Sea World miss-use of dive flags?

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Charlie Hammond - 26 Apr 2004 19:32 GMT

Yesterday, Sunday, April 25th, 2004, I was at Sea World in Orlando, FL.
In the lake/pond out from what they call the "Waterfront" area, there
were at least 15-20, maybe more dive flags flying from floats, or some
low (awash) structures in the lake. There were no divers.

(Dive flags, a.k.a. Diver Down flags, are those red flags with a diagonal
wite bar.)

Is it a violation of Florida law to be flying dive flags on the water
this way with no divers around?

Even if it is legal, this seems like a poor practice. Too many boaters
don't understand this flag and disrespect its intent. It seems to me that
seeing it used as decoration won't help to improove this and could futher
degrade the value of this flag.

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Charlie Hammond -- Hewlett-Packard Company -- Ft Lauderdale FL USA
(hammond@not@peek.ssr.hp.com -- remove "@not" when replying)
All opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily my employer's.

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Larry Anta - 26 Apr 2004 19:26 GMT

[...]

> Even if it is legal, this seems like a poor practice. Too many boaters
> don't understand this flag and disrespect its intent.

[...]

Public education is definitely lacking. Using a diver-down flag at Burleigh
Falls, for example, is an invitation to all nearby sea-doers to use it for
slalom practice.

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Lee Bell - 26 Apr 2004 19:36 GMT

Good question, Charlie. I know that it is at least recommended for boats
that fly the U.S. diver down flag to lower it when diving operations are no
longer underway. I do not know if that is a legal requirement or if there
is anything specifically prohibiting other uses of the flag. I'd be
interested in knowing the answer to this if/when you find one.

In the interim, why not express your concerns directly to Sea World? I
would like to think that they would be at least a little more responsive to
such an issue than the average Florida business, particularly if everybody
in rec.scuba wrote them a nasty message on the subject.

Lee

> Yesterday, Sunday, April 25th, 2004, I was at Sea World in Orlando, FL.
> In the lake/pond out from what they call the "Waterfront" area, there
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> (hammond@not@peek.ssr.hp.com -- remove "@not" when replying)
> All opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily my employer's.

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Charlie Hammond - 26 Apr 2004 21:04 GMT

>Good question, Charlie. ...
> ... why not express your concerns directly to Sea World? ..

Following is a copy of a letter I am posting to SeaWorld today.

SeaWorld Orlando
7007 SeaWorld Drive
Orlando FL 32821

Yesterday, Sunday, April 25th, I visited SeaWorld, Orlando. I had
a pleasant time, thank you, but I saw something that concerned me.

The "Dive Flag" or "Diver Down Flag" is a red flag with a diagonal
white bar. In the most, if not all of the USA, it is required by
law to be used when divers are in the water. In the lake off the
"WaterFront" area I saw 15-20 or more Dive Flags flying in the
water, but there were clearly no divers in the area.

While I suspect that you are doing nothing technically illegal,
the misuse of this flag as (apparently) a decoration has the
potential to obscure its proper use. Many boaters do not
understand the purpose of this flag and do not comply with the
legal requirements its proper use places on then. Your miss-use
(or so it seems to me) of this flag may be adding to this
problem.

Might you consider changing this?

A copy of this letter will be posted on the REC.SCUBA newsgroup.
Unless you request me not to do so, I will also post a copy of
your reply.

Thank you for your consideration.

Signature

Charlie Hammond -- Hewlett-Packard Company -- Ft Lauderdale FL USA
(hammond@not@peek.ssr.hp.com -- remove "@not" when replying)
All opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily my employer's.

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Nitespark - 26 Apr 2004 19:54 GMT

> Yesterday, Sunday, April 25th, 2004, I was at Sea World in Orlando, FL.
> In the lake/pond out from what they call the "Waterfront" area, there
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> seeing it used as decoration won't help to improove this and could futher
> degrade the value of this flag.

Charlie,
Is this a body of water that would be subject to any kind of boat traffic???

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One lawyer can steal more than a hundred men with guns.

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Charlie Hammond - 26 Apr 2004 20:43 GMT

>> Yesterday, Sunday, April 25th, 2004, I was at Sea World in Orlando, FL.
>> In the lake/pond out from what they call the "Waterfront" area, there
>> were at least 15-20, maybe more dive flags flying from floats, or some
>> low (awash) structures in the lake. There were no divers.

>Is this a body of water that would be subject to any kind of boat traffic???

Yes. A water skier was practicing on the other side of the lake.

OTOH, this lake is totally within Sea World. So far as I could see,
there would be no access for any boats other than Sea Worlds.

Yes, but can he/she keep them under contral and meld them
into a fine-tuned fighting machine?

Signature

Charlie Hammond -- Hewlett-Packard Company -- Ft Lauderdale FL USA
(hammond@not@peek.ssr.hp.com -- remove "@not" when replying)
All opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily my employer's.

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Nitespark - 27 Apr 2004 00:03 GMT

>>>Yesterday, Sunday, April 25th, 2004, I was at Sea World in Orlando, FL.
>>>In the lake/pond out from what they call the "Waterfront" area, there
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> OTOH, this lake is totally within Sea World. So far as I could see,
> there would be no access for any boats other than Sea Worlds.

I agree with you, it is sending the wrong message. Perhaps they had it
under a very tight control so that boat traffic stayed on one side and
divers stayed on the other. I will be interested to see what their
reply is. The flag should not be displayed unless there are divers in
the water. (I am presuming there were no bubbles or indications there
were in fact divers down?) Perhaps they had inadvertently left the
flags out. Perhaps there had been divers there but were taking a break
or SI and decided to leave them until they were finished for the day.

> Yes, but can he/she keep them under contral and meld them
> into a fine-tuned fighting machine?

Depends on the lawyer I guess............

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Limey Dave - 28 Apr 2004 17:34 GMT

From the Florida Statute 327.331 Divers; definitions; divers-down flag
required; obstruction to navigation of certain waters; penalty.--

Most ofthese regulations seem to pertain to the operator of a vessel,
except;

(2) All divers must prominently display a divers-down flag in the area in
which the diving occurs, other than when diving in an area customarily used
for swimming only.
and interestingly;
(7) The divers-down flag must be lowered once all divers are aboard or
ashore. No person may operate any vessel displaying a divers-down flag
unless the vessel has one or more divers in the water.

The problem appears to be that the lake at Sea World is almost certainly
private property so the statutes probably do not apply anyway, so the answer
is most likely no, it is not illegal to display any kind of flag in their
own lake.

Dave.

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