simple way to signal a distracted diver?

[sjoliat]

I tried the clicker idea a few weeks ago in the Keys, but didn't have much luck myself. I told my dive buddy the day before that I was going to try it so that he might be aware of it in the water. During the dive I would periodically start clicking it and watched for him or any other divers nearby to start looking around for the source of the sound. Nothing. You could hear it but isn't loud enough to snap a diver out of their underwater trance.

 

[diverdown247]

Tank banger, UW whistle (if you're brave enough), air integrated alert like the sub alert or sub-duck.

These are the top 3 I would recommend simply for safety reasons. I was always taught that the handle end of a dive knife worked well as a tank banger, but umm.....I don't feel like having it drop on my dive buddy or cut his/her hoses as it passes by.


If you're going to do salt water diving, I recommend the sub duck simply because if you get a turtle that is TOO curious, like if you have a stringer of fish on your side, it makes a great turtle repellant. I still have yet to understand why they hate the sub duck, but the air hammers don't bother them. QUACK!

 

[BKP]

I use the Trident rattle (you can see it (unfortunately) hanging off my gear in the avatar)... works like a champ, and it's not widely used (yet), so if you have a "regular" dive buddy, you'll recognize one another's 'rattle'...

 

[AstroDad]

Shoot them with your spear gun. Then you can pull them back with the rope.

 

[The Natural]

I always found a quick smack upside the head works pretty well.

 

[BKP]

Shoot them with your spear gun. Then you can pull them back with the rope.

Nahhh...that's just for insta-buddies...

 

[Sideband]

Shoot them with your spear gun. Then you can pull them back with the rope.

That's what I was going to suggest.

Joe

 

[runamonk]

Or buy the sub duck...don't know how good it works though. If a diver can't tell from which direction the noise is coming from, it does no good.

My wife and I both have sub ducks, they suck on the surface but work really good underwater. If you can see them and just want to get their attention they'll work well or just to let them know you're in the area but you cannot see them and they cannot see you, it's pretty pointless hehe.

 

[normisan]

If you can't see your buddy, smacking your tank with the butt of your dive knife, especially if its metal to metal makes quite a bit of noise and you don't need to spend any more money on dive gadgets.

 

[Ron Brandt]

Or buy the sub duck...don't know how good it works though. If a diver can't tell from which direction the noise is coming from, it does no good.

They work well...I never dive without one.

Ron