Leaving bottles

boulderjohn · May 18, 2012

In a thread in a regional forum, an argument erupted about the idea of leaving deco bottles behind on a line for use on ascent. Some argued that it should only be done in a cave and not an open water environment. I thought this might make an interesting topic in this forum. I don't mean to limit in any way to the details of the original thread. I just wonder what people in this are think of leaving bottles behind in various environments, including caves, wrecks, open water, sewers--whatever.

rongoodman · May 18, 2012

I'll leave the bottle on the line in a cave, but keep it(them) with me in open water.

waterpirate · May 18, 2012

I allways have my bottles with me. In open water it is a no brainer. For wreck penetration if I can not get in there with the bottles I am carrying, I do not go in.
Eric

TSandM · May 18, 2012

Ron, I like your status!

I was taught to keep all bottles with me in OW. The environment is simply too dynamic to count on being able to get back to them, if you leave them -- and reading The Last Dive only reinforced that for me.

Leaving them in a cave can be problematic, too. There have been a number of thefts of deco bottles left at 20 feet in Ginnie Springs; when we dove there the other day, we broke the rule of "never carry a bottle below its MOD", and left our bottles at the sign. From what I've read, that may not be far enough, either. We weren't worried because there was no one else there.

JamesK · May 18, 2012

In OW my bottles all stay with me. However, I don't do very much OW deco diving.

In a cave I will drop bottles. In places like Ginnie that has a lot of OW divers, I will carry my bottles farther in. I have come back out of there and had someone messing with my bottle before. I will not let that happen again.

boulderjohn · May 18, 2012

Let me throw an additional issue into the question. To what degree does the number of bottles matter?

I know of a situation where some divers will leave bottles in an OW site on a special line that has its float at 60 feet and is next to the main ascent line at a site dived almost exclusively by tech divers. They will do this when they are carrying a lot of bottles, situations where others would normally use a leash for the extra(s). I have not seen these people in a less sheltered area, so I don't know their habits elsewhere.

What do you think?

diverdoug1 · May 18, 2012

When I am diving in open water, I have all required gas to ascend with me, except when I am sometimes penetrating a wreck, I will drop my stage tanks at my exit point, but only when I have a safety diver. I had a stage tank go walking that I dropped by the chimney at Eagles Nest one time, so it is not always totaly safe to drop you tanks when cave diving either. Whoever (whomever?) took that tank and reg has some bad Karma on them now!!!!

MXGratefulDiver · May 18, 2012

One significant problem with leaving bottles at an OW site is described in the initial post of that linked thread ... someone who doesn't understand why they're there being "helpful" and removing them from the water. Now what ... gonna be a long deco ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

boulderjohn · May 18, 2012

TSandM:
... reading The Last Dive only reinforced that for me.

Last year a buddy suggested (wet notes) we drop our deco tanks outside the wreck we were visiting so we could squeeze through the hole in the hull we were looking at. I immediately thought of Chris and Chrissie Rouse leaving their tanks outside the uboat and not finding them when they came out another hole. No way!

I have also thought of Bernie Chowdhury leaving his tanks by one of the ascent lines on a wreck and then getting so narced he went up the wrong line. (His conclusion after sever DCS: wear a full face mask with coms so that when you screw up like that again, you can tell the surface to send something down for you.)

That is why I do tend to take everything with me, although I do admit that I leave O2 bottles in caves.

ianr33 · May 18, 2012

Would normally take all bottles with me in OW.
We were doing some local dives a couple of years ago where we dropped bottles though. Were basically treating these dives like cave dives (laying a line across an endless silt plain) Put a note on the O2 and had a support diver at the 50%. Leaving tanks anywhere there are OW divers or classes just seems to be asking for trouble.

Only time I have dived Ginnie was in Cave Class. Instructor dropped his O2 after the Hill 400 jump..........

Leaving bottles

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