- Messages
- 53,643
- Reaction score
- 7,825
- # of dives
- 500 - 999
I am not really a Solo Dive, but more of a Same Boat Diver in that my Pony bottle and I will dive the same reef or wreck as everyone else at the same time. Ill kinda help look out for others, and if things get hairy I am not one to bluff my way thru things Rambo style; Ill join a buddy team as a self-invited new-bud if it looks like the prudent action available. Like all the teams I joined on todays Papoose dive off of Morehead City NC
The viz hadnt been great for the dive, and then I found myself surrounded in schooling Baitfish and Amberjacks, as well as just not at all sure where the anchor line was on this interesting junk pile. No problem, I thought. Ive got lots of air left, no other problems, and my Pony. Im in good shape. But this wreck is a big one, and when I didnt find the lifeline in short order, I soon adopted a pair of divers I knew were from my boat and not the big one anchored across the way as they headed away from the wreck and on a slow swimming ascent.
All the hunting around had put me into just a little Deco time, but No problem, as Ive got lots of air left and a solution at hand. There was a bit of a head current, though, and I soon found my PSIs dropping down to the 500 range. I heretofore never had deployed my Pony other than in practice and to aid other divers short on gas, but this seemed like a good time to use the Bail-Out-Only bottle for a prudent Bail-Out. I was still following the other two divers, whom I hoped really knew which way they were going, but one of my multitude of back-up plans was to be with a small group if they screwed up and we all had to do a free ascent to be picked up later, certainly better than me alone drifting down current too far from an anchored boat. One of them went ahead and surfaced alone, while the other stayed below with me as we extended our swimming stop, and I was quickly reassured that we were now following a surface swimmer certainly headed for the boat.
I was to be latter advised that I seemed to have a significant leak from the Ponys first stage, though, and that back-plan played out all too quickly. Some of you may know that sick, icky feeling of taking a couple of increasingly difficult drags on a reg, knowing that youll next be taking your last drag on that bottle at this depth. Gawd, but that was not fun, yet I had only to switch back to my main reg & bottle comfortable that I still had 500 PSI of a 120 cf bottle, thinking: This is not really a problem. Ive got 20 cf of 30% Nx left, at 20 feet, only a few minutes of Deco left, and surely were close to the boat." The stressed situation may have taken a toll on my consumption rate, though, and it did take a while to finally find the hang line. You know that sick, icky feeling of taking a couple of increasingly difficult drags on a reg, knowing that youll next be taking your last drag on that bottle at this depth is really not a good thing twice on the same dive.
I held onto that last good breath and swam down just a bit to be safe on over expansion while I sought obtain the attention of the first diver I could find on the line. I wasnt desperate yet, as I could easily go for a direct ascent to the boat if I wanted to blow off 5 minutes of Deco, sit out the boat ride in on an Oxygen mask, lock up the one of two computers that had not cleared yet, and sit out the next day of diving at best?! Things could play out not that well, of course, and we are never guaranteed to get or not get bent, so I signaled the diver politely: I am totally out of damned air! He gave me a reg, opting for one of his others at that point, and I started eyeballing my computer and flashing a decreasing number of fingers at him over 5 minutes. I hate screwing up, as I must always admit that some of the problems had to be of my own making, but I really hate being found out when theres half a dozen other divers from the same boat on the line watching the drama. Jeeze!
Finally after a long, embarrassing hang time, my second computer finally cleared, I offered him a thumbs-up, and I pulled my own reg to my mouth in hopes of finding a couple more breaths as I slowly ascended the last 20 feet. The last I saw of him as I did get that next breath was him showing me his 8 minutes left on his computer yet! Gosh, I hope I left him with enough gas? I was in no position to be even thinking about aiding others, though, as I still had myself to finish saving, so I just counted on him being a good diver who would have told me if I had been overstaying my welcome.
All along, I had a number of contingency plans, some I used, a couple I had left to drop back on always mindful that I could drop the weights, orally inflate my BC and Sausage if ultimately needed, and ride out the consequences with only the assurance that Id entered the water healthy and well hydrated in case of emergency.
But I like think that I am a better diver than to let some of those problems happen, and I am so embarrassed that Im asking Don to publish my story as I dont want it under my username!
The viz hadnt been great for the dive, and then I found myself surrounded in schooling Baitfish and Amberjacks, as well as just not at all sure where the anchor line was on this interesting junk pile. No problem, I thought. Ive got lots of air left, no other problems, and my Pony. Im in good shape. But this wreck is a big one, and when I didnt find the lifeline in short order, I soon adopted a pair of divers I knew were from my boat and not the big one anchored across the way as they headed away from the wreck and on a slow swimming ascent.
All the hunting around had put me into just a little Deco time, but No problem, as Ive got lots of air left and a solution at hand. There was a bit of a head current, though, and I soon found my PSIs dropping down to the 500 range. I heretofore never had deployed my Pony other than in practice and to aid other divers short on gas, but this seemed like a good time to use the Bail-Out-Only bottle for a prudent Bail-Out. I was still following the other two divers, whom I hoped really knew which way they were going, but one of my multitude of back-up plans was to be with a small group if they screwed up and we all had to do a free ascent to be picked up later, certainly better than me alone drifting down current too far from an anchored boat. One of them went ahead and surfaced alone, while the other stayed below with me as we extended our swimming stop, and I was quickly reassured that we were now following a surface swimmer certainly headed for the boat.
I was to be latter advised that I seemed to have a significant leak from the Ponys first stage, though, and that back-plan played out all too quickly. Some of you may know that sick, icky feeling of taking a couple of increasingly difficult drags on a reg, knowing that youll next be taking your last drag on that bottle at this depth. Gawd, but that was not fun, yet I had only to switch back to my main reg & bottle comfortable that I still had 500 PSI of a 120 cf bottle, thinking: This is not really a problem. Ive got 20 cf of 30% Nx left, at 20 feet, only a few minutes of Deco left, and surely were close to the boat." The stressed situation may have taken a toll on my consumption rate, though, and it did take a while to finally find the hang line. You know that sick, icky feeling of taking a couple of increasingly difficult drags on a reg, knowing that youll next be taking your last drag on that bottle at this depth is really not a good thing twice on the same dive.
I held onto that last good breath and swam down just a bit to be safe on over expansion while I sought obtain the attention of the first diver I could find on the line. I wasnt desperate yet, as I could easily go for a direct ascent to the boat if I wanted to blow off 5 minutes of Deco, sit out the boat ride in on an Oxygen mask, lock up the one of two computers that had not cleared yet, and sit out the next day of diving at best?! Things could play out not that well, of course, and we are never guaranteed to get or not get bent, so I signaled the diver politely: I am totally out of damned air! He gave me a reg, opting for one of his others at that point, and I started eyeballing my computer and flashing a decreasing number of fingers at him over 5 minutes. I hate screwing up, as I must always admit that some of the problems had to be of my own making, but I really hate being found out when theres half a dozen other divers from the same boat on the line watching the drama. Jeeze!
Finally after a long, embarrassing hang time, my second computer finally cleared, I offered him a thumbs-up, and I pulled my own reg to my mouth in hopes of finding a couple more breaths as I slowly ascended the last 20 feet. The last I saw of him as I did get that next breath was him showing me his 8 minutes left on his computer yet! Gosh, I hope I left him with enough gas? I was in no position to be even thinking about aiding others, though, as I still had myself to finish saving, so I just counted on him being a good diver who would have told me if I had been overstaying my welcome.
All along, I had a number of contingency plans, some I used, a couple I had left to drop back on always mindful that I could drop the weights, orally inflate my BC and Sausage if ultimately needed, and ride out the consequences with only the assurance that Id entered the water healthy and well hydrated in case of emergency.
But I like think that I am a better diver than to let some of those problems happen, and I am so embarrassed that Im asking Don to publish my story as I dont want it under my username!
