4 diveres went missing - Malpelo, Colombia

[Freewillow]

I carry a very large flag on an extending pole that is bungee'd to my tank when not in use. .

Picture/brand that you are recommending? Not a bad idea. Thanks for the tip.

 

[cephalopod2]

I found out later that it was common procedure for the ladder to be raised at night. Would have been nice if they left it down in these circumstances though, or thought of it before leaving malpelo up current.

Still puzzled on the reason why?

I am surprised to hear the rope ladder is lowered on anything other than an "on request" basis. When divers from our liveaboard went to do a Malpelo land visit in 2011 the rope ladder was raised. Since our visit included a brief tour of one of the buildings used by the military and a fruit drink provided by them, I would think there was some basic communication between the liveaboard and the military members in advance.

Absolutely the Maria Patricia should have asked that the ladder be lowered as soon as divers went missing and at the absolutely least, checked to make sure it was lowered before steaming away from Malpelo. One can only hope lowering the ladder will now become SOP for the military station and all liveaboards whenever any divers are reported missing.

 

[John Bantin]

Picture/brand that you are recommending? Not a bad idea. Thanks for the tip.

They are commonly used by British divers. The bright yellow flag is nearly 2x3 feet and extends on three sections of plastic tubing that slot together with an elastic cord running through the middle. from: www.bowstonediving.com
I just checked the website and the pop-up flag is now smaller than the ones I bought, at 2x2 feet. (Is this a sign of the British economy in decline?)
Click on the last picture of this old feature in Diver Mag (UK). www.divernet.com/diving-gear/p298065-the-right-stuff.html

 

[Ken Kurtis]

I want to join John Bantin in vouching for Sten's integrity and dedication to this sport and diving safety. I've known Sten for about eight years, have done two or three trips with him as lead DM, and would trust him with my life. As John said, he's not trolling for Yemaya business, he's simply venting his justifiable anger. Hopefully this is a learning experience for those of you reading this thread. There's a reason that sometimes when we're running these trips ("we" in the generic all-of-us-who-lead sense) that we come off like pricks and dive dictators and it's because we're trying to avoid this exact scenario.

- Ken

 

[Ken Kurtis]

After reading this thread, I added several safety gears with me. The latest one is PLB1 - Ocean Signal

Dan,
The website says it's only waterproof to 15 meters, aka 50 feet. I would think that would make it a non-starter for diving since you're likely to frequently be deeper than 50 feet on a dive and could flood it. How are you dealing with that limitation?

- Ken

 

[Dan]

Dan,
The website says it's only waterproof to 15 meters, aka 50 feet. I would think that would make it a non-starter for diving since you're likely to frequently be deeper than 50 feet on a dive and could flood it. How are you dealing with that limitation?

- Ken

Ken, you have a good point. I put it inside an old underwater camera case, as shown above. The camera case is small & compact enough (smaller than 500ml water bottle). I also put both the water bottle & the camera case (good to 130' or 40m) inside my BCD pocket, including 6' DSMB, mirror, small flashlight. Some of us talked about this at length, here: Scuba diver's Personal Locator Beacon - how never to be lost at sea. See my post # 166 (p.17). Ken T put his inside a custom divers container, as shown in his post # 146 in the same thread (p.15). I also started a thread about this PLB1, here: Ocean Signal RescueME PLB1

 

[Dan]

They are commonly used by British divers. The bright yellow flag is nearly 2x3 feet and extends on three sections of plastic tubing that slot together with an elastic cord running through the middle. from: www.bowstonediving.com
I just checked the website and the pop-up flag is now smaller than the ones I bought, at 2x2 feet. (Is this a sign of the British economy in decline?)
Click on the last picture of this old feature in Diver Mag (UK). www.divernet.com/diving-gear/p298065-the-right-stuff.html

John, you bring a good point. Another non electronic safety device that will always stay on my BCD is Dive Alert, as shown in the above picture. It can blow horn loud enough to a mile distance. You practically need to put your head down in the water when you push the button and not aiming the horn directly to another diver within 10'.

I would blow the Morse code of SOS (distress signal of short & long blasts): • • • — — — • • • until the boat hears it or until the tank runs out of air.

 

[Centrals]

The kind of horn never last more than couple of yrs. So test it regularly otherwise..
I hope someone can show me how to clean it internally.

 

[Freewillow]

The kind of horn never last more than couple of yrs. So test it regularly otherwise..
I hope someone can show me how to clean it internally.

Much easier in maintenance than regulators. We really are living on two different worlds

 

[Dan]

I would think by rinsing it with freshwater after the end of a dive trip, as recommended in the manual should do the work. I'll certainly will test it during a check out dive. We'll see in a couple of years.