Drift diving can be an exhilarating experience and in many cases it may be the only way to explore certain dive sites. It requires rigorous planning, specialist equipment (such as emergency dive flags) and strict adherence to the dive plan if it is to be conducted safely. Though many divers are aware of this there is a tendency amongst divers and dive operators to downgrade the mild drift dive and forgo much of the planning and safety aspects that are required. In many cases it is during the mild drift that, when things go wrong they do so spectacularly and result in newspaper headlines such as Five divers missing in Komodo National Park near Bali, No hope for 3 missing divers ” Red Sea. Almost without exception those involved have not been carrying signal flags and were lost on the surface after a successful dive.