What does the law say in Hawaii about . . .

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Aerodog:
I received a formal warning from a Glock totin officer for not having a dive flag while diving at Makena Landing. Told me the next time he would give me the $50.00 ticket.
I've always wondered what happened to the guy I saw DNLR pick up last March. He had swum out to Molokini from Red Hill, left his full foot fins on the shore at Reef's End, then climbed to the top in bare feet. DNLR picked him us shortly after he started swimming back to the mainland, after he had declined a least a couple offers of a ride back!
 
Straight from the horse's hindquarters: http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dbor/pdf/draftrules_oceansafety.pdf

Basically, you must have the flag whenever you're in navigable waters. The only exclusion I'm aware of is within Haunama Bay which is a marine preserve and offlimits to boat traffic. I have trouble with line management too, especially since I don't anchor the float and stick around in one spot. While in open water, I prefer to use polypropylene line which floats up and out of the way; nylon sinks, has a memory for kinks, and can entangle you (cavers use braided nylon but their requirements are completely different). I use a plain electricians "H" card to store the line and always carry it in my hand where I can see the line and ditch it instantly if necessary -- I never clip it to me or put it anyplace where I can't see the entire length of line. I'll tie it off to some rock if I need both hands; a piece of latex tubing helps tying off -- I'll wrap the rock with a loop of tubing and then bolt-snap the H-card to it.

Spearing restrictions parrotfish (uhu) at night is a new one on me. There are size and bag limits and seasonal restrictions and restrictions in marine conservation areas. Again, from the horse's hinnies: http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dar/fish_regs/index.htm
 
Thanks for posting the link Bluemagoo. There is an interesting section:

"(i) There shall be no subsurface distance restrictions from a dive flag,
however, except in cases of emergencies, free divers or SCUBA divers shall be
prohibited from surfacing more than one hundred feet away from the diver's flag in the
ocean waters of the State and fifty feet in navigable streams."


It looks like the common practice of entering the water with a flag, tieing it off, then wandering all over for a dive is perfectly legal, as long as they return to the flag before surfacing.

The other cool thing in there is a licensing requirement for "thrill craft" operators that goes into effect Jan 2005.
 
Quite right. Most people do tie it off and return to surface somewhere near the float ("close enough" also counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and nuclear bombs). I'll always tie-off if I'm going to linger in a spot. But in transit, no such luck. As you can imagine, the worst situation is when there's a back-and-forth surge. I haven't figured out anything better than to tighten the line and be hyper-alert to its movement and status. If the line gets away, I'll very very slowly drift for the roof until I'm in midwater and certain the line is clear (I don't want to troubleshoot at depth and risk having a coil snag on the bottom, which is another reason I prefer thin floating polypro line) Of course, on a surf exit, I'll stow everything tight and launch the lump ahead of me; it usually rides the whitewater into the beach like a cork while I take the next wave in. The thing might take a beating, but better it than you. Once in awhile, I'll just leave the thing bobbing outside (sometimes with my buddy, sometimes not) until I can shed all my gear on the beach and go back for it.
 

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