Main objective, Whale Sharks...

[Ms. Ann Thrope]

Don, the thousands of rays were beneath the boat as we traveled to the sharks--and I think on the return as well. But you had to be looking straight down into the water.

Note on the vests--I think our operator may have been lax. I didn't want to wear a snorkel vest either. I just wore a lycra skin (I don't like neoprene much either) and no one said a word.

 

[DandyDon]

The tips are important

 

[robbcayman]

:laughing: Yeah, I know how to swim. I also have survived long enough to realize that I am not immortal and accidents happen.

Actually I am surprised that any of those wearing life jackets drowned. Amazing what can go wrong huh? There are about 4,000 drowning deaths in the US a year tho, fourth most common causes of accidental death, for various reasons - and some were people who knew how to swim but failed anyway, perhaps when trying to rescue a child, or injured from the boat wreck, were too far out from land, etc. I am not trying to talk anyone else into the idea, but it amazes me that I am usually the only one. Oh well.

I might have pics of me somewhere. I don't know. I don't get many of myself. But yeah, I wear it to the dive site, then take it off to don my BC.

And the whale shark Ops are supposed to require every swimmer to wear neoprene suit or a flotation vest I thot. Surprised you didn't have to? Maybe he thot it was a neoprene suit?

Only you would look up statistics on drownings.

It's good to be prepared, but you might take this one a little too far. If a boat sinks, you just float on your back. Furthermore, your BCD acts as a flotation device once you put air in it. I honestly think I could float for as long as I wanted in the ocean, especially with a BCD. Honestly, I'm just giving you a hard time. It cracks me up that you wear a life jacket on a dive boat.

You are right about worrying about carbon monoxide.

 

[DandyDon]

Only you would look up statistics on drownings.

It was easy. Google may be deviously compiling a file on everything I look at but they are good at finding things. I've always worn a collar snorkeling as cramps, etc. happen. I have an old scar on my chest to remind me not to snorkel close to rocks in waves that would have been much larger if I hadn't worn one. I didn't inflate it until I wanted to rest so if the rock had knocked me out, I would have failed, but it was still a good idea. I did put a little into it after a while swimming with the Dominoes as I did get tired and don't float well.

It's good to be prepared, but you might take this one a little too far. If a boat sinks, you just float on your back. Furthermore, your BCD acts as a flotation device once you put air in it. I honestly think I could float for as long as I wanted in the ocean, especially with a BCD. Honestly, I'm just giving you a hard time. It cracks me up that you wear a life jacket on a dive boat.

Some float easier than others, and I guess you do. I don't. Yeah, a BC could work as a flotation device altho it's not designed to keep your head up like a collar but I want to wear something while the boat is moving, just like I usually have my seat belt on before I see a wreck coming* - yet not it. On a small boat, the DM is putting it on a tank at back anyway.

* I've rolled vehicles with and without, and I strongly recommend wearing them.​

You are right about worrying about carbon monoxide.

Yeah, that's a pet interest I carry further than most too, but an important one as it's way overlooked - in sport diving and in life too. Tech & commercial divers take it seriously, but sport divers usually dive on false hope. I picked up my serviced regs and new camera yesterday at my LDS and took my two tank CO analyzers to demonstrate.

I've been following news this winter googling "monoxide," have noted a variety of stories in http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/no...noxide-monitors-today.html?highlight=monoxide and it's amazing how many overlooked risks are making news with ambulance calls and too many deaths. Based on the last hundred or so stories, I've bought room monitors for my grandkids since their rooms are close to the garage, for my daughter & soninlaw and our exchange student as theirs are close to the fireplace, for my daughter's classroom as Texas has not gotten around to requirements for schools, my bedroom and kitchen of course even tho I don't have remote starting on my pickup, and a battery powered one for my pickup since it is an old one with things going wrong all the time.

I've just recently started wearing my Pocket CO (misnamed as it should not be in a pocket) clipped to my collar into public places out of curiosity, and the results have already been interesting - like 7 ppm in the cafeteria line where they grill meat in plane sight. The Feds do have standard limits but CO technology is so new that few requirements and protections have been implemented. The 50 ppm alarm hasn't gone off yet, but I won't apologize when it does.

 

[robbcayman]

Don, good info as usual. I don't know about carrying a personal CO detector on your person, though lol.

I'm going to buy a detector that I can take with me when I stay at hotels. Although a gas leak may be a small threat, it's nearly undetectable if it does happen. Basically, you just fall asleep and game over. That to me, is really scary stuff.

 

[lsorenson]

I just received an email from Searious Diving and states the Formmers print was incorrect regarding Whale Sharks from only Isla Holbox... Isla Mujeres can swim with the Whale Sharks as well...

Hi Mr Sorenson: thanks a lot for asking, here I send copies of the e-mail that Formmer's mistake caused on the internet.

"Our comments did good. Frommer information added Isla Mujeres. Thanks to all

Change is coming, however: The Mexican government has designated Isla Holbox as one of the few ports allowed to offer trips to swim with whale sharks (another is Isla Mujeres). The larges fish in the ocean has been parking in these warm Yucatan waters every summer for the past six years -- and tourists are starting to follow. Who can blame them?"

 

[DandyDon]

I just received an email from Searious Diving and states the Formmers print was incorrect regarding Whale Sharks from only Isla Holbox... Isla Mujeres can swim with the Whale Sharks as well...

Hi Mr Sorenson: thanks a lot for asking, here I send copies of the e-mail that Formmer's mistake caused on the internet.

"Our comments did good. Frommer information added Isla Mujeres. Thanks to all

Change is coming, however: The Mexican government has designated Isla Holbox as one of the few ports allowed to offer trips to swim with whale sharks (another is Isla Mujeres). The larges fish in the ocean has been parking in these warm Yucatan waters every summer for the past six years -- and tourists are starting to follow. Who can blame them?"

So their authority was a guide book? :shocked2: Frommer's - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I often wonder if the authors of those have ever been to the places they report on.

So some guidebook heard something, then said something, and by the time it got to Yucatan Today, it was accepted. See why I am skeptical?

I hope the national government does improve things, but keep it real...