More Near Misses and Incidents in the FL Keys

[mselenaous]

I had to share this article...so many incidents in just a few days (and it wasn't even lobster mini-season).

Adrift divers rescued | KeysNews.com

Adrift divers rescuedCoast Guard, FWC have busy week offshore
BY GWEN FILOSA Citizen Staff
gfilosa@keysnews.com
The Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission wrapped up a busy week Sunday when it came to missing divers and boating accidents.
Within seven days, six divers in four incidents required rescue when each drifted away from respective boats, said Ensign Peter Bermont on Monday.
The Coast Guard typically receives one or two missing diver calls in a week, Bermont said.
"It stands out because of so many in so few days," Bermont said, as the six lost divers turned up between Thursday and Sunday.
All were found unharmed but the rash of diving scares prompted the Coast Guard to issue a strong reminder to locals and visitors to always have a plan, use a diver-down flag even if it's not required and keep an eye on one another.
"It really comes down to being vigilant on the water," Bermont said.
One diver bobbed around in the waters north of Fleming Key for almost three hours Sunday evening before rescuers pulled him to safety.
That rescue involved a search by water and air, as the Coast Guard launched a search plane from Miami, said Bermont.
By 8:05 p.m., a Coast Guard officer spotted through binoculars a diver waving his catch net in his direction.
Richard Alan Dayan, 63, had no injuries but was exhausted when found, according to an FWC report.
"He said that the current was strong and as he came up the vessel was no longer in his sight," Lt. George Cabanas reported. "He pulled and activated his PFD (personal flotation device) and waited for rescue to arrive."
Dayan was happy and "very grateful" for the FWC's rescue crew, the report said.
On Saturday, FWC reported two incidents on the water that in the end were only close calls:
At 1 p.m. offshore of Key Largo, near the popular Carysfort reef, a boat carrying six people sunk. A Good Samaritan pulled everyone to safety, FWC and the Monroe County Sheriff's Office reported.
At 1:30 p.m. off of Plantation Key, a woman was cut on the thigh by a boat propeller.
She had been lobstering, then started to climb aboard a boat that was still in gear.
She was treated at Mariner's Hospital.
"She got one large cut to the thigh and received a bunch of stitches," said Officer Bobby Dube, FWC spokesman.
gfilosa@keysnews.com

This really prompted me to start this poll http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...you-carry-use-smb-spool-every-ocean-dive.html

Honestly, what got me about the article was the six (yes 6) divers in 7 days needed Coast Guard/FWC rescues fro drifting away from their boats. I am sure their boats would have picked them up if they'd been seen on the surface...but then again that begs to the competency of the captain. These incidents happened on private boats.

What was your "lightbulb" moment that made you be more cautious?

 

[thez_yo]

A wrong call by my first OW teacher on my first OW dive made me stop 100% believing a trust-me dive scenario ever. Which came to include 'I have the SMB for the group' or 'I don't need a compass you lead' doesn't fly for me. What if that person gets lost/separates into a different group - you're on your own in the middle of the ocean now. However, sure I'll trust a good dive buddy and/or teacher to have my back should something go wrong, and me them. And if I screw up, well, I'm sorry because it was my fault.

 

[TSandM]

I haven't had a "light bulb" moment, because I started carrying an SMB on all boat dives, right after I learned about them and how to deploy one.

But I have had a dive where I was awfully glad we had one. We were diving San Miguel, in the Channel Islands, and ended up on a site with horrendous current. We were unable to return to the upline, and had to do a direct ascent from 90 feet. We blew a bag so the boat would see us, and when we got to the surface, we found heavy chop and strong wind blowing against our return to the boat. But the Zodiac had seen us, and we were picked up fairly promptly. I'm a believer.

 

[supergaijin]

Even with DSMB's it's not a sure thing. I remember my very last dive before I came south to Laamu Atoll- an uneventful dive but marginal weather. I guess another group came up right at the 'wrong' moment as the boat didn't see my buoy pop up. There was a mild current but nothing crazy- but suddenly the wind picked up as a squall came in. It got very dark and then it heaved down. We still had another minute or so but I decided to surface- no boat to be seen and very bad seas.

Luckily I had a compass. We linked divers together and swam against the wind + surface current so we wouldn't get pushed further away from the reef (and boat). The squall passed fairly quickly and now I could see the boat but they couldn't see us. I got everyone in the group to inflate their SMBs as well so we could get more visible and then the boat turned and saw us.

I hate the thought of drifting out to sea. Here There Be Tygers

 

[AfterDark]

Since I got my BP/W which gave me more/better options to attaches pockets or D-rings to attach to, I have standard items I carry on every dive.
1 SMB w/dive flag attached and finger spool
1 50lb lift bag
1 signal mirror
2 whistles
1 light
1 slate w/pencil
2 knives
Some dives prompt me to bring my cell phone and GPS in a camera case rated to 200FSW. The GPS is waterproof to 3' so surface use is possible. Cell phone use on the OW remains an unknown, never have used it, hope I never do. I have however on a bad day gotten out of the water a couple of miles from where I went in and would have loved to have had a cell phone!

 

[Davidccs]

This wouldn't happen if the divers were mute conscious if their personal safety, it has been said many times over. The boat is not responsible for your safety, you are. Staying in close proximity to the boat is part of that safety. In key largo I almost drifted too far away from the busy once but my awesome dive buddy recognized this and brought us up, we saw the boat was really tiny, I recognize my mistake and followed her back to the boat, it took some strong, against the current swimming but we made it back safely and on time.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[CT Sean]

I've always carried an SMB on vacation dives which are primarily boat, at least since I realized they existed while reading here. I never bothered to bring it on local dives as they are always pretty shallow and close to shore and nowhere that I actually need to worry about being swept out to sea.

However, just yesterday i had a bit of a :idea: moment when my wife and I got seperated. She was towing the flag and at one moment she was there and the next moment she was gone, we were in maybe 10 feet viz so it didn't take much. Her version of the story is a little different but in my version she paused to look at something (sea star I believe it was) while I was moving to see something else, a medium sized Tautog. After an appropriate time backtracking and not finding her I realized I was going to have to surface with no marker. It was safe to assume she was still pretty close and her flag would "protect" me, but still a little worrisome. On the surface she was right there, all of 11 feet away, but it did show me that even in what appears to be the most benign circumstances, barely 100 feet offshore in 12 feet of water, you might just need a surface marker.

 

[mathauck0814]

Sort of underscores the importance of a check out dive to me. I haven't been asked to do one in a long time, but it seems ~7-8 years ago it was normal. An SMB is an equipment solution to a skills problem (namely, planning and executing a dive such that you end up back at the boat). I'm not suggesting it's a bad idea to carry one, but it's not a silver bullet for the drifting diver problem.

 

[Nirvana]

Mathauck0814, I would not call carrying an SMB an "equipment solution to a skills problem" anymore than I would carrying two knifes in a cave dive. You shouldn't get tangled in lines, but I can't see someone risking not having a knife. Likewise, a diver should be able to return to the boat, but it is very conceivable that a problem may occur that prevents him or her form getting back to the line, making deployng an SMB needed. If you then take into account how unobtrusive one is and how simple it is to deploy it, there is no reason not to carry an SMB and reel in any dive in which ocean currents and boats are involved.

 

[mathauck0814]

Mathauck0814, I would not call carrying an SMB an "equipment solution to a skills problem" anymore than I would carrying two knifes in a cave dive. You shouldn't get tangled in lines, but I can't see someone risking not having a knife. Likewise, a diver should be able to return to the boat, but it is very conceivable that a problem may occur that prevents him or her form getting back to the line, making deployng an SMB needed. If you then take into account how unobtrusive one is and how simple it is to deploy it, there is no reason not to carry an SMB and reel in any dive in which ocean currents and boats are involved.

Totally with you, and I carry SMB and several spools on most every dive. My point, I guess, is that I doubt very much that 6 people in 7 days would be prevented through the simple addition of an airbag.