With all the shit happening we need to make sure that we take some extra precautions. How many people out there have one if these? I have had one forever and let me tell you, you can probably hear this thing from a mile away. Mine only works above the surface but is loud as hell. They fit most BCD's and is pretty good insurance that they will hear it if you are off from the boat.

I've got one, and I'll second the "loud" comment. In addition, the noise that mine makes is very high and shrill, not like an air horn. Pretty unmistakable. The only thing that I don't like is that the extra length on my inflator hose pushes it away at an awkward angle, which makes breathing off of my AIR2 a little less comfortable.

just bought a safety sausage today.
have not had one for almost 10yrs

kinda scary because all we do is drifts.

No one is supposed to spearfish off my boat without a Dive Alert and Safety Sausage. I carry extras for those who board without one. They are both worth their weight in gold.

I can't begin to count the times I've witnessed either of these emergency communtication devices helping us to retrieve and/or rescue divers lost by currents or dragged away while fighting fish.

Just this past St. Pete Open we had a well trained and experiencedTrimix diver with considerable spearfishing experience, surface and need to get a replacement mask and re-enter to do a short deco. An amberjack knocked off his mask at 165' and he could not read his computers without a replacement. He had a mandatory deco to perform. He choked on some salt water and he was coughing, but he seemed O.K. to descend and start his deco. The tag line was not long enough for his first stop, so he let go and drifted. He was there and then he wasn't! Talk about freaked. The first dive of the day, 80 miles from shore and where the hell is he...

We went up stream and tried to time his drift, we knew it would be less that of the wind driven boat. Ten minutes turned into 15 then 16 and so on. We were hoping for a whistle or a visual sign. Finally, I spotted him waving his arms about 100 yds from the boat. He had NO DIVE ALERT. He did have a lift bag, BUT HE DIDN'T THINK HE NEEDED TO USE IT.
Needless, to say, he was O.K., but he was lost on the surface for what seemed like forever.

We had him stay out of the water for his next turn and after we were pretty sure he was O.K. to dive, he entered the water with MY SPARE DIVE ALERT and everyone's permission to use his lift bag.

just bought a safety sausage today.
have not had one for almost 10yrs

kinda scary because all we do is drifts.

About time. Now I wont have to get into the bowels of the Scarab to get Mr Spare for you ;)

Not only are dive alerts good safety gear, they inflate safety sausages like a champ.

I've had a dive alert for years, and never go in without it...it's been used quite a few times especially on East Coast drifts, but even not using it--having it with me in case I do need it is the important thing...don't overlook other things like the sausage and even a reflective device, and a light source or strobe...in the wake of missing diver reports...getting located on the surface has to be the divers responsibility...be prepared.

I bought a sausage and a dive alert earlier this year. Have not had to use either one yet, but nice to have. I did test the volume on the dive alert. You need to cover your ears before sounding it.