Reef Fish wrote:

> Generally speaking, especially if the vis is poor.

I note the quallification, its a good one.

> For liveaboard diving, we are always brief on where the boat is
> anchored, but we seldom go to the anchor first because the boat
> may be arcing back and forth right over the wall, and the anchor
> may be 100 meters away.  So, it would be really silly to go
> 100 meters to the anchor and swim back 100 meters to where you
> entered in the first place.  :-)

Not (mostly) in my experience, here in Oz and those parts of the
Pacific I've been to. So far I have always been on liveaboards where
the boat anchors (on top of the reef) and _then_ we dive. Since
(obviously, otherwise the boat would get a sore bum) it is standing
off the reef I always prefer to descend the anchor line to the drop
off. Means I get a good eyeful of where the anchor is actually located
so I will know its not there if its pinged and know the area anyway
when I (hopefully) get back to it.

> For my type of anchored boat dives, in high vis, natural
> navigation is far better than compass navigation or using the
> anchor as the reference point.   Let's say I jump off at some
> point near the wall, THAT's my reference point.  When I return
> there, the boat may be 100 meters away from THAT point because
> it arcs back and forth, but if I just WAIT there, then the
> boat will eventually return to that same point.

Absolutely, couldn't agree more. I only question the 100 metres bit,
seems a fairly long anchor line. In my experience anyway.

> ONE EXCEPTION:  if the tide changes.  The boat may be 180 degrees
> away from the entry point.  Been there.  Done that, ONCE, in the
> Bahamas.  I waited and waited at the entry point, and didn't
> realize that the tide had changed and the boat was NOT going to
> arc back to the same spot until the next day.

That too. I suggest that might be suspect dive briefing?

> >Like the article says, you pay good money
> >to have an operator put you on top of the dive site, why mess it
> >up by swimming a long way off from the boat, spending valuable
> >dive time and air doing the long haul back.
> >Makes pretty good sense.
>
> Makes good sense NOT to swim to the anchor if the boat drops
> you right on top of a wall, and the anchor is 100 meters OFF
> the wall.

Well, yes, but are you here saying that the boat has anchored _off_
the drop off?

In the Oz Coral Sea for example that could well be 1000 metres of drop
off, an impossible depth to anchor in, for any boat.

Of course none of the above applies if its a drift dive with chase tenders.

Cheers,

Christian