Help me figure out what went wrong:
I am a new diver with only 2 dives after my open water cert, same as my dive buddy.
We planned on diving in Lake Huron (Thunder Bay area) and made a call to the dive shop who told us to come in for gear and ideas for a shallow shore dive.
We drive 1/2 hour north from where we were staying to the dive shop to be informed they had rented all their equipment to a dive charter for the day. She sent us "1 hour" further north to Cheboygan, MI. She suggested a shore dive that was 200' from shore. (the Joseph Fay)
We drive to Cheboygan which was really 1.5 hours away. We rent our gear and tell them we are VERY inexperienced and ask about the shore Joseph Fay dive. He said fun and easy, but about a 300' swim from shore. Hmmm now I have to swim a football field away, but what the heck we have already invested 2 hours and we really really want to dive. We drive back the1/2 hour to dive location. (BTW - BEAUTIFUL area with light house and part of the wreck on the shore. Called 40 mile point lighthouse)
The wreck is marked. We start swimming ... and swimming ... and swimming. My husband says he watched us for about 1 - 1.5 hours struggling to get to the bouy. Had to swim on my back for a lot of the time because on my belly waves would wash over my head and get in my snorkel. Question 1: should we have dove and worked my way over under the water? We considered this but didn't want to waste air.
At one point I flip on my stomach and see the wreck. THRILLED. I yell to my buddy we made it. For some reason he wanted to keep going to the bouy. Like he thought it was the "beginning". So we struggle on because it is still about 100' away. We never make it to the bouy because the waves kept pushing us away. Finally i say let's just dive here. Buddy says ok. I descend about 20' down to the sandy bottom of Lake Huron, of course the wreck is nowhere to be seen. Buddy doesn't make it down at the same time. i wait for him for about 3 minutes (question 2: is that too long?) It felt good to just relax at the bottom and not be in the waves. He finally appears briefly but then pops back to the surface. I wait longer for him again (3 ish minutes) and then finally go up also. By this point he has drifted WAY away from me. Like the only way I see him is because of the dive flag. I motion to him to get his attention he waves back and starts swimming for shore. We are not within yelling range.
So I start the long swim back. swimming and swimming and swimming. We had drifted way down the beach from where we started. (Question 3: any advice on this?) When i get back i am met by an anxious husband, EMS, and state police. My husband panicked and called 911 when he saw me motioning to my buddy. Of course i was fine, just bummed i didn't do the dive and then embarrassed.
I talked to my buddy and asked why he bailed and went to shore. He said he had trouble descending. (lost about 30 pounds this year and reduced his lead), the dive flag line was "twisting and bugging him", and he was just plain tired from the waves.
One more thing. When I got home i consulted my Great Lakes Dive book (by Kris Kohl) and it said my dive was 800' (!) from shore and to get to it by boat! The first dive shop said 200' the second said 300'. I had stressed to the dive shop we were inexperienced, surprised they sent us there.
So people help me learn from our outing. What did we do wrong? Is there a dive stress-light that i would use to my shore person in case i really was in trouble? What can we do different next time?
Thanks!
I am a new diver with only 2 dives after my open water cert, same as my dive buddy.
We planned on diving in Lake Huron (Thunder Bay area) and made a call to the dive shop who told us to come in for gear and ideas for a shallow shore dive.
We drive 1/2 hour north from where we were staying to the dive shop to be informed they had rented all their equipment to a dive charter for the day. She sent us "1 hour" further north to Cheboygan, MI. She suggested a shore dive that was 200' from shore. (the Joseph Fay)
We drive to Cheboygan which was really 1.5 hours away. We rent our gear and tell them we are VERY inexperienced and ask about the shore Joseph Fay dive. He said fun and easy, but about a 300' swim from shore. Hmmm now I have to swim a football field away, but what the heck we have already invested 2 hours and we really really want to dive. We drive back the1/2 hour to dive location. (BTW - BEAUTIFUL area with light house and part of the wreck on the shore. Called 40 mile point lighthouse)
The wreck is marked. We start swimming ... and swimming ... and swimming. My husband says he watched us for about 1 - 1.5 hours struggling to get to the bouy. Had to swim on my back for a lot of the time because on my belly waves would wash over my head and get in my snorkel. Question 1: should we have dove and worked my way over under the water? We considered this but didn't want to waste air.
At one point I flip on my stomach and see the wreck. THRILLED. I yell to my buddy we made it. For some reason he wanted to keep going to the bouy. Like he thought it was the "beginning". So we struggle on because it is still about 100' away. We never make it to the bouy because the waves kept pushing us away. Finally i say let's just dive here. Buddy says ok. I descend about 20' down to the sandy bottom of Lake Huron, of course the wreck is nowhere to be seen. Buddy doesn't make it down at the same time. i wait for him for about 3 minutes (question 2: is that too long?) It felt good to just relax at the bottom and not be in the waves. He finally appears briefly but then pops back to the surface. I wait longer for him again (3 ish minutes) and then finally go up also. By this point he has drifted WAY away from me. Like the only way I see him is because of the dive flag. I motion to him to get his attention he waves back and starts swimming for shore. We are not within yelling range.
So I start the long swim back. swimming and swimming and swimming. We had drifted way down the beach from where we started. (Question 3: any advice on this?) When i get back i am met by an anxious husband, EMS, and state police. My husband panicked and called 911 when he saw me motioning to my buddy. Of course i was fine, just bummed i didn't do the dive and then embarrassed.
I talked to my buddy and asked why he bailed and went to shore. He said he had trouble descending. (lost about 30 pounds this year and reduced his lead), the dive flag line was "twisting and bugging him", and he was just plain tired from the waves.
One more thing. When I got home i consulted my Great Lakes Dive book (by Kris Kohl) and it said my dive was 800' (!) from shore and to get to it by boat! The first dive shop said 200' the second said 300'. I had stressed to the dive shop we were inexperienced, surprised they sent us there.
So people help me learn from our outing. What did we do wrong? Is there a dive stress-light that i would use to my shore person in case i really was in trouble? What can we do different next time?
Thanks!