Personal Boat Diving

[DennisC]

So, I'm thinking of getting a boat to use out in the gulf of mexico and possibly do some diving off of. I know other people do this but I would like to know when you are diving off your personal boat if you always have extra people stay up on the boat? Diving right now would just be me and one other person and we dive as buddies so if we went alone the boat would be on the surface alone. I doubt anyone would try to steal it but that would be a major concern. I'm just curious as to what other people who dive from their own boats do?

 

[tomfcrist]

I bring my non diving wife....keep someone on the boat...not so much for theft, but boats have a habit of pulling anchor and not being there when you get back topside.

 

[Steve_C]

Make sure the person left on board can run the boat, use emergency radio, etc.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

At the risk of speaking heresy - I use a reef anchor and tie it into the structure (using a rope that I bring down and literally tie the anchor into something). I have done both - left a person on the boat and dove with no tender...
You seem like you do not have much/any boating experience - my advice would be to get some first with a boat tender and then make your own decision after you have some experience - obviously your life may depend on it - we all make decisions and need to live with them. Make them good ones...
Best case is you have someone that loves to sit on an empty boat with a book or enjoys being by themselves and can man the boat as needed...

 

[oldschoolto]

I have always dived with a empty boat... BUT.... BUT... Stay close and keep a eye
Or wreck line on the boat.... I always go down the anchor line and make sure its SET good...

Jim...

 

[DennisC]

I could probably find people who just want to go on a boat ride, I didnt think of that. I have never had trouble with my boat pulling up anchor before, but I have only run a boat on the Chesapeake Bay and never in the gulf of mexico. I'd rather not tie onto the reef, but I know its usually OK to tie onto a wreck. That's what they do in NC I'm guessing its fine here? As for the reefs ill just try to get the anchor close and leave someone topside who can drive the boat, just in case.Thanks for the input!

 

[Steve_C]

Water in the ocean can pick up quite a bit in a couple of hours.

 

[antattack]

If you are going to leave the boat un-attended, you might want to choose dive sites from which you can swim to dry land. When we dive from Kayaks, the dive plan always includes "what do we do if the anchor line isn't there at the end of the dive?"

 

[Steve_C]

Know a very experienced diver that used to dive from an unattended boat. Had a bad experience which fortunately ended well after a while at sea. He does not do it any more. He also carries more signaling devices on him when he dives now. Problem as I recall was not that the anchor pulled but that he and his buddy were both solo and he had to ascend without anchor line and got caught in some current. Buddy came up at boat, could not see him anywhere, and went searching for him. He was not within eyesight and it was starting to get toward dark. Search took a while but buddy was an experienced diver/captain who could read currents and knew how to carry out an open ocean search using GPS.

 

[DennisC]

That's a great story steve it's good it turned out OK for the guy. I think now I'll just make sure to have someone on the boat. And possibly get one of those gps locater things