How does a diver get left behind?

[Frosty]

One dive op I work for has a system that works really well. This is for half day 2 tank boat dives.
Theres a waterproof slate. Every divers name goes on it with start pressure After first dive every diver is asked depth/time and out pressure. This very action means a head check is done after every dive. They also take a digital pic of the slate three times and send the pic to their website.This creates a record.

 

[Stoo]

As a former Caribbean DM a few decades ago, I fully appreciate that many, if not most, Divemasters seem more interested in chatting up the hot girl on board than taking care of everyone equally.

Since I am neither a girl, nor hot, I crank up the "friendly" and hand out caramels to passengers and crew. Nobody leaves the noisy guy with the caramels behind, although I'm sure they're tempted at times.

Mrs. Stoo and I have done a bunch of liveaboards and I can honestly say that I don't recall the Captain EVER being present on any roll-call, let alone all of them. They were always on the bridge or grabbing lunch before all the guests got in. None of these boats were in US waters, although they were US flagged.

 

[Wookie]

.Frank, have you ever picked up a problem with a diver by conducting your brief post-dive debrief? Seems like a diver might divulge to you that they weren't feeling perfect after a dive

Many many times, some resolve with first aid, some get to ride the whirlybird-bird.

 

[clownfishsydney]

The last couple of liveaboards I have been on (on Great Barrier Reef and Indonesia) both recorded your depth time etc after the dive on a sheet. You then had to sign your entry to show that you were actually back on board. One of the better methods I think.

 

[Neilwood]

I got left behind once, diving off of Quadra Island in the Georgia Straits between Vancouver Island and the mainland. The diving's incredible up there, and most of the dive sites are quite current-intensive. I was solo diving, and surfaced only to realize our boat had left. I drifted for about 20 minutes before being picked up by a passing recreational boater, who brought me to the dock where my dive boat was tied up. It was a short walk back to the dive lodge. I'm fairly certain the boat captain did it on purpose ... I'd given him some grief earlier in the day for watching me swim against current for 20 minutes rather than coming to pick me up (he claimed he was waiting for me to give him an "OK" signal, like he'd instructed us to). Fortunately, that *******'s no longer in business ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I think I would have reported that incident to the Coast Guard for their interest. Despite you giving him grief, he has no right to leave anyone in the water and had anything gone wrong, he could easily have found himself liable for a lawsuit or criminal charges.

 

[olphart]

Diving the Lillie Parsons on the St Lawrence, the captain told us to just drift when we were done checking out the wreck and he'd meet us downstream. My buddy and I finished exploring and drifted along at about 30' until I decided it was time to do my stop. My buddy waved me off and I ascended to 15' and watched the rocks slowly move along.... from right to left..???? WTF? Have I turned around and now facing into the river?? Rocks in the middle? Naw, but I can't be drifting upstream, can I? After surfacing, I found myself all alone, about 50' from where we dropped in. I had apparently caught an eddy that put me back where I started. Only a couple of small boats in the area and I put up my sausage. Sure enough about 5 minutes later I saw my boat loaded with the other 4 divers heading back to pick me up.
I never felt in any particular danger once I saw that the area was pretty clear of other craft, and the shore was a reasonably short swim, but glad to see my ride.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I think I would have reported that incident to the Coast Guard for their interest. Despite you giving him grief, he has no right to leave anyone in the water and had anything gone wrong, he could easily have found himself liable for a lawsuit or criminal charges.

Maybe ... Canada tends to take a different view of these things than the USA does. The correct thing is what happened ... the guy eventually went out of business as more and more people refused to dive with him ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[widget]

When I was left out to sea, it was the Captains fault. I did get a free boat dive my next trip so it worked out well.

It helps if the divers let the boat know you are a diver on the boat. . I don't usually socialize and my social anxiety worked against me. Captain said he didn't know I was on the boat with them.. I must have been forgettable, but was wearing a bright orange Harvey's, size XXL . Moral of the story, don't go boat diving farther than you can swim in.

Shucks man I know it could have been stressful but the way you put is just too funny "I must have been forgettable, but was wearing a bright orange Harvey's, size XXL " - Too funny man.

Here its almost impossible to get left behind, all diving is done from inflatables so theres usually only 8 or so divers aboard, you really have to try hard to not notice one missing.

Thats not to say divers dont get lost and have to be searched for, not the same I know but it happens. Most dives here are drift dives and the skipper follows the surface marker buoy. The theory is that all the divers ascend up the bouyline and get picked up, but sometimes divers get lost or separated from the group, ascend without the line and more often than not get taken away by the current, so when they reach the surface the boat skipper cant see them in the swell as he is following the buoy. Only when everyone is up can the skipper then go looking for the divers. Usually its not an issue and its just a bit of a wait.

What happened to a group of us once was the skipper dropped us on the reef, it was a hectic launch through rough seas and we were diving shallow about 10/12 m when he experienced a single out board motor failure. He knew we would be at least 40 minutes and not wanting to risk going back through the rough surf with only one outboard and a full boat of divers he made a dash back to shore to change inflatables. It was a logical decision and under normal conditions it would have worked fine, but the problem on the day was the surf was so rough he couldn't get back out again and when we surfaced there was obviously no boat.

We floated around a bit thinking it will soon arrive, but soon enough realized we were getting back to shore on our own.

Luckily we were only about 2 kilometers off shore so we floated and just allowed the current to take us back, everyone was experienced divers so there was no issue and we all just "enjoyed the ride" as it were. The biggest issue was getting back through the surf with all our gear, but we just went with it and although we got tossed around and landed unceremoniously on the beach no one lost any gear and they sent a truck down the beach to come fetch us.

From where we surfaced to where we washed up was over 5 kilometers down the beach.

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

Nautilus life line en route. Cheap insurance, hope I've just thrown away $250.

 

[NAM001]

ignoree this post . did it to get off the notification liseing