chepar
Contributor
Did a couple of dives with a boat charter this past Sunday, these were my 10th and 11th dives. I've gone with this particular company before, but hadn't been to the particular dive sites we were visiting that day. The second dive we went on was supposed to be easy, about 40 minutes bottom time, max depth about 35-40 feet, easy conditions - maybe a little surge. I've encountered moderate surge and current before and not had any problems, but nothing like this dive.
Going down the descent line, there was a very strong current. I was hoping that once I got a little deeper, the current wouldn't be as strong, but as I got about halfway down, I see that the boat anchor has somehow come loose, and one of the divemasters is hanging onto the end, trying to anchor it down into the ocean floor to no avail - he was just being dragged along. He must have been dragged about 40-60 yards before the anchor was secured.
While the boat was drifting and the anchor was being dragged, most of the divers on the line were dropping off like rocks. I hung onto the line, thinking "where the boat goes, I'm going" - except that I saw that my (assigned) buddy, the other couple assigned to my group and our DM were all off the line at the bottom. It flashed through my mind that the current and the situation was something that I was not very comfortable in, and I wondered if I should abort the dive. However, as my buddy and group were all at the bottom already (and drifting away with the current), there was no way at the time for me to signal to them that I was going up, so I decided to stay with the group, rather than just disappear and have them wonder where I went.
Our dive literally consisted of scrabbling on the sea bed for handholds while we pulled ourselves against the current. The current and surge were just as bad on the bottom, and as the sea floor was pretty much just flat and sandy, it was very hard to find handholds. I was tiring very quickly, my arms and fingers were cramping and my sole concern at that point was keeping my buddy and group in sight as we crawled (about 2 inches off the floor) along. Wondering when the dive would end, the line to the boat was nowhere in sight, so I did all I could to keep them in sight. It was kind of scary - when the current went against my face, the force was strong enough that I had to bite down hard to keep my regulator from being torn out of my mouth. There were some elements of solo diving going on at this time - everyone was so preoccupied with finding handholds so as not to be blasted away with the current, there were not much in the sense of buddy checks going on.
When we finally ascended (all linking arms so as not to be separated), we were at least 130 yards from the boat, which had to motor over and pick us up.
Once we got back on the boat, we found out that all the other divers spent maybe 4 minutes near the anchor, kicking away and going nowhere - then deciding that the current was too strong, they were going up. Our group was the only one that attempted to do the dive.
With that experience under my belt, one of my priorities is to go out and buy a safety sausage. I haven't gotten around to getting one yet, figuring that I don't do drift dives and that all dives were guided by a DM. This experience was a knock on the head to be prepared for any situation - what was supposed to be an easy dive in easy conditions turned out to be a little more difficult - and I can see where I could have easily become separated from the group.
My question, though - when the anchor was being dragged along, and all the other divers were dropping off the line - was there a particular reason that they were doing so? I couldn't figure that one out - is there something that I don't know about? I figured it was better to stay with the boat, but I must have been the only one.
Also - in that situation - would it have been wiser to ascend (but it being very questionable that my buddy/group would have known that I ascended) or did I do the right thing by staying with the group?
Going down the descent line, there was a very strong current. I was hoping that once I got a little deeper, the current wouldn't be as strong, but as I got about halfway down, I see that the boat anchor has somehow come loose, and one of the divemasters is hanging onto the end, trying to anchor it down into the ocean floor to no avail - he was just being dragged along. He must have been dragged about 40-60 yards before the anchor was secured.
While the boat was drifting and the anchor was being dragged, most of the divers on the line were dropping off like rocks. I hung onto the line, thinking "where the boat goes, I'm going" - except that I saw that my (assigned) buddy, the other couple assigned to my group and our DM were all off the line at the bottom. It flashed through my mind that the current and the situation was something that I was not very comfortable in, and I wondered if I should abort the dive. However, as my buddy and group were all at the bottom already (and drifting away with the current), there was no way at the time for me to signal to them that I was going up, so I decided to stay with the group, rather than just disappear and have them wonder where I went.
Our dive literally consisted of scrabbling on the sea bed for handholds while we pulled ourselves against the current. The current and surge were just as bad on the bottom, and as the sea floor was pretty much just flat and sandy, it was very hard to find handholds. I was tiring very quickly, my arms and fingers were cramping and my sole concern at that point was keeping my buddy and group in sight as we crawled (about 2 inches off the floor) along. Wondering when the dive would end, the line to the boat was nowhere in sight, so I did all I could to keep them in sight. It was kind of scary - when the current went against my face, the force was strong enough that I had to bite down hard to keep my regulator from being torn out of my mouth. There were some elements of solo diving going on at this time - everyone was so preoccupied with finding handholds so as not to be blasted away with the current, there were not much in the sense of buddy checks going on.
When we finally ascended (all linking arms so as not to be separated), we were at least 130 yards from the boat, which had to motor over and pick us up.
Once we got back on the boat, we found out that all the other divers spent maybe 4 minutes near the anchor, kicking away and going nowhere - then deciding that the current was too strong, they were going up. Our group was the only one that attempted to do the dive.
With that experience under my belt, one of my priorities is to go out and buy a safety sausage. I haven't gotten around to getting one yet, figuring that I don't do drift dives and that all dives were guided by a DM. This experience was a knock on the head to be prepared for any situation - what was supposed to be an easy dive in easy conditions turned out to be a little more difficult - and I can see where I could have easily become separated from the group.
My question, though - when the anchor was being dragged along, and all the other divers were dropping off the line - was there a particular reason that they were doing so? I couldn't figure that one out - is there something that I don't know about? I figured it was better to stay with the boat, but I must have been the only one.
Also - in that situation - would it have been wiser to ascend (but it being very questionable that my buddy/group would have known that I ascended) or did I do the right thing by staying with the group?
