Safety stop when losing buddy

[Dominik_E]

Sounds like things that happen in low visibility. For sure no reason to believe an accident happened, but I still would immediately surface after looking around one, two times. In the very least it will sort out the situation quicker...

 

[scubadada]

I do most of my diving solo in SE Florida. When I do dive with a buddy, I make arrangements ahead of time. I always have the flag, so I am never lost. I tell my buddy (ies) to pay attention to my position and to stay with me during the dive. It is very uncommon that they do not pay attention to this directive. My advice if they lose my flag is to ascend to the surface, with or without a safety stop, and get redropped on the flag, assuming there is time

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Does anyone monitor their NDL on their DC? Think about the half life for various compartments. As you decompress, the rate in which you degas slows. If you are not riding the edge, you are not that much at risk. Pop to the surface, reconvene, and then drop back down to your safety stop if you so wish. But make sure your buddy is okay. You could surface with them laying face down in the water without a reg in their mouth. Unlikely, but possible.

 

[rjack321]

By and large, "no deco dive" = no safety stop for me. Chances are good I will either see your bubbles or you will see mine and follow them - if we don't meet on the surface and go back down.

If we are right up against the NDL, we get separated, and its the last dive of the day with maximum tissue loading (three conditions that are almost never all happening at the same time) then I might do an extra slow ascent from 30ft as a safety slow down.

 

[Steve_C]

This is very site dependent. For NC diving the water is 80-100 ft. deep. Wreck/Ledge is connected to an anchor line which is connected to a Jon line which runs over to a hang bar for the boats I dive on. There may be a surface current. Boat is usually not directly over the dive site. There are two experienced DMs usually on the surface watching for problems and to assist divers.. They watch bubbles and will see anybody surface or shoot a bag. Anybody that arises off aways will create one more thing for them to deal with. The usual with separation, if a quick search does not find them, is to meet back at the anchor line. If there is a low viz bottom layer sometimes just going up 10-20 feet enable one to find any bubbles. With regular buddies I can count on that and it works well. With insta buddies, more than once in low viz I have waited and then eventually went up, did my safety stop, and found them having a sandwich back on the boat. For buddies that just swam off and ignored the dive plan, it was their decision to solo so it shall be so. One instabuddy who was quite comfortable in the water turned out to not understand her computer on a first deep dive and was on air and went into deco. She was into swooping around like a bird and usually not very close but within sight. So we took her up so that she cleared her obligation. Again along the anchor line. Since there are probably more than one diver returning to boat, bubbles are not very useful except in the layer situation mentioned earlier.

 

[TMHeimer]

Not ditching an airplane in the ocean is also priority one. We still get briefed on the vests every single time. So what is your point here? The answer to the question "Do you do a safety stop in case you lost your buddy?" for sure is not "You should never have lost your buddy".

Yeah, I guess I agree. I didn't answer the question (well, I DID a few posts before my last one...AND mentioned what I would personally do in that situation). My only POINT is IF you are buddy diving, keeping a close eye on each other combined with a good dive plan (ie.- "You be off to my right, about 3-5 feet away and 2 feet to my rear or vice versa if you're the leader" ie. "formation")-- is priority number one. Separation should be as common as that plane ditching in the Atlantic.
But yes, Sh!t happens, as per BluTrin's post. Then you do what you feel right regarding a safety stop.
Again to make my first point, he was talking about dives to 15-20 meters (45-60') and those who wound up too far away to "grab his fin" and "who wasn't the kind of guy to really pay a lot of attention to your buddy". Perhaps an avoidable situation.
When I did my PADI AOW Night dive we had our lights and in the Florida Springs the Instructor and others disappeared ahead of me--fins disappearing into the dark. And, I was YOUNG then.
No excuse. Leader, turn around A LOT to see where the other(s) is. It's a JOB--that's why given a choice, I'll be the follower and take my chances.
When I was relatively new (2006) and diving in low viz water off Rhode Island with a group of divers, they descended after a short surface swim into the low viz & surge. I immediately lost sight of all of them and aborted the dive (which I think was the only time I ever aborted after starting a dive). I felt--they're not at all looking at ME, so to Hell with them.
Another "tangent" example-- The OW course #4 PADI "Mini Dive" that I was bringing up the rear supervising in 2015-- A group of 4 students--surface swimming to the descent area. 2 guys buddied up leading followed by 2 ladies, me following them. One lady almost lost her fin with the other helping her put it back on. The 2 "leader" guys got about 50 feet ahead before one of them turned around to see where the ladies (and me) were. It was a good lesson for all.

 

[Easdem]

Safety Stops ARE NOT REQUIRED!!!!!

Recreational diving does not have a ceiling, meaning, that one can ascend to the surface (whilst maintaining a safe ascent rate) without having to stop....So, if you have a buddy separation- follow whatever you discussed as part of the dive planning. Assuming you did plan the dive...

 

[lamarpaulski]

do you guys do a safety stop when you surface after being separated but you couldn’t find your buddy ?


People didn’t even do safety stops the first decade of my diving ( or thereabouts). Sometimes newer divers think they’re going to die if they don’t do a safety stop even to the point of neglecting some other safety factor. (Like running out of air.). I think it depends on your situation- dive/dives and nitrogen build up ? I rarely dive very deep. How strong and self-reliant is your buddy ??
What was their air supply/knowledge of area/physical condition etc etc

Most times I’d be a buddy and find my buddy.

My 2cts.

 

[MoistNeoprene]

You got two contradictory recommendations because there is no one correct thing to do.

Rather than trying to memorize the exact behavior you "should" do in every gray area, I think you would be better served by remaining calm, thinking, and responding to your circumstances in a way that you can justify based on your knowledge of all the risks involved.

A safety stop is, by definition, a stop that is not typically required in order to avoid DCS. If, according to your dive table or computer, a stop is recommended, then it would be called a decompression stop not a safety stop. So, when you say "safety stop" it means that your dive table or computer estimates you do not actually need a stop to avoid any ill effects.

With that said, the table or computer does not know exactly how much nitrogen is in your body, because your rate of nitrogen absorption may depend on personal factors that are outside of the computer/table ability to monitor. In addition, everybody's body might be slightly different.

Therefore, the risk of getting DCS as a result of skipping a safety stop increases as you approach the limits specified by your dive table/computer. That is, as your NDL time approaches 0. If you just jumped in and got 21 ft deep after 30 seconds, there's basically zero risk of getting DCS as a result of skipping the safety stop on your way up. On the other hand, if you have 30 seconds of NDL time left, you probably don't want to skip that safety stop.

 

[melanie.]

For me depends on the dive, the buddy, and the state that we lost each other in.

High stress, lots of current, new buddy, not well known area? - skip the stop.

Low stress, familiar with buddy, know the site - do the stop. Well actually we usually just continue on our own dive but that's beside the point.