Would You Use a DSMB in this Scenario?
- Thread starter xyrandomyx
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+1, shoot the bag from whatever depth you are comfortable, complete all safety stops. (Get more practice shooting the SMB as needed)
31 nearly unanimous responses...WOW that's a first.
31 nearly unanimous responses...WOW that's a first.
Tigerman
Contributor
You can of course plan your dive to follow the rest of the buddy pairs (often done in resorts as the guides tend to know where the good stuff are), but there should be very few instances where its neccesary for you to surface with the rest of the group.
There IS some exceptions to this, but generally "lost buddy" procedures is just that and not "lost group" procedures.
OP
xyrandomyx
Contributor
Yes, 31 people in agreement must be some sort of record here. Only one person disagreed. Everyone else just qualified their answer with 'currents might make it a little harder' and 'you need to practice'. So, the answer to my question is clear. Thanks to everyone who responded.
---------- Post added December 10th, 2012 at 12:06 AM ----------
OK, this is off my original topic (maybe I should start a new thread?), but how do you usually conduct a drift dive from a boat? Do you or your buddy tow your own flag/ float? Do captains ever take issue with this? I had imagined that they might not want to have too many flags/ floats to keep track of; or that perhaps they'd at least set some guidelines to keep the various buddy pairs towing floats relatively close together to make their lives easier. I don't know, but I'm curious so that I can know a bit more about what I can expect in future.
Tigerman
Contributor
I usually dont tow anything untill the safety stop and then it would be a SMB.
The good thing about currents is that everyone jumping in at the same time will be drifting in the same general direction and a good captain can ballpark where youll finish the dive, based on things like how strong the current would be, topography of the dive site and the dive plan(s).
If you have an agreed upon pickup signal for your boat, they will know that all divers on the surface giving this specific sign will belong to them and pick them up.
The BIG downside Ive found to ending up outside of the group is of course that you may have to wait for the others to be picked up before the boat gets to you and thats a bitch when you have to go pee but cant pee in the suit
If I where in a location where a flag was required to be towed, Id put one on top of an smb so that I could just shoot it when/if separated from the group..
The good thing about currents is that everyone jumping in at the same time will be drifting in the same general direction and a good captain can ballpark where youll finish the dive, based on things like how strong the current would be, topography of the dive site and the dive plan(s).
If you have an agreed upon pickup signal for your boat, they will know that all divers on the surface giving this specific sign will belong to them and pick them up.
The BIG downside Ive found to ending up outside of the group is of course that you may have to wait for the others to be picked up before the boat gets to you and thats a bitch when you have to go pee but cant pee in the suit
If I where in a location where a flag was required to be towed, Id put one on top of an smb so that I could just shoot it when/if separated from the group..
Here's the thing. Almost every "I've been left" scenario that has been played here on ScubaBoard would have been thwarted if they had shot an SMB as soon as they got separated from the flag. I have been on boats where others have answered for someone they "knew" was on the boat, so simply calling a roster is not always foolproof.
OP
xyrandomyx
Contributor
I usually dont tow anything untill the safety stop and then it would be a SMB.
The good thing about currents is that everyone jumping in at the same time will be drifting in the same general direction and a good captain can ballpark where youll finish the dive, based on things like how strong the current would be, topography of the dive site and the dive plan(s).
If you have an agreed upon pickup signal for your boat, they will know that all divers on the surface giving this specific sign will belong to them and pick them up.
The BIG downside Ive found to ending up outside of the group is of course that you may have to wait for the others to be picked up before the boat gets to you and thats a bitch when you have to go pee but cant pee in the suit
If I where in a location where a flag was required to be towed, Id put one on top of an smb so that I could just shoot it when/if separated from the group..
Thank you, makes sense.
Practice varies from place to place.
Here in Puget Sound, we do a lot of drift diving, since our tidal currents are often hard to avoid. No one tows a flag; the boats know the currents, and watch the bubbles (easy to do, as our water is typically calm) and pick up divers as they come up.
When we did drift dives in Cozumel, and also off Maui, we drifted the dive, and the guide shot a bag near the end, to let the boat know our exact whereabouts. It was expected that the group would stay roughly together.
When we did drift dives off West Palm Beach, the guide towed a flag, and again, the group was expected to stay in the general vicinity of the guide.
In Indonesia, where the currents were sometimes astonishing, nobody used bags or floats at all . . .
If you are going to use a bag in a place where they are not customary, be sure to let the captain and crew know what you are going to do, so they don't think they have a problem in the water if they see yours come up.
Here in Puget Sound, we do a lot of drift diving, since our tidal currents are often hard to avoid. No one tows a flag; the boats know the currents, and watch the bubbles (easy to do, as our water is typically calm) and pick up divers as they come up.
When we did drift dives in Cozumel, and also off Maui, we drifted the dive, and the guide shot a bag near the end, to let the boat know our exact whereabouts. It was expected that the group would stay roughly together.
When we did drift dives off West Palm Beach, the guide towed a flag, and again, the group was expected to stay in the general vicinity of the guide.
In Indonesia, where the currents were sometimes astonishing, nobody used bags or floats at all . . .
If you are going to use a bag in a place where they are not customary, be sure to let the captain and crew know what you are going to do, so they don't think they have a problem in the water if they see yours come up.
OP
xyrandomyx
Contributor
Resurrecting this thread just to say that I'm not so terribly slow at shooting an SMB as I thought I was. My dive computer doesn't have a stop watch, so I had to guesstimate by just checking the dive time, accurate to a minute.
- Negative, kneeling on the bottom in shallow (< 20') water (to test my new reel), it was quick-quick -- well under a minute. Finding the DSMB in the BC pocket was the hardest part.
- Neutral, hovering about 8' off the bottom (still able to use the bottom as a visual reference) was a little slower, but not much -- still probably under a minute, definitely not considerably over.
- Neutral, hovering well off the bottom (no visual reference) was quite a bit slower, but still couldn't have been much over a minute. I kept checking my depth at every step, which probably slowed me down.
It also seems, though, that I don't always manage to get the SMB decently inflated (particularly from shallower). I'll keep on practicing on every dive where shooting an SMB isn't inappropriate.
- Negative, kneeling on the bottom in shallow (< 20') water (to test my new reel), it was quick-quick -- well under a minute. Finding the DSMB in the BC pocket was the hardest part.
- Neutral, hovering about 8' off the bottom (still able to use the bottom as a visual reference) was a little slower, but not much -- still probably under a minute, definitely not considerably over.
- Neutral, hovering well off the bottom (no visual reference) was quite a bit slower, but still couldn't have been much over a minute. I kept checking my depth at every step, which probably slowed me down.
It also seems, though, that I don't always manage to get the SMB decently inflated (particularly from shallower). I'll keep on practicing on every dive where shooting an SMB isn't inappropriate.
Another reason for shooting the SMB sooner rather than later is that the current can change (both in speed AND direction) from one location to the next, or from one depth to the next.
If you get separated from your group, it's entirely possible that you'll go off in a different direction (and at a different speed) that the other group.
I see this in Cozumel all of the time. The visibility is so good that you can see other members of your group as they peel off at the end of the dive. Often as a party ascends they will head off in a different direction (sometimes as much as 20-30 degrees different) from the group remaining at depth.
If you get separated from your group, it's entirely possible that you'll go off in a different direction (and at a different speed) that the other group.
I see this in Cozumel all of the time. The visibility is so good that you can see other members of your group as they peel off at the end of the dive. Often as a party ascends they will head off in a different direction (sometimes as much as 20-30 degrees different) from the group remaining at depth.
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