Troubles on a drift dive.

I had some problems this past summer on a drift dive. First off, this was my first ocean experience. I have been diving for several years, mainly quarries, and feel that I am very comfortable at depth. The dives were set up as groups of 4-6 people, with one towing a surface buoy. The first dive, another member of our group had the buoy. This was good, because I just wanted to enjoy my first ocean dive, and not worry about that thing. Plus, my 16 year old son was with us, and I wanted to keep very close tabs on him. The dive was uneventful, until we looked for the buoy guy, and he wasn't there! I had been keeping him in sight, and saw him about one minute earlier, but he was now gone. My son's air was at the point of heading up, so we got everyone's attention (surface as a group was the plan), gave another look around for our guy....then began to surface. We found him on the boat. He said he suddenly became buoyant, and couldn't stay down. He looked worn out from the effort, and I admit that I was a tad concerned about him for awhile. Nevertheless...that is when I became the buoy guy. It is a necessary job...that I never want again!

The next few dives were uneventful, and I really didn't mind the buoy so much...until the night dive. The first sign of a problem, is when we reach the bottom and I am a farther away from the rest of the group (total of 4) than I would have expected. We regroup, and begin the dive. Now, I was under the impression that drifts were the "lazy dives". No need to fin, no effort, just go where it takes you. That sounds great...until you have a shutterbug in the group. Stop, take a picture, chase down a critter, take a picture, investigate that coral, take a picture. I was quite used to it by this 3rd day, but something was now different. There is a surface current. It is apparently much stronger than the one at depth. I find myself being towed by this damn buoy, much quicker than the rest of the group. They are all hovering over something, pictures are being taken, and I am about ready to have a coronary trying to fight this current. The whole time I am still getting further away. My son swims up to me, and I signal to him that he is to stay glued to me. The rest finally come up, and I try to explain the issue, and that they should stay near me...but being towed by a buoy isn't really an easy thing to pantomime. I'm not sure how much they understood, but my son stayed within arm's reach the rest of the dive. The others still kept drifting off, and we wound up not surfacing together.

The DM had explained to us that "the only person who isn't lost, is the one with the buoy. It is YOUR job to stay with the buoy guy, not the other way around". That sounds all fine and dandy, but I really hated to let the current take me when I knew these guys were snapping pictures. I would be out of sight before they realized it...and it was a night dive. That is finally what I had to do, so that my pulse rate slowed down to normal. I kept my kid with me, and we drifted. I burned through my tank rather quickly on that dive, and was at ascent psi way early. Should I have made one last effort to get back to them (risking a myocardial infarction) , to tell them I had to go up...or was a safe and orderly ascent with appropriate air reserve, the right choice?

For the record, I have no problem with photographers. He made copies for everyone, and they are a treasured reminder of me and my son's first ocean dives. It is just that the attention that was lost while photographing, made my dive go from pleasure, to a day's work.

The person with the flag or buoy is always the dive leader and everyone else has the responsibility of staying near that perrson. Photographers are not an exception. I take pictures, too, but have to remain aware of the location of the person leading the dive. When you are on a float dive like you have described, trying to get a macro shot is not in the dive plan. Not unless you want to take your own flag or buoy.

Ha Ha the joy of being a float pulling divemaster. You need to hook off on the bottom, you can not wait up in the water column fighting the current and you really can't just drift alone passively allowing the current to take you where it will or the other people will never be able to catch you. Pulling a float is a pain. It takes some experience and coordination to stay resonably close together.

If the group stops to photograph an octopus for 2 minutes, you can drift down current 20-50 feet and try to find a hook off location and wait around. The photographers have to know to look for you down stream when they leave the shelter of the bottom.

Very sound advise when you can hook to something on the bottom. Something else to consider would be to use a floating device/marker that has less pull on you than a typical float such as a fully inflated sausage tied to a finger spool and experiment with that. However, it is also everybody's responsibility to remain with the float person and not the other way around. If folks have a hard time adhering to this concept then the easiest thing to convince them would be to rotate such duty among other folks in the group...

From my reading, I assume that while there was a DM on board, those dives were not DM led as he or she would have been the one handling the float and not the divers in the group.

Why not just give the idiot with the camera an additional buoy and let him go off on his own?

Just out of curiosity, why are drift dives in Florida done with a buoy towed through the entire dive? I understand that you need a buoy when you are in very shallow water, or on ascent. But during the deep portion of the dive, why have a buoy on the surface? Cozumel drifts are done without one, until the end. Our live boat dives in Puget Sound, where nobody on the boat has any HOPE of seeing divers in the water, are not done with buoys. Why is this the practice in Florida?

I'm with TSandM. When I lead a dive from and unmoored boat, drift or no drift, I carry a signaling device on a reel. I anticipate the boat captain following bubbles or drift pattern to stay fairly close, and then at the time of ascent, I inflate and let the buoy (sausage) up on the reel. The boat catches up to it by the time we surface. Based upon a read of the OP's report, I think there were some marginal people running that show. The report also presents an argument for divers to become competent and skilled to the level of planning and carrying out their own dives without having to be limited, and stress, by a "group." And for divemasters to work on their skills, too.
DivemasterDennis

FL law is such that you must have a dive flag. If a boat has several dive groups each group takes a flag because the boat can't be with every group at the same time. Some groups will move off east some may go a little west then move north or south with the current.

When you are the flag man you are the only one that isn't lost but you do have to have some consideration for the rest of the group. You can't be speedy Gonzales while carrying the flag and expect the group to keep up. You try to keep a pace for the slowest person in the group BUT in the OPs instance you can only do so much. A fast moving top current is going to pull your flag and the other divers should be making an effort to stay with you. If they don't then it's their fault for not staying with the flagman.

One thing you may want to think about the next time is to make sure you dive with someone that has the same goal as you. If they plan on doing photography and you have no interest in staying put for long periods of time find a different dive buddy/group.

Personally I enjoy being the flagman. I keep a slow pace and I don't mind the photographers because I'm a land photographer and have the patience for it.

TSandM:

Just out of curiosity, why are drift dives in Florida done with a buoy towed through the entire dive? I understand that you need a buoy when you are in very shallow water, or on ascent. But during the deep portion of the dive, why have a buoy on the surface? Cozumel drifts are done without one, until the end. Our live boat dives in Puget Sound, where nobody on the boat has any HOPE of seeing divers in the water, are not done with buoys. Why is this the practice in Florida?

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I'm just going to guess that the thought process behind the local rule in Florida is as follows...

• There is a lot of boat traffic in the area.
• A significant number of boat drivers exceed the posted speed guidelines.
• Assuming recreational no-deco diving, an UW emergency may necessitate a direct ascent to the surface without time/ability to inflate and manage smb.
• Surface current may differ from current in various levels of the water column.
• It's easier for the dive boat to follow its divers if each team is always towing a float.
• Therefore, it makes sense for a dive team to tow its own surface float for the entire dive.

This is only speculation on my part.
I'm a SoCal diver, and I found the always-tow-a-float rule rather cumbersome when I did my Florida diving. That's not to say that, given local conditions, towing a float wasn't a good idea. I've read a handful of stories about divers getting run over by boats. More than one incident occurred in Florida waters.

TSandM:

Just out of curiosity, why are drift dives in Florida done with a buoy towed through the entire dive? I understand that you need a buoy when you are in very shallow water, or on ascent. But during the deep portion of the dive, why have a buoy on the surface? Cozumel drifts are done without one, until the end. Our live boat dives in Puget Sound, where nobody on the boat has any HOPE of seeing divers in the water, are not done with buoys. Why is this the practice in Florida?

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Diver Down Flag - State law requires that scuba divers or snorkelers display a flag whenever they are in the water.

Snorkeling Trips, Diving Regulations, Safety and Dive Charters in Florida

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[SIZE=-1]Diving and Snorkeling:[/SIZE]

• [SIZE=-1]The size of divers-down flags displayed on vessels should be 20 inches by 24 inches, and a stiffener is required to keep the flag unfurled. Dive flags carried on floats may still be 12 by 12. Also, divers-down flags on vessels must be displayed so that the flag's visibility is not obstructed.[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Divers shall attempt to stay within 100 feet of the divers-down flag on rivers, inlets and navigation channels. Vessels should stay at least 100 feet away from a divers-down flag.[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]On all waters other than rivers, inlets or navigation channels, divers must make a reasonable effort to stay within 300 feet of the divers-down flag; vessel operators must make a reasonable effort to maintain a distance of 300 feet on these waters.[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Vessels may approach within 300 feet in open water and 100 feet in rivers, inlets and navigation channels of a divers-down flag only at idle speed; approaching at higher speed is reckless operation.[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]Divers shall not, except in case of emergency, display the divers-down flag in an area which would constitute a navigational hazard.[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]​[/SIZE]

Florida Boating Regulations - Flotilla #74, Brandon FL - US Coast Guard Auxiliary 7th District

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I'm not a Floridian ... just posting findings from Google ...