2airishuman
Contributor
A few weeks ago I was in Key Largo. It was windy. A couple of days of diving were blown out completely with the op calling to cancel. Showed up bright and early for a morning dive on the last diving day of my trip. The op was one of the SB favorites, the kind of place that gives you whatever tanks you ask for and lets you dive independently. I've dived with them before and like them.
Boat captain said, "It's going to be rough" and wondered if I still wanted to go. I asked, "How rough is rough?" and he replied that it was supposed to be 3-5'. Fine with me, I sail on Lake Superior and have been at the helm for much worse. I got the HP100s I wanted, asked for top offs which brought them from 3150 to 3200 (sigh, seems like every op does this), and set up my gear. It was a small boat for Key largo. We had the captain, two DMs, me, and I think 4 other paying customers. One of the customers was diving sidemount and insisted on bringing four tanks (for two hour-long dives).
The plan was to do a drift dive on the Davis reef. The DMs handed out SMBs, which I declined because I carry one of my own on every ocean dive, rolled up in a mesh bag that's bolted to the bottom of my backplate. We were supposed to split into two groups, one with each DM. The DMs would tow flags so the boat would know where each group was.
The waves kept building the further we got from shore. It was a long ride because the captain was being careful to take the waves within 45 degrees of the bow rather than right on the side, to give us a better and somewhat drier ride. I noticed what he what he was doing, neither of us said anything. We were getting waves up over the bow, everything on the boat was wet, and it was rolly. At least one of the other divers was struggling with seasickness. The captain radioed another boat that was on Molasses and the report there was that the viz was 10'.
We got close to the drop point and had a briefing: two groups as planned, hot drop onto the reef, maintain about 30 degree compass heading following the current. The captain impressed upon us that he wanted us in the water fast once the pool was open because the wind was in a different direction than the current and was pushing the boat off the reef.
We got the green light. The DM in my group didn't have her fins all the way on (she later said that she couldn't put them on in advance because of where she was sitting) so I waited, but the captain was rushing us into the water so I went. Empty BC, and I descended. I looked around and above for other divers, nobody. The viz where we were turned out to be about 15. The reef was over 40' deep where we were dropped, so as I descended, the boat disappeared in the murk before the reef started to become discernible. I got neutral and pulled out a light and turned it slowly in all directions hoping it would cut through the poor viz enough that I could be seen. And waited. No other divers. I was drifting along in the current, and set my compass at 30 degrees, and swam into the current a little since I expected the group to be somewhere behind me. After a couple of minutes of this I gave up: by then the boat would have had to try to line up for another drop if they were still on board, and in the 15' viz there was no way I was going to see them.
I evaluated my options and concluded that the best choice was to proceed with the dive. I thought about attaching a line to something and trying to do a circular search but there wasn't much to attach it to expect for coral and sponges. I didn't want to damage them, and besides, the current was enough to make that a doubtful plan anyway. I thought about surfacing, but that posed its own problems, particularly that of surfacing unexpectedly near a boat that was likely to be moving, therefore posing a propeller hazard. If not seen right away I would have ended up drifting with the wind away from the movement of the boat in seas that were all of 5'.
So I decided to enjoy my dive and trust the boat to find me at the end. It was dark and gloomy because of the viz but I nonetheless enjoyed the sponges and coral, saw some unusually large schools of fish, and followed a nurse shark a little at the end. After around half an hour on the bottom I still had half a tank of air, but the reef was getting deeper. I was on air didn't want to dive all the way to my NDL so that I would have some time left for the second dive, and I wanted to have plenty of air on the surface given the conditions. I don't practice with the SMB often but was able to get it launched. I drifted along on the bottom for about ten minutes more, figuring that would give the boat time to see it, before I ascended the line, did a safety stop, and surfaced. Conditions on the surface had continued to build. The waves were close together and all of 5'.
Now I am quite comfortable with solo dives and bad viz. I do them all the time, from shore, in Minnesota. But I'm here to tell you that being alone in the ocean, 3 miles from the Florida coast, in 5' waves, unsure where the boat was or whether it could see me, put me a little on edge. I had plenty of air, a little over 1000 PSI. I experimented with floating on my back, breathing without the reg. It was working but not especially well, in part because I was diving my tropical 17# wing and didn't have a whole lot of reserve buoyancy. If things didn't resolve soon I could have ditched lead, but that wasn't necessary.
I tried to relax and held the SMB vertical. I swam up a wave and saw the boat, maybe 100 yards or more away. I fell down into the trough and realized I should have taken a compass heading to it. After a couple more attempts I was able to see it again and got my compass dialed in. I decided to swim slowly towards the boat, did so, counted 25 kicks then climbed up a wave again. The boat had turned towards me and appeared to be heading in my direction, so I stopped and waited. Shortly it arrived. The captain was the only one aboard but did a good job of lining the boat up. I tried to swim the short 10' distance to the boat but the wind was blowing it away faster than I could sprint-swim, even with fins. The captain threw me a line and I was able to hand-over-hand my way to the ladder and climb aboard.
He said the rest of my group surfaced at the same time that I did. We went back and picked them up, by which time the last group had surfaced.
One of the sidemount guys, "fed the fish," shortly after climbing aboard. We headed in the general direction of shore with the captain and DMs being non-committal about another dive but mentioning the possibility that we might be done for the day. The other customers quietly told the DMs, one at a time, that they were indeed done for the done for the day, and the captain called the second dive off shortly afterwards. (The op refunded half the price of the trip.)
The DM for my group said that she found that the current was not 30 degrees compass heading and that they tried to fight it for a while before just following the current. I suspect that her compass was stuck or behaving badly, because I found the current to be right at 30 degrees. I believe this is likely why we remained separated. I replied in the affirmative when she asked if I'd had a good dive.
She nodded and said, "You looked like you knew what you were doing. I figured you'd be fine."
And I was.
Boat captain said, "It's going to be rough" and wondered if I still wanted to go. I asked, "How rough is rough?" and he replied that it was supposed to be 3-5'. Fine with me, I sail on Lake Superior and have been at the helm for much worse. I got the HP100s I wanted, asked for top offs which brought them from 3150 to 3200 (sigh, seems like every op does this), and set up my gear. It was a small boat for Key largo. We had the captain, two DMs, me, and I think 4 other paying customers. One of the customers was diving sidemount and insisted on bringing four tanks (for two hour-long dives).
The plan was to do a drift dive on the Davis reef. The DMs handed out SMBs, which I declined because I carry one of my own on every ocean dive, rolled up in a mesh bag that's bolted to the bottom of my backplate. We were supposed to split into two groups, one with each DM. The DMs would tow flags so the boat would know where each group was.
The waves kept building the further we got from shore. It was a long ride because the captain was being careful to take the waves within 45 degrees of the bow rather than right on the side, to give us a better and somewhat drier ride. I noticed what he what he was doing, neither of us said anything. We were getting waves up over the bow, everything on the boat was wet, and it was rolly. At least one of the other divers was struggling with seasickness. The captain radioed another boat that was on Molasses and the report there was that the viz was 10'.
We got close to the drop point and had a briefing: two groups as planned, hot drop onto the reef, maintain about 30 degree compass heading following the current. The captain impressed upon us that he wanted us in the water fast once the pool was open because the wind was in a different direction than the current and was pushing the boat off the reef.
We got the green light. The DM in my group didn't have her fins all the way on (she later said that she couldn't put them on in advance because of where she was sitting) so I waited, but the captain was rushing us into the water so I went. Empty BC, and I descended. I looked around and above for other divers, nobody. The viz where we were turned out to be about 15. The reef was over 40' deep where we were dropped, so as I descended, the boat disappeared in the murk before the reef started to become discernible. I got neutral and pulled out a light and turned it slowly in all directions hoping it would cut through the poor viz enough that I could be seen. And waited. No other divers. I was drifting along in the current, and set my compass at 30 degrees, and swam into the current a little since I expected the group to be somewhere behind me. After a couple of minutes of this I gave up: by then the boat would have had to try to line up for another drop if they were still on board, and in the 15' viz there was no way I was going to see them.
I evaluated my options and concluded that the best choice was to proceed with the dive. I thought about attaching a line to something and trying to do a circular search but there wasn't much to attach it to expect for coral and sponges. I didn't want to damage them, and besides, the current was enough to make that a doubtful plan anyway. I thought about surfacing, but that posed its own problems, particularly that of surfacing unexpectedly near a boat that was likely to be moving, therefore posing a propeller hazard. If not seen right away I would have ended up drifting with the wind away from the movement of the boat in seas that were all of 5'.
So I decided to enjoy my dive and trust the boat to find me at the end. It was dark and gloomy because of the viz but I nonetheless enjoyed the sponges and coral, saw some unusually large schools of fish, and followed a nurse shark a little at the end. After around half an hour on the bottom I still had half a tank of air, but the reef was getting deeper. I was on air didn't want to dive all the way to my NDL so that I would have some time left for the second dive, and I wanted to have plenty of air on the surface given the conditions. I don't practice with the SMB often but was able to get it launched. I drifted along on the bottom for about ten minutes more, figuring that would give the boat time to see it, before I ascended the line, did a safety stop, and surfaced. Conditions on the surface had continued to build. The waves were close together and all of 5'.
Now I am quite comfortable with solo dives and bad viz. I do them all the time, from shore, in Minnesota. But I'm here to tell you that being alone in the ocean, 3 miles from the Florida coast, in 5' waves, unsure where the boat was or whether it could see me, put me a little on edge. I had plenty of air, a little over 1000 PSI. I experimented with floating on my back, breathing without the reg. It was working but not especially well, in part because I was diving my tropical 17# wing and didn't have a whole lot of reserve buoyancy. If things didn't resolve soon I could have ditched lead, but that wasn't necessary.
I tried to relax and held the SMB vertical. I swam up a wave and saw the boat, maybe 100 yards or more away. I fell down into the trough and realized I should have taken a compass heading to it. After a couple more attempts I was able to see it again and got my compass dialed in. I decided to swim slowly towards the boat, did so, counted 25 kicks then climbed up a wave again. The boat had turned towards me and appeared to be heading in my direction, so I stopped and waited. Shortly it arrived. The captain was the only one aboard but did a good job of lining the boat up. I tried to swim the short 10' distance to the boat but the wind was blowing it away faster than I could sprint-swim, even with fins. The captain threw me a line and I was able to hand-over-hand my way to the ladder and climb aboard.
He said the rest of my group surfaced at the same time that I did. We went back and picked them up, by which time the last group had surfaced.
One of the sidemount guys, "fed the fish," shortly after climbing aboard. We headed in the general direction of shore with the captain and DMs being non-committal about another dive but mentioning the possibility that we might be done for the day. The other customers quietly told the DMs, one at a time, that they were indeed done for the done for the day, and the captain called the second dive off shortly afterwards. (The op refunded half the price of the trip.)
The DM for my group said that she found that the current was not 30 degrees compass heading and that they tried to fight it for a while before just following the current. I suspect that her compass was stuck or behaving badly, because I found the current to be right at 30 degrees. I believe this is likely why we remained separated. I replied in the affirmative when she asked if I'd had a good dive.
She nodded and said, "You looked like you knew what you were doing. I figured you'd be fine."
And I was.
