OP
porgyhunter
Contributor
Well said jai bar!!!!! I guess to the young pups they aren't as worried, just trying to minimize my risks and not show up on fatalities!
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I was thinking about this during my shower this morning. In this part of the world, pretty much everyone dives and leaves their boats unattended. That's just normal practice.
So is it that this becomes a particularly bad idea when you are diving solo, or is it just a bad idea generally? I suspect it is slightly less sensible because you are solo, but if you come up and the boat is gone, you swimming to shore either way - alone or in a group.
I was thinking about this during my shower this morning. In this part of the world, pretty much everyone dives and leaves their boats unattended. That's just normal practice.
So is it that this becomes a particularly bad idea when you are diving solo, or is it just a bad idea generally? I suspect it is slightly less sensible because you are solo, but if you come up and the boat is gone, you swimming to shore either way - alone or in a group.
I've solo dived many thousands of times but would never do it from my boat if it were unattended... and I still had one. Down in the Sea of Cortez I was solo diving with a crew member topside in the support Zodiac. He was called back to the ship, leaving me alone.
When I surfaced, I thought "no big deal," I'll just climb up the ladder. Well the rope holding the ladder onto the Zodiac broke and I was stuck with my video camera in hand. I couldn't just toss it into the boat without risking damage and therefore couldn't climb into the boat with one hand. It took quite a while for me to reenter the Zodiac safely... and I had no injury or other problem to affect my normal abilities.
Yes exactly; Boats are a whole other element added to the difficulty of diving, need those lines to secure catch bag, weight belts, tank. Forget to put those out and you have to somehow chuck them in before you get in, Jeez now I have to worry about someone taking my boat?
I think boats add a lot of opportunities for fun and adventure, but once you are farther offshore than you can swim, or if you are diving along a coastline that has very shear cliffs and large boulders and no safe exit point, there are huge safety issues to consider.
The single big question (for me) would be: "If I were to surface and the boat was gone, or I could not get back to the boat because I drifted too far down-current, or I was hurt and could not climb into the boat.... how would I save myself?"
Best wishes.