Note to self, always start dinghy engine before casting off.

[aquadreams]

Originally Posted by Robert Tilbury

lift off the motor cowl and unplug the kill switch its just a wire that goes to earth ,, learn where it is ,,,,,
Easy fix

I learned this the hard way. We were the last patrons of the night departing Soggy Dollar and the kill switch disintegrated / broke into multiple pieces. Of course we'd anchored about as far down the bay as you could. Found out that somehow we only had ONE paddle in the dinghy, the other was back on the boat. Guests do the strangest things, always check they didn't do something like this :-) So we loaded everyone in and walked it as far down the beach as we could, then passed the paddle back and forth between two of us, one on each side. Slow going but made for lots of laughs. Someone in nearby boat assisted us with the final 1/4 mile. When I called the charter company in the morning they told me how to bypass the kill switch under the cowling.

I learned on my first charter about making sure the paddles/oars are in the boat. Also about the gas tank vent cap. Now I know about bypassing the kill switch. And from this thread, about substituting string or line for the kill switch key. I always take a handheld VHF and the anchor.

I'm not confident enough yet to use the dinghy and anchor it for a scuba dive. We tend to do hour long dives and I don't want to surface and find the dinghy gone. Anyone have tips or reassurance about this?

[Lihuedooley77]

Good on ya for SCUBA DIVING....

Most times in the BVI there are natiional park moorings, and also dink line between some small buoys to tie the dink securely. Like at Cistern Point, Cooper Island.

With the national park moorings, we just snorkel off the boat, and fin in to the snorkel area.

In other cruising grounds, like the reefs in Tahiti, when we dinked out to the reef, we anchored in sand, and swam into the best snorkeling and dive areas.

When using the dink, we would check the wind and ocean conditions . And dive the anchor, and manuallly dig that little anchor in, with a most all of the scope.

Also, we would check the anchored dink, and see if she was being tugged and bounced about that might cause the anchor to drag free. And the wind, waves or tides send the dink adrift and out to sea.

We just generally , fin from the boat, and not mess with the dink if possible.

Enjoy more of the under water world. From and back to the boat.

Also, with full on dive gear, hauling all that up onto the swim step of a boat can be a chore, and doing that with a rubber dinghy, and then transfering back to the boat seems like a lot of extra work . And the possibility of loosing gear when transfering.

We have been fortunate to have dove the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Seal on four day luxury dive boat ...SPIRIT OF FREEDOM.( two different AU 30 day vacations.
Amazing diving . We never used a dinghy, and just dove from the vessel.

One time, the dive master misjudged the winds and the currents, and several of us wound up some distance from the boat, and they came with fast tenders to haul us back to the Spirit of Freedom.

Only time that dinks were used .

There are some ideas, I am sure others will be able to help out as well.

We have used the dink to snorkel Eustacia Sound in the BVI, and in Tahiti when anchored in a small cove at Tupua Motu, Bora Bora, we used the dink to snorkel the barrier reef, with the sharks and stingrays. Very shallow , so no need to SCUBA.

Also, in the Tobago Cays, Windwards and Grenadines . We used the dink to get out to the reef.

We just followed the normal procedures, and checked the set of the dink anchor, and never had a problem. But this was snorkeling, and not diving, so we were not in the waster as long if were were SCUBA diving.

BVI, our fave snorkeling sites, also can be dive sites, were Indians and Pelican, The Caves at Norman, Eustacia Sound, Virgin Gorda, and Monkey Point, Guana Island.
Also, snorkeled Anegada. Still have to snorkel the Dogs....maybe next trip in 2019.

Lots of wonderful diving and snorkeling adventures world wide.

Oh, forgot the Garden Reef, in Tonga, and the great snorkeling in the Whitsunday Islands , Australia. Most cases , we did not use a dink.

Erica has dove the wreck of the Rhone, BVI many years back, and that was with Killbride, from the dive boat.

[skipgundlach]

@#%^&*()P_{P*(&^%$#@$%^&*()_&*^%

Long, humorous post redacted due to internet failure at just the wrong time - when I hit the "Post Quick Reply" button.

It's the major reason I detest anything with a web interface.

/rant

Sorry... The story of how we paddled a dinghy a mile against the wind and tide, using only my size 16 Crocs, will be forever lost to the ethernet.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

@#%^&*()P_{P*(&^%$#@$%^&*()_&*^%


Sorry... The story of how we paddled a dinghy a mile against the wind and tide, using only my size 16 Crocs, will be forever lost to the ethernet.

Bigfoot does exist..

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Bigfoot does exist..

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Easy emergency fix.. Use a bit of string if you forget or lose the red cut off cord.. the draw string from your windproof for example.

Or put a spare inside the engine cover. It's there when you need it, unless you forgot it was there when you forgot to bring the normally used one.....

[aquadreams]

Originally Posted by Lihuedooley77

Good on ya for SCUBA DIVING....

Most times in the BVI there are national park moorings, and also dink line between some small buoys to tie the dink securely. Like at Cistern Point, Cooper Island.

With the national park moorings, we just snorkel off the boat, and fin in to the snorkel area.

In other cruising grounds, like the reefs in Tahiti, when we dinked out to the reef, we anchored in sand, and swam into the best snorkeling and dive areas.

When using the dink, we would check the wind and ocean conditions . And dive the anchor, and manually dig that little anchor in, with a most all of the scope.

Also, we would check the anchored dink, and see if she was being tugged and bounced about that might cause the anchor to drag free. And the wind, waves or tides send the dink adrift and out to sea.

We just followed the normal procedures, and checked the set of the dink anchor, and never had a problem. But this was snorkeling, and not diving, so we were not in the waster as long if were were SCUBA diving.

Thanks Lihuedooley77,

We've dove most of those sites, and I'm fine with any that have a dinghy line/bouy I can tie the dink off to, or are within swim distance of the boat. Cistern Point on Cooper, the Dogs, the Indians (80 min dive last time we did this), Monkey Point on Guana, and more.

It's the sites that require a dinghy ride and don't have anything to tie off to, so require the dinghy be anchored that I'm leery of. Like the outside of the reef at the Tobago Cayes.

I agree with you that setting the anchor by hand and using plenty of scope is the right thing to do, I'm just wondering what else we can do to be safe. We've left someone topside in the dink before, but most of the time it's just my wife and I so there's no one else to assist. I've considered taking a handheld vhf with me in a dry bag just in case. Also thought of tying the anchor rode off to something on the bottom like a big rock (not coral, right?)

We're pretty advanced divers so we don't have any other concerns except for surfacing to find the dink gone! Kicking back to the boat isn't always an option with winds and current that can pick up at any time.

Happy sailing and diving!

Joe

[Robert Tilbury]

when we dive we usualy only dive in 5 or so meters depth , there is so much to see the vis is usualy better and the colors are still there , I set the anchor on the way down and 1/2 way up we have a large red orange and yellow stripes so we can see how far we are away from the boat ,,

the waters in north nsw are usualy very clear so not normaly a drama ,, also if there is any curent we swim into it so as to drift back ,,

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by aquadreams

Thanks Lihuedooley77,

We've dove most of those sites, and I'm fine with any that have a dinghy line/bouy I can tie the dink off to, or are within swim distance of the boat. Cistern Point on Cooper, the Dogs, the Indians (80 min dive last time we did this), Monkey Point on Guana, and more.

It's the sites that require a dinghy ride and don't have anything to tie off to, so require the dinghy be anchored that I'm leery of. Like the outside of the reef at the Tobago Cayes.

I agree with you that setting the anchor by hand and using plenty of scope is the right thing to do, I'm just wondering what else we can do to be safe. We've left someone topside in the dink before, but most of the time it's just my wife and I so there's no one else to assist. I've considered taking a handheld vhf with me in a dry bag just in case. Also thought of tying the anchor rode off to something on the bottom like a big rock (not coral, right?)

We're pretty advanced divers so we don't have any other concerns except for surfacing to find the dink gone! Kicking back to the boat isn't always an option with winds and current that can pick up at any time.

Happy sailing and diving!

Joe

Leave a designated worrier topsides.

[Lihuedooley77]

joe,

Can you let us know if is good snorkeling at the Dogs, or is it really a dive site.

Hopefully, next year we hope to moor at the dogs for a day stop, snorkeling and lunch, after a couple of days up in north sound. Then to Marina Cay if they are back up and operating then to early monkey point for snorkeling.

Sounds like you are doing it right and have considered all of the angles. I have never anchored in rocks, and never on a reef, so cannot give first hand experience on that.

80 minutes ! Good on all of you. Due to age, and some physical situations my SCUBA days are over, but we enjoyed it very much. So, now it is just snorkeling. Many places are fairly shallow so we can still enjoy the underwater worlds.

Which of the DOGS would you suggest for snorkeling ? It would be great to add that site , on our planned MAY 2019 BVI sailing vacation.

mahalo nui loa

Denny and Erica

[aquadreams]

Originally Posted by Lihuedooley77

joe,
Can you let us know if is good snorkeling at the Dogs, or is it really a dive site.

Which of the DOGS would you suggest for snorkeling ? It would be great to add that site , on our planned MAY 2019 BVI sailing vacation.

We dove but if you google "the dogs snorkeling" you'll find a bunch of info and youtube videos.

There are National Park mooring balls supposedly in 12 different areas fo the Dogs. We used those.

Try George Dog George Dog | Cruising the Virgin Islands
or Great Dog Great Dog | Cruising the Virgin Islands


Check BVI Scuba Diving Sites | Dive BVI
for a list of the dive sites and you'll see most are 20' or deeper. Here is the list of dive sites from this link:

The Chimney (Great Dog) – 30-45 ft Novice
One of the most famous dives in the dog islands, the Chimney is a site with an unusual underwater structure. Long told to be a favorite site when Jacques Cousteau was diving here, we can easily see why this site is so popular! Bring a light to best appreciate the incredible colors!
Coral Gardens / Airplane Wreck (Great Dog) – 30-50 ft Novice
A very different dive from others on the Dog Islands, the south side of Great Dog sports a large traditional coral reef. Another feature is the remains of an small inter-island commuter plane originally operated by the now-defunct Atlantic Air BVI.
The Visibles / POS (Cockroach Island) – 40-80 ft Intermediate / Advanced
Situated off the west side of tiny Cockroach Island, this area is swept by current and attracts a range of marine life. This is a challenging dive due to the variable and sometimes strong currents, so pay close attention to the dive leaders’ instructions and stay close in the dive group.
Bronco Billy (George Dog) – 20-45 ft Novice
An excellent 2nd dive of a two-tank trip or afternoon dive, but in the winter months the site can be an impossible feat. An archway leads to a shallow canyon through the reef; on the other side of the canyon, the reef curves to create an amphitheater effect with soft pillar corals in the center.
Seal Dog Rocks – 40-80 ft Novice / Intermediate
Exposed to the ocean, this can be a very exciting dive. You should keep your camera handy on this one as we often see sharks and rays here!
Ledges/Dolphin Rocks (George Dog) – 20-50 ft Novice
Only available on calm days, this dive is best done in the summer months when the wash rocks attract bait fish which in turn brings in barracuda, mackerel, bonito and large tarpon.
Wall To Wall (West Dog) – 30-75 ft Intermediate / Advanced
The name comes from the fact that the site is often ‘wall-to-wall’ fish. Similar to the Visibles, this site is sometimes washed by strong currents and close attention should be paid to the dive leader. You can’t miss Yellowfish Rock at the bottom!
Joe’s Cave (West Dog) – 20-45 ft Novice
Another interesting 2nd dive, this site is best done to view the scenery as it does not have as much marine life as other locations. Nestled up against West Dog, the underwater topography consists of numerous large boulders, some up to 25 ft high. There is a small cavern in the shallows that is often filled with glassy sweepers.
The Flintstones (West Dog) – 30-70 ft Intermediate
Not as popular a site, the Flintstones is named for the rocky outcroppings on the west side of West Dog which are supposed to resemble Fred and Barney’s home of Bedrock. Underwater, the boulders continue, creating numerous ledges and overhangs for fish and lobsters to hide in.

[Lihuedooley77]

aqua

Thank you for the scoops on the Dogs....

Much appreciated

Denny and Erica