Surface Marker Buoy and Air Share

[DevonDiver]

Some of the drift dives here in Asia are crazy. Google "lost divers Indonesia" and see how many stories come up about divers swept too far beyond the boats visual range. DSMB deployment not only provides a much more visible target for the boat... it warns them they you are ascending (so they can up anchor and follow you)... and.... when you can be drifting at 3-6kts, it allows the boat to spot you early...as you could drift another 500m away on a slow ascent from depth.

However, the primary reason I've seen for deploying DSMBs is boat traffic. In Thailand and the Red Sea, there can be several dive boats at any site. Some of these boats are big, with poor forward visibility. In choppy weather, it is hard for boats to spot the divers bubbles.
A DSMB obviously announces you will shortly be surfacing. Boats will avoid that area to prevent a fatal collision. Again, just google "diver hit by boat/jetski" and see how many fatal accident reports there are....

 

[danvolker]

Some of the drift dives here in Asia are crazy. Google "lost divers Indonesia" and see how many stories come up about divers swept too far beyond the boats visual range. DSMB deployment not only provides a much more visible target for the boat... it warns them they you are ascending (so they can up anchor and follow you)... and.... when you can be drifting at 3-6kts, it allows the boat to spot you early...as you could drift another 500m away on a slow ascent from depth.

However, the primary reason I've seen for deploying DSMBs is boat traffic. In Thailand and the Red Sea, there can be several dive boats at any site. Some of these boats are big, with poor forward visibility. In choppy weather, it is hard for boats to spot the divers bubbles.
A DSMB obviously announces you will shortly be surfacing. Boats will avoid that area to prevent a fatal collision. Again, just google "diver hit by boat/jetski" and see how many fatal accident reports there are....

Our typical practice for dive boats in palm beach, is for every separate buddy team to be towing a float flag....this means the teaching standards don't need to be quite as high as with bag deployment, and it is extremely easy for the boats to monitor where all their divers are. If it is a group of 7, there is just one float being towed...if 4 groups of 2 or 3 groups of 3, you have 3 or 4 floats for the dive boat to track.

Currents in Palm Beach drift diving are frequently 1 to 3 mph...but. Can be faster on occasion. Since the boats stay near the flags, no one gets lost.

Regards,
DanV

 

[DevonDiver]

In the UK, we had to have a campaign to educate jetskiers (no license required), as they didn't recognise dive floats. Quite often they would aim for them and pull 'donuts' around them etc.

In Asia, I wouldn't trust any of the boat captains to respect an SMB. I've had my float 'run over' by boats on several occasions. In Thailand the dive staff at my center would provide an over-watch of the surrounding water anytime that the boat moved on or near a dive site. Most boats/schools didn't have procedures like that. I know of at least 1 boat strike fatality in the time I was in Thailand.

Boat/Jetski strike is a shockingly regular cause of diver fatality...and could be avoided by DSMB deployment.

 

[danvolker]

In the UK, we had to have a campaign to educate jetskiers (no license required), as they didn't recognise dive floats. Quite often they would aim for them and pull 'donuts' around them etc.

In Asia, I wouldn't trust any of the boat captains to respect an SMB. I've had my float 'run over' by boats on several occasions. In Thailand the dive staff at my center would provide an over-watch of the surrounding water anytime that the boat moved on or near a dive site. Most boats/schools didn't have procedures like that. I know of at least 1 boat strike fatality in the time I was in Thailand.

Boat/Jetski strike is a shockingly regular cause of diver fatality...and could be avoided by DSMB deployment.

I have had this in the past when free diving off the beach, or off kayak on the deeper reefs....with no dive boat to chase away the jet skis, they would often zoom right over my flag....fortunately you can "hear" them coming, and wait a few seconds before surfacing if the sound and Doppler shift is threatening.....it remains one of my favorite reasons to freedive with a speargun....once you aim it at them and they see this, they usually steer away from the flag -

DanV

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Our typical practice for dive boats in palm beach, is for every separate buddy team to be towing a float flag....this means the teaching standards don't need to be quite as high as with bag deployment, and it is extremely easy for the boats to monitor where all their divers are. If it is a group of 7, there is just one float being towed...if 4 groups of 2 or 3 groups of 3, you have 3 or 4 floats for the dive boat to track.

Currents in Palm Beach drift diving are frequently 1 to 3 mph...but. Can be faster on occasion. Since the boats stay near the flags, no one gets lost.

Regards,
DanV

What are your typical maximum depths on those dives?

Divers don't typically tow float flags in Puget Sound. The only regular exceptions that I know of are places where the dive is relatively shallow and the boat traffic is relatively high ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[danvolker]

What are your typical maximum depths on those dives?

Divers don't typically tow float flags in Puget Sound. The only regular exceptions that I know of are places where the dive is relatively shallow and the boat traffic is relatively high ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

The boynton beach area dives are around 85 to90 on the offshore facing ledge, 40 to 50 on crown, 60 on inshore facing ledge.

Breakers area off Palm Beach is similar...

North at Juno and jupiter it gets deeper with offshore ledge 110 on top, and up to 145 on bottom.

Boynton is more known for towing float flags, Juno is more known for pulling a float ball.

When we used to do the deep 240 to 270 foot reefs off Juno/jupiter or the deep hopper barges off Singer Island, we would tow a torpedo float (properly rigged, almost no drag at all with thin cave line)....if current was really ripping, the line itself would create drag and pull force at this depth and scope, so on the days we dove areas this was expected to become an issue, a scooter diver would be towing the torpedo ( not an issue ever for. Recreational dive depths)....

Regards
DanV

 

[danvolker]

I'd also add that in palm beach, the current makes anchoring either impossible or extremely stupid....if any of you guys are diving in a place where anchoring could be used, then figure palm beach has a bigger current.

palm Beach dive evolution has taken drift diving to far beyond what you will see in the vast majority of exotic dive travel locales.....

Done the way we do it, it is easy. Someone trying to dive here the way they dive in Fiji or Belize, would not get the experience they wanted

DanV

 

[String]

Hello folks!

Do you practice the deployment of the surface marker buoy while sharing air and doing a controlled ascent?

Yes. It's easy with a long hose.

If you NEED the SMB so the boat can find you or not to get your head chopped off then you still need it when surfacing sharing air.

What does ascending while shooting the bag solve? And let's remember this is basic scuba. Why are we diving in those conditions again?

Because in parts of the world you MUST carry and use a DSMB. Boats do not moor, sea surface conditions are rough, visibility is often low with rain, there are strong winds and strong currents working in different directions. You NEED an early bag to stand a chance of getting recovered. Why are we diving in those conditions? Because they're normal for some countries!

 

[String]

In Asia, I wouldn't trust any of the boat captains to respect an SMB.

In Egypt the boaters, particulary the windsurfers (which you cant hear) and everyone else aim for them. Worse is if you and your buddy send a bag up a few metres apart - now they have a gate to go through.

Then again ive got a very low opinion of Egyptian boat handlers as ive seen some things that make my flesh crawl. There are a large number of incidents but its only luck preventing it being 10x higher. I love people with engines in gear 3ft from my legs trying to pick people up....

 

[AquaExplorer]

We have not really done that type of training. To be honest we have not done much training on deploying a SMB from under water...and we should.