Should I check out other dive ops?

[cozcharlie]

A question on the SMB and reel. Seeing I am renting, what should I bring to attach them to the rental gear?

Would this mesh sleeve with some quick links work fine? I don't have allot of experience, but I am hoping BCDs are pretty universal in how things clip to them that I would be able to find a spot compatible with this attachment setup.ge

I know you didn’t ask me, but don’t worry about this for now unless for some reason you had a fair amount of training with a reel. Unless you have trained with it, You are more likely to injure yourself with it than it is to save you . I am also with @Dave Dillehay on not using the snorkel. In Cozumel more likely to cause a problem than to help you. When you have your own gear , putting a collapsible snorkel in a pocket isn’t a bad idea , but on your mask it is more likely to hurt than help .

 

[ggunn]

A question on the SMB and reel. Seeing I am renting, what should I bring to attach them to the rental gear?

Would this mesh sleeve with some quick links work fine? I don't have allot of experience, but I am hoping BCDs are pretty universal in how things clip to them that I would be able to find a spot compatible with this attachment setup.

There is no universal standard, but every BCD I have rented has had lots of D-rings for attaching stuff. I have a buoy and finger spool similar to what's in your link. I attach mine with a short loop of 1/4" line between the other end of the double ender and a BCD D ring that is long enough for the assembly to fit into a pocket. One tip about finger spools: when you first get it unroll the line and make sure that the other end is attached to the spool. Mine wasn't.

Another tip: practice deploying it when you don't need to. The first couple of times you might end up on the surface in a tangled mess of string like I did. It ain't rocket science but it can be tricky until you get some practice.

Another: If it is one that you fill by mouth do NOT inhale until you release the buoy, otherwise the combined buoyancy of your lungs and the buoy will drag you toward the surface, which is especially bad if you have waited until you were at your 15' SS to deploy it. I usually deploy mine at 30' or so and slowly wind myself up to 15'.

Another: I have my bright yellow string marked at 15' (one mark) and 30' (two marks) with black Sharpie. I don't recommend tying knots in the string; knots may interfere with spooling.

 

[USdiver1]

@rjmd


ggunn's above advice is good.


A DSMB or SMB with a spool [as opposed to a reel] should work for you in Cozumel. As you will almost assuredly be diving with a DM/guide within the Marine Park, the DM will be deploying his/her DSMB for you to ascend and make your safety stop. A personal DSMB or SMB would be attached to your BCD on a D-ring, and would only be expected to be deployed in the event of separation from the DM/guide, to mark your position for pick-up by the boat.

 

[ggunn]

@rjmd


ggunn's above advise is good.


A DSMB or SMB with a spool [as opposed to a reel] should work for you in Cozumel. As you will almost assuredly be diving with a DM/guide within the Marine Park, the DM will be deploying his/her DSMB for you to ascend and make your safety stop. A personal DSMB or SMB would be attached to your BCD on a D-ring, and would only be expected to be deployed in the event of separation from the DM/guide, to mark your position for pick-up by the boat.

Early in the trip, especially if I haven't been diving in a while, usually before the first or second tank, I let the DM know that I will be deploying my SMB and it doesn't mean that anything is wrong. I deploy it on many dives; I like staying a little negative and hanging from it at my 15' mark like a subway rider at the SS.

 

[lowwall]

A question on the SMB and reel. Seeing I am renting, what should I bring to attach them to the rental gear?

You want a spool, not a reel. Pre-attach the reel to the DSMB. Put it in your BCD pocket or use a double-ender to clip it to a D-ring. Here's mine. First pic is ready to be clipped to my right hip D-ring. Second is ready to be deployed: the double-ender will be clipped to my D-ring while it's being deployed and then used if I want to stay at one depth such as the safety stop. The extra bungie loop is not required. I don't have a pocket, so it keeps everything nice and compact. I can take it off and put it around my wrist if it gets in the way.

Or skip it entirely for Coz. You are doing group dives in clear water off a big boat with lots of divers and multiple DMs. There will be other boats around too. So your chances of finding yourself adrift alone are exceedingly slim unless you are someone who is known for paying absolutely no attention to your group. In which case you should stop doing that instead of hoping that an orange fabric tube will save you.

I got certified long enough ago that DSMBs weren't part of OW training. It was only on my 3rd trip to Coz that I brought one and the first time I used it was for practice there. Come to think of it, every time I've used it was for practice in Coz.

 

[Shawn C]

Or skip it entirely for Coz. You are doing group dives in clear water off a big boat with lots of divers and multiple DMs. There will be other boats around too. So your chances of finding yourself adrift alone are exceedingly slim unless you are someone who is known for paying absolutely no attention to your group. In which case you should stop doing that instead of hoping that an orange fabric tube will save you.

Disagree. There are many ways divers can get separated from their group. Currents can easily cause diver separation in Cozumel. Having a DSMB as part of your kit for every dive can be the difference between being spotted, or missed, by boats. I always want to be in the spotted camp.

I wrote about a personal experience here (although, in my case, it was caused by a diver going off on his own and not current).

 

[lowwall]

Disagree. There are many ways divers can get separated from their group. Currents can easily cause diver separation in Cozumel. Having a DSMB as part of your kit for every dive can be the difference between being spotted, or missed, by boats. I always want to be in the spotted camp.

I wrote about a personal experience here (although, in my case, it was caused by a diver going off on his own and not current).

I remember your thread. The guy who got separated did so because he made a deliberate decision to break away from the group to photograph some sharks. You also said he actually had a DSMB, but he lost it while trying to deploy it.

I don't see how this illustrates the value of carrying a DSMB. Instead your experience reinforces the point I was making that "your chances of finding yourself adrift alone are exceedingly slim unless you are someone who is known for paying absolutely no attention to your group. In which case you should stop doing that instead of hoping that an orange fabric tube will save you."

Please note I'm not suggesting they are useless, but rather that it depends on the circumstances of the dive. There are dives like many UK ocean dives where carrying one, or even more, are absolutely required. And I carry one in Coz because I'm typically diving off small boats on less frequented sites with more advanced divers who like to spread out over a large area.

But the OP is a pretty new diver and will be diving with Scuba Du. Most of their dives are within sight of the shore (many within sight of the resort) and the DMs make sure to keep the group fairly close.

A more generally useful signaling tool would be a light. I always dive with one. Mine have a bolt snap tied to the end and it's either clipped off on a D-ring or in my hand and clipped to a bungie wrist bracelet.

 

[ChuckP]

The chances are slim that a reg will fail or I'll run out of air but I still have a safe second...

DSMB / SMB sometimes can cause more problems for a diver at first but that is no excuse not to carry one.

The problems are:

As you roll into the water, the whole thing becomes undone and you either loose it or your friendes watch your spool fall to the bottom - I do not like the package relying on a bungee to hold it together and keep it attached, keeping it compact is cool but relying on the bungee to keep it attached is no good - that bungee will fall off when you jump in the water some day - the picture below is fine BUT:

Instead of clipping that double ender to the spool, take the black line between the spool and smb, fold it in half and push it thru a hole in the spool towards the outside and clip your double ender to that loop, keep the loop small. When you are sitting in the boat and moving around, things rubbing into you - there is a chance that double ender will unclip itself pushing right against the spool. When it's clipped to the loop, I have never ever had one come unclipped. Just sitting on the couch you can try moving it all around and see the difference.

With rental gear, odds are there's a pocket on that BCD, just stuff it in the pocket and avoid all the drama.

No one expects any DM to teach you things for free but maybe you'll get a good one that likes teaching and maybe see if they will help you learn how to deploy one underwater - it's a good skill to have and really not that hard.

 

[ChuckP]

I use different smbs at times so I don’t hard connect to a spool but that is how I clip to my spool, that’s a bit tight because it’s so dry, usually about half inch play

 

[FishWatcher747]

But the OP is a pretty new diver and will be diving with Scuba Du. Most of their dives are within sight of the shore (many within sight of the resort) and the DMs make sure to keep the group fairly close.

You are in the ocean. Get real. Don't dive in the ocean without a DSMB or SMB. For the beginner on their way to learning to deploy a DSMB they can always use it on the surface as an SMB in case they surface away from their group.

Imagine you are the boat captain. Do you want all your divers to have a DSMB?