West palm beach

[msowash]

I Dive with Pura Vida Divers, They are a full service PADI IDC dive shop and have daily scuba charters. Super nice people and accommodate all skill levels. I would Highly recommend them!!

Check them out at:
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http://www.puravidadivers.com

 

[idive2]

Was just snooping around the riviera boat docks this afternoon, have not been over there in a while.
The boats are moored to the south of that tiki hut bar. They used to be to the north if I am not mistaken.
Anyway, I found the yellow boat sandys sunday and after a quick count of tank racks it appears to be
around a twelve diver boat. Set up in the standard fashion for that size boat. Someone mentioned that the
boat was out for a morning trip so they may run trips late in the week as well. I've heard the boat mentioned
many times over the years and hope to get out with them one of these weekends. Ditto on all the don't miss the
blue heron bridge posts. I'm lovin' the small bridge after it being closed for so long. The half pilings from the old bridge
along side the newer pilings give it a real nice effect in that slightly reduced viz, I kinda dig that.

 

[Reck Diver]

It is all drift diving, so you do need to carry and inflate an SMB during your safety stop. The captain & the mate on deck will be watching for these and will be there to pick you up quickly.

Why would they need to inflate an SMB for a pickup. Aren't the divers required to carry a diver down flag?

 

[scubajim 1]

Why would they need to inflate an SMB for a pickup. Aren't the divers required to carry a diver down flag?

Good question!
On a commercial dive boat the divemaster carries the flag and leads the group, if there are a lot of divers on the boat or there are divers with different goals they might split up the group and drop two divemasters with flags each with her/his own group. The flags give the captain the location of the groups. (Can you imagine the tangled lines if every diver had his own flag? Or the boat's prop being fouled by poorly handled flag line?) When folks ascend they seldom do so at the same time or place...even 30 seconds difference will separate you quite a bit from others. The SMB acts as your individual "flag" until the boat picks you up.
If you are diving from your own boat you would either have a dive flag on your boat or carry your flag.

Hope this clears up any confusion

 

[Reck Diver]

The SMB acts as your individual "flag" until the boat picks you up.

I don't think an SMB may substitute for a diver down flag (at least that's how the FWC explained it to me). If a diver in a group wants to ascend he may either come up the flag line, or carry a flag of their own.

 

[Splitlip]

Oh Man. I have company. I'll get back later.

 

[scubajim 1]

I don't think an SMB may substitute for a diver down flag (at least that's how the FWC explained it to me). If a diver in a group wants to ascend he may either come up the flag line, or carry a flag of their own.

If you are an individual diving it doesn't serve as a dive flag...it is just what it implies, it is a surface marker to indicate where you are to the boat captain for pick up.

"Divers must make reasonable efforts to stay within 300 feet of the divers down flag on all waters other than rivers, inlets, and navigation channels. Any person operating a vessel on waters other than a river, inlet, or navigation channel must make a reasonable effort to maintain a distance of at least 300 feet from any divers down flag…”

I took the quote directly from Fl statuate, as you can see it says divers...ie no need for one diver, one flag...again SMB is used as a surface locator for the captain of the vessel. it isn't a dive flag, the diver leader will have that on a drift dive.

As an instructor I might bring along my flag if I am teaching certain classes. I have also had the crew offer to "drag the flag" for me. But I require that all my students (and dive buddies) have an SMB on their BCD, and deploy it at the surface.
Many boats will not allow you to dive without out one, but again it is not a substitute for a dive flag, its an added safety measure.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

I dived with Narcosis this weekend, and have heard really good things about them. Unfortunately I wasn't impressed. Yes, I would agree that they seem to cater to the more advanced diver, and will give them credit for that. I was not babied, but the DM's did ask everybody individually if everything was OK before jumping off. We lined up, ready to go, and the DM jumped in, we followed. No way are we all gonna stay together, it's just impossible, the last diver is off at least 2 minutes after the DM. After the dive, they did not make me sit down right away and strap me in. If I got on the boat fine, I went un escorted to my seat. Let me take my time to settle in.. I liked that.. On the other hand, we had 28 divers on the boat and only a head count after each dive. I would think that after all these years, roll call would be mandatory, especially with that many divers.
My other issue, the DM carries the only dive flag. There is NO WAY 28 divers are going to stay together. And once down, if you are in the back, you will never figure out who the DM is. We had fantastic vis., yet could only hear the DM clanging on his tank for attention. Everybody was wearing black! LOL

 

[scubajim 1]

28 divers is way too many for one group...should have been split into 2 or possibly 3 groups, each with its own flag

 

[Reck Diver]

If you are an individual diving it doesn't serve as a dive flag...it is just what it implies, it is a surface marker to indicate where you are to the boat captain for pick up.\

Am I understanding you correctly? You are saying it is okay for divers to separate from the flag, and operate with an SMB? When dive vessels are dropping multiple groups is not uncommon for divers to be separated from the vessel by distances well beyond the 300 ft. requirement. So an commercial dive operation would allow divers to separate from the flag on only rely on an SMB. Just want to be sure I'm hearing you correctly.