Dive about 2 weeks ago

[Sebastian]

ok

Two weeks ago I went on a Dive Trip to Narooma (South of Sydney). The dive included 4 dives (2 each day).

So we are on the dive boat geared up. My Buddy (O/W) and me (AOW). This dive was a shark dive, planned max depth was 22m.

So everyone drops in including me and my buddy. We start to descend but I'm having weight problems (I got a new suit and it just arrived one day before the dive trip so there was no chance to test it).
I swim back to the boat to get some extra weight. Finally I can descend and I meet my buddy at the bottom (22 metres depth)

Of course everyone is already gone so we head of on our own.

I should mention at this point that I know my buddy. The trip was organised by our LDS and I've dived with him a couple of times before)

The captain of the boat briefed us that we were supposed to swim towards the island. In the other direction is a 32m drop which should only be done by AOW.
Visibility isn't too bad and we head of to find the sharks.

At this point (no knowing to us) our navigation went wrong and we were heading away from the Island.

I reckon I was the first to notice that it was getting darker. As I grabbed my conole to have a look at our depth I already had a bad feeling.

We were in 32 METRES depth.

For a blink of a second I just thought "$hit".
I focused and decided that we should immediatley ascend into shallower water.
I showed my buddy our depth and signalled ascend into shallower depth.

As were at about 7-5metres below surface i notice air bubbles rising from below, like from a diver's regulator (at that point the visibility had worsen).


I thought it would be a good idea to hook up with the other divers, I pointed it out to my buddy and we slowly decended again. As it turned out there was no one there.

I decided it was time that we should slowly ascend, make a saftey stop, surface and swim back to the boat.

I didn't have a computer on me. My buddy borrowed one of another diver but I'm not sure if he knew how to use it.

I think we at 5 metres depth for about 1-2 minutes and then we surfaced.

The boat was about 30-50 metres away.
As we reached the boat another diver was on the surface telling us that a shark was beneath the boat (Grey Nurse Shark).
My buddy suggested that we should go down and check it out (we both had enough air left).

I said that we should stay at the boat since neither of us knew how long we were down at 30m depth.

He agreed saying that saftey should come first and we climbed onto the boat waiting for the other divers to return.
Needles to say I was totally pi$$ed with myself. I mean I'm AOW. That shouldn't have happened.
My Buddy said that I shouldn't worry about it. We had a look at a dive table. We still had a seal dive today (max. 12m depth).

After a 2 hour break on the boat we were able to do the seal dive. No problems. We also did the other 2 dives the following day.

There were no further problem. I even saw a Grey Nurse Shark

Still, thinking back it bothers me. It was so unprofessional. I've now done like 52 dives. I had an O/W diver with me. He isn't even licensed to go to such depths.

I'm seriously thinking about doing a SSI Navigation Course. I don't think the Navigation Course included in the PADI AOW Course helped me much.


What do you guys think?

 

[Uncle Pug]

Sebastian once bubbled...
I had an O/W diver with me. He isn't even licensed to go to such depths.

I'm seriously thinking about doing a SSI Navigation Course. I don't think the Navigation Course included in the PADI AOW Course helped me much.


What do you guys think?

But.... do you guys really have to have a license to go to such depths?

 

[Amanda]

I totally agree with UP.

No computer and

1 - You didn't realize you were deeper than the planned 22m ? Don't you check your gauges sometimes ? I mean, admitting you check gauge every 4 minutesn it means you went from 22 meters to 32 in less than 4 minutes. Didn't you feel that in your ears or something ?

2 - You did a second (or third, God, I don't even remember) descent to see the shark ? Did you check the tables before doing so ?

It all sounds like a messy and very unresponsible dive (at least to me...)

 

[jepuskar]

Sebastian,

You are probably going to catch alot of heat on this thread for your actions. However, you and your buddy are alive and well, learn from this experience.

It will not be the last time you screw up or have an unpleasant dive. I will let the others ream you a good one..hehehe, for now just soak it in and listen to them with an open mind and don't take it personal.

You seem to understand some of the problems on that dive. Why don't you list what you think were problems. I think that will be a good way for everyone to see what you learned. I will almost guarantee you will not list everything and someone else will add on to your list.

Learn learn learn.

 

[Sebastian]

i check my air regulary but usually i don't have a look at my depth gauge.

From now on i'm gonna check my depth as often as I check my air (which is at LEAST all 3 minutes). I didn't feel anything on my ears, I just realised it when it was getting darker and the visibility was dropping.

I didn't catch any heat on the boat or from other people who I was diving with; since we were both OK the next day they were actually cracking jokes about it.

2 - You did a second (or third, God, I don't even remember) descent to see the shark ? Did you check the tables before doing so ?

I think u understood me wrong. After we got back to the boat MY BUDDY suggested that we go down under the boat to the bottom and have a look at the shark.

I told him that we are NOT going to do it and told him that we sgould get onto the boat, what we both did.


I'm also planning on doing some sort of navigation course AGAIN

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Okay, let's look at the details of this dive. One of the keys I read was this quote:

I said that we should stay at the boat since neither of us knew how long we were down at 30m depth.

At 30 m (100 fsw) you had 22 minutes of no-decompression diving. Not knowing how long you were at depth could have been costly. Judging from what you say, it sounds like you were out ~20 minutes, so let's use that. If you had stayed in your safety stop, you would have been in repetitive group F according to my tables (NAUI, 1990). But you didn't, and descended again. Without a decon meter, we have to assume the bottom time added to the max depth, and we'll say that was 3 minutes. This puts you over the max for a no-decompression dive, at 25 minutes (going to the next greater time on the table). You now have a required stop at 5 m (15 fsw) of 5 minutes.

I think we at 5 metres depth for about 1-2 minutes and then we surfaced.

From your description above, you swam to the surface after only one to two minutes at 5 m, and swam on the surface to the boat. This did place you in some jeopardy, and therefore it is good that you did not dive to see that shark.

Now, being in Repetitive Group H, you stayed on the surface for 2 hours before the next dive. The surface intreval of 2 hours put you into repetitive group E. The seal dive was planned for 12 m, which is 15 m on my tables (50 fsw). In group E, this gives you a residual nitrogen time of 38 minutes, and an adjusted maximum dive time (AMDT) of 42 minutes for that dive. You give no indication of bottom time for this dive, but I'm willing to wager a bit that it was close to that time, if not exceeding it. I do this because you say you came back with enough air from the first dive to actually dive again on those tanks.

So, what's my point? I have a number of them:

--Get a dive watch and track your time! It's important. If not a watch, then get a docompression meter and do it automatically. Look at your depth/time often. Track your bottom time with the bazel on the watch (that's what they are made for). Set the bazel on the surface just before you begin your descent. Note the bottom time as you begin your ascent. If you cannot plan a dive in this manner, get a dive computer.

--Dive with plastic tables or a decompression meter if you are diving over 10 meters. It would save you the problem of not knowing the decompression schedule if the dive plan changes.

--Don't resume diving after getting into a safety stop if you don't have a decompression meter. It really messes up the computations.

--Underwater navigation is important, so start practicing using your compass. If a course helps, then take it. But it's also important to learn to use your own compass. I've see people in US Navy UW Swimmer School training, with a compass they were looking right at, trying to swim from 1500 yards off the beach of the Florida Keys toward Cuba instead of toward the beach (180 degrees off, just like you). But they were in training, trailing a buoy, and picked up by the boat before they made it only about a quarter mile offshore

--Don't be dishartened by this dive, it's a good learning exercise.

--Be happy you decided, wisely, to not do the second, back-to-back dive. It probably saved you from a recompression chamber experience.

--I'm a little disturbed that your boat would not track divers better, keep better records, and have dive tables available. You might look into a different boat/divemaster too.

SeaRat

 

[RICHinNC]

I would be curious how often you had to equalize your ears. Ears are a great way, at least for me, to tell if I am descending or ascending. It has gotten to the point to where if I have equalized 3 times I have a good guess at what depth I am at....and before someone goes bonkers with a reply...no ... I check my guages often

 

[SA-Diver]

You should really consider :

Testing new gear first.
Use your gauges - including the depth gauge.
Don't dive till you see the bottom.
Get tables and a bottom timer - or -
get a computer and learn how to use it !

 

[Sebastian]

SA-Diver once bubbled...
You should really consider :

Testing new gear first.
Use your gauges - including the depth gauge.
Don't dive till you see the bottom.
Get tables and a bottom timer - or -
get a computer and learn how to use it !

I wish I could have tested the gear. It basically just arrived the day I was leaving for the trip.

Yeah I'll concentrate more on the depth gauge from now on. I check my air like all 3-4 minutes.

What do you mean by that?

Edit: Just bought an Uwatec Smart Pro Dive Computer


I just want to make clear that I'm not an irresponsible diver. From 52 dives this was my first serious incident.

It's not like people don't want to be my buddy or don't want to go diving with me cause they think I would put them in danger etc.

I know the rules and I don't go beyond the limits.

 

[SA-Diver]

I mean exactly what I say by - don't dive till you see the bottom.

I've seen lots of divers who expect the bottom to be at "x feet" because they have been told that the dive will be to "x feet".
They then descend till they get to the bottom instead of monitoring their depth gauges to see how deep they are.