Was I Wrong? How to correct if so?

[Tigerman]

The issue here is not that you ascended and ended the dive, that part was exactly what should have been done.

If you where an experienced diver who signaled his buddy to join another diver/team while you surfaced, I would say it was fine as long as the guide knew what was going on.
This DOES however depend a bit on "how things are done in the area/with the op". Some ops are adament that NO solo ascents/descents should take place (which is ironic as they dont hesitate sending their guide down or up solo) and this might be the cause of the flak.
It might also be, which is what I see as an issue that youre an inexperienced diver.

Some places Ive been theire fine letting people up on their own as long as you can point out your boat and make sure your buddy is getting a new buddy/team, other places its just not something youll be allowed to do at all.

Personally, I have been both the one staying and the one going and Ive also been the one who have "lost" the guide and done my own thing (with my buddy). The guide shouldnt be the scuba police, he should be what he is - the local knowledge. Theres no scuba laws saying you cant dive without the guide, but most agencies subscribe to the one saying you cant dive without a buddy.
Question is how rigid you take that rule. For me I see no problem with an experienced buddy ascending from 10 meters with me observing him making it safely to the surface and connect with another buddy/team (providing the ascent is not due to an emergency) or the other way around.


Then again, I also committ the lethal PADI-sin of solo diving, so well...

 

[blinkswiler]

Unless it was a paid divemaster or otherwise officially designated leader, the general rule is that the first low on air controls the dive duration. At a minimum, your partner should have stayed with you and surfaced also.

 

[Insta-Gator]

What were the instructions in the brief? You surfaces without your buddy? I was taught that you always stay with buddy. I can't be critical as I am newly certified as well. But we several drift dives early on and the brief said when low surface with your buddy, inflate SMB and wait for boat, don't need to bother telling DM. In a couple dives we were close to DM and let him know even though not necessary. Boat came and got us, we were back on board within minutes of surfacing. Mostly if there something was done wrong it may have been others who didn't tell you what to do on low air.

Edit: Apparently you were replying at the same time I was so ignore anything redundant.

Always stay with your buddy and vice versa.

 

[soltari675]

I have a question kinda related. I've seen a lot of posts about buddies never separating to surface. When I was in Florida this year I went to Jupiter and went on a drift dive. Since this was my first time diving in the ocean and from a boat, the DM paired me with him. He had dove with me on the previous day with a very small group and knew I was a capable diver. However, since he was the DM and I was pretty new, it was expected I would run low on air before him. Since he wanted to remain with the group as the guide, we agreed that when I hit 1000psi (we were diving at about 70 ft) I would surface alone. I was ok with this. I did my safety stop. Once I did come up kinda far from the boat and the dive flag, but they came and got me. I had my surface marker.

My question is how common is this? Was this really bad? Or does it often happen?

 

[melanie.]

If you where an experienced diver who signaled his buddy to join another diver/team while you surfaced, I would say it was fine as long as the guide knew what was going on.

For me I see no problem with an experienced buddy ascending from 10 meters with me observing him making it safely to the surface and connect with another buddy/team (providing the ascent is not due to an emergency) or the other way around.

Completely agree. Blanket rules do not cover every situation, and every diver of different skill levels. I have gone up myself no problem, but other times I have also demanded my buddy come up with me. To each their own.

To the OP, you are going to get yelled at, made fun of, and well pretty much everything throughout your diving life. As long as you are learning and asking questions you will always become a better diver because of it

 

[farsidefan1]

most the important stuff has been covered, surfacing with your buddy, signals, predive discussions. One thing not yet mentioned is other mistakes made and not made. Apparently your buddy was not close enough to grab her fin and get her attention to give her the low on anir and thumb the dive. Quite likely the dm was not close enough to get his attention. The HUGE mistake which you did not make (thank goodness) is to stay down trying to inform the dm or to try to catch up with a clueless buddy who was moving away too far to catch up with. Had you made this mistake you might not be sharing your experience with us. Of course you want to inform your buddy, and the dm, but not at the expense of running out of air at depth. Congrats on what you did right.

 

[dmcutter]

I had a fairly similar experience last December in Aruba. I had maybe 17 dives, and it was my second day out with this outfitter (my 3rd ocean dive, the 1st and 2nd having been the previous day). We were doing some swimthroughs of airplane fuselages, the first being down around 90 ft. The predive briefing basically consisted of "let me know when you're down to 1500 psi". My dive buddy was a gent with maybe 10 more dives than me. I started the dive with something like 2800 psi in an Al80, a pretty low fill compared to what my local shop typically provides. As the dive progressed and I saw my air getting close to 1500, I tried to catch up to the DM to alert him. We were swimming against a current and by the time I caught up with him to indicate I was getting low, I was down to about 1200 psi. We did the swimthrough of the second plane, maybe at 40-45 ft, and when I came through the upper end of the plane I was below 900 psi and my computer told me I had 4 minutes of gas time. I was a little light and maybe 10 ft above my instabuddy. My feeling was that if I only had 4 minutes of air, 3 would go to my safety stop and I made the command descision to head up to the surface solo instead of trying to swim down, alert my buddy, and end up having to share air for the rest of the dive. I headed up to 15 ft and did my 3 minute stop and surfaced with around 500 psi. I was stressing the entire time about the rest of the group missing me and not knowing I had headed to the surface. I was expecting a major ass chewing from the DM. I did not realize how much current there was and how far I drifted during my stop. I surfaced maybe 100 yds from the boat, maybe farther-my memory is hazy, but it was a long swim against the current. The mate said he saw me but couldn't move the boat because the rest of the group was below the boat. Never got an ass chewing, either.

Obviously I violated the don't leave your buddy protocol, but I was pleased that, at my newb level, I did not panic about being low on air and I managed to execute my safety stop. I guess the point of my bourbon soaked rambling is that the quality of predive briefings and local customs/procedures vary a lot, dive outfitters pretty much leave you to your own devices once you show your C card, and stuff happens pretty frequently but you probly don't hear about it unless someone dies.

 

[TSandM]

Soltari, when I did my first Maui trip, I dove with my husband and an instructor. If I recall correctly, the dive briefing was that, if somebody ran low on gas, they'd go up and get back on the boat, and the other person would stay with the instructor. I didn't know any better. Peter ran low and ascended, and I spent another ten or fifteen minutes in the water.

Nowadays, I would not do that. What if my buddy, low on gas, ran out on ascent? What if he had a freeflow? What if he got so anxious about being low that he held his breath on ascent? What if he surfaces and starts to develop DCS symptoms, and can't keep his head out of the water? (BTW, there's a story somewhere on this board of precisely that.)

Descents and ascents are where you need a buddy, most likely. You've got ear problems, or buoyancy problems, or gas problems . . . going up and down in the water column is not a place to leave someone on his own. JMHO, and my unvarying practice.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Are you sure you remember in details everything that were said in the dive briefing? I know when I was starting off, all dives were guided, so we didn't really care what was said since we will just follow the DM and follow his instructions. We don't invent new procedures unless instructed by DM.

I don't mean 'didn't care' since the DM briefing would usually discuss all the hand signals, half tank, 900 psi, etc, which are all part of what was taught during OW cert.

I was in a similar situation early on, certifying and having a 5 yr haitus, then diving Columbia deep in Coz as a air hog. I was DM's buddy cuz I was by myself, and 20min into the dive, I was low on air, so at 80ft and signaled to my DM. He was thinking, what to do, either end the dive for everyone or send me up alone. So he send me up by myself and watched me go all the way up. I didn't invent new procedures. Everything I did was based on his instruction.

Also, in many of the dives, when one person is starting to get low on air and your buddy is far from low on air, the DM will usually find another person in the group that is low on air and send the pair up together. The rarely intentionally send a single diver up own their own.

 

[Diver0001]

My question is how common is this? Was this really bad? Or does it often happen?

Well... it happens. As I said before, to my way of thinking it's not a good idea to send a diver--especially an inexperienced diver--alone to the surface. Your case illustrates why I think it's not a good idea for the DM to buddy up with one of the divers.

That said, you made a clear arrangement with him and you both did what you agreed to do. That's strong even though I'm not in favor of such arrangements.

R..