A well-meaning citizen called the police recently, believing he could see three people in the water at the harbour entrance.

Emergency services were scrambled, police rushed to the water’s edge and a Tauranga Coastguard crew fired up a rescue vessel.

It turned out there were three people in the water… but they’d gone in deliberately. Three divers. The emergency services were stood down, the coastguard team went home to their cold dinners, while the divers climbed back into their boat and drove off.

It’s commendable that concerned citizens are keeping a close watch over our waterways and prepared to raise the alarm when they believe something is wrong.

However better identification would have saved a lot of unnecessary disruption for volunteers and professionals alike.

The situation may have been helped, had the boat in question been displaying a dive flag – a clue to concerned onlookers that those heads bobbing around in the ocean were happy and safe, not the result of boating mishap.

The dive flag of course is a major safety bonus for divers in the water, and especially important in a high traffic area such as the Tauranga harbour entrance.

So divers, do yourselves and the general public a favour, and get flagged up.  It will mean a safer diving experience for you and help others figure what’s going on around them.