On a recent trip to dive the Mexican Revillagigedo Islands with a large group of divers and underwater photographers, we were each asked to attach a Nautilus GPS system to our BCDs. Our guides, aboard Nautilus Belle Amie, gave us a short talk on how the system worked and why they wanted us to wear them. The islands we were diving on were situated hundreds of miles from the mainland and strong currents were possible in this remote area, so they wanted us to be able to send out a distress signal, that would contact all boats in the area, should we get lost and find ourselves unable to see our boat. To me this sounded like a very sensible idea!

Fortunately, we did not find ourselves in a situation where we needed to use it. However, two of our divers did start to think about it, after drifting away from the boat after a dive at El Boiler. The support boat found them quickly and it turned out that the Nautilus system was not needed. But this did get us thinking about all the other dives we have done in remote areas, or areas with strong currents or large waves, and whether this is a device we should be wearing on every dive.

Nautilus’ mission is to “save lives” and the founder, Mike Lever, is clearly passionate about getting this device into the water with as many ocean-going individuals as possible. So far, 38 people have emailed him personally to say the system saved their lives! Their website says:

“We believe that calling for help at sea should be a lot simpler than using a satellite based system that involves uplinks and downlinks, shore operations offices, marine rescue coordination centers, and full emergency responses. We think it should be as simple as calling boats around you for help whether it’s a cool, calm radio call or sending a digital AIS/DSC distress message with your GPS position to boats near and far. With devices that are depth rated and tough enough to drive over with a truck.”

“We do not just dream about this stuff and build it. We live and play in the marine environment. We are scuba divers and sailors; kite-boarders and paddle-boarders; swimmers and surfers. Our team includes commercial fishermen, seasoned ship’s captains, marine engineers, floatplane pilots and recreational boaters. We know firsthand the value of being able to call for help easily and without any fuss. Any time. Anywhere in the world.”

You can watch a short video about the Nautilus Lifeline below:

We have got our hands on the latest Nautilus Lifeline Marine Rescue GPS and will be doing a review of the device for Scubaverse soon.

For more information click here.