O2 rental in BVI?

[ManBearPig]

We will be sailing bvi over thanksgiving and I can not seem to find a place to rent an o2 setup for the boat in case one of us divers run into distress. Any ideas? Yes I know it's bathtub diving and really shallow, but these are my best friends and if something happens I want everything in my corner to treat the malady until rescue gets there.

 

[1erCRU]

Good luck on that one, it may exist, but I've never seen O2 rental gear in BVI in 25 years of diving there. However, BVI is a very compact diving area, quite unlikely you would be more than 30 minutes away from a VISAR rescue, especially considering your boat can move towards a rendevous with VISAR or to a dock to cut down the time in an emergency. The USCG is also very active in the area and has sent rescue helos for serious dive injuries to US citizens in the past.

With typical BVI profiles and the less than serious nitrogen loading common on sailing divers there I wouldn't lose any sleep over no O2.

Maybe RhoneMan will add his local perspective or send him a PM.

 

[Rhone Man]

Me either. If you got really desperate, I am sure you could pay one of the dive companies to lend you theirs for a week, but they might give you a strange look.

Otherwise, keep "767" programmed into your phone for Virgin Islands Search And Rescue (VISAR). They can make it out to pretty much anywhere in 30 minutes for a diving emergency.

 

[aliseeus]

Hi! I work for Dive BVI based out of Virgin Gorda and can honestly say that I've never heard of a vacation boater interested in carrying an O2 kit on board. That being said, I think it's a fantastic idea and am thrilled you're conscientious enough to ask around. So fantastic, in fact, that I immediately called my manager to find out if we'd be able to do something like that. As it turns out, we've got a spare DAN O2 kit lying around.

If you'd like to give us a call or drop us an email (1-800-848-7078, 284-495-5513, info@divebvi.com), we'd like to help you out if we can!

Thanks for being a good dive role model!

Caitlin Kennedy
Dive BVI

 

[Rhone Man]

That is the beauty of ScubaBoard... ask and ye shall receive!