Request for information not covered in any course

[lowviz]

Being at the surface in tough conditions can make a person think "oh the irony"

I have 'not being found' totally solved when I splash as a solo diver. Nobody is looking for me.

Remaining on the surface in rough conditions gets my attention before the dive. As I said, dress for success.

 

[KathyV]

We had a real emergency call from Holiday Divers in LCBR. It was unbelievably clear and penetrated the water uncannily. All divers returned to the boat. Really cool system.

Thanks, it's good to know that it works in a real-life emergency, I hope that everyone was okay?

 

[chillyinCanada]

I have 'not being found' totally solved when I splash as a solo diver. Nobody is looking for me.

Remaining on the surface in rough conditions gets my attention before the dive. As I said, dress for success.

The surface isn't always the same when you surface as it was when you first entered.

 

[tridacna]

Thanks, it's good to know that it works in a real-life emergency, I hope that everyone was okay?

A diver on Reef Diver needed to be be shuttled back to the resort urgently. They rushed her back and left their divers in the water. We, (who were close by), aborted our dive and collected them. Those UW megaphones made the entire process absolutely effortless.

 

[lowviz]

The surface isn't always the same when you surface as it was when you first entered.

Understood.

But the presumption of someone else being responsible for my dive is something that I have never come to understand.

 

[tursiops]

Understood.

But the presumption of someone else being responsible for my dive is something that I have never come to understand.

You mean like relying on a boat captain to pick you up? Sometimes self-sufficient isn't enough.

 

[chillyinCanada]

A decade before I became a diver, a bunch of us were dumped out of a wall breached river raft. I ended up underneath a log jam. Somehow or other, I managed to get out from under and came up into raging current. Trying to catch a breath of air instead of water was a challenge and only successful 50% of the time. The rest spent coughing up water as continued to whip downstream. It's really difficult to do what you're supposed to do to get to shore or at least out of the current when you fear you may drown on the surface. Suddenly 'Hercules' (river guide) appeared from nowhere and managed to get two of us to shore. Interesting times.

While I can't be sure, I may have some residual PTSD. Or maybe its just normal to be uncomfortable on the surface when conditions aren't what we'd prefer.

 

[lowviz]

You mean like relying on a boat captain to pick you up?

Really???

OK, I'll play.

I pay for a trip out and a trip back. And your point...?

Edit:
Wait, wait!! I think I understand. If I F up my dive, it is somehow a shared responsibility. Is that it?

 

[Joneill]

It is impossible to know the particulars of this specific incident and it may be that mistakes were made by both the diver and the dive op. We can just be glad that there were no fatalities.

But it makes me grateful for the excellent and thorough boat orientation that is given to all new arrivals by the Reef Divers op in the Caymans the first time you start a new trip with them. It doesn't matter if you have dived with them in the past, they review all of the boat/dive operations and especially the safety procedures when you start to dive with them - either as a repeat or for the first time.

Each of their boats is equipped with a very loud siren and voice system that can easily be heard underwater. They turn it on so you can listen to it for short time during the boat orientation. They use sound signals and emphasize that if you hear the diver distress siren you must "stay down, don't surface!" because they are going to move the boat, and they tell you what to do in various scenarios - whether it is you or someone else who requires assistance.

I wish that this was the standard equipment and procedure for all dive boats.

Just spent a week with Reef Divers on Brac - we were on Little Sister and there was no mention or demo of a siren as a recall. The recall signal that was reviewed was the typical “banging on the ladder” at a 1 second interval.

 

[KathyV]

Just spent a week with Reef Divers on Brac - we were on Little Sister and there was no mention or demo of a siren as a recall. The recall signal that was reviewed was the typical “banging on the ladder” at a 1 second interval.

(Edited to add: I see that you were on Little Sister so now I am really surprised.)

I'm surprised! When we were recently on LC one of their boats (Sea Dreamer) had a rudder problem and it sounded serious and it was taken out of service. I saw the Sea-Esta from Little Cayman Divers at the LCBR dock on a couple of days and I thought that they might be chartering it, so perhaps they are using a chartered boat without the siren system at CBBR during repairs? They do switch boats between the islands.

We have gone to either CBBR or LCBR every year for the last several years and I think that we have regularly had boat orientations that included the siren - but perhaps I am mistaken. We were on 3 different boats during our last trip to LC (Sea Dreamer, Island Dreamer, and Holiday Diver) - and I'm almost sure that we heard the siren demo'd on all 3 of them.