SMB. Period. I've got 2 now. 3 ft one for the quarries, 6 ft for the Great Lakes. Bright pink.

 

[dlofting]

I don't think you did anything wrong, and actually a lot of things right. The SMB is always a good idea, but in this case I don't know how much it would have helped.

I carry a strobe that I bought from DGX a couple of years ago and my wife has the Nautilus Lifeline. I also bought a Dive Alert Plus before our last trip. It attaches to the inflator hose and makes a very loud noise when you're on the surface....I'm a bit of a gear junkie and sort of bought it on a whim, but did find it very effective at getting someone's attention.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

When I will travel to that part of the world, I'll be packing in a side pouch: Nautilus Lifeline/radio, signal mirror (basically a piece of metal), DSMB, and most importantly PLB in a canister. The DSMB will go up as soon as I abort a dive. Nautilus comes out as soon as I hit the surface. Boat goes away and I use the PLB. I sure hope the PLB will work and let the captain explain him or herself to s&r that I hope gets deployed.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

And @billmcentee. Thanks for posting, as while events like this (with worse results) happen time to time and have been discussed at length, those threads get buried. I look at these threads as learning opportunities for equipment and training I would want to have if I were to find myself in such situations.

 

[KevinNM]

I went and bought a PLB after seeing enough of theses threads. That and a huge halcyon SMB stuck in the backplate. The odds of needing the PLB are small, but if you need it you really need it.

 

[Joneill]

When I will travel to that part of the world, I'll be packing in a side pouch: Nautilus Lifeline/radio, signal mirror (basically a piece of metal), DSMB, and most importantly PLB in a canister. The DSMB will go up as soon as I abort a dive. Nautilus comes out as soon as I hit the surface. Boat goes away and I use the PLB. I sure hope the PLB will work and let the captain explain him or herself to s&r that I hope gets deployed.

+1 - the SMB and Nautilus Lifeline are good, but depend on someone looking or listening (can't hear a vhf with earbuds in either). A PLB/ePIRB would seem a really good idea in remote locations like this!

 

[KathyV]

Hi, My wife and I just returned from a dive trip in Fiji and I wanted to let you all know about a life threatening dive experience that we encountered on our first day of diving there...So after an hour and half of threading water, I turned to my wife and said that I don't think they were coming back and if they do, there was little chance they would see us as the ocean was getting rougher. We looked around and about three quarters of a mile away from where we were there was a little remote island. We decided that was our best bet. It took us about an hour and half to swim to it. Luckily, there was only a minor current that was running parallel to the island that we could swim though and it wasn't strong enough instead to pull us by the island and out into open waters...

What a terrible experience, so glad that you both kept your heads and came out of it okay! You are smart to get away from that resort and dive op. Where did you end up and how was the rest of your trip?

I was wondering if you dumped your weights while you were treading water and swimming to the island for safety? Did the dive op give you grief about losing the weights and did they try to charge you for them?

 

[Schwob]

PLB in a canister

Could you elaborate on the canister?
Or choices of...