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Being able to let the surface know where you are during a dive is critical in some situations, and highly recommended in most others. The main ways divers use to achieve this are: a Surface Marker Buoy (SMB) which stays on the surface, with or without a dive flag; a Delayed Surface Marker Buoy (DSMB) which can be deployed by the diver from underwater; or a Safety Sausage which can only be deployed on the surface.
We consider the Safety Sausage to be unsafe and don't sell them. After all, how do you safely get to the surface in areas where there is boat traffic in order to deploy your safety sausage. They are usually much smaller than DSMBs, and thus don't do nearly as good a job as a signalling/location device.
Most people refer to a DSMB as just a SMB, which is why this category is called Surface Marker Buoys (SMBs), but technically they're very different.
SMB vs DSMB
A Surface Marker Buoy (SMB) is floated on the surface during a dive to mark the diver's position during drift dives, night dives, mist or disturbed sea conditions. A SMB is absolutely essential kit for diving anywhere you may have surface boat traffic. It allows your position to be known by people watching from shore and watercraft, whether they be the boat you are diving from, or other water users. Typically a SMB will have a dive flag on it as well. See Surface Markers for our range of SMBs.
A Delayed Surface Marker Buoy (DSMB), decompression buoy or deco buoy, is deployed whilst the diver is submerged and generally only towards the end of the dive. The DSMB marks the diver's position underwater so the boat safety cover can locate the diver even though the diver may have drifted some distance from the dive site while doing safety or decompression stops. A reel or finger spool and line connect the buoy on the surface to the diver beneath the surface.
Our recommendation is that all divers should carry a DSMB and reel on every dive. In many boat diving situations it's also good practice to also have a Surface Marker with dive flag up on the surface to tell your surface support where you are for the whole of the dive.
SMBs and DSMBs are not intended to be used to lift heavy weights. That's what a Lift Bag is for.
Where to Deploy Your DSMB
Delayed SMBs, such as the AP Diving Buddy DSMB, are designed to be deployed from depth near the end of, or at any critical point during, a dive. Some divers, like us, prefer to shoot their Delayed SMBs from the bottom and thus let the surface support know they're begining their ascent. Other divers shoot from mid-water when they start their safety stop, or decompression stops. We strongly recommend you have a Delayed SMB and reel/spool with you on every dive. On open water dives, waiting until you surface to deploy a surface only safety sausage is dangerous in high boat traffic areas.
Which Colour Delayed SMB Should you Use
There are essentially three choices for DSMB colouring — all Red, all Yellow, or Red and Yellow on contrasting sides.
Studies have shown that Red and Yellow are the two most visible colours at sea. But each colour works better than the other in different conditions. Thus if you look around a dive shop, you will see up to three SMB colours: all Red; all Yellow; and one side Red, one side Yellow.
Recreational Diving
An all Red SMB is far and away the most common SMB colour. This leads some new divers to buy an all Yellow SMB so theirs will stand out more when at a busy dive site. We don't recommend this.
Other divers buy the two-colour SMBs (Red on one side, Yellow on the other side) because these must surely be the ideal for high-visibility over the widest range of conditions. For recreational diving, especially when ocean diving, this is what we recommend. However, it is essential that you let your surface cover know that your combined Red and Yellow SMB is not being used as an emergency signal unless an emergency signal or message is attached to it.
Advanced/Technical Diving
In Australia, and many other parts of the world, there is a convention used by more advanced and technical divers that an all Yellow SMB is an emergency signal, to be responded to by sending down a cylinder of gas, or a rescue diver, or both.
Whilst for the most part recreational divers do not have or need such a signal, it is possible for both types of diver to be on the same dive site. If one group of divers is using Yellow as an emergency signal and the other group uses Yellow as standard, this could lead to confusion and even to a genuine emergency signal being ignored.
For this reason, unless you have a very strong reason for wanting an all Yellow SMB as standard, please don't buy one.
If you decide that you would like to use a Yellow SMB as an emergency signal yourself, two precautions to take are:
- Make sure your surface cover knows this convention
- Mark the SMB with "EMERGENCY", "HELP", "SOS" or some other such message in large, clear black letters to ensure there is no doubt that you are a diver in distress and not just a diver who thought a Yellow SMB looked nicer than a Red one.
Kanowna Island, South East
Wall Dive | 
Boat access
Depth: 5 m (16 ft) to 55 m (180 ft)
Level: Advanced Open Water and beyond.
Kanowna Island, South East is an interesting dive site at the south-east tip of Kanowna Island facing south-east out into the often wild seas of Bass Strait. It's located within the Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park and is a very rewarding boat dive site for adventurous divers.
Kanowna Island is part of the Anser Group of islands at Wilsons Promontory, Victoria, Australia. It's an active, protected Australian Fur Seal colony. There are so many playful, curious seals that diving with them becomes an exciting and thrilling experience as they speed past and play with you.
Kanowna Island is named after the SS Kanowna, once a hospital ship for wounded soldiers from Gallipoli, which sank off Wilsons Promontory after striking nearby Skull Rock in 1929.
Diving Kanowna Island, South East
Kanowna Island, South East is a very remote dive site location, only accessible with a dive boat. Underwater the wall plunges steeply to the bottom at 55 metres, with plenty of boulders, caves and swim throughs to explore. Playful Australian Fur Seals often come to see divers here.
The spectacular walls of Kanowna Island, South East are current swept with prolific fish and invertebrate life including the usual kelp and soft corals. It drops off steeply, and is well worth a dive on the rare days conditions allow.
Motorised and non-motorised vessels including sea kayaks are prohibited from within 200 metres of Kanowna Island during the breeding season from November to January (inclusive), and within 50 metres of the island at other times of the year.
Scuba divers diving from boats anchored outside the seasonal exclusion zones around Kanowna Island may approach closer to these islands provided that they are underwater and observe any other restrictions applying to approaching marine mammals.
See also the nearby Kanowna Island, Seal School dive site.
Ideal Conditions: Kanowna Island, South East is best dived with calm seas, no swell and no wind. Light offshore westerly to northerly winds may be acceptable. Because of the depths that can be reached here, plus the sometimes strong currents, Kanowna Island, South East is best dived at slack water. See WillyWeather (Kanowna Island) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.
Bass Strait Warning: Always keep an eye on sea conditions throughout any shore or boat dive in Bass Strait on Victoria's coastline. Please read the warnings on the web page diving-in-bass-strait before diving or snorkelling this site.
Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park
This site lies in Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park, Victoria's largest marine sanctuary. There is a huge diversity of marine life within the waters at the Prom. Brilliantly coloured fish are present such as the Red Velvetfish, Eastern Blue Groper and Wrasse as well as Leafy Seadragons and schools of Barber Perch. Intertidal molluscs such as limpets and snails, as well as anemones, brittlestars and seastars, are also common within the waters.
Divers will experience fascinating sponge gardens which consist of a techni-coloured assemblage of sponges, sea tulips, sea whips, lace corals and seafans. Octopus emerge at night whilst sharks and rays roam the sandy areas.
The offshore islands support many colonies of fur seals and oceanic birds such as Little Penguins, Fairy Prions, Silver Gulls and Pacific Gulls.
See also, Parks Victoria: Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park,
Park Note: Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park, and
Wikipedia: Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park.
You are not permitted to carry a spear gun while snorkelling or scuba diving in Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park.
Boon Wurrung / Bunurong country
Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Boon Wurrung / Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation. This truly ancient Country includes parts of Port Phillip, from the Werribee River in the north-west, down to Wilson's Promontory in the south-east, including the Mornington Peninsula, French Island and Phillip Island, plus Western Port. We wish to acknowledge the Boon Wurrung as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging. We acknowledge Bunjil the Creator Spirit of this beautiful land, who travels as an eagle, and Waarn, who protects the waterways and travels as a crow, and thank them for continuing to watch over this Country today and beyond.
Kanowna Island, South East Location Map
Latitude: 39° 9.459′ S (39.157644° S / 39° 9′ 27.52″ S)
Longitude: 146° 18.938′ E (146.315635° E / 146° 18′ 56.29″ E)
Datum: WGS84 |
Google Map
Added: 2022-04-21 15:47:56 GMT, Last updated: 2022-04-22 16:27:00 GMT
Source: Google Earth
Nearest Neighbour: Kanowna Island, Seal Colony, 420 m, bearing 330°, NNW
Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park.
Kanowna Island, Bass Strait.
Depth: 5 to 55 m.
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DISCLAIMER: No claim is made by The Scuba Doctor as to the accuracy of the dive site coordinates listed here. Should anyone decide to use these GPS marks to locate and dive on a site, they do so entirely at their own risk. Always verify against other sources.
The marks come from numerous sources including commercial operators, independent dive clubs, reference works, and active divers. Some are known to be accurate, while others may not be. Some GPS marks may even have come from maps using the AGD66 datum, and thus may need be converted to the WGS84 datum. To distinguish between the possible accuracy of the dive site marks, we've tried to give each mark a source of GPS, Google Earth, or unknown.
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