How to Deploy a Safety Sausage

The terms limp, loose, droopy, wrinkly, and flaccid, are not adjectives you want to hear when someone is describing your Safety Sausage. Instead, you want to hear the terms firm, rigid, inflated, erect, upstanding, etc.

Safety sausages are a fantastic conspicuity device for SCUBA divers. Unfortunately, many SCUBA divers don’t use them to full advantage. Learn this skill and it will minimize your chances of seeing the bottom of a boat pass over your head. Deployment of a safety sausage may occur at the following three different times during your dive. Underwater with a line reel attached to the sausage:

You may wish to begin your ascent by partially inflating your safety sausage while you are still on the bottom. Depending on your depth, you will only need to partially inflate the sausage, as the air will expand as it ascends toward the surface. A sausage filled 1/3 full and deployed at 66 feet will be fully inflated when it reaches the surface. At the Safety Stop: If you are ascending towards the surface and you don’t have a dive flag (but do have a sausage),

It’s important to deploy your safety sausage before you get to the surface, and it’s important to deploy it in such a way that it alerts vessels in your area of your presence. To accomplish this, you should pre-rig your sausage by attaching a line at least 10 feet in length. You may wish to add a 2-pound weight to the other end of the line. Inflate your safety sausage while you’re doing your safety stop. Fill it with air as you remove air from your buoyancy compensator and send the sausage to the surface while you hold onto the attached line or string. As the safety sausage reaches the surface, its buoyancy will be reduced due to its reduced water displacement.

If you did not attach a weight, maintain several pounds of force on the line attached to the sausage as this causes the safety sausage to stand erect… making it much more visible than if it’s lying flat on the water. This maneuver can only be safely accomplished if the diver has sufficient weight to become negatively buoyant by several pounds during the safety stop. Alternately, pulling and releasing the string can cause a fully inflated sausage to move from horizontal to vertical to horizontal. On the Surface: If you’re already on the surface, inflate the sausage as quickly as possible, and hold it above your head. You can wave it back and forth if you wish to maximize your visibility.

Dive safe & be conspicuous!

Jellyfish

Jellyfish

SFDI members are likely familiar with moon jellyfish that are seen off South Florida waters primarily in spring and summer. These jellyfish look like giant (dinner plate sized) translucent mushroom caps undulating through the water. They have short, delicate tentacles. If you brush up against these tentacles with bare skin you may or may not feel an unpleasant stinging sensation. If you wear a Lycra bodysuit are wetsuit, these jellyfish are of little concern. BTW, turtles like to dine on moon jellyfish.
I hope you get to witness this sometime.
Also primarily during the summer months divers may feel the effects of sea lice. Sea lice are microscopic larvae of jellyfish and other stinging organisms that are too small to see with the naked eye.
But, divers frequently develop rash like symptoms where skin was exposed to the seawater. The bumps and itch associated with this rash may last for a week or longer after the dive. Symptoms are very similar to those associated with chiggers that one may encountere in rural portions of the US.

During the winter months (read that as very soon!), South Florida waters may be visited by Portuguese man-of-war. The body of a Portuguese man-of-war looks a bit like a small blue or purple plastic bag that is filled with air. These nasty little creatures can ruin your day! They are typically seen floating on the surface of the water or washed up on the beach. At either location, beware of the 6 foot long tentacles that trail these bad boys. If you unwittingly come in contact with a man-of-war tentacle you will experience a painful burning sensation on your skin that simply doesn’t want to quit. Avoid these like the plague!

If you’re unfortunate enough to be severely stung by jellyfish, it’s possible you may need medical attention or treatment for anaphylactic shock. If, on the other hand, you simply want the pain to go away, try a saltwater rinse, a vinegar rinse, or a baking soda/seawater paste applied to the skin. Avoid rinsing with fresh water!

Safe and Pleasant Diving!

November 2022: Never Share Your SCUBA Mouthpiece with a Free Dive

Never Share Your SCUBA Mouthpiece with a Free Diver!!!!

You may recall (or not) during your SCUBA training that you were warned not to share air with a

snorkeler or free diver. But, do you recall why? And, do you recall that this simple act could be deadly?

The deadly part of this scenario is called air embolism, i.e., over-inflation of the free diver’s lungs that

can cause injury during ascent. This is precisely the same injury that can affect a SCUBA diver who does

not breathe (or at least exhale) during ascent.

As either of these individuals ascends towards the surface without breathing, the air inside the lungs

expands…with potentially lethal consequences.

Let’s consider a simple example of a diver at 33 feet below the surface (2 atmospheres pressure). As

he/she surfaces the pressure reduces to 1 atmosphere, and the volume of the air doubles…potentially

injuring the lungs.

A simple form of Boyles Gas Law applies as follows:

(P1) (V1) = (P2) (V2) or, Pressure times Volume at location 1 = Pressure times Volume at location 2.

To keep the math very simple let’s measure pressure in atmospheres and measure volume in lungs-fulls.

At the surface the diver breaths one lungs-full at one atmosphere. Pressure and volume of the air don’t

change.

For a known change in pressure situation, we solve the Boyle’s Gas Law equation for V2 and get V2 =

(P1) (V1)/P2.

If we again consider the diver who fills his/her lungs with air at 33 feet and ascends without exhaling, we

can plug in values as follows and solve the equation: V2 = (2 atm) (1 LF)/(1 atm) = 2 Lungs-full. Since one

diver can’t hold two lungs-full in volume, injury results.

Please don’t let it happen to you or your acquaintances.

Be Safe. Dive Safe.

Dave Wills

April 2022: Hypothermia Part 2

Survive Hypothermia
Last month we discussed that hypothermia can occur in Florida when water temperatures are as warm as 80°.  So, if you find yourself drifting in the water, what can you do to avoid hypothermia?

The simple answer is that you need to minimize the rate of heat loss from your body.  You can do this by tucking your arms and legs close to your body with your hands in your armpits.
Maximize your buoyancy, attempting to elevate your head above the water. 
Discard your dive weights as well as your SCUBA regulator and any other dense objects you have on you.
If your dive buddy is present, you may wish to assist each other in completely de-pressurizing your SCUBA cylinders to maximize positive buoyancy. An empty 80 ft.³ aluminum cylinder is about 4 pounds buoyant in seawater. If your cylinder is still negatively buoyant after depressurization, discard it.
Tighten and fully inflate your buoyancy compensator or life vest.
Lastly, if more than one person is present, do a group hug…and remain in that position. (Huddle like an Emperor Penguin during winter in Antarctica)!

Be as conspicuous as possible and hope and pray someone comes by to pick you up.
Stay Warm!

 Also see: http://www.shipwrite.bc.ca/Chilling_truth.htm

February 2022: Hypothermia

Hypothermia
Can hypothermia occur in Florida?  Yes it can!
Hypothermia is a medical emergency that occurs when your body loses heat faster than it can produce heat, causing your body temperature to dip.  Hypothermia occurs when your body temperature falls below 95°F.  It is usually associated with marginally prepared people who were caught outside in cold, windy conditions up North.  However, it can occur here in Florida during a cold spell like we had a few days ago.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) reports that hypothermia can occur in swimmers and divers at water temperatures as warm as 80°F.  So, make sure you wear an appropriate wetsuit for the swimming and diving that you’re planning.

What are the Signs of Hypothermia?

Hypothermia begins with shivering and "goosebumps". As your body temperature falls, the shivering slows, then stops. This is your body shutting down.  The flow of blood to your arms and legs slows, then stops. As you go into deeper stages of hypothermia, your speech becomes slurred, then incoherent. Eventually, you become lethargic and your motions are uncoordinated. Your breathing slows, becomes shallow and erratic. You lose consciousness.

 Oh, one other thing. Alcohol causes blood vessels to dilate, increasing the speed at which you lose body heat, and thus accelerating hypothermia!

 Don’t let it happen to you!

 Stay warm and stay safe! 

November 2021: Jellyfish

SFDI members are likely familiar with moon jellyfish that are seen off South Florida waters primarily in spring and summer. These jellyfish look like giant (dinner plate sized) translucent mushroom caps undulating through the water. They have short, delicate tentacles. If you brush up against these tentacles with bare skin you may or may not feel an unpleasant stinging sensation. If you wear a Lycra bodysuit are wetsuit, these jellyfish are of little concern. BTW, turtles like to dine on moon jellyfish. I hope you get to witness this sometime.

Also primarily during the summer months divers may feel the effects of sea lice. Sea lice are microscopic larvae of jellyfish and other stinging organisms that are too small to see with the naked eye. But, divers frequently develop rash like symptoms where skin was exposed to the seawater. The bumps and itch associated with this rash may last for a week or longer after the dive. Symptoms are very similar to those associated with chiggers that one may encounter in rural portions of the US.

During the winter months , South Florida waters may be visited by Portuguese man-of-war. The body of a Portuguese man-of-war looks a bit like a small blue or purple plastic bag that is filled with air. These nasty little creatures can ruin your day! They are typically seen floating on the surface of the water or washed up on the beach. At either location, beware of the 6 foot long tentacles that trail these bad boys. If you unwittingly come in contact with a man-of-war tentacle you will experience a painful burning sensation on your skin that simply doesn’t want to quit. Avoid these like the plague!

If you’re unfortunate enough to be severely stung by jellyfish, it’s possible you may need medical attention or treatment for anaphylactic shock. If, on the other hand, you simply want the pain to go away, try a saltwater rinse, a vinegar rinse, or a baking soda/seawater paste applied to the skin. Avoid rinsing with fresh water!

The Take Away: Reduce the risk by wearing a wetsuit, rash guard or Lycra body suit when you swim in the ocean.

Be Safe!​