At $40/year, why don't all travelers carry PLBs - everywhere...?!

[KeithG]

Very informative... I've been diving with a pair of SCUBA signal flares every since a dive incident over 15 years ago. I've been contemplating a PLB so thanks for this posing. I'm considering the McMurdo Smartfind S10 and would appreciate your thoughts. McMurdo S10 Smartfind Personal AIS Beacon - Star Marine Depot It's a lower wattage unit but I like how it's compact, floats, fairly well priced, and doesn't require a separate underwater container. TIA.

As Don indicated above, AIS is NOT PLB. Although that is extremely hard to figure out from the website...

My understanding is that AIS is designed to be worn by commercial ship crewmen (crewpersons?) that fall overboard and depend upon the ship having an AIS "detector" system installed (kind of like a cat detector). It is designed to allow a boat to circle back and find the crewman by homing in on the low power AIS radio signal. The AIS devices are intended to be attached to a life jacket and seem to be water activated. They are not designed to be water proof to scuba depths. So not the right device for us adrift scuba divers.

PLBs send their transmission to satellites. No local "detector" is required.


P.S. Somedays I hate Don! I burnt half a day surfing for PLB info over the weekend and am now actually considering purchase of a PLB. And it is all Don's fault.

 

[DandyDon]

P.S. Somedays I hate Don! I burnt half a day surfing for PLB info over the weekend and am now actually considering purchase of a PLB. And it is all Don's fault.

:laughing: I popped my sausage, then surfaced alone a couple of weeks ago in the Cozumel channel - then waited 10 minutes watching far away boats. I kept thinking one would come look without me having to blow my inline Dive Alert whistle, but was about ready to - when one came over. I gave him my boats name, he hailed him on the radio for a few minutes, and then mine finally said he'd be over. I did have a few other signals devices on me.

I think I could have gone an hour before hitting the panic button, but I don't know. The current pushes north towards the ferry lanes and cruise barges approaching. I've known people personally who have spent 4 to 8 hours floating north there wishing they'd carried a PLB.

 

[KeithG]

:laughing: I popped my sausage, then surfaced alone a couple of weeks ago in the Cozumel channel - then waited 10 minutes watching far away boats. I kept thinking one would come look without me having to blow my inline Dive Alert whistle, but was about ready to - when one came over. I gave him my boats name, he hailed him on the radio for a few minutes, and then mine finally said he'd be over. I did have a few other signals devices on me.

I think I could have gone an hour before hitting the panic button, but I don't know. The current pushes north towards the ferry lanes and cruise barges approaching. I've known people personally who have spent 4 to 8 hours floating north there wishing they'd carried a PLB.

The phrase "popped my sausage" took my mind somewhere else...thanks for the (very) momentary diversion.

As a vacation diver I am a little alarmed at this type of situation. I claim it should not happen, especially at that (my) level of dive competence. I have seen it happen way too many times, but happily have only been part of it once.

Our last Belize trip allowed us to witness the Blue Hole day boats spreading their divers all over Half Moon Key with great abandon. Here a diver, there a diver, everywhere a diver. It reminded me of diving Molokini (my 1 time random swim adventure, never to be repeated!). One of the day boats took more than an hour to collect its jetsam. Some of who spent considerable energy trying to swim to our live aboard when they could not spot their day boat.

In my book "back to the boat" and "drift" dives are very different. They need to be conducted in different conditions and require different skills. A drift dive where you "pop up and hope" you have a boat is a diving fail. Either yours or the boats. (Sorry Don, but someone deserves a spanking in this situation.)

In benign current situations like Belize Half Moon Key there is no real reason to panic or over react like I am. There is little to no current. Spending an hour to collect the surface people is not a problem. But this may lead some of those divers to think this is okay and normal for other less benign situations.

I understand there are many other parts of the diving world where this situation could lead to a very bad day.

 

[DandyDon]

A drift dive where you "pop up and hope" you have a boat is a diving fail. Either yours or the boats. (Sorry Don, but someone deserves a spanking in this situation.)

Right or wrong, it's common enough off of Cozumel. I don't like following the line behind the DM, getting bumped into as I line up a shot, or coming up last after all the fish have been spooked - so I parallel the DM a lot, and sometimes get caught in a different current. Boats are pretty abundant most days, but I was talking about backup plans - most never used, yet.

One day last trip during a SI with many other boats nearby, a chopper flew low looking us over - a first for me. I was asked by another on my boat if I'd set off my beacon?