timz
Contributor
Some time around February this year, 2 of my friends and I went for a dive trip at Tioman, Malaysia.
Over the past 40 years, the monsoon season ends in End of January. So by February, the island will be safe for diving.
However, it's different this year. The monsoon comes really late. By the end of January, the sea was still calm... Although the viz wasn't great, we did enjoyed our dives.
But when we returned to the island in February, we were surprised by the news that more than 3000 tourist were stranded in the island for the past 3 days due to the rough sea that prevent the ferry from travelling into the island. I guess climate change is real.
We however, the ferry was able to operate on the day of our arival and everything went according to plan amd we had 2 dives on that day.
However, on the next day, we went to a dive site called Tiger Reef. And Tiger Reef is welknown for steong current and choppy surface.
When we reached the dive site, the surface was much rougher than it usually is. DM quickly brief us on the dive and want us to descend quickly. The dive is 23-25m deep. So, we dive in and descent as quick as possible. While we descend, we have to keep kicking and pull the buoy line to fight the strong current. Viz wasn't any better. Around 1m - 2m.
While descend, I can feel that my heart beat increased and my breathing rate increased. 5mins into the descend at 13m depth. On a reef, DM turned back and asked if we're OK? I signaled s"omething is wrong". Then he signaled me to slow down. I tried inhale deeply slowly and exhale slowly a few times. Meanwhile, DM asked if both my friends were OK? Both friends signaled OK. And DM turned back to me and asked again. "U OK?" I still signaled "Not OK, something is wrong".
Then I looked on my SPG and I realized 50bar gone. Remaining is 150bar and we haven't even reach the dive starting depth. I bang my tank, Crossed my forearm and signal to DM "I'm going up".
DM saw my problem and asked if my 2 buddies if it's OK if we ascend? Both of them responded "OK, lets go Up" very quickly. DM crossed his forearm signaled "Abort dive" and "go up". Deployed the SMB amd we ascend.
When we reached the boat, I was a little embarassed for aborting the dive. But before I could say anything, both my buddies were already vomiting and complaining about the current and the risk of diving. I felt =.= , why the hell did they signaled "OK", when their condition were nothing better than mine...
I quietly checked their air, one of them has the same remaining air as me, 140bars. The other one only have 125 bar left. And I checked my dive comp. We were only 7mins into the dive and all of us has 3/4 or less air left. AND WE HAVEN'T EVEN START DIVING!!!
Given another chance to choose, I would have done the same. And I was quite glad to have aborted the dive because both my buddies weren't any better than me. In fact worse.
So, I think I've done the right thing calling the dive off.
Over the past 40 years, the monsoon season ends in End of January. So by February, the island will be safe for diving.
However, it's different this year. The monsoon comes really late. By the end of January, the sea was still calm... Although the viz wasn't great, we did enjoyed our dives.
But when we returned to the island in February, we were surprised by the news that more than 3000 tourist were stranded in the island for the past 3 days due to the rough sea that prevent the ferry from travelling into the island. I guess climate change is real.
We however, the ferry was able to operate on the day of our arival and everything went according to plan amd we had 2 dives on that day.
However, on the next day, we went to a dive site called Tiger Reef. And Tiger Reef is welknown for steong current and choppy surface.
When we reached the dive site, the surface was much rougher than it usually is. DM quickly brief us on the dive and want us to descend quickly. The dive is 23-25m deep. So, we dive in and descent as quick as possible. While we descend, we have to keep kicking and pull the buoy line to fight the strong current. Viz wasn't any better. Around 1m - 2m.
While descend, I can feel that my heart beat increased and my breathing rate increased. 5mins into the descend at 13m depth. On a reef, DM turned back and asked if we're OK? I signaled s"omething is wrong". Then he signaled me to slow down. I tried inhale deeply slowly and exhale slowly a few times. Meanwhile, DM asked if both my friends were OK? Both friends signaled OK. And DM turned back to me and asked again. "U OK?" I still signaled "Not OK, something is wrong".
Then I looked on my SPG and I realized 50bar gone. Remaining is 150bar and we haven't even reach the dive starting depth. I bang my tank, Crossed my forearm and signal to DM "I'm going up".
DM saw my problem and asked if my 2 buddies if it's OK if we ascend? Both of them responded "OK, lets go Up" very quickly. DM crossed his forearm signaled "Abort dive" and "go up". Deployed the SMB amd we ascend.
When we reached the boat, I was a little embarassed for aborting the dive. But before I could say anything, both my buddies were already vomiting and complaining about the current and the risk of diving. I felt =.= , why the hell did they signaled "OK", when their condition were nothing better than mine...
I quietly checked their air, one of them has the same remaining air as me, 140bars. The other one only have 125 bar left. And I checked my dive comp. We were only 7mins into the dive and all of us has 3/4 or less air left. AND WE HAVEN'T EVEN START DIVING!!!
Given another chance to choose, I would have done the same. And I was quite glad to have aborted the dive because both my buddies weren't any better than me. In fact worse.
So, I think I've done the right thing calling the dive off.
