Left Behind

[Medic506]

Just a curious thought from a very inexperianced diver. If you charter a dive boat and find yourself left behind at a dive site would it not make since to try and stay were you were left. I understand that current might push you way out to sea but if you carried 100' of small rope in your BCD could you not resubmerge and anchor yourself to something and wait for the next dive operator to show up. Just seems like this would be your best chance for being found.

[rktman26]

I let the captain know that I paid for a round trip ticket, and I expect a ride back.

Another thing to think about- you normally surface because you are low on air. Doing another dive to tie into an anchor point, if you could find one easily, and tying up, could put you in an OOA situation.

If there is current and you're anchored to the bottom, the current could keep you low in the water. Better off to relax, and try to make yourself visible by using a mirrror, strobe, or SS.

Those who will come looking for you will take into account the currents.

[diver 85]

Current would soon get you and I've never seen anyone carry a 100' rope with them-----plus, what if the bottom is 125' deep......hmmm......

[No Misses]

That is the beautiful part about diving in South Florida (East coast). The dive sites are just a mile off shore. If the boat leaves you behind, just swim west :-)

[USF_Diver]

Originally Posted by No Misses

That is the beautiful part about diving in South Florida (East coast). The dive sites are just a mile off shore. If the boat leaves you behind, just swim west :-)

That is true. I just don't see how dive boats forget to bring somebody back, anybody heard of counting before leaving a dive site.
I know its more that just that but, this happens more that it should.

[Rileybri]

Originally Posted by No Misses

That is the beautiful part about diving in South Florida (East coast). The dive sites are just a mile off shore. If the boat leaves you behind, just swim west :-)

Dam it is swim left on the east coast isn’t it? That would explain the really long swim and funny accents when I reached the beach! I got to work on this dyslexia thing!

[thor]

Plus, if you tied yourself to the bottom, wouldn't you now become a yum yum shark lollypop.

[Rileybri]

Originally Posted by USF_Diver

That is true. I just don't see how dive boats forget to bring somebody back, anybody heard of counting before leaving a dive site.
I know its more that just that but, this happens more that it should.

Paging MSilvia to the white curtsey phone MSilvia to the white courtesy phone please!!

[MSilvia]

Originally Posted by Medic506

If you charter a dive boat and find yourself left behind at a dive site would it not make since to try and stay were you were left.

It might make sense, depending on the situation. When it happened to me, we had a few hours before the tide changed and current became an issue, so we were able to stay more or less where we were by using a coral head on the bottom as a reference point. No anchor was necessary.

Originally Posted by diver 85

I've never seen anyone carry a 100' rope with them-----plus, what if the bottom is 125' deep......hmmm......

For deeper dives, I sometimes carry a 250' spool of line. It's not the primary reason I have it, but I could tie it off to my weight belt and drop it if I felt I needed help staying in place.

Originally Posted by USF_Diver

That is true. I just don't see how dive boats forget to bring somebody back, anybody heard of counting before leaving a dive site.
I know its more that just that but, this happens more that it should.

In my case, it was either that the boat had engine trouble during a gentle drift dive, or that the guy on the boat fell asleep and drifted away. I never did get a straight answer, but there were seven of us left drifting together, and when the boat finally got us there was another group of divers we still had to find.

[RecInstr]

Ok, being a Recreational SCUBA Instructor, I get asked this a lot....And that darned movie didn't help.

Can someone tell me when it IS acceptable for a boat to return without a head count and roll call? The only thing I can think of is if someone is very badly injured, and needs to be taken for help....But....do you leave a group (i.e. more than one) of divers at sea even then? I thought you called the Coast Guard or something.

Again, I am not a boat operator, but I have made many boat dives many different places. I simply do not see ANY excuse for leaving divers out in the ocean. Please correct me if I am wrong......Cause I do believe that if this happened to me, me and the boat operator will be having a "Come To Jesus..." meeting when I did get back.....:-(

TD