Near Death Experience!

[LuvsItWet]

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!

Yes, hindsight is always 20/20 isn't it? But I was taught to always do a 3-5min safety stop at 15-20' so I cut the difference at 4 min to be safe. When I looked up, I could see the ocean was rough, but I had no idea how rough, and had no idea how much the wind had picked up.

 

[LuvsItWet]

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?

Yes, I have ALL my own gear sans tank, and my dive alert, and sausage may have prevented it.

 

[fins wake]

The dive guides are mostly there to point out the cool stuff to look at.

Nah, they do have a duty of care to their group.

And in my experience it is "uncommon to let someone ascend alone who has gone thru their air more quickly and allow the remaining divers to finish the dive". At the very least you ascend with your buddy, not alone. But what do I know, I've never been to Jamaica ...

It would appear there are hazards to staying at Hedonism II that are beyond those I would have expected ... :33: :ircqnet: :angel_smi

 

[Michael Freeman]

Last time I was in Cozumel my dive buddy (stranger) sucked down air like crazy (no malfunction of equipment). I always surfaced with him even though I had 1500+ psi when we surfaced and he was sub 500 psi. Sending him up by himself never crossed my mind.

 

[Corigan]

I always make sure in Pre-Briefing I tell my buddy that anyone can thumb the dive at anytime, no questions asked. I also state that we all go out together and come back together. I'm glad you are ok and have learned from this lesson. A few questions/comments Pre-Dive can save yourself a heck of a time down the line.

Matt

 

[pilot fish]

I always make sure in Pre-Briefing I tell my buddy that anyone can thumb the dive at anytime, no questions asked. I also state that we all go out together and come back together. I'm glad you are ok and have learned from this lesson. A few questions/comments Pre-Dive can save yourself a heck of a time down the line.

Matt

What kind of questions would you ask? I always feel that another diver might feel some questions are intrusive.

 

[PaulChristenson]

I always make sure in Pre-Briefing I tell my buddy that anyone can thumb the dive at anytime, no questions asked. I also state that we all go out together and come back together.
Matt

If I'm ever down your way...I'll dive with you!!...Always like to meet a TEAM Diver

Paul in VT

 

[OE2X]

What kind of questions would you ask? I always feel that another diver might feel some questions are intrusive.

I think you can get a lot of information about an person, just by talking to them. Recently I met a diver and spent 20 or so minutes talking with them. No real questions asked, but after talking with them for a few minutes, I realized that this was not the sort person I would feel comfortable with as a buddy. I was proved correct. This person on two dives surfaced without their buddy.


When I'm diving with someone who I have no knowledge about ie... a complete stranger, I will ask them questions.If a person feels that my questions are intrusive then I don't want them as my buddy. They could be a risk to me or create a dive that is more trouble than it's worth.

Questions that I typically will ask are:
What's your experience?
SAC rate under relaxed conditions?
Have you ever dove this site?
What sort of style of diving do you like - slow and look at detail or fast and see everything?

The questions I ask of every buddy before every dive:
What size tank are you using?
What kind of gas are you breathing?
What kind of dive plan do you want?
Rock bottom for this dive?

After all of these questions, with a new buddy, I tell them what I think it means to be buddy with me. It means we stay in contact at all times. It means we never get very far away from one another. We go down together, we surface together. Either buddy can thumb the dive for whatever the reason without worrying about what the other diver will think. I will ask or will check your PSI a few times during the dive.

 

[pilot fish]

I think you can get a lot of information about an person, just by talking to them. Recently I met a diver and spent 20 or so minutes talking with them. No real questions asked, but after talking with them for a few minutes, I realized that this was not the sort person I would feel comfortable with as a buddy. I was proved correct. This person on two dives surfaced without their buddy.


When I'm diving with someone who I have no knowledge about ie... a complete stranger, I will ask them questions.If a person feels that my questions are intrusive then I don't want them as my buddy. They could be a risk to me or create a dive that is more trouble than it's worth.

Questions that I typically will ask are:
What's your experience?
SAC rate under relaxed conditions?
Have you ever dove this site?
What sort of style of diving do you like - slow and look at detail or fast and see everything?

The questions I ask of every buddy before every dive:
What size tank are you using?
What kind of gas are you breathing?
What kind of dive plan do you want?
Rock bottom for this dive?

After all of these questions, with a new buddy, I tell them what I think it means to be buddy with me. It means we stay in contact at all times. It means we never get very far away from one another. We go down together, we surface together. Either buddy can thumb the dive for whatever the reason without worrying about what the other diver will think. I will ask or will check your PSI a few times during the dive.

That's good to know. I think the problem I'm having in that regard is buddying up just prior to dive and not being able to ask questions. Diving on a boat alone has a few risks, chief among them is getting buddied up with crummy divers. I had one buddy in Saba recently that did not know what I was asking when i asked for his psi. Too many times I have been ignored at depth, which I fault myself for, in not asking the right questions on the boat. I guess I have to get over this feeling that they might think I'm being rude and intrusive.

If after you talk with a potential buddy and you determine you don't want to dive with them, what do you say then? How do you handle that? I've been taking whatever I get and that's not fair to me.

 

[H2Andy]

LuvsItWet, i think you did alright in making it out alive, and hidsight is 20-20. sounds
like you've learned some good lessons here.

i found myself thinking i would have done the following different:

1. the six foot swells didn't come from out of nowhere. did i check the
weather? do i feel comfortable making that sort of dive?

2. whether my own or rented, did i check the equipment before dive?

3. did i and my buddy do mutual bubble check before descending tomake sure no air is leaking?

4. did i keep an eye on those gages? did i check them often to make sure i'm good?

5. i would have refused to ascend alone and would have signaled the DM to ascend
with me. maybe he wouldn't have, but he won't if i don't ask.

6. i would have ditched weights immediately upon surfacing

7. i would have deployed my safety sausage as soon as i became aware of the
high seas (at the saftey stop would be ideal)

8. i would have used my pneumatic whistle (appears the boat heard the DM's) immediately, not waited five minutes. both you and the boat can move apart
a lot in five minutes.