Fresh diver OOA

[Bubbletrubble]

@Imla: With regard to learning more from this incident...

• If you were to face a similar underwater situation in the future, what would you do?
• More specifically, what kind of pointed questions might you ask during the pre-dive briefing to help inform your course of action? (As mentioned earlier in the thread, this is the kind of thought process that should be taught in basic OW class.)
• What would be your decision-making process as you reached your half-tank turnaround point, you signaled it to your buddy, and he chose to continue the dive?
• Did you ever consider abandoning your buddy? When (if ever) is it OK to leave your buddy?
• If you decided to leave your buddy, how much gas in your tank would you need to safely surface? (Are you aware how much gas you would need to ascend safely? How much of a tank reserve would it be prudent to keep?)
• Given the dive site in question, how important might it be to pay attention to navigation so that you would not need to surface in the middle of the channel?
• Placing yourself in D2's shoes: If you were a considerate instructor and/or experienced diver, do you think it would be safe to take an inexperienced diver, who was struggling with buoyancy control, on a dive featuring the potential overhead hazard of boat traffic? Do you think it would be appropriate to increase the risk further to the inexperienced diver by directly/indirectly causing him/her to go out of air? (I pose these questions in order to get you thinking about the scenario from a different perspective. Someday you might be the more experienced diver leading a novice on a dive.)

[Imla]

First, Thank you for some very thoughtful questions. I will try to answer as best as I can.

@Imla: With regard to learning more from this incident...

• If you were to face a similar underwater situation in the future, what would you do?

Are you thinking of going ooa, or the situation where buddy continues where I want to turn?
FOr the first situation... well.. I plan on not getting there. Should I fail to be a buddy, and not catch that my divebuddy should run out of air (equipment malfunction exempt) like in this example, then I would share air much before, so that in the unlikely event of equipment malfunction or other events, there would still be an alternate airsource.
For the second situation I would be very clear that NOW! we turn back.

• More specifically, what kind of pointed questions might you ask during the pre-dive briefing to help inform your course of action? (As mentioned earlier in the thread, this is the kind of thought process that should be taught in basic OW class.)

First of all, I always ask whether I can surface at any time. For this particular divesite, I have later found that the only place you shouldn't surface is a 30feet stretch between the buoys that mark the opening in the wall. I would have the diver or divers that have been to a site before either show a map, or draw one, so that there is absolutely no doubt of any special areas to consider. (Had I done this, I would have known that I could actually surface before the buoys as long as I followed the wall. (The depth is between 3 and 10 feet). I would also check if the current was "inbound" or "outbound" or rising or ebbing. I would clarify that half tank signal would also mean turn the dive. (Which I still is a bit over the top)

• What would be your decision-making process as you reached your half-tank turnaround point, you signaled it to your buddy, and he chose to continue the dive?

I must admit. This is a tough one. As the dive in question was a 3ppl dive, I would probably go to the second person.
Had I know the geography from the questions above I would turn around and prey he would follow. If he wouldn't I would thumb the dive and ascend.

• Did you ever consider abandoning your buddy? When (if ever) is it OK to leave your buddy?

No, I did not consider this. Even though this was a really bad dive considering, I'd rather have two buddies with air next to me than dive alone. Had I chose to ascend, I still wouldn't have left buddy alone as we were three. Had we been two, as mentioned above, and he wouldn't have turned around, I would have thumbed the dive, ascended, hoped he followed. If he didn't I might have thought long and hard about writing an email to padi...

• If you decided to leave your buddy, how much gas in your tank would you need to safely surface? (Are you aware how much gas you would need to ascend safely? How much of a tank reserve would it be prudent to keep?)

We were at 30feet. I know I need somewhere around 10-15bar to ascend slowly and have a safetystop of 3min at 15feet. I normally end up with 80-120 bar left on a 300bar tank after 60 mins now (Depending on depth of course) However, from I start ascending to a safetystop I spend about 10-15 bars until I have surfaced. However, If I would chose to abandon buddy I would thumb the dive. I dive a single tank, with no pony. If this should happen whilst within those 30 feet of opening between the buoys I would consider 70bar a minimum, swim across, and start ascent with safetystop immediately after the opening.

• Given the dive site in question, how important might it be to pay attention to navigation so that you would not need to surface in the middle of the channel?

Actually... not very. You swim out with the stonewall on your right. You turn and have the stone wall on your left. The opening is quite obvious. (I didn't know at the time) However, It might be smart of me not to be blinded by the fantastic instructors floating around (Read the irony...) so I can be safe and smell the flowers... Pay attention

• Placing yourself in D2's shoes: If you were a considerate instructor and/or experienced diver, do you think it would be safe to take an inexperienced diver, who was struggling with buoyancy control, on a dive featuring the potential overhead hazard of boat traffic? Do you think it would be appropriate to increase the risk further to the inexperienced diver by directly/indirectly causing him/her to go out of air? (I pose these questions in order to get you thinking about the scenario from a different perspective. Someday you might be the more experienced diver leading a novice on a dive.)

The divesite in itself, with adequate briefing, and adequate buoyancycontrol should not be too much of a challenge. THe current is negligible below 30feet and the opening in the wall is a max of 30feet wide. However, I would tell people to turn their dive at 170 bar (for a 300 bar tank) to account for the possibility of having to drop a few feet if they are not following bottom (As you can in fact very safely do...) Adding the extra challenge of a f*ckupscenario like this... Well... I would not in a million years do that! I believe scenarios

[Imla]

You sound like your already off to a great start with a great life long adventure in diving Just remember always while you have a responsibility to dive your own dive its always a blast to have a good lifelong dive partner you can count on and trust. I hope youll be on Scubaboard for many years to come as dedicated divers are always appreciated in the forums and welcome to debate topics and in time help new divers learn from experiences you will have aquired!

Thank you so much. I have already learnt heaps from this forum. And after this incident I have found a couple of buddies that are truly amazing. For the moment I'm looking forward to getting out of the drysuit on a trip to Indonesia.

[Tessunderwater]

I'm sorry you had that experience but it sounds like you have come from it with a positive attitude for future dives. Check out the "things I learned on my first 20 dives" in the new divers forum, it is very helpful. I ran into alot of learning curves in my first twenty dives, which all helped me get better. Your buddy commited the cardinal sin of not sticking with the plan which was to turn the dive when the first person reached turn around point. I've been lucky enough to have responsible buddies to dive with, at some point I think every one gets paired up with a buddy that isn't as responsible. It's when that person makes a poor judgment call, like straying from the plan, that you have to make a decision to leave them so you can have a safe dive. Glad to hear that you came out of what could have been a fatal situation. Keep diving and have fun.