If you’re anything like me, you’ve never made a mistake on the water.
…Is what we wish we could all say. But I don’t care if it’s your first time launching a boat (good luck) or you’ve been sailing the high seas since they invented salt water, it’s a lie. We’ve all done something worthy of a social media video with the caption “look at this idiot.” (Side note: For a fantastic collection of these, follow @thequalifiedcaptain on Facebook or Instagram.)
With lobster season underway this week, everyone up and down the Keys is keeping our fingers crossed that the phrases “no dive flag,” “collision,” “prop strike,” or “drunk” stay out of the headlines.
“We’ve had a number of serious incidents in the last few weeks, even when there was a dive flag up,” Sheriff Rick Ramsay reiterated to me on the phone. “And this time of year, even when there’s not a dive flag up, you just need to assume there’s a snorkeler or somebody in the water. Think about it – if that was your family in the water, how close would you want another boat to come?”
While we’re all the best boaters in our own minds, let’s face it – we ALL need reminders during one of the most dangerous times on the water. And before you think I’m preaching, I’ll admit to committing ALL of the mistakes I’m about to talk about at one point, especially when I first moved here.
So this year, I’m sending myself some reminders before heading out to grab some bugs. I hope you’ll spare a few minutes to read these and join me – and offer some gentle reminders to “googans” who might need to hear them.
- STAY AWAY. If you see a dive flag up, you need to stay 300 feet away – that’s a football field – while driving the boat (100 feet inside a canal). That means if you’re close enough to hear your fellow captains hurl expletives at you for crowding their prized lobster holes, you’re way too close. If you MUST (and I mean MUST) come within 300 feet, your boat needs to be at idle speed. But let’s be real – there’s usually another way around.
- STICK AROUND. There are two parts to the dive flag agreement. Boats have to stay a certain distance away, but that also means snorkelers and divers need to stick with their flags and boats – within 300 feet in open water, or 100 feet in channels and canals, at MOST. It doesn’t matter if the newest honey hole you just found is absolutely loaded – if you’re not even in the same zip code as your dive flag, it’s doing nothing to protect you. Go back and move the boat. And if you’re thinking of diving in high-traffic areas like bridges and channels, think about whether the risk is truly worth it, especially in the first few weeks of the season.
- SIZE MATTERS. And this is coming from a guy who’s 5’8”. If you’re flying a dive flag from a boat, it needs to be 20×24 inches. As I learned a few years ago from a very polite officer, that means no, the little dive flag attached to scuba buoys isn’t big enough to work for an entire boat – but you can, and should, use those smaller flags attached to yourself while in the water. And remember: Flags must have a stiffener (that’s that weird little wire across the back) to keep them extended and obvious for the world to see, even if there’s no wind.
- FLY HIGH. No, not “that” kind of high. Make sure your dive flag is the highest point on your boat, and anyone driving toward you can see it from any direction. Hanging it off the bottom of your T-top rail doesn’t count, and neither does attaching it to the poles of your bimini top or throwing it in a low-lying rod holder.
Here’s to a lobster season filled with safe days on the water while hitting the bag limit. See you out there.
