I think the theme here is the best protection is to rely as little as possible on someone else. In terms of operating the boat and dumb things like potentially leaving you, there is little you can do other than be vigilant as suggested. A boat that has a good roll call/accountability procedure is unlikely to leave someone. This is easy to observe and should start at the dock. The overarching advice is to be as self-reliant as you can. Advance your training so that you are even less likely to need someone's help. Supplement your gear to increase your odds of dealing with something if it happens (smbs, plbs, etc.). As said, diving is not completely safe. The most you can do is to mitigate, not eliminate, the risks.
How do you know a boat is safe(er)
- Thread starter Dizzi Lizzi
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OP
Dizzi Lizzi
Contributor
LOL. I'm a bit of a control freak, I like to do it myself. the downside of that is it's hard to ask for help, but I do. I always want to figure it out myself, but I always check with someone else if I'm not 100% sure of what I've done. Saying that thanks to the folks at Casino Point that have checked out my rig and given me an OK, as well as the guy that very nicely said " HMMMMM that's different, and helped me set up my 1st stage correctly." it was kinda upside down
I'm learning that diving by nature is a sport that you rely on others to help you, teach you, but I think not do for you. Kinda like someone else packing your parachute eh?I love TS&M's "are you on good terms with lady luck".
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The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
It's my opinion that most boats are very safe. However, you can make them safer with a few additions. The most important would be a safety sausage and you should learn how to deploy it from depth. If you're not with the group, send up the sausage. I doubt any boat would leave the area if there was a sausage on the surface.
Caveat: While I feel the boats are safe enough, but there are a lot of divers with sub optimal attitudes and skill sets. Most accidents are caused by the diver and not the boat.
Caveat: While I feel the boats are safe enough, but there are a lot of divers with sub optimal attitudes and skill sets. Most accidents are caused by the diver and not the boat.
OP
Dizzi Lizzi
Contributor
Yes, I agree.
I have a sausage, ashamed I have not used it in practice yet. I keep saying "next time"... I think its about time. So I assume you tell the boat crew that your going to practice...to avoid any misunderstandings. How bout on shore dive, how do you let people know its you drilling and not an actual emergency. ummm this is probable already a thread, I'll look for it.
Find out ahead of time what the boats standard operating procedure is. Do they require buddies? My favorite local boat will ask if anybody needs a buddy. If no one speaks up they assume all are happy with their buddy or lack of it. If some one wants a buddy and says so they will see that they get one. (They always have a number of divers who they are familiar with so while not obvious they give some thought when selecting a buddy).
How do they handle changing site? Are you guaranteed it is no deeper than planned?
Do they have a DM? I dove on a six pack once that had a captain and that was it. No DM at all. I volunteered to dive with a newbie and wound up doing an airshare while we sorted out an equipment issue she had. Also had to go down and unhook when he got hung up.
What is there policy on rough weather? Some boats cater to a lot of hard core divers and will go out in rougher weather than another boat with the philosophy that rougher weather is no fun. Neither are better but one might be better for you.
How do they handle changing site? Are you guaranteed it is no deeper than planned?
Do they have a DM? I dove on a six pack once that had a captain and that was it. No DM at all. I volunteered to dive with a newbie and wound up doing an airshare while we sorted out an equipment issue she had. Also had to go down and unhook when he got hung up.
What is there policy on rough weather? Some boats cater to a lot of hard core divers and will go out in rougher weather than another boat with the philosophy that rougher weather is no fun. Neither are better but one might be better for you.
DogDiver
Contributor
Make sure the vessel has a licensed captain. Make sure there is a recent Coast Guard inspection.
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
Sausages don't indicate an emergency any more than dive flags indicate one. They indicate a diver's location in the water. I always tell the captain when one of my AOW students is going to practice this. That's just normal communication, but I don't worry about it if we're doing it during a shore dive.
Almost every abandoned diver story would have been different if they had only deployed their sausage from depth. A captain won't leave if it's obvious someone is still down there. The most recent abandonment in Miami was the result of divers answering for other divers still in the water. They thought he was on the front of the boat and couldn't hear, so they helped him out. Surprise! He wasn't there after all.
I was on a boat in North Florida diving a cool reef at 100 ft. My buddy and I went back to where we thought the anchor was and it was not there. Confused, we went up and down that reef wall two or three times until we were going into deco looking for the anchor. I deployed the sausage from about 50 feet as we were doing our deep stop. According to a passenger, the boat was underway when our sausage was spotted and they turned around. They did a recheck and then waited for us to surface. The boat claimed that they knew we were down there but gave us the afternoon trip anyway. I wouldn't have known if the passenger hadn't told me afterwards. After all, who wants to admit that kind of screw up???
NYCNaiad
Dive babble all day long
I've found that speaking with the captain and crew as well as watching them carefully gives me a good sense of how they approach things. However, you never know what will happen which is why the two most important things are relying on yourself and having safety devices correct for your situation (e.g., Nautilus Lifeline/PLB, safety sausage, etc.).
Case in point: I went out with a boat and crew in the Bahamas I felt very comfortable with...I'd been diving with them multiple times over a few years. Then on one dive (my best friend's open water cert), a DM asked the captain to switch with him as he was feeling tired and cold. At the time, I thought this was a little odd, but then thought, ok, they really are serious about being safe. I thought this until we surfaced to find the boat had disappeared.
We had 2 DMs for two groups of six and an instructor for my friend so I wasn't that worried since it was 15 of us including crew...people will obviously be able to find us and will know we're gone. I became worried when they told us to drop our weights around the 30 min mark. One guy then says he has a Nautilus, but that he left it on the boat since he felt it was such an easy location. (Thanks, guy!) At the one hour mark, the waves started getting really big as a storm rolled in much more quickly than expected. By the 1.5 hr mark, I started to wonder if we should attempt to make land...but it was so far away. Then we finally see the boat, but with the large waves, the boat can't see us even with the safety sausages/mirrors/etc. Finally, an hour and 45 min later, we're found. I felt so bad for my friend since it was her 2nd open water dive, but she was surprised. She thought that because we were all so calm that this kind of stuff happened all the time. (!)
So what happened? Stupid DM fell asleep on the boat. Mooring snapped. When the DM woke up, he didn't want to get in trouble so he decided to try and find us on his own, but somehow couldn't. When he enlisted help, we were on board the rescue boat within 20 min. The DM was of course fired on the spot.
Lesson learned: Even if it's a great outfit, one stupid person can really put your life at risk. I bought the Nautilus Lifeline before my next dive trip and don't go on any dives without it.
Case in point: I went out with a boat and crew in the Bahamas I felt very comfortable with...I'd been diving with them multiple times over a few years. Then on one dive (my best friend's open water cert), a DM asked the captain to switch with him as he was feeling tired and cold. At the time, I thought this was a little odd, but then thought, ok, they really are serious about being safe. I thought this until we surfaced to find the boat had disappeared.
We had 2 DMs for two groups of six and an instructor for my friend so I wasn't that worried since it was 15 of us including crew...people will obviously be able to find us and will know we're gone. I became worried when they told us to drop our weights around the 30 min mark. One guy then says he has a Nautilus, but that he left it on the boat since he felt it was such an easy location. (Thanks, guy!) At the one hour mark, the waves started getting really big as a storm rolled in much more quickly than expected. By the 1.5 hr mark, I started to wonder if we should attempt to make land...but it was so far away. Then we finally see the boat, but with the large waves, the boat can't see us even with the safety sausages/mirrors/etc. Finally, an hour and 45 min later, we're found. I felt so bad for my friend since it was her 2nd open water dive, but she was surprised. She thought that because we were all so calm that this kind of stuff happened all the time. (!)
So what happened? Stupid DM fell asleep on the boat. Mooring snapped. When the DM woke up, he didn't want to get in trouble so he decided to try and find us on his own, but somehow couldn't. When he enlisted help, we were on board the rescue boat within 20 min. The DM was of course fired on the spot.
Lesson learned: Even if it's a great outfit, one stupid person can really put your life at risk. I bought the Nautilus Lifeline before my next dive trip and don't go on any dives without it.
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
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