Sausage, SMB, stop achor etc

[boxcar]

This post & poll is related to another thread about buying safety equiptment. I use a yellow sausage on the surface and orange marker bouy for stops as I was told yellow mean 'I need help/pickup' and orange means 'I'm here, but not in any trouble, be up in soon'

Do others follow this convention? What sort of visual signaling devices do you use?

 

[Charlie99]

You need to ask in the area where you are diving.

I use yellow DSMB, but show it to the Captain before dive if I intend on using it. Yellow doesn't equate to emergency in Maui or Cozumel, but IIRC, does in the UK.

 

[boxcar]

Good point Charlie...Good advice on speaking to the boat captain as well...

I don't know that the practice I described is typical here (SE Queensland, Australia) either, but it is typical of the folks I dive with....and seemed to make sense when it was explained to me.

I just wondered how widespread this practice is...

 

[ScubaZone]

Good point Charlie...Good advice on speaking to the boat captain as well...

I don't know that the practice I described is typical here (SE Queensland, Australia) either, but it is typical of the folks I dive with....and seemed to make sense when it was explained to me.

I just wondered how widespread this practice is...

I think I would go with the recommendation of my LDS and buy as many safety add-ons as possible !!!!

 

[Charlie99]

I just wondered how widespread this practice is...

Another thing to keep in mind is that for a lot of locations, a DSMB is a "don't run me over" signal -- a more convenient alternative than dragging a dive flag for the whole dive. In this sort of usage, color isn't all that important and you don't need a huge size.

OTOH, if you are doing deco dives with long hang times while drifting in a current, then you'll want a large liftbag or marker buoy. It's also in this sort of dive that you are more likely to need additional communication with the surface, such as yellow for emergency/need more deco gas/read the slate that I just sent up.

 

[boxcar]

I think I would go with the recommendation of my LDS and buy as many safety add-ons as possible !!!!

Tsk Tsk Tsk, More shameless self promotion from an LDS owner...er, my LDS owner...we should both be working (or diving)

 

[boxcar]

OTOH, if you are doing deco dives with long hang times while drifting in a current, then you'll want a large liftbag or marker buoy. It's also in this sort of dive that you are more likely to need additional communication with the surface, such as yellow for emergency/need more deco gas/read the slate that I just sent up.

Yes, this is one of the scenarios I was thinking of...deco or not, in the current, ascending safely and/or stopping @ 5m (for example) it seems smart to say both "I'm here" and indicate OK/need attention...