Last Thursday I was diving the Tug and when I came up there was a patrol boat hovering around and I saw my dive flag was missing. I believe what happened was someone not knowing what the flag was (I hope ) came by and picked it up and the poles separated and they dropped it back into the water. The flag runs over a fiberglass pole and has bungee that pulls down on it so it stays put. So I'm thinking they pulled it up by the top and the poles separated and the top one fell out and landed on the bottom when they dropped it. I never saw anything fall but about five minutes after I started the dive I heard a boat come by, I heard them there for a few minutes and heard them shifting in and out of gear, I thought someone was preparing to drop a shot line. Then after about 20 minutes I heard another boat doing the same thing. So after I finally acknowledged the the marine patrol officer he asked me where my flag was, so I pointed towards my now empty buoy and said it was right there. He quickley stated "that is not a dive flag" well duh!! After he had all my info he said that he was going to wright me a summons for diving without a flag. I then told him there was a flag dangling off that buoy and it was flying when I descended. The officer then told me it was never there was a flag there as he has been there for 45 minutes. You should have seen his face when I said "no you haven't!!! according to my dive computer my total dive time was only 35 minutes". I was told there is no excuse for not having a flag flying so he was writing the summons. I then insisted on speaking to a supervisor and after a short talk on his radio he said he would let me off "this time". So some how you need to have complete control over your flag even if your 50' under it and can't see it. I was told that I can't file a complaint about someone messing with my flag because I did not see it happen
? Just good to see out tax dollars hard at work!! Sorry for the rant but I had to get that off my chest.