Question for all you experienced divers out there.
Is it common practice for a commercial dive boat to be over a mile from their divers and have multiple divers strung out over a mile long drift?
Here’s why I ask. Running back towards Lake Worth Inlet in Palm Beach about 3 miles off the beach I see something sticking up out of the water a hundred or so yards away. As I get closer it looks like a pool noodle and as I get even closer I see that it is some sort of inflatable bag with two diver holding on to it. I look around and the closest boat is over a mile away. Thinking they are in trouble I pull up and ask where their pick up boat is. They point to the boat that is clearly at least a mile in the distance. They tell me they are fine…insist they need no help…and say the boat is coming for them. In the distance…about 300 yards from the first set of divers is another set floating with a similar bag. I hail the dive boat (after numerous attempts) on the radio and ask if he’s aware that his divers are free drifting over a mile away. He non chalantley says “yeah…I picking up a pair now and will come and get them…where are they?” I give him the coordinates and he says “I’ll be there in a bit” and that was it.
I can not imagine this is standard practice. Not only is it dangerous for the divers but it puts boaters in a bad position. These guys had not dive flag or anything to make them visable other than their float bag. A big boat could have plowed them over in the rough water and never have seen them.
I don’t know about that being a common practice or not;but I would guess not!Especially if it’s a charter which i would assume it is from what you described.
I have seen some really stupid things when living there;surfers surfing when the “T” on the lake worth pier was still there and while indicating to them sharks where there getting the #1 sign.
Next when charter fishing out of Pompano we relied on the old jerk a jack to save many a trip,after every boat in the fleet day after day kept getting cut off or just the heads back everybody knew something huge was out there everyone except the dive boat capt. or idiot who repeatedly dropped divers on the very wreck which ultimately produced a 740 lb. mako,so yes I will say there are some stupid practices going on that will get people killed…
I’m pretty sure the law says you have to have a visible dive flag within the general area of all divers in the water. Not sure 1 mile is the “general area”. When I used to dive, the boat would drift along with the divers to stay reasonably close. What if a diver has a major problem?
Yeah…I don’t see how it’s anything but pure neglagence on the dive boat captains part. If that is what they do on a regular basis I don’t see how there’s not been more accidents.
What really got me was how the captain did not seem at all concerned when I spoke to him on the VHF. One of the multiple divers in the water must of had a waterproof hand-held VHF because I heard him trying to contact the dive boat several times. When the dive capt. finally responded he said “Yeah…Yeah…I know where you are…I be there after I pick up this other group.”
quote:
The size of divers-down flags displayed on vessels must be at least 20 inches by 24 inches, and a stiffener is required to keep the flag unfurled.
Dive flags carried on floats must be at least 12 inches by 12 inches. Also, divers-down flags on vessels must be displayed above the vessel's highest point so that the flag's visibility is not obstructed in any direction.
Divers must make reasonable efforts to stay within 300 feet of a divers-down flag on open waters (all waterways other than rivers, inlets, or navigation channels) and within 100 feet of a flag within rivers, inlets, or navigation channels.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
Small craft surveying and repair
That is where I do my boating. Its very common down here and probably the reason so many end up lost and dead. There is no law that says how close to the boat you must be unless you rely on them for your flag. Drift diving the reef for a mile of 2 is how they do it here. Its probably more common on the charters than the rec boats since the charter might have 15+ divers on board. Common? Yes… stupid? That too!!!
quote:
The size of divers-down flags displayed on vessels must be at least 20 inches by 24 inches, and a stiffener is required to keep the flag unfurled.
Dive flags carried on floats must be at least 12 inches by 12 inches. Also, divers-down flags on vessels must be displayed above the vessel's highest point so that the flag's visibility is not obstructed in any direction.
Divers must make reasonable efforts to stay within 300 feet of a divers-down flag on open waters (all waterways other than rivers, inlets, or navigation channels) and within 100 feet of a flag within rivers, inlets, or navigation channels.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
Small craft surveying and repair
As said above, a diver can carry a float with his own flag and thus does NOT have to stay near the boat.
yes, technically that is against the law and you could have reported them. Many operations make them pull a float with a flag but some just ask them to inflate a safety sausage before they ascend. The idea is that the boat would beat the diver back to the sausage but in practice it doesn't work when you have 12 divers in different directions. So, they were in violation. Honestly, in SC people may not even use a sausage so it's a good idea to just stay more than a mile from a dive boat unless risking someone's life is worth the bottom numbers that one might try to jack. In Florida though, its a real problem because it's such a higher traffic area with a contiguous reef system.
That type of drift diving is very common in Fla. with charter outfits. The current is very fast in that area and they drop the divers along the reef at intervals so they are not all diving the same area.You can’t put 15 divers in one spot that would run off all the game and with each dive averaging an hour,its the only way they can get all the divers in the water at the same time, everyone is heading north with the current along the reef which can run for miles. I have done that many times in Fla but the boat stays over the divers bubbles at all times and we only dive two at a time. You still need a good plan because the conditions are always changing! I’m sure the dive master schooled the divers before the dive but chit still happens. Every time we do lobster season in Fla the radio is always PON PON looking for lost divers! I’m lucky that I don’t have to dive charters but lots of folks are glad to just get a chance to dive.Not the safest way to go but thats how most charters run.
we require our divers to carry a safety sausage with an 18’ leader that can be deployed while on there safety stop. If the waves are bad we use a small dive bouy attached to one diver so the boat can follow the diver, another reason we don’t dive more then 2 at a time. its easy to lose bubbles in the whitecaps! We also carry Nautilus VHS Radios for divers which are gps/MMSI enabled.
If it got any better I couldn’t stand it.