Safety Gear

[freewillie]

This thread is inspired by the movie Open Water which my wife rented over the weekend. It is actually based on true events where a couple went on a dive boat, were left behind, and were never seen or heard from again. My wife was freaked out about the couple floating in the ocean waiting to be rescued with sharks all around them. She kept waiting for someone to realize they were missing and to start a search and rescue operation. No one notified the authorties the couple was missing and by then it was too late.

Immediately after my wife was saying she now has second thoughts about me getting on a dive boat. I tried to assure her that this shouldn't happen with today's standards. Instead of counting with check marks (as they did in the movie) the passengers are called by name. One operator asks for the ending PSI of the diver just to make sure the person in question is responding and not a neighbor.

I even got out my safety gear including a signalling mirror, SMB, and whistle that I clip to my BC for every dive, including shore dives. Fortunately I've never had to use them. I've even thought of getting the Nautilus GPS as extra back up but haven't felt the strong need yet.

What safety gear do you dive with and are you always good about taking it with you on a dive? Your SMB won't do you any good if it is in your dive bag when you are trying to signal the boat.

 

[mmcdanie]

I've asked Santa for a Nautilus Lifeline this Christmas! I currently only carry a whistle. My buddy and I dive from my boat while someone stays aboard. That little radio will give me a greater peace of mind.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

Knife, whistle, SMB.

Compass could be considered safety gear in that it'll keep me from getting lost from the boat. I'm usually a very slow diver once I'm in the water, because I like not moving and watching all the small creatures. Consequently, I'm never far from the boat anyway if I'm doing a boat dive.

For a shore dive, there's almost no chance of my getting swept away, but I still bring the gear.

 

[Bigd2722]

I carry a Nautilus lifeline, air alert horn, 6' sausage, whistle, mirror, big yellow garbage bag, shears, line cutter, my (non diving) gf is also concerned, I've never used any of it except the SMB which is protocol most of the time in Jupit4er

 

[TSandM]

I very, very rarely do any dive without a pre-rigged SMB and spool in my pocket. If we are diving off a boat, between me and Peter we have a DiveAlert, we'll both have a mirror, and we both have bags. I have considered, but not sprung for an inflatable raft and dye markers. I should also mention that we ALWAYS have at least one high-intensity light, and if diving at night, at least two.

 

[Bopper]

Someone on this board, when responding to a similar question, mentioned that they always carry a white plastic bag and a flashlight. What I gathered from their comment was that they would inflate the bag, invert it, and wrap the opening around the head of the flashlight, and turn on the flashlight. This would- I assumed - create a kind of large luminescent globe on the water during the evening. I thought it was ingenious. But for some reason I never asked them to confirm that was the purpose of the white garbage bag and flashlight.

Has anyone heard of this before? Obviously this doesn't compete w. a Nautilus but hey, the more you know...

 

[fisheater]

Every dive (even the "easy" DM accompanied tropical dives):

Three cutting devices (knife, hook cutter, trauma shears)

Three lights (one can and two backups)

Two Storm whistles

Signal mirror

Strap to keep buddies together at the surface

Compass

SMB, pre rigged with 100' spool

Spare mask

Nautilus Lifeline

Training and a cool head




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JesperS]

SMB, whistle, 2x cutting tools (soon 3), and getting a Nautilus for x-mas.

Nautilus is the ultimate peace of mind if you ask me, particularly in regards to an "Open Water" movie type worst scenario.

 

[ddmattos]

On Every dive as well:
Dive alert whistle only model
two twist on lights and a can light
6'smb stored in backplate pocket
80 lbs lift bag stored in dive right pouch attached to bottom of plate
ezzycut on wrist computer, short knife on waist
400' wreck reel

Right thigh pocket:
trauma shears
spare mask
150' spool
nautilus lifeline, princeton strobe, and two chem sticks for ocean dives.
Spare double enders

Left thigh pocket:
Wetnotes
Narked at 90 pathfinder strobe that I use to mark the anchor line

Sounds like a lot, but stores nice and neat.

 

[Nemrod]

Legs and a cardiovascular system that will not quit.

There is a reason I spend hours on the elliptical, miles and endless miles on the bike and nearly 200 miles in the pool this year thus far.

I know where shore is, I have a compass, I start swimming. If any sharks get in between me and shore, I punch them in the nose after taking a bite out of them, in case I am needing a snack.

Or, just make sure the DM knows you are a big tipper.

N