SeaJay
Contributor
The only law regarding a dive flag in SC is that if you use one, a boater must stay 100' from it unless passage in a narrow river prevents a space of 100'. Then there's a "safely pass" rule that's dangerously open to judicial interpretation. Generally speaking, divers are smart to stay within 50' of their dive flag, and submerged as much as possible.
The reality of the situation, though, is quite different from the law. With ignorance running rampant, towing a dive flag can be a truly dangerous ordeal. A boater is more likely to see the flag, wonder what it is, and go over, tie his boat off to it, and check it out. Yes, I'm serious. I've heard many stories about the boater who thought the flag was cool and discarded and took it out of the water, put it in his boat, and then took off. Those divers who actually use flags are risking themselves, IMHO, and at least should ensure that they're not physically tied to a flag.
True story... I once was on a local, blackwater dive, when I heard a boat overhead... But instead of passing overhead like usual, it slowed and stopped over our group. The motor continued to idle, for many minutes, and we all began to get a little nervous. One person was towing a flag, and he immediately untied himself from it and held the end of the line in his hand just in case.
The motor continued to idle for a while, with the occassional "rev," but eventually we had to ascend. With 6" of vis, there was little way to avoid coming up under the boat or in the props. We simply ascended slowly, covering our heads and searching for fiberglass and steel.
I surfaced not six inches from the hull of the boat, spit out my reg, and turned to face the captain... "What the f___ do you..." I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a tan shirt and a badge peer over the side of the boat.
"You can't dive here."
"What?? Do you know that it's illegal to PARK over a diver?"
"You can't dive here."
"Why not?"
"Where's your boat?"
(We were like 50-100 feet from the shore.) "We're not diving from a boat. We're doing a shore dive."
"That's illegal."
"Pardon?"
"Yeah, in Beaufort County, if you're going to dive, you have to do it from a boat."
"So... I can't dive off my dock?"
"No."
Of course, this was complete crap. There is no such BS law in SC. But there is one that says that he can't park his boat on top of divers. Furthermore, he mentioned that he'd revved his motors "to scare us to the surface." I couldn't believe it.
He "let us go with a warning" (thanks, imbred), but you can betchoass that we reported him to his superiors. What a dunce.
Since then, I've had a really tough time getting along with DNR.
The bottom line, Wendy, is that there is no law here that says that I "have" to use a dive flag... Common sense would say that it would be safer to use one, but I don't believe that to be the case here. The safest way I know of to dive locally is to stay below 6' or so so that you can't get run over. Then listen for the boats and only surface when you don't hear any.
...But to be perfectly honest, Wendy... The fact that you've even asked about the law shows a lack of "Southern Mentality."
Frankly, I'm happier dealing with the laws of physics and common sense than the laws of beaurocracy. It's a bonus for living in the South.
