Do most divers in Cozumel use inflatable signaling tubes to get the boats attention when you surface?Or are the boats pretty good at finding you without it?
Signaling Devices
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Normally you will stay with the divemaster in Cozumel, who will guide your group to the interesting places. The DM will signal the boat - I have been with DM's who used a surface marker, and with DM's who don't. In all cases the boat has always been there when we surfaced.
It would not be a bad idea to carry your own surface signalling device, however, in the event you get separated from the DM.
Rick
It would not be a bad idea to carry your own surface signalling device, however, in the event you get separated from the DM.
Rick
Tim Ingersoll
Contributor
I would not do a drift dive without:
1) Safety sausage;
2) Whistle;
3) Signal mirror (old music Cd will work).
1) Safety sausage;
2) Whistle;
3) Signal mirror (old music Cd will work).
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Edited piece from my "Dive Workshop" column in Jul '00 issue of "Rodale's Scuba Diving":
"What safety devices should I carry? Tom Douglas, Santa Fe, NM.
I am a firm believer in safety devices no matter what the dive, and recommend that you carry devices which emit auditory and visual signals, and can be used both day & night. Fortunately, there are good quality devices of both varieties readily available at reasonable cost. At a minimum, these would include:
1. Safety sausage/signaling marker buoy. These are brightly colored tubes designed to make you visible in the water. Do not purchase or rely on cheap plastic models which tend to spring leaks & cannot be inflated firmly enough to stay extended in a stiff wind. Select a model made of sturdy material which inflates through a valve that securely opens & closes. Make sure you have adequate length, like 5-6 feet. Even a high quality sausage which is only 3 feet long will be difficult to see in swells or from a distance. These can be carried in a BC pocket or rolled up & clipped to a BD strap or D-ring. Day-glo yellow is in general the most readily visible, followed by day-glo orange/red. Some such devices come with both colors.
2. Dive Alert with back up whistle. This small device mounts between the BC inflator hose and BC inflator valve. It works above water, but not below, and can be very loud, so you must take care not to sound it in your ears or those of others. It is designed to function as long as you have at least 100PSI left in your tank, although mine does not seem at full volume at that pressure. Also recommended is a back up whistle which can be blown orally when there is insufficient cylinder pressure to activate the Dive Alert.
3. Strobe. This is important as the safety sausage & signaling mirror are of minimal utility after dark. It should be bright enough to be seen from a reasonable distance & have sufficient battery power to remain activated for at least one full night. These can be fastened to areas such as the tank valve or shoulder straps where their light is plainly visible.
Other safety devices include a signaling mirror. These area small devices with a hole in the center which can be carried in a BC pocket. They are aimed toward the source to be signaled through the small sighting hole. Some frugal divers instead use a CD, and these in fact work well.
A few divers carry dye packs which can be released at the surface and color a large area of water. These are effective even in rough water & make you very visible from the air. On the downside, they are slightly bulky in the BC pocket and may leak due to the pressure changes inherent in diving. Others carry small launchers/pistols which fire aerial flares. Again, these can be slightly bulky and can be difficult to maintain due to frequent submersions in water. They also cannot go with you by air, even in checked baggage."
I highly recommend carrying both visual (for both day & night) & auditory devices. You'll be unimaginably glad you do if you ever need them."
Best regards.
DocVikingo
"What safety devices should I carry? Tom Douglas, Santa Fe, NM.
I am a firm believer in safety devices no matter what the dive, and recommend that you carry devices which emit auditory and visual signals, and can be used both day & night. Fortunately, there are good quality devices of both varieties readily available at reasonable cost. At a minimum, these would include:
1. Safety sausage/signaling marker buoy. These are brightly colored tubes designed to make you visible in the water. Do not purchase or rely on cheap plastic models which tend to spring leaks & cannot be inflated firmly enough to stay extended in a stiff wind. Select a model made of sturdy material which inflates through a valve that securely opens & closes. Make sure you have adequate length, like 5-6 feet. Even a high quality sausage which is only 3 feet long will be difficult to see in swells or from a distance. These can be carried in a BC pocket or rolled up & clipped to a BD strap or D-ring. Day-glo yellow is in general the most readily visible, followed by day-glo orange/red. Some such devices come with both colors.
2. Dive Alert with back up whistle. This small device mounts between the BC inflator hose and BC inflator valve. It works above water, but not below, and can be very loud, so you must take care not to sound it in your ears or those of others. It is designed to function as long as you have at least 100PSI left in your tank, although mine does not seem at full volume at that pressure. Also recommended is a back up whistle which can be blown orally when there is insufficient cylinder pressure to activate the Dive Alert.
3. Strobe. This is important as the safety sausage & signaling mirror are of minimal utility after dark. It should be bright enough to be seen from a reasonable distance & have sufficient battery power to remain activated for at least one full night. These can be fastened to areas such as the tank valve or shoulder straps where their light is plainly visible.
Other safety devices include a signaling mirror. These area small devices with a hole in the center which can be carried in a BC pocket. They are aimed toward the source to be signaled through the small sighting hole. Some frugal divers instead use a CD, and these in fact work well.
A few divers carry dye packs which can be released at the surface and color a large area of water. These are effective even in rough water & make you very visible from the air. On the downside, they are slightly bulky in the BC pocket and may leak due to the pressure changes inherent in diving. Others carry small launchers/pistols which fire aerial flares. Again, these can be slightly bulky and can be difficult to maintain due to frequent submersions in water. They also cannot go with you by air, even in checked baggage."
I highly recommend carrying both visual (for both day & night) & auditory devices. You'll be unimaginably glad you do if you ever need them."
Best regards.
DocVikingo
mediakzar
Contributor
We were on a dive at Maracaibo in Cozumel once. When we came to the surface (as a group) the boat was way off in the distance and the seas were a little choppier than usual. Everyone in the group was pretty experienced and it was amazing the assortment of signal devices that suddenly appeared. I inflated my sausage and blew my whistle. Others did the same. One guy produced a flag complete with a collapsing pole and an inflatable float to set it in. There were mirrors and other forms of inflatables. Before the dive, the dive master had set up several dive kits with air horns hooked inline on the low pressure hose and had shown the divers how to use them during the briefing and those were blaring. But the thing that finally got the attention of the boat captain: the dive master took off one of his very long fins and was waving it in the air! So much for hi-tech.
Joel
http://www.mxtravel.com/cozumel/santa_fe.html
Joel
http://www.mxtravel.com/cozumel/santa_fe.html
DalTexDiver
Guest
Get a sausage and a whistle at least. If you have to come up for some reason away from your group, you are on your own. Watch out for other boats too. Old CD is great idea for a mirror by the way.
IndigoBlue
Contributor
Those are my exact choices as well. I left the mirror at home on my last trip, and missed it the whole time.
You should always stay with the dive master. But if you somehow get separated, then get blown downstream from the boat, that is when you need the safety sausage and whistle.
And if the boat fails to come get you, the mirror would come in handy for signalling to distant boats and aircraft, which hopefully will be looking for you.
From what I was told last week while in COZ, was that now all OP's are required to use a safety sausage as there has been one too many "Death by boat" run-overs in the last year. I'm not sure when it was implemented, but I saw sasauges EVERYWHERE last week.
A trip report is in the works, but I can tell you for now, that I was diving with BLUE XT Sea (Christi) on this board, and her DM Raul used one on every dive. He was VERY safety conscious and in the briefings he told us what he wanted to see from us while we were on the surface after the dive.
While doing an "advanced" dive in the North he even check to see that we had our own lift bag and reel (which we did, and yes I carried them on every dive) incase we got separated from him.
It was quite the rapid current dive, and the climb up the ladder of the boat was fun too!!!
It got quite windy and wavy while we were down, so we aborted the planned dive site for dive # 2 (Supposed to have been San Juan) and opted for a "quieter" site further south.
A trip report is in the works, but I can tell you for now, that I was diving with BLUE XT Sea (Christi) on this board, and her DM Raul used one on every dive. He was VERY safety conscious and in the briefings he told us what he wanted to see from us while we were on the surface after the dive.
While doing an "advanced" dive in the North he even check to see that we had our own lift bag and reel (which we did, and yes I carried them on every dive) incase we got separated from him.
It was quite the rapid current dive, and the climb up the ladder of the boat was fun too!!!
It got quite windy and wavy while we were down, so we aborted the planned dive site for dive # 2 (Supposed to have been San Juan) and opted for a "quieter" site further south.
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