Your thoughts on PLBs

[cdiver2]

After reading a number of threads relating to rescue on the board and a post just to-day about a dive boat capsizing 21 miles out.
So I started looking into PLBs and was impressed with the McMurdo fast find plus, the best price I could find is $844 with container tested to 400'+.
Suffice to say after doing a lot of reading on PLBs I am satisfied they would do a good job if needed.

Our diving life style is, summer dive at home east and west coast of Florida and maybe a trip or two to what we call local trips Coz, Caymans, Roatan, Belize etc and then in winter we like to go to more remote parts. Thailand, PNG, Bali, Palau, Yap, Coral sea.

We have all our own equipment + some so. If we get one this will be a anniversary and birthday gifts to each other for this year.
I am yes and no at the moment as I have been diving for thirty years with only three slightly uncomfortable situations, What are your thoughts?.

 

[H2Andy]

i voted no because if i have made all the mistakes that it would take for a PLB to
become useful, i deserve to die

(only half kidding)

 

[cdiver2]

i voted no because if i have made all the mistakes that it would take for a PLB to
become useful, i deserve to die

(only half kidding)

Where have you dived Andy I have seen some dodgy operator's in my travels and it is not always the divers fault.

One of my uncomfortable situations was. Diving in the Gulf on a ledge, my wife were the first ones down when we got back to where we thought the anchor should be...no anchor. So we went a little further along the ledge (North) thinking we had not got there yet...still no anchor so we surfaced very slow keeping the ledge in sight as long as we could but no safety stop. When we hit the surface we saw the boat a dot on the horizon I could just make out there was someone on the top of the fly bridge. We gave the distress signal and were lucky he saw us right away. We later found out it had taken some time to get the next pair into the water and when they did they surfaced and reported there was no ledge and the anchor was dragging across a flat sand sea bed. No mistake by the divers, as they say s t happens sometimes.

 

[String]

Fine assuming theyre properly water tight, tested and effective as a last resort.

You wouldnt want to deploy it if the boat had just lost you for a while but after an hour or so in the water i think its more than appropriate to start off a full SAR.

10-15 mins is quite common to wait if the boat is picking up other divers but never an hour.

 

[cdiver2]

Fine assuming theyre properly water tight, tested and effective as a last resort.

You wouldnt want to deploy it if the boat had just lost you for a while but after an hour or so in the water i think its more than appropriate to start off a full SAR.

10-15 mins is quite common to wait if the boat is picking up other divers but never an hour.

I would wait about an hour before I gave up on the dive boat.

If you do start a search for no good reason the penalties are quiet stiff...ask the Ohio guy. A canoe trip through the Adarondacs,(spelling?) it got very cold and started to snow, the river froze over and snow was up to his thighs so he activated his PLB and they got him. Thing was he had a tent, food and the means to start a fire, some say he did the right thing others said no his life was not in danger. A week later he went back to get his gear and got lost so he activated his PLB again :11: . He is due in court and faces $25000 fine pay the cost of two searches and imprisonment.

 

[Mike Newman]

I would certainly buy one for use whenever I was diving in genuinely open water. The argument that you may have contributed to your situation and should never finish up needing a PLB is unconvincing. I'd rather have the comfort of knowing that my chances of survival were higher in a freak situation than die feeling stupid about blowing the option of ownership off.

 

[Scubaroo]

Anyone arguing against PLBs needs to go back and read the Dan Grenier / Danielle Gibbons threads again.

 

[emtdan]

I guess I am nieve, or maybe not up on my gadgets, but what is a PLB?

 

[cdiver2]

I guess I am nieve, or maybe not up on my gadgets, but what is a PLB?

A brief description.
Personnel Location Beacon, its a bit like an Epirb but smaller. When activated it sends a signal to a satellite giving Long Lat and starts a search and rescue.

 

[H2Andy]

I have seen some dodgy operator's in my travels and it is not always the divers fault.

(read on at your own risk; this is just my opinion)

it may not be the diver's fault, but it's ALWAYS the diver's responsiblity
to get back on the boat. it's my job as a diver to get back on the boat,
not the operators'.

it's their job to try and find me if i don't make it back, but they get that job only because i've failed to do mine.

a PLB is just no substitute for good diving practices, situational awareness,
underwater navigation skills, people skills, and plain old common sense.

i must add, however, that if worse comes to worse, yeah, it'd be nice to
have a PLB as a final line of defense.

using a PLB sounds to me like a "quick fix" sort of thing, a gadget-dependent
solution to a problem that is best addressed by the diver's attitude, state of
mind, skill set, and self-awareness.

ok, sermon over