too deep to resurface?

[Diver0001]

We eventually found each other, but he seemed pretty agitated that I didn't pop up right away. I told him I wasn't comfortable doing that at that depth, and he seemed to think it was ok...

My question is- Is it anyway safe to pop up for a minute and take a look for his bubbles at that depth? (i don't think so, just confirming that i'm not insane).

The main thing to remember for next time is to take this into consideration in the planning.

Safety stops are optional but recommended so normally I agree to make a "normal" ascent and that includes the safety stop. With a very inexperienced buddy I might suggest foregoing that, but it would depend on circumstances.

R..

 

[Rhone Man]

Just to throw my 2 PSI in, if you had shot an SMB before your safety stop you probably would have saved a lot of agitation all around.

 

[Diver0001]

Just another thought. If there were any reason to believe that something serious had happened to your buddy than those three minutes could potentially mean the difference between saving him and losing him.

If I had any inkling at all that my buddy needed to be rescued then there is no way I would have done the safety stop. It doesn't sound like that was the case here but it's something I would keep in the back of my mind. Priorities.

R..

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I am curious what others think about this scenario-

This past summer I was shore diving with a new diving buddy. We were both checking out critters on a large wall and eventually due to New England's lovely viz, became separated at roughly 70 ft. (he turned a corner and was gone, even though I looked for him, shined my lights, etc...).

Now, at the beginning of the dive we both said that we should surface if we got separated, the problem is that I was at 70ft and didn't feel comfortable popping up at that depth. I slowly made my way back to the area where we started, made a safety stop at 15 ft, and surfaced. We eventually found each other, but he seemed pretty agitated that I didn't pop up right away. I told him I wasn't comfortable doing that at that depth, and he seemed to think it was ok...

My question is- Is it anyway safe to pop up for a minute and take a look for his bubbles at that depth? (i don't think so, just confirming that i'm not insane).

First off, you agreed to surface if you got separated, and that's what you should have done. Where your system broke down is that you didn't understand what that meant, and apparently neither did your dive buddy. In no way should you have "slowly made your way back to the area where you started, made a safety stop at 15 ft, and surfaced". That's not surfacing ... it's making an exit ... and unless you were prepared for solo diving you were just putting your dive buddy into a stressful situation because you weren't doing what you agreed to do. He had every right to be agitated.

If your separation plan was to surface, you should have made a controlled, direct ascent to the surface ... NOT "pop up". Furthermore, you should then have remained on the surface until both of you surfaced and reunited. THEN you can talk about whether you should descend back to depth and continue your dive ... and that will depend entirely on circumstances.

Perhaps this article can help provide some answers ... NWGratefulDiver.com

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Crush]

what eelnoraa said.

 

[norituck]

You should have safely surfaced. That was the plan you agreed to.

 

[Aquabot]

Sounds like more pre-dive discussion is needed. If dive plan, hand signals and lost buddy protocols haven't not been talked about with detail and agreed upon you should NOT proceed with the dive.

 

[Bob DBF]

Although I agree with DD

No way, never come up from 70 feet to look for your buddy. I mean once you are past 30 or 40 feet, everyone is on their own. See you back on the boat or at the beach..

However, this is dependent on the dive plan which would take into account the expertise of your buddies.

In diving, as with life, you are only as good as your word. If we had agreed to surface on separation and you pulled that stunt I'd be looking for another buddy, or diving solo as usual.




Bob
--------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by AfterDark
I'm in a very elite class of divers. OBDs - Old Bold Divers.

There aren't many of us which is why we're elite. We started diving when it was in some parts of the country a self taught sport. We used double hose regs no BCDs, SPGs, or PDCs. Our wet suits had no lining, we used talc to get into them. We checked our tank with a pressure gauge before we mounted our reg and made sure our J valves were in the up position. We weighted ourselves to our target depths and sometimes had a hell'va time swimming to the bottom. We used Navy dive tables for air because nothing else was available, and we used air because that's all there was to breath no matter what depth the dive. We saw our friends die from mistakes we didn't know could be made until their deaths showed us what not to do. We are in a class by ourselves. No cert or plastic card, only time, diving and luck gets you there.

 

[Storker]

You probably can't imagine the bill for that sort of hysterical reaction.

Hysterical? Then please tell me, in the - rather unlikely - event of us two buddying up, how long should I wait for you at the surface before alerting emergency services? Until I'm sure that you've run out of gas? Until the end of the diving day? Until your bloated corpse surfaces by itself? Because if I don't make that call pretty shortly after you're missing, I might as well wait until we're done diving.

You might think it's hysterical, I don't. I make perfectly clear for any instabuddy that if he fails to show up when and where we agreed, I'm taking that call. I also expect the same from my buddy, dive leader and/or boat tender. And I don't worry about the bill, because we're paying in advance, though our taxes. So far this year, I've paid my share for a search and rescue operation for a Norwegian diver who didn't follow agreed procedures so his buddies called emergency services, airlifting and treating three bent Finnish cave divers - and the failed attempt to recover their two dead buddies' bodies - and probably the pickup of a small handful of German fishing tourists who go offshore in a small, open boat with a puny outboarder and others who have problems while doing some kind of outdoor sport or activity. And I sincerely believe that that's the way it should be, because fear for the bill shouldn't prevent anyone from calling for help when their life is endangered.

AFAIK, no-one around here - tourists and our own citizens alike - has so far been charged for being rescued, unless gross negligence can be proved. Even the missing diver who failed to surface as agreed got off with a talking-to from the police about the advantages of adhering to agreed procedures.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

Depending on my wife's mood - I am worth more as a bloated carcase...