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I don't think you know what "iniquity" means any better than you know what "specious" means, but, whatever. If you dispute any of the statements I (and others) have made, you're welcome to cite your evidence. My point is really simple: if there is no one in reach equipped to receive and act on...

What is "specious" about this? It's a fact that most Indonesian dive boats don't have radio, charts, mobile phone signal or significant reserves of fuel, let alone GPS; it's a fact that the majority of local-level SAR infrastructure is non-existent, with police and army boats routinely broken...

Thanks for this. The ones I've looked at are overwhelmingly from the first world: US, Australia, New Zealand, France and Portugal, though I did see one rescue of a boat in Venezuela. I also didn't see any divers. My point is not that these things don't work: they're AMAZING if you've got the...

So: a boat picked up the signal on its radio. Then Australia sent a plane to look for a boat, which is a *very* much larger object than a diver. It took 48 hours to rescue even then. And this is analogous to diving in Indonesia how? You think Australia is going to charter a Qantas jet every time...

I wouldn't debate you could survive nine hours in Indonesian waters quite comfortably: I've met someone who was drifting off Morotai for over 24 hours before a fishing boat picked him up (it felt like being born again, apparently). But why do you think nine hours is the "worst case" scenario...

There are a number of Indonesian resorts where you need to go to a specific part of the island to get phone signal, which can be kilometres away from the dock and the resort itself, and some small, remote islands have no phone signal at all: I've dived from one (you take all the food and drink...

Just to build on your list, the boat doesn't just need to have cell signal, it needs to have someone on the boat with a phone, a fully-charged battery AND sufficient credit to make a call. That's pretty damn rare in Indonesia - even before you get to the deathtrap budget operators with nary a...

Crystal Bay is a funny one - just like Gili Tepekong, it has this terrifying reputation, but there are routes to dive it which make it much less of an advanced dive, although you do still need to watch for the downs. (I've only ever experienced a mild down breeze there.) I don't know why more...

Exactly. I think in these sorts of places it's key to have a good operator, a good guide and to know your own limits: if you want to be within comfortable reach of SAR and/or a chamber, then most Indonesian diving is not for you. It's not a risk-free sport and technical fixes don't work so well...

Actually, diving very, very conservatively, with a local guide and in full awareness of the local realities - which, in many parts of Indonesia means zero SAR ("SAR units"?!), plus fuel limitations on the dive op that's looking for you - is a much better protection than a PLB. As I said in...

There isn't one, and I haven't suggested there is. All I've said is that you can't rely on a PLB in remote areas of Indonesia and the Philippines. Quite why we're even debating this is a mystery to me.

Thanks for the video link @Kevrumbo. Just to clarify: my point was about the ACCURACY of the paper chart. How do you plot a position when the chart is wrong? (Indonesia is still working on counting how many islands it has: it's a massive government project that's been going for a while, but the...

That's good to know. How would they link the GPS to the paper chart, bearing in mind that, certainly in Indonesia, and I believe also in the Philippines, paper charts are far from accurate? (I've been in an interesting discussion between the chief of the district police and a resort owner off...

I wouldn't rely on it in Indonesia and the Philippines, because local SAR routinely don't have working boats or any fuel, and in Indonesia government numbers and email addresses change ALL THE TIME. I'd imagine it would work fine in most of the EU.

Picking up a conversation about PLBs from earlier in this thread, I was wondering how many dive boats you'd been on in the Philippines and Indonesia that had GPS navigation capability? Where I've seen anything other than natural navigation, it's been using paper charts, and that's across the...

Well, look forward to catching up in person, inshallah. For the record, I would be surprised if Geko Dive - the Padangbai op, right? - did have GPS, just because they're always covering the same relatively small range and distance, and it's an area with a lot of boat traffic. The Raja Ampat ones...

I'm a Denise! And, yes, I think that would improve your chances - if the resort boats have GPS navigation. (I've not dived Misool, but most Indonesian boats I've been on navigate by local knowledge plus paper charts). You'd still be looking at a search restricted to the resort's available boats...

You're right to be concerned. Authorities have limited boats and often no fuel, and I wouldn't rely on their phones working either (as for email addresses being monitored for NOAA alerts? Nuhuh.) There is a reason that dive boats helped evacuate the ferry that caught fire and that is that, even...

Not implying that's ok, of course!

Everybody I've met who has dived Coron did wreck penetrations untrained - many at OW and new divers. At least in Egypt they want AOW and a few dives before they let you in the Thistlegorm...