Near Death Experience!

[divenut2001]

I always carry a safety sausage and a "Dive Alert" on my BC when ever I dive.

In choppy seas you can become invisible so a safety sausage makes it easier for the boat crew to spot you. The "Dive Alert" attaches to your lp air inflator and emmits a very loud and high pitched whistle that can be heard over long distances, engine noises and wind. It's also a lot easier to use in rough seas and lets you keep your reg in your mouth.

On guided dives it's not uncommon to let someone ascend alone who has gone thru their air more quickly and allow the remaining divers to finish the dive. But it is also customary for the DM to send up a sausage to make the boat crew aware that there are divers surfacing.

 

[Uncle Pug]

#4 we've had a couple of threads on SB dealing with signalling devices and some have indicated that a CD is not at all effective. Here is a thread that you might find interesting in that regard.

 

[LuvsItWet]

I always carry a safety sausage and a "Dive Alert" on my BC when ever I dive.

In choppy seas you can become invisible so a safety sausage makes it easier for the boat crew to spot you. The "Dive Alert" attaches to your lp air inflator and emmits a very loud and high pitched whistle that can be heard over long distances, engine noises and wind. It's also a lot easier to use in rough seas and lets you keep your reg in your mouth.

On guided dives it's not uncommon to let someone ascend alone who has gone thru their air more quickly and allow the remaining divers to finish the dive. But it is also customary for the DM to send up a sausage to make the boat crew aware that there are divers surfacing.

If you say so, (and that doesn't make it RIGHT!) What's your definition of a buddy? Mine is to stay within arms reach if he/she is out of air! And if one person surfaces alone, who is is the buddy to the one down under? See the problem AND the danger?(but they have NEVER even had a sausage on the boat, much less with a divemaster.) I was relatively new to diving at the time, being relagted to mostly quarry dives being in Indiana. Got one now though!

I just hope, others can learn from my experience and equipe themselves safely for ocean diving.

 

[divenut2001]

If you say so, (and that doesn't make it RIGHT!) What's your definition of a buddy? Mine is to stay within arms reach if he/she is out of air! And if one person surfaces alone, who is is the buddy to the one down under? See the problem AND the danger?(but they have NEVER even had a sausage on the boat, much less with a divemaster.) I was relatively new to diving at the time, being relagted to mostly quarry dives being in Indiana. Got one now though!

I just hope, others can learn from my experience and equipe themselves safely for ocean diving.

I didn't say that it was RIGHT or safe, just that that's how some ops run. Others make the entire group surface when the first diver runs low on air.
How well did you know your "buddy"? You weren't very hard on him. He was the one responsible for your safety, but the ultimate one was yours. The dive guides are mostly there to point out the cool stuff to look at.

 

[pilot fish]

Wow, that must have been frightening. Where was this resort? Did you just forget to drop your weights, belt or intergrated?, the whole time you were bobbing at the surface?

I just purchased a dive mirror, Star Flash, a 3" X 2" with a star hole in the middle, to add to my other signaling gear, storm whistle and 5 ft orange dive sausage. After reading your story I'm glad I have them.

What did you say to the jerk that was supposed to be your dive buddy and the Dm after all this? What would you do differently about pre dive chat with dive buddy that the boat just teams you up with?

If you can't afford your own gear and have to rent, make sure you rent from your local dive shop, who always takes better care of gear than a resort, and take it with you on your trip. I did that my fist dive trip, then came home and bought all my own gear.

Thank God you are here to tell about this.

 

[LuvsItWet]

I didn't say that it was RIGHT or safe, just that that's how some ops run. Others make the entire group surface when the first diver runs low on air.
How well did you know your "buddy"? You weren't very hard on him. He was the one responsible for your safety, but the ultimate one was yours. The dive guides are mostly there to point out the cool stuff to look at.

Given the terms of this forum, I won't go into what happened "later". Rest assured, he will NEVER be my dive buddy again!

 

[LuvsItWet]

Wow, that must have been frightening. Where was this resort? Did you just forget to drop your weights, belt or intergrated?, the whole time you were bobbing at the surface?

I just purchased a dive mirror, Star Flash, a 3" X 2" with a star hole in the middle, to add to my other signaling gear, storm whistle and 5 ft orange dive sausage. After reading your story I'm glad I have them.

What did you say to the jerk that was supposed to be your dive buddy and the Dm after all this? What would you do differently about pre dive chat with dive buddy that the boat just teams you up with?

If you can't afford your own gear and have to rent, make sure you rent from your local dive shop, who always takes better care of gear than a resort, and take it with you on your trip. I did that my fist dive trip, then came home and bought all my own gear.

Yes, color me STUPID! At the time I I was relatively new to ocean diving, (being in the heartland) and was overwhelmed with what I found at the surface, and TOTALLY spaced dropping my weight belt! (a mistake I'll never make again)

The resort was Hedonism II in Negril, Jamaica. The Divemaster was devasted at my close call, and given this forum's rules, I won't go into detail about my so called "buddy". There really is not much of a chance to do a lengthly pre-dive chat because of the close proximity of the reefs.

 

[pilot fish]

Yes, color me STUPID! At the time I I was relatively new to ocean diving, (being in the heartland) and was overwhelmed with what I found at the surface, and TOTALLY spaced dropping my weight belt! (a mistake I'll never make again)

The resort was Hedonism II in Negril, Jamaica. The Divemaster was devasted at my close call, and given this forum's rules, I won't go into detail about my so called "buddy" . There really is not much of a chance to do a lengthly pre-dive chat because of the close proximity of the reefs.

I understand you were nervous and not thinking straight. Anybody might have done the same. I've heard that most dive fatalities still have their weights attached when they are recovered. So, as you can see, you are not alone. Thank God it turned out alright. Diving in Jamaica is your first mistake. Yuck.

I also understand how brief and rushed a pre-dive chat can be, since I've had my share of them because I'm a lone diver too - my wife does not dive. A lot of divers on this board dive with a designated dive buddy so I'm not sure they can fully appreciate how it is when you go alone on a dive boat and the DM is assigning buddies just before the dive. I think the thing to do, what I might start doing now, is asking right off the bat if there is another diver needing a buddy. Then the problem becomes, what do you do if you have a sense that diver is inexperienced and unsafe? What is a polite way of saying, I think it best I dive with someone else? I just don't know how to handle that?

Have you gotten your own gear now? What have you bought? What one piece of gear do you think might have made your pick up by the boat faster?

 

[Ayisha]

...so the divemaster motioned for me to ascend alone from 70'. (THIS IS AGAINST EVERYTHING THAT PADI AND YMCA TEACHES) I started my ascent alone..stayed at 15' for 4 min as by now I was well into the RED ZONE, then continued to the surface.

When I spoke about being severely in the "red" it was my guages I was referring to.I had less than 100 lbs. left when I went to snorkle (because of my leaking bc).

What didn't make sense is that you did an extra minute for your safety stop because you were low on air not because you went into deco. Remember in recreational diving, it's a safety stop, not an absolute requirement in an emergency (although you had enough air to do it). You could have even shortened it if your max depth was only 70 feet. Also, at 15 feet, you were drifting away far faster in the current than you were below.

Another point to learn from this is to check our guages often!

 

[Uncle Pug]

Another point to learn from this is to check our guages often!

~

After 30 min into the dive, I noticed I only had 550 lbs. of air left.