Maine Diver
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We will be headed to GCM on December 20th. We plan a mix of boat and shore diving. Are you required to tow a dive flag while shore diving?
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No dive flag required for shore dives. Enjoy!
OP
Maine Diver
Contributor
Thanks for the quick reply. This will be our first trip. Very excited.
Actually, some places require it and some don't. If the dive op requires it, they will provide one.
This is an excellent question...and a very loaded question. I've been through all of the Marine Park regulations and I can find no requirement in there that you carry a flag when shore diving. Buy this issue has been a point of contention between me and some of the boat operators on Little Cayman for years.
It all started about 4 or 5 years ago when one of the boat operators at LCBR (who, BTW, is now the GM at Southern Cross Club) got very self-righteous and insisted I carry a flag while shore diving. I refused. He called the police, and one day when I came back to shore from Lea Lea's I had a very polite RCIP officer waiting to lecture me about carrying a dive flag. I went straight to LCBR and had it out with Neil. We both yelled at each other at the same time and nobody convinced anybody of anything. A couple of weeks later he called the RCIP again, and this time the guy who responded threatened to issue me a citation. I have since had numerous marine patrol officers called, and they invariably try politely to beg me to carry a flag. I've even tried arguing that it's not in the Marine Park regulations, and one of them insisted he called over to Grand Cayman to verify that it is a requirement before he drove out to lecture me. As I said, the problem all starts with the boat operators at LCBR and SCC. The more senior dive staff on LC--like the Conch Club gang and Pirate's Point--don't seem to care one way or the other. Some of them even find the squabbling between me and LCBR a little humorous.
In some small part, I can understand their perspective. I've worked on a dive boat on LC, and I know the typical tourist will pop up anywhere without even bothering to look what's above him. And accidents do happen when people do that. On the other hand, I know those guys couldn't hit me with one if their boats if they tried. I don't go above 30' or so if I can hear a boat anywhere in the vicinity, because I know I can't gauge either distance or direction underwater. But the best argument the boat operators can give is that when they see me surface half a mile away, they don't know but what it might be one of their own divers. In other words, it well might be somebody they need to go rescue immediately. While I was working at LCBR, that seemed to happen about once a week.
These days, if I'm going out anywhere on Jackson Bay, I take my flag and tie it off on the Cumber's ball, then go wherever I want. That usually means out to Nancy's or even Mike's. It's Bloody Bay that's the problem, because there I have to get out through the fringing reef. On a rough day, it's really difficult to get through the fringing reef even without towing a flag and lugging a camera. Sometimes when the dive boats are out I'll go with my flag with a 4# weight on the rope and then drop the weight just inside the fringing reef. So far, I haven't had an argument with either marine patrol or RCIP about how far away from my flag I was diving.
Sorry for the long answer, but this has been a problem for me for years. I really don't believe it is a regulation, but there are some boat operators on LC who seem to delight in tormenting me with this issue.
Bruce
Divers flags are required in Cayman per The Port Regulations (2011 Revision) which is available on the web at this link.
The Regulations distinguish divers from swimmers. Relevant portions read:
144. (2) A person diving, except in a swim area, shall-
146. The areas described in Schedule 8 are designated as watersports areas.
Some of the shore diving in Cayman is within designated swim areas (i.e.the buoyed area around Eden Rock) but many popular shore sites are not so designated. Dive flags are required, though this regulation is frequently ignored in the common shore diving areas (Turtle Reef, Lighthouse Point, Sunset House, and others). Shore diving without a dive flag in any area not frequented by divers is unwise and subject to penalty.
Schedule 5 is entitled Divers Down Flag and specifies that either the international Alpha flag or the red field with white diagonal divers down flag are acceptable.
Schedule 8 sets some regions as designated watersports areas but I cannot find any restrictions on activities in these areas.
The Regulations distinguish divers from swimmers. Relevant portions read:
144. (2) A person diving, except in a swim area, shall-
(a) by day display a float, marker or flag as prescribed in Schedule 5;
(b) by night display the lights prescribed in Schedule 5.
145. (2) Swimming in the sea by shore based swimmers is restricted to an area of two hundred yards from the shoreline save that such restriction does not apply between sunrise and sunset to swimmers who clearly display a float or marker prescribed in Schedule 5.(b) by night display the lights prescribed in Schedule 5.
146. The areas described in Schedule 8 are designated as watersports areas.
Some of the shore diving in Cayman is within designated swim areas (i.e.the buoyed area around Eden Rock) but many popular shore sites are not so designated. Dive flags are required, though this regulation is frequently ignored in the common shore diving areas (Turtle Reef, Lighthouse Point, Sunset House, and others). Shore diving without a dive flag in any area not frequented by divers is unwise and subject to penalty.
Schedule 5 is entitled Divers Down Flag and specifies that either the international Alpha flag or the red field with white diagonal divers down flag are acceptable.
Schedule 8 sets some regions as designated watersports areas but I cannot find any restrictions on activities in these areas.
-hh
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The Brac is aware of the flag requirement; good to hear where the 'chapter & verse' is actually listed. I can't say that I've done all of my shore dives there with a flag, but I've done most of them with one. They can be a hassle in the wind/waves, so I'd also say that it is pretty common to tie them off, or to pull them underwater (reel them in) once at depth (redeploying the flag upon one's return to shallows).
Particularly in the less crowded Sister Islands, I can see any diveboat being concerned about an "unaccounted for" head that pops up some distance away from the boat - - is it one of their customers that they're going to have to go chase after? Perhaps in these circumstances (and regardless of flag use), it would be wise to make a courtesy call on Channel 16 to let them know that someone not from their boat is going to be in the neighborhood.
-hh
Particularly in the less crowded Sister Islands, I can see any diveboat being concerned about an "unaccounted for" head that pops up some distance away from the boat - - is it one of their customers that they're going to have to go chase after? Perhaps in these circumstances (and regardless of flag use), it would be wise to make a courtesy call on Channel 16 to let them know that someone not from their boat is going to be in the neighborhood.
-hh
Thanks Drew. Been diving GC for years and didn't know about the reg. Local shops don't say anything about flags when renting tanks, so I assumed there was no requirement.
It's auto-correct via Tapatalk 2, figure it out.
It's auto-correct via Tapatalk 2, figure it out.
Local shops don't say anything about flags when renting tanks, so I assumed there was no requirement.
SOME local shops don't and others do.
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