Is the surface the most dangerous part of the dive?
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Having worked in the scuba industry from levels ranging from DM to captain, I can say most of the near misses with injuries and panic attacks have occurred at the surface. Especially with boat dives, where getting back on the vessel in any sort of sea state presents numerous challenges.
I attribute these near misses to complacency (thinking the dive is over) and not following directions. When divers hit the surface and get in the mindset that the dive is over, they tend to forget the basics of establishing positive buoyancy and maintaining a way to breathe. Can't express how many times a diver hits the surface, immediately pops out their second stage, and begins to sink back underwater without an air source. Similarly, not following crew instructions and either turning their back to the rocking boat, approaching swinging ladders without being ready to board the vessel, and finding themselves directly under another diver who is climbing have lead to some real hairy situations.
I always try to reiterate to divers on my boats that the dive is not over until you are back in your seat. Then, it is safe to relax and talk about how the dive went.
I attribute these near misses to complacency (thinking the dive is over) and not following directions. When divers hit the surface and get in the mindset that the dive is over, they tend to forget the basics of establishing positive buoyancy and maintaining a way to breathe. Can't express how many times a diver hits the surface, immediately pops out their second stage, and begins to sink back underwater without an air source. Similarly, not following crew instructions and either turning their back to the rocking boat, approaching swinging ladders without being ready to board the vessel, and finding themselves directly under another diver who is climbing have lead to some real hairy situations.
I always try to reiterate to divers on my boats that the dive is not over until you are back in your seat. Then, it is safe to relax and talk about how the dive went.
johndiver999
Contributor
Agree 100% with the above. Even after a lot of dives, I find myself often less comfortable on the surface (waiting for a boat to find me ) than 10 feet below.
Yes, most definitely it is!
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Divers view boats is happy-fun-places just like when they went out on the pond in dad’s 18 foot runabout.
What they don’t understand? They’re walking into an industrial environment fraught with mechanical dangers, pinchpoints, and cranky (due to hyper-vigilance & stress) dive masters.
The market audience looks at one incident on the Accidents and Incidents Forum (posted by Don) and they tend to lock into that one specific act that resulted in the injury… the problem is, in fact, with boating and marine environments- many things come together and exacerbate the end result. Usually no one thing causes the trauma.
A holistic view is the best preventative.
It’s a whole different world around a working boat and they just don’t understand this. You are either educated by military style indoctrination or years of exposure, trial, error, observation and analysis.
Divers view boats is happy-fun-places just like when they went out on the pond in dad’s 18 foot runabout.
What they don’t understand? They’re walking into an industrial environment fraught with mechanical dangers, pinchpoints, and cranky (due to hyper-vigilance & stress) dive masters.
The market audience looks at one incident on the Accidents and Incidents Forum (posted by Don) and they tend to lock into that one specific act that resulted in the injury… the problem is, in fact, with boating and marine environments- many things come together and exacerbate the end result. Usually no one thing causes the trauma.
A holistic view is the best preventative.
It’s a whole different world around a working boat and they just don’t understand this. You are either educated by military style indoctrination or years of exposure, trial, error, observation and analysis.
just my 50 cents: you can really help in most cases on the surface. A drowned or poisened diver has a very low chance of survival.
Due to surface rescue scenarios I prefer weight, that is (at least partly) ditchable at surface to stabilize and calm the victim. In the Padi Rescue course was mantioned, that ditching weight is mainly for solving surface problems - ditching underwater should be considered as last as possible.
Due to surface rescue scenarios I prefer weight, that is (at least partly) ditchable at surface to stabilize and calm the victim. In the Padi Rescue course was mantioned, that ditching weight is mainly for solving surface problems - ditching underwater should be considered as last as possible.
Capt Jim Wyatt
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All the above...and with a closed circuit rebreather it becomes even MORE dangerous due to the potential for hypoxia.
RobPNW
Contributor
For me it's getting up that ladder when the boat is thrashing around.
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