Buddy separation at depth

[DevonDiver]

I teach my students that pre-designated 'roles' should be agreed before the dive (as part of dive planning).

If one diver is primarily lead/navigating the dive, then he will be the diver to retrace their steps and re-unite the team/pair.

The other day will remain static, observe and, where possible, aid discovery by highlighting themselves. You can highlight yourself by; rotating a light 360 degrees, deploy a DSMB above their heads (with a very slight amount of air in it) etc

The team has a pre-set amount of time to re-united. The 'default' time is 1 minute, unless otherwise planned. When that time expires, both divers will begin a solo ascent whilst maintaining observation.

It is important to establish a protocol for the ascent in your contingency dive planning. One big question is whether or not to complete a safety stop. This could be an easy 'yes' or 'no'. Or it could be set against a flexible criteria, such as;

a) If less than 10min NDL do safety stop / If more than 10min NDL don't do safety stop.
b) If more than 20min bottom time do safety stop / If less than 20min NDL don't do safety stop.
etc etc.

Upon reaching the surface, the divers continue observation. Deploying DSMBs at the beginning of the ascent can aid this. Divers should expect a variation in the time that they arrive on the surface, depending upon how long it took them to realize the separation and engage the protocol for 'missing buddy'.

The whole drama is avoidable if appropriate diving techniques are used for the environment and both divers maintain good situational awareness and buddy procedures.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Okay, joeyk, you asked about "what if" procedures so you can think through your options before you find yourself in the same situation again. So here are procedures you may want to consider. Whatever procedures you decide to adopt, it's important that you and your buddy agree on separation procedures before beginning the dive.

Assuming you have good situational awareness, there should be very, very little time between when you were last in contact with your buddy and you realize you are no longer in contact. This means, in practical terms, that your buddy shouldn't be very far away but is most likely just behind a rock or above and behind you in your blind spot.

When I teach the standard procedure of look around for one minute and then ascend, I also suggest rising a little in the water column and searching for a bubble stream of exhaled breath, which you might miss if there's a rock or some other thing obstructing your view. Make sure you look both up and down, as well as ahead, behind and to the sides. Be methodical about looking around. Separated buddies can see one another's lights if they are looking for them, so especially in low viz conditions, having a light is a big benefit. Unless there are lots of other divers in the water nearby, when you find the bubble stream or see the light shining, you have likely found your buddy.

If you don't find your buddy after one minute, go to the surface. Recreational diving is no-decompression diving, so you should go straight to the surface at a safe ascent rate without doing a safety stop. If your buddy does not surface, call for help and begin a search. Do not descend again to search on your own.

In situations in which you will be at some increased risk by ascending where you lost your buddy, such as in areas of high current or where there is boat traffic above your head, you might be able to ascend at an angle towards a safe place to surface. If you need to get back to an ascent line in order to safely ascend, you should do that so as not to create a situation in which there are potentially two divers in trouble.

I'm going to add here that you should not worry about inconveniencing anyone by initiating a search if you cannot find your buddy and you don't meet up with him on the surface. If it's a real emergency, time is critical. If it isn't an emergency, and your buddy is just a bad buddy who couldn't be bothered to surface to meet up with you, he will certainly get an earful from the people whom he has caused to initiate an emergency search. You will only have done what is ethically correct in the situation.

Quero pretty well summed up what I teach. I'd like to emphasize her point about looking for bubbles. If you are in an environment that requires a dive light, do a sweep with your beam about a bodylength or two off the bottom ... bubbles are more reflective than most dive gear. Also listen ... the sound of someone exhaling can be heard from a surprising distance. And although hearing the sound won't tell you which direction to head, it will tell you that you're close. Also, as you swim, the increase or decrease in sound will give you a clue as to direction.

But, of course, the best scenario is to dive in a way that reduces your risk of separation ... sometime ago I wrote an article on that very subject ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Joeyk]

The experience that prompted me to start the thread, and what I learned from that experience is never to buddy with a dive guide. My regular buddy got sick for this one dive.

I lost the guide going through some swim through's on a wreck. There was alot of diver traffic going through so I waited static for a few minutes, for him to turn around, but he never came back. Then I started making my way to the mooring line half way down the wreck at 22m. As I was about to ascend I saw a few bubbles between two holds and descended. It was the guide and two other divers he was with. He was completely oblivious that I had been gone around 8 minutes.

I dont know if he was unaware because he had alot going on, that we were going through swim throughs, that he was so used to effectively diving solo, or what.

I also learned that it's stressful for me swimming around by myself at depth!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

The experience that prompted me to start the thread, and what I learned from that experience is never to buddy with a dive guide. My regular buddy got sick for this one dive.

I lost the guide going through some swim through's on a wreck. There was alot of diver traffic going through so I waited static for a few minutes, for him to turn around, but he never came back. Then I started making my way to the mooring line half way down the wreck at 22m. As I was about to ascend I saw a few bubbles between two holds and descended. It was the guide and two other divers he was with. He was completely oblivious that I had been gone around 8 minutes.

I dont know if he was unaware because he had alot going on, that we were going through swim throughs, that he was so used to effectively diving solo, or what.

I also learned that it's stressful for me swimming around by myself at depth!

Guides are generally leading a group ... rather than a specific dive buddy. My experience is that when people are diving as a group, following a dive guide, people tend to focus on the guide rather than their buddy ... and the guide tends to focus on the group rather than on one specific individual. Group diving does not really fit the buddy system very well ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Quero]

Joeyk, there is no excuse whatsoever for the dive guide to have been so oblivious if he was officially designated as your buddy. There are good and bad buddies, good and bad dive guides, and unhappily, you got a bad one that time. I hope you told your story to the operator so that this dive pro could receive some remedial training.

Even though you felt stressed, you did what you were trained to do, and you kept your head. Well done!

 

[currier]

I'd like to think that there is a certain amount of "common sense" to be used by divers in a buddy separation scenario, and clearly, as most members have stated, discussing a plan beforehand is highly desireable.

But there appears to be some conflicting opinions that have me confused ...

Should we complete a safety stop prior to surfacing after being unable to find our buddy?

Quero - "Recreational diving is no-decompression diving, so you should go straight to the surface at a safe ascent rate without doing a safety stop."

Nikki McAllen - "Blowing through the safety stop is pretty much mandatory."

One big question is whether or not to complete a safety stop. This could be an easy 'yes' or 'no'. Or it could be set against a flexible criteria, such as;

a) If less than 10min NDL do safety stop / If more than 10min NDL don't do safety stop.
b) If more than 20min bottom time do safety stop / If less than 20min NDL don't do safety stop.

I realize that there are seldom 'hard & fast' rules to follow, and that divers who blindly follow protocol can seriously endanger themselves (or others) ...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I'd like to think that there is a certain amount of "common sense" to be used by divers in a buddy separation scenario, and clearly, as most members have stated, discussing a plan beforehand is highly desireable.

But there appears to be some conflicting opinions that have me confused ...

Should we complete a safety stop prior to surfacing after being unable to find our buddy?

Quero - "Recreational diving is no-decompression diving, so you should go straight to the surface at a safe ascent rate without doing a safety stop."

Nikki McAllen - "Blowing through the safety stop is pretty much mandatory."



I realize that there are seldom 'hard & fast' rules to follow, and that divers who blindly follow protocol can seriously endanger themselves (or others) ...

Like most things in diving ... it depends. People sometimes obsess too much about the risk of DCS ... often to the exclusion of potentially larger issues. A safety stop is a "recommended" precaution ... something that was put in place to counter for the fact that people so commonly ascend too quickly. On a no-decompression dive, if you keep your ascent rate within recommended limits, then it's not needed.

On the other hand, if you're separated from your dive buddy, you are alone. Are you prepared to be underwater alone? Do you have the skills and redundancy to deal with issues without assistance? If not, than a prudent decision would be to surface as quickly as you safely can. On a dive without a decompression obligation, that would mean ascend at 30 feet per minute or less, ideally slowing yourself down progressively as you approach the surface.

Now, weigh what can happen if you do a safety stop. Where's your dive buddy? What are they doing? Do you know? They might be on the surface waiting for you ... or they might be down below, possibly needing assistance. If you're hanging on your safety stop, can you render assistance? Can you let someone else know that assistance might be needed? Those extra three minutes might be the difference between being able to revive someone and finding them too brain dead for it to make a difference.

Or ... less of a problem, but a problem nonetheless ... what if you're in current? How far will you drift while you're doing your safety stop? Will your buddy be able to see you when you surface? Given that their eyes will be inches out of the water, a separation of only 100 feet can make you essentially "lost" if there's waves or chop.

Now, think about it from the other end. What if you're the diver waiting on the surface and your buddy decided to do a safety stop? I guarantee those will be the longest three minutes of your life ... :shocked2:

Most importantly, talk about it before the dive. That should be part of your basic dive plan ... "if we get separated ..." ... discuss and agree what behavior to expect from each other. That way if it happens, you will know what to do ... like every OW instructor likes to tell you ... dive your plan ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DevonDiver]

I realize that there are seldom 'hard & fast' rules to follow, and that divers who blindly follow protocol can seriously endanger themselves (or others) ...

Of course... I don't think anyone would advocate "blindly following protocol". Common sense has to dictate a course of action that is appropriate for the circumstances.

That said, is it better to have no pre-agreed protocol? I think not. That last thing you need in a stressful situation is to have no immediate and clear couse of action. With regards to safety stops, nobody will argue that these are mandatory for recreational dives. However, they are an effective safety measure in mitigating potential risk of DCS.

Would I want to decrease my mitigation of DCS risk, just because I had managed to lose track of my buddy underwater? Probably not. Not unless I have any evidence that a greater emergency than 'buddy separation' was taking place. The likelihood is that you could 'blow' your safety stop and hit the surface, before spending that idle 3 minutes waiting for your buddy to suface from their safety stop. The protocol exists to ensure that both divers have a clearly defined course of action, which both aids emergency management and ensures that both divers are 'singing from the same hymn sheet'.

If you don't feel that safety stops are critical for the dives you are doing, then agree that in advance. The protocol could simply be "No safety stop, if within our NDLs". At least both divers would know what to expect prior to the dive...and potential confusion and anxiety would be reduced. The point is to include these contingencies within your dive planning, rather than having a 'deal with it if it happens' attitude...

As this is a dive planning issue, the protocol should be based upon the same risk assessment (we all do this right?) that has been used to determine other aspects of our dive plan. This, by necessity, should include issues such as; anticipated visibility, anticipated current, bottom topography, max bottom depth, planned bottom depth etc etc. Consideration of these factors, in advance, can lead to the adoption of correct protocols for the circumstances.

Here's a more in-depth article that I wrote:
Protocols for Buddy Separation. | | Scuba Tech Philippines - News & ArticlesScuba Tech Philippines – News & Articles

 

[CuNanoTube]

Buddy separation is not always avoidable. Last Sunday I was diving in zero vis and lost my buddy twice (>30'). This was mainly because he was not carrying a light (I was), and one fin kick away was enough to lose sight. We ended up finishing the dive with him holding my bc strap (My left was needed for buoyancy, right was operating the torch).

It is true that we could have tethered, or called the dive, but this was a get wet dive in shallow open water, so neither of us were particularly concerned with having to surface to re-connect.

 

[DevonDiver]

Buddy separation is not always avoidable....he was not carrying a light...one fin kick away was enough to lose sight.

Sounds pretty avoidable to me. Use of appropriate techniques, equipment and protocols (agreed in your dive planning) makes the difference.