Question:What do you do?

[Gulfcart]

My wife and I are new at the diving game ( around 30 dives) certified last year. We most of the time are diving with just the 2 of us.. I've asked many people what they do when there is only 2 people on the boat when they dive. I myself feel since taught in class the buddy system, it is the right way to go. We anchor, put up our flag (big one on the VHF antennae) then we both go down. First thing we do is check the anchor and secure it. We then do our dive. We make every effort to always come up on the anchor line when possible to be safe.

Some divers we've asked that question don't recommend that. They believe one person should stay with the boat while person goes down.. I don't feel comfortable with this.

I don't know..Looking for guidance here..Is there a right and a wrong?

 

[tfsails]

You could get solo training, and the proper equipment to go along with it. After that, you can safely solo dive. However, as a diver and a sailor, I feel pretty strongly that leaving a boat unattended while you dive is a recipe for disaster. Any number of things can happen to cause the boat to be gone when you surface. Any number of things can happen to cause you to surface too far away from the boat to be able to swim back to it.

Diving is much more fun with someone else than solo, in my opinion. It's way more fun to share the adventure with someone else. You might try to find someone trustworthy who is not a diver and who loves boats to stay on board while you dive.

This is just my two pennies' worth.

 

[Diver Dave 69]

We go with at least three people. Two down and one up. What happens if you have to surface away from the boat and have trouble fighting a current to get back? Another scenario is that the boat breaks free, then what?

In fact I believe it is illegal, at least in New York waters, to leave a boat unattended while diving of an anchor line.

Happy Diving!

 

[diver 85]

Carry a 3rd person........btw, how far 'out' are you, I'm assuming you're in saltwater, somewhere off Fl coast.....

 

[Ana]

My husband and I used to always anchor the boat and both go down as you describe, did that for few years.

Then one day at the end of a dive, as we were getting back to the anchor we noticed the line had a lot of slack and was perfectly vertical. Everything about the situation looked wrong I was trailing way behind but could see my husband started to swim as fast as he could to the anchor, and so did I. Before getting to the anchor it looked like someone/something was now taking the slack of the line and it was being pulled in the opposite direction. With one huge stretch my husband got hold of the anchor and shoved it as hard as he could down again in this new direction it was been pulled. It did grab and things got sort of quiet. We went up and encounter a really mean thunderstorm.

Things were fine when we went in, but sometime after we jumped the wind die signaling the proverbial "calm before the storm" with no wind or current at the moment the boat was not pulling the line, hence the slack in the line. The wind then suddenly change to the opposite direction turning the boat around and making it pull the anchor off.

That day we used every possible "lucky point" available to any person.

1- On a deeper dive with less than great viz, we would've lost the boat.
2- If we would've turn around a few seconds later, we would've lost the boat.
3- If the storm started a few seconds later we would've lost the boat.

then comes the part of "what if we lose the boat?"
For that if you are close to the coast (SE Florida) you swim but your boat crashes and probably takes someone/something in the process.
If your are far from the coast (Panhandle Florida) your boat may eventually be recovered unharmed but how about the divers?

Since then we try to bring a third person with us but that isn't easy so mostly we make solo dives. One person topside while the other person dives, most of the times we don't anchor now, follow the float with the flag and bring the boat to the diver at the end of the dive.

I used to have a 3rd person for the Panhandle dives, but now the boat is in Pompano and my search for a local person (or couple) is on. You'll think that would be easy, but that is an issue on itself.

 

[Dragon Down]

Look for someone who likes to fish as much as you like to dive.

 

[Erku]

Rather than solo dives, perhaps look for a local dive club and see if you can find another dive couple to go with you? Then you could switch off who was watching the boat and who was diving, without the risk (and loneliness) of going in solo... plus you could split any gas costs and whatnot.

 

[Ana]

Look for someone who likes to fish as much as you like to dive.

Finding a person that fish may be easier.

This person(s) should know how to handle a boat but if it isn't a diver you don't have to worry about their abilities underwater.

This person does need to understand your philosophy about fishing. At least for me, there is no need to have illegal fish on board. That would go for divers too, if they are into getting dinner.

 

[Gulfcart]

Sounds like we need to change our strategy.

Been fishing out in the Gulf for many years..

Just to qaulify, we always set the anchor when we get to the bottom, and always string line with a line and reel to the anchor and don't go outside the perimeter. We never go down in more than 60 ft...which in the Gulf is as much as 30-40 miles west. If its rough or stormy we fish instead of dive.

Our problem is we take many anchor out overnighters and weekend trips where the availability is limited to who else can go and the bunk room on the boat. We know we're no where near experienced enough to solo dive. We're learning every dive something new, and always will I'm sure.

Believe me I'm like a sponge reading all the forums.

 

[Mike Boswell]

Really depends on conditions. In areas with unpredictable weather and strong currents I wouldn't leave the boat unattended.

If the conditions were good, I would have no real problem anchoring 30-40 miles offshore and leaving the boat unattended for an hour while my wife and I made a dive, but I would drop two anchors, and make sure the anchors, rodes, hardware and cleats were in perfect shape.

I would also make sure I had left a "Just in case" plan with somebody, and was diving with SMBs and other rescue gear (i.e. Epirb http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ge...ussions/345244-personal-gps-epirb-divers.html).