tddfleming
Contributor
Ran into another diver this weekend and was told a story that I have been thinking about a bit. This story involves a couple, husband and wife. Both are inexperienced, in that they have 30-40 dives, I believe.
The couple went on what sounds to be an easy dive at a quarry. They were decending when husband thumbed the dive, starts the ascent while husband watches from above while wife is kicking and in a panic and just keeps sinking. wife finally gets to the surface and inflates BC, while husband talks to them about what had happened. Husband explains that while decending, he had some sort of a weird feeling, as soon as he went through the thermocline, where his chest started to pound and a feeling of frecking out. Wife was able to get herself under control and they dove a shallower depth, without incident. However, I was told that when these two were talking the next day about what happened, as the wife was upset with herself for not realizing how to fix the problem, it was said that with the neg. buoyancy, along with the dive being thumbed and husband leaving leaving her at depth, is what they felt caused the issue. But, when they were discussing this, wife wanted to know why husband did not come down to help, husband, replied, "what did you want me to do, I was only 10-15 feet away from you." The wife, told me that she said, "just let me drown." I am not sure if this person was just wanting to air what happened or what, but it started me thinking about what makes a good buddy or not. It also started me thinking about how to handle an issue such as this, when 2 people are diving and both start down the panic cycle, does this happen much? According to the person I spoke to, there was a 2 min. difference for the dive time between these 2 people. I do not know if they have compared dive computers at this point to see if they can make heads for tails out of everything. But something does seen off to me with this story.
My biggest issues with this story: Should the husband gone down to help wife, since he himself stated that he had some issue with the dive? As I was told, that the husband later told his wife that he noticed she was having issues. He could see that she was sinking. I think this person would like some feedback and at this point don't know what to tell her.
The couple went on what sounds to be an easy dive at a quarry. They were decending when husband thumbed the dive, starts the ascent while husband watches from above while wife is kicking and in a panic and just keeps sinking. wife finally gets to the surface and inflates BC, while husband talks to them about what had happened. Husband explains that while decending, he had some sort of a weird feeling, as soon as he went through the thermocline, where his chest started to pound and a feeling of frecking out. Wife was able to get herself under control and they dove a shallower depth, without incident. However, I was told that when these two were talking the next day about what happened, as the wife was upset with herself for not realizing how to fix the problem, it was said that with the neg. buoyancy, along with the dive being thumbed and husband leaving leaving her at depth, is what they felt caused the issue. But, when they were discussing this, wife wanted to know why husband did not come down to help, husband, replied, "what did you want me to do, I was only 10-15 feet away from you." The wife, told me that she said, "just let me drown." I am not sure if this person was just wanting to air what happened or what, but it started me thinking about what makes a good buddy or not. It also started me thinking about how to handle an issue such as this, when 2 people are diving and both start down the panic cycle, does this happen much? According to the person I spoke to, there was a 2 min. difference for the dive time between these 2 people. I do not know if they have compared dive computers at this point to see if they can make heads for tails out of everything. But something does seen off to me with this story.
My biggest issues with this story: Should the husband gone down to help wife, since he himself stated that he had some issue with the dive? As I was told, that the husband later told his wife that he noticed she was having issues. He could see that she was sinking. I think this person would like some feedback and at this point don't know what to tell her.
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