45 replies to this topic

[Latitude Adjustment]

I have left my GPS on in the dive bag to gauge drift dive speeds but some Captains think you are mapping their secret spots.
As for the VHF, we had a discussion about this after losing a diver in the Galapagos for almost two hours, the ability to talk to the searchers would be a plus.
There are waterproof ones meant for wet dingy rides but not waterproof to our depths however OMS makes a container you could keep one in. Just be sure to ask the crew what channels they listen too before you need it!

[ledgedive]

stay with the boat definately - i normally carry my back up vhs radio and gps in my day bag when i fish or dive off someone elses boat - JUST incase

Really! What a good thought. Approx how much would these items run if someone were thinking of adding them to the *ultimate* save a dive kit??? And how big are they? Many boats do have restrictions on weight limits and of course this would be most suited for US based destinations...getting that kind of equipment thru customs on a dive trip might prove difficult.

each avail for not much over $100 a piece - probably 2 lbs total for both, good batterys a must.
customs could be and issue - may help if you stop by us customs and have them registered
most customs offices will do this - no charge and registration good permanently - same for cameras/lap tops
would definately help on return trip back to us

[Dennis]

And from a guy that has actually thrown the captain from the wheel house (mutinied if you will and it's a long story actually best told over a few beers).

Enquiring minds want to know so go ahead and tell us, Dennis!

Ok drbill, here goes.

When I graduated from U of F a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I went to work for an evil organization called Schlumberger.

Not really, but I did go to work for Schlumberger Offshore Services in June of 1978 where I became a Field Engineer testing oil and gas wells offshore, Louisiana. I worked there a year while I waited for my sweetheart to graduate. Very good money and they were paying better than IBM for new grad engineers.

I was working out of Morgan City, LA and was on a job in the Winter time on a Kerr-McGee rig in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. I had just finished the job on that rig and was jumping rigs (going to another job on a different rig) to a Shell rig that was supposed to be a 6 hour boat ride. By the way, it was stormy and the Gulf was rough. 15 to 20 ft seas in a 50 ft crew boat. It was the Captain, his mate, my two crew, and me on the boat. I had been up about 36 hours, so I went to sleep as soon as I got on the boat. Yes, you can sleep on bench seats in 20 ft seas.

Well, about 10 hours later, I woke up. It was dark, the seas were still pretty high, more than 10 ft. And the captain (a kid really, and I was only 23) was circling every rig, and shining his light on it, then off to another rig. He was lost. My crew, two seasoned guys that had been in the oil field for many years, one guy for 35, one for 20, told me that they had not been fed. There is a regulation that says they have to feed you after 8 hours on the boat. So, I knocked on the door to the wheel house and asked if we were going to get fed, the Captain said they didn't have any food while chewing on his sandwitch. So, I asked what was he stuffing in his mouth and he told me to sit down and we would be at the rig soon.

I sat down and played cards with my crew, we kept going up to rigs, riding around them and then shining our lights on them, then off to another rig. We took a nap for about 4 hours. So, now, we were on the boat about 18 hours, no food, there was diesel in the drinking water, at least it smelled like diesel, and the stupid captain was lost.

I went to the wheel house, knocked and asked if they had called anybody on the radio, because it was obvious we were lost. So, the kid told me to shut up, it was none of our business, he was the captain. I looked over at my crew, they smiled, and I grabbed him by the shirt and threw him out of the wheel house. "Not any more" is what I told him.

I then threw the deck hand out of the wheel house and we took over the boat. The guy that had been in the oil field for 35 years, he had a captains license. We called the Coast Guard and they had been searching for us and were going to search another 4 to 6 hours come daylight and then give up. They had assumed we went down. They did a DF stear (direction find stear using our radio transmission) to determine our general location. We were in Texas waters. They gave us a heading for Lake Charles, LA and off we went while the boat crew were yelling at us, telling us we were going to jail, etc. I told them to shut up and sit down. We had a couple of sandwiches and cold drinks and headed back to shore. It took about 6 hours to get to Lake Charles. Oh yes, when they asked us for food, we told them we didn't have any. But we tossed them a bag of chips and told them to drink the water.

The crew boat company was at the dock with the two guys paychecks and pink slips and we got many apologies, a free helicopter ride to Morgan City, and later a couple of hundred bucks each for the ordeal.

A great story to tell dive boat captains during the surface interval.

***********************

So, I may be the only person you have ever known that has actually mutinied on the high seas.

[MNJoe]

That is a great story and I am sure a great memory for you!

MNJoe

[Mitch0129]

Dennis, great story! In your shoes, I might have been tempted to throw the captain and his mate overboard.

[Dive_Girl]

Great story Dennis!

As for the question at hand, what everyone else said - stay with the boat. Boats are easier to spot and provide warmth and shelter (regardless how minimal it's better than being in the water). As for the Belize situation that prompted the question, interestingly enough one of the divers was from Portland and I was called by the local news/authorities the first morning after they went missing. Apparently the divers saw land and mistakenly thought they could "make-it" All too often people misjudge distances on water, the power of the ocean, as well as their own physical capabilities.

I have a hand held battery powered Humingbird marine radio. It was about $100. I would have no trouble traveling with it and it is one of the best items I have in my save-a-dive kit. I've never needed to use it in an emergency, but it's there if I do. In the interim it provides excellent weather/water conditions on the NOAA Weather Radio channel* and we have used it to call from land to boat when hooking up with dive buddies.

*The NOAA Weather Radio network provides voice broadcasts of local and coastal marine forecasts on a continuous cycle. The forecasts are produced by local National Weather Service Forecast Offices. Coastal stations also broadcast predicted tides and real time observations from buoys and coastal meteorological stations operated by NOAA's National Data Buoy Center. Based on user demand, and where feasible, Offshore and Open Lake forecasts are broadcast as well.

The NOAA Weather Radio network provides near continuous coverage of the coastal U.S, Great Lakes, Hawaii, and populated Alaska coastline. Typical coverage is 25 nautical miles offshore, but may extend much further in certain areas.

[cmt489]

Unless the boat is sinking, you always stay with the boat. It is really amazing that people that engage in activities in open water are not aware of basic safety rules that apply to them.

[Mitch0129]

According to the reports, they were evidently close enough to land that the leader of the group dropped off on shore can see them through binoculars and could tell by everyone's body language that things were not going well. Assuming that he had the standard 10x50 which is what I would and do have, that would be within two miles. But most people can barely walk two miles without getting tired, much less swim it, even much less swim it against a current. I did read one report where their plan was to go underwater and attempt to make it that way but none of them had a compass. Whether that would have worked, I would only guess because I do not know how good any of them would have been with a compass. That is one skill I practice all the time.

The lessons I pull from this is as follows:

1): When you book an outing on a dive boat, check the condition of the boat. Make sure that the radio is working, they have signal flares, and, if you want to be extreme, check the condition of the anchor. Also, ask if they have a first aid kit on board including an O2 bottle.

2): If the boat breaks down, stay on board unless it is sinking. As pointed out, you are easier to find plus you will stay warmer.

3): Have every signaling device you can on your dive system. That includes an inflatable safety sausage, signaling mirror, whistle, and dive-alert horn that you can attach to your inflator. If you can find a water-proof GPS beacon that you can put into your BC pocket, that is a plus.

[WreckWench]

WOW Dennis!! That was incredible on sooooooooooooo many levels!!!

And Mitch...you can come on ANY SD trip you want...I'm making you the official "check out the boat before we dive" guy!!!

And Nicolle....cool on the handheld marine radio...I knew about the handheld GPS but not the marine. Looks like the wench now has 2 more items to add to her Christmas list...but alas I think all the shopping for me has been done!

Way cool thread!!

p.s. I would stay on the boat....everyone knows I hate water!

[Mitch0129]

And Mitch...you can come on ANY SD trip you want...I'm making you the official "check out the boat before we dive" guy!!!

Shoot, if they let me on the boat! Remembering this story might make me the ultimate horse's a$$ especially I find something that is not up to par. And you might throw me off!

And Nicolle....cool on the handheld marine radio...I knew about the handheld GPS but not the marine. Looks like the wench now has 2 more items to add to her Christmas list...but alas I think all the shopping for me has been done!

The dive shop I have a close relationship with, Oceanic Ventures in Houston, had one of these in their store last year, I asked Ann (one of the owners about it) about it. She says she can get it for me when I want it. I do want to get me one of those things.

p.s. I would stay on the boat....everyone knows I hate water!

Yeah, as much as you had to be dragged out of the water kickin' and screamin' at the Flower Gardens last July ....

Edited by Mitch0129, 23 December 2005 - 12:17 PM.

[ereediver]

As far as radios go GArmin makes on called the Rhino which is a radio and a GPS. They run about $350 to $400, Thats seems likes a good investment concidering situations like that.

[Latitude Adjustment]

The neat thing about the Rhino is you can push a button and put your position on the other Rhino's GPS screen that you are talking too but I think the Rhino is FMS and not VHF so you wouldn't be able to talk to the boat.

[Basslet]

Dennis, too bad that didn't happen in Tahiti with a bunch of breadfruit. Good story.

[peterbj7]

The problem these people faced is that there are lots of reefs around there and the seas were quite rough. I suppose they thought that if they stayed with the boat there was a good chance it would hit a reef and capsize or sink, which had actually happened to a boat owned ny the same operator only a few months earlier. They underestimated the distance to the land they could see, a common error, as well as not realising they were in a current. The girl who died was the only one without any form of suit and died from exposure.

I always have in my dive bag a GPS and a marine-band radio, together with a cell phone. The GPS isn't of much practical value except to give a locationto rescue services, and the hand-held radio isn't much use unless you can actually see what you're trying to communicate with, and not always then. Down here in Belize the best aid is the cell phone. Otherwise an air band radio is probably more use than a marine one, as at least you can communicate with aircraft. Does anyone know if the emergency air band frequencies correspond with the marine bands?

[ScubaDadMiami]

Should I ever be lost at sea, I carry an EPIRB that has GPS built in: http://www.mcmurdo.c...cts.asp&ID=1026. It picks up your location, and then it sends out a distress signal that is picked up by satellite and radioed to local rescue agencies. It works all over the world. I carry it on my harness inside of a waterproof canister rated to about 500 feet: http://www.mcmurdo.c...cts.asp&ID=1094. It will give your location to an accuracy of within 100 feet or so.

In addition to these items, I also carry a Rescue Laser Flare, http://www.greatland...r.com/store.htm, which can be seen up to 20 miles away and works for 15 continuous hours, and a hand-launchable sky flare, http://www.orionsign.../skyblazer.html, in two small waterproof canisters, http://www.mcmurdo.c...cts.asp&ID=1013. In addition to the HID light and signal mirror that I carry, the flare and signal light can signal distant boats visually to your need for rescue. That could save a lot of time compared to waiting for rescue to come for you after picking up the EPIRB distress signal. These devices can also pinpoint your location to a rescuer that is close to you but can't find you due to low visibility conditions.

I carry a safety sausage, http://www.waveactio...rodLiftDSMB.asp, to assist the boat crew in finding me when the boat gets close to where I am located. I also use a Dive Alert signal horn, http://www.divealert...what-is-da.html, so that, in low visibility conditions, people looking for me can hear the direction in which I am located even if they can't see me.

One of the most problematic aspects of survival at sea is dehydration. So, inside my drysuit pockets, I carry a number of survival water packets: http://www.survivalu...om/mainstay.htm. I am also searching for a good protein bar that tastes good, is vegan, has a long shelf life, and stands up well to heat and humidity. Any suggestions?

One of the benefits of drysuit diving is the ability to survive prolongued exposure to the marine environment. If you are becoming chilled by the end of a second dive on an outing, just imagine how hypothermic you would become spending a night waiting for someone to find you out in the middle of a big ocean.

So, stay with the boat in the event of an emergency until the boat is no longer safe. However, on the other hand, be adequately prepared to sit and wait to be picked up whether that is on a boat or in the water.

Edited by ScubaDadMiami, 24 December 2005 - 05:48 PM.