So I am just back from a little side trip I took at the end of a business trip. I had a great time and was able to get in 7 dives over 3 days.
I had a bit of a scare Friday though. I was on a 3 tank trip on the Narcosis. It turned out that the majority of the divers were hunting, I agreed to buddy up with a guy shortly before we jumped.
He had issues getting down but he finally made it down. I was interested in watching a hunt but I could see right away that he would most likely blow through his air. I kept an eye on him and was verifying that he would indeed be checking his gauge, and he was.
So when I had 1/2 a tank left, I swam over to him and asked for his pressure. He looks at me and tells me he has 400 and gives a thumbs up. We are at 70'. I grab my alternate and offer it to him but he shakes it off and starts to ascend. Much faster than I wanted to! So I keep an eye on him and see he makes it to the surface. He is looking down at me and I give an OK signal and he responds with the same.
So I deploy my SMB since this was a "hot drop" and we would have to be picked up. I make a leisurely ascent to 15' and do my safety stop. While I am there, the boat comes over and he signals down to me that he is going to get on board and I signal OK. Once the safety stop is complete, I slowly ascent to the ladder and get on board.
Once on, I told him I thought he had ascended too fast and also that he should have done a safety stop. He tells me he ran out of air!!!
I wish I would have completely deployed my alternate and insisted that he take it. When I got on board, I still had 1250 left. More than enough for another person to ascend slowly and do their safety stop.
I kept an eye on him all during the SI and toward the end of it, queried him on how he felt. Luckily, all was fine.
I had a bit of a scare Friday though. I was on a 3 tank trip on the Narcosis. It turned out that the majority of the divers were hunting, I agreed to buddy up with a guy shortly before we jumped.
He had issues getting down but he finally made it down. I was interested in watching a hunt but I could see right away that he would most likely blow through his air. I kept an eye on him and was verifying that he would indeed be checking his gauge, and he was.
So when I had 1/2 a tank left, I swam over to him and asked for his pressure. He looks at me and tells me he has 400 and gives a thumbs up. We are at 70'. I grab my alternate and offer it to him but he shakes it off and starts to ascend. Much faster than I wanted to! So I keep an eye on him and see he makes it to the surface. He is looking down at me and I give an OK signal and he responds with the same.
So I deploy my SMB since this was a "hot drop" and we would have to be picked up. I make a leisurely ascent to 15' and do my safety stop. While I am there, the boat comes over and he signals down to me that he is going to get on board and I signal OK. Once the safety stop is complete, I slowly ascent to the ladder and get on board.
Once on, I told him I thought he had ascended too fast and also that he should have done a safety stop. He tells me he ran out of air!!!
I wish I would have completely deployed my alternate and insisted that he take it. When I got on board, I still had 1250 left. More than enough for another person to ascend slowly and do their safety stop.
I kept an eye on him all during the SI and toward the end of it, queried him on how he felt. Luckily, all was fine.