Safety on the Dive Boat

So the discussion in other threads has turned to what safety considerations and standards dive boats are held to. I operate my boat as if I were standing in front of a jury of my peers and Rick Lesser was the plaintiff's council. We've heard allegations that watertight hatches aren't, that life jackets aren't properly stowed, or even present in other countries, we've had bad gas on liveaboards and dhonis, I've heard that briefings are ignored while gear is being put together, and I've heard of divers being left behind.

What do you really expect from your dive boat, and, more importantly, how do you make sure your boat meets the expectations?

For instance, no one has ever asked me for my latest: air test, proof of Coast Guard inspection, permit to dive in a National Park, or proof that I even carry liability insurance (many liveaboards in the USA don't, neither do a lot of day boats for that matter). Many passengers get upset because they have to participate in life jacket and abandon ship drills. Some customers get upset because I wake them up after each dive to ask them how they are feeling.

So, who is really responsible for your safety when you're out on the boat? At what point do you call the trip off when something looks funky?

I would imagine that I would be responsible for my own safety. Also I would rather be woken up after a dive by a captain who cares than ignored if I was having a stroke.

Does anyone down in the keys know if they have hauled the boat out. Did they find any hull/fitting damage?

Wookie:

For instance, no one has ever asked me for ...........permit to dive in a National Park,

Click to expand...

I might not have asked you, but I did a search on who was allowed to after I got screwed by one of your competitors before they went out of business. (you know who he is... was...)

They were selling /advertising trips to the Dry Tortugas (national marine park). It turns out they did NOT have a permit.

We paid for the trip and he made excuses about going there, and we never went. (dove in the Keys instead). Later we learned he didn't have the NOAA permit to operate there commercially, and lied to us.



I found out that Wookie's boat was one of the four LEGAL permit holders issued for the Dry Tortugas.

Myself I always look out for everyone by getting to know the boat and acting fascinated so to ask ?'s about it so if there is an emergency I can help everyone survive. Mostly there is no problems and it can happen to any boat or captain. I have flipped Hydro-planes so I have the actual experience of high speed crash and sink. seen many accidents in the great lakes and assisted them to shore.

So I think most really depend on the dive op and captain which is why there can be a fatality that can be avoided by listening to brief's and be aware to alert things that come up.

To an extent, I agree with Mopar that in the end, you're responsible for your own safety underwater.

However, there are a few things for which a dive boat should take responsibility.

1. If the boat charter (or liveaboard) provides the tanks, the air is expected to be good. People shouldn't be expected to bring their own CO testers, though I'd get one just in case.
2. As well, lifejackets should be functional and readily available.
3. Finally, there should be a proper count of divers, and no diver should ever be left behind.

Well, I do look for the Coast Guard window sticker on boats carrying more than 6 passengers that shows the COI exists, and is up to date. I want to know where the lifejackets are, and am happy to do an abandon drill on a liveaboard.

Me, I think the Captain is responsible for the safety of passengers and of the boat, while each passenger is responsible for his/her own safety when they gear up and become divers. So waking up a diver (now, a "passenger" again) for a welfare check after a dive is over, is also fine.

Ultimately it's the captain's call whether to sail, or whether to call off, or to call things off if in the interest of safety. The boat's a taxi; but once taxiied to the dive site, I'm responsible for my own dive safety. But I'm not the sole responsibility, the boat can impose rules about dive safety if they want, as long as you know what they are. Don't like the rules? Find another boat.

I'm responsible for checking air and analyzing the mix if its not 21%. But not responsible for the "purity" of that air, that's on whoever did the fill.

I commented on the Accident thread about the 6-pack that sank off Key Largo with one death, but only to point out that (in the U.S.) the "7-plus-packs" undergo Coast Guard inspection, both of design, equipment, maintenance, and operation--the 6-packs don't. The old saying back when I was a CG inspector was, "you can drown six--you can't drown seven"...

Aside from not being left behind, I frankly don't really care if a boat is just a taxi to the dive site and back, or if it includes everything that a paranoid diving nanny might think of ... what I really care about is consistency between what the boat says it is going to do and actually then does, it is the miss-matches that make people crazy.

Why not just give all your customers dive locaters so no one is ever left behind?

while I am out on a chartered boat, as in anywhere else I go, I am ultimately responsible for my own safety. With that said it's why I wouldn't "blindly" go off on a boat without some knowledge of it. It's why I research here and else ware. but that doesn't just work for diving, it's with any trip I take and it's also part of any planning that's done before any trip. While i would never base my concerns on one person's view (as we know there are many many views) regarding a certain dive operator, boat, or location, I will do my research. That is my responsibility. Is it a guarantee? No. I hate the muster drills on cruise ships but I know they are necessary and I know what to do if I have to do something; it's my responsibility to pay attention. It is the dive boat's owner to take care of any possible safety concerns. It is the Captain's responsibility to be certain they are working a safe boat. It is their responsibility to tell me what to do in an emergency. It's my responsibility to follow the instructions. I do expect to pay for a safe boat to do dives from.

My worse fear now with diving is being "left behind". I try to speak to others, including captain and crew in order to hopefully be remembered. Of course I think more of operators who use a check system such as returning the numbered, safety sausages back on the board as well as roll call.