New Rescue Diver...

[dvr4lyf]

I just signed up for my R.D. cert class & as I read through my book I am reminded of a vacation I took 2 years ago. I was in Pampaon Beach, Fl on a boat with my LDS. Our first dive was a nurse shark sancuary, our second was a reef dive, both were amazingly beautifull!! On day two our first dive was a wreck dive, my first wreck! It was amazing! However some of the divers became a little displaced. They wound up surfacing near another dive boat ( approx 1/4 mile away) and boarding with the other crew. In reading through my new book it says that missing divers can be a real issue. My question to the board is how many of you have ever wondered off or been carried by the current and had this happen to you?? No macho's needed here please, Just honesty. I myself have never had this happen but I've only been diving for a couple years.

Thanks for you input Safe diving!

 

[The Chairman]

Drift diving is an "art" for the Dive Op. They may be keeping track of a dozen or more buoys and the SMART ones, will mark their flags in a way to make them obvious AND they will limit the number of flags depending on conditions.

For me some of the most relaxing time of the dive is the safety stop/surface wait. Welcome to the World's Biggest Water Bed! If the boat is attending to others while I lie back and wait, it's no real biggie for me. I have had the wrong boat try to pick me up from time to time, I just thank them for their concern and ask them to radio XXXXX (insert dive op name here) as to my location.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

I once got on the wrong ladder on the right dove boat...if that counts.

The only other similar things was, once when diving in Florida, I surfaced and there wre boats all around. I didn't see my boat but another boat came by and offered to give me a lift. I took it and they ferried me to my boat...which was about a half mile away.

In retrospect, I wish I had just stayed put and let my boat come and get me.

Jeff