Dan
Contributor
I just came back from Flower Garden Banks (in Gulf of Mexico, 110 miles off Galveston coast, TX), Fling Charters yesterday. They prohibit us to carry DSMB, but an SMB is a must have.
I asked the DM why. He said those string is a hazard. An incident happened when a group of 4 divers just swam above the guy holding DSMB, through the string & got tangled up pretty bad, creating such a hazard from not being able to swim & had to cut the line in several places.
From then on, their rule is: You must launch it at the surface. Most of the time we follow a rope, tied to a buoy & down to an anchor line. As long as you hold on to the line during descend & ascend, you won’t get lost at sea.
I asked the DM why. He said those string is a hazard. An incident happened when a group of 4 divers just swam above the guy holding DSMB, through the string & got tangled up pretty bad, creating such a hazard from not being able to swim & had to cut the line in several places.
From then on, their rule is: You must launch it at the surface. Most of the time we follow a rope, tied to a buoy & down to an anchor line. As long as you hold on to the line during descend & ascend, you won’t get lost at sea.
Last edited: