Three of us started out on a dive at one of our local shore dive sites. We had planned to go out, head down the sand chute, turn left, and head over to the wolf eel den to check on the resident wolf eels. We got to about 20 feet when one buddy signaled a problem with his camera. He indicated for the two of us to stay put, and he would surface, fix the problem, and come right back down. After about 5 minutes, no sign of him, so the two of us signaled that we would go up, and see if everything was okay.
We arrived at the surface to find no sign of our missing buddy. We waited on the surface for about 10 minutes, hoping that if he descended looking for us, and couldn't find us, he would re-surface. After about 10 minutes of floating on the surface, and no sign of our missing buddy, we worked our way back in to shore, all the while scanning for our missing buddy.
Once on shore we continued to scan for our missing buddy. After there had been no contact for approximately 45 minutes, we made the 9-1-1 call to the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre and the RCMP to report our buddy missing. While waiting for assistance to arrive, our buddy finally surfaced right at the shore. We of course cancelled all the emergency services who were on their way. We even had a boat come into the bay to confirm the missing diver had been located, as the incident had been broadcast over the marine radio system.
Turns out our buddy had only been on the surface for a couple of minutes, while he fixed his camera. The breeze, and a mild surface current had moved him away from our location. When he descended, and couldn't find us, he went looking for us. Had he ascended again after looking for a minute, he would have found us, and we could have continued with the dive.
Lessons learned:
1. when he had a problem with his camera, we all should have come to the surface.
2. when he couldn't find us after a minute of looking, he should have come to the surface
3. a SMB or dive flag would have marked our location so that he could have come straight back down to where we were (not sure why no one uses a dive flag at any of our shore dive sites)
4. our buddy separation procedures should have been reviewed prior to the dive
We are all very experienced divers. Perhaps we were complacent, as we have all dove this site hundreds of times. In the end, we all came home safely, with the knowledge that our little mistakes could have led to something much worse. When discussing the incident a few days later with the dive shop owners, we were 100 percent correct to call for emergency services when we did. Better to have them coming and not need them, then to need them urgently and not have called them.
Divegoose
We arrived at the surface to find no sign of our missing buddy. We waited on the surface for about 10 minutes, hoping that if he descended looking for us, and couldn't find us, he would re-surface. After about 10 minutes of floating on the surface, and no sign of our missing buddy, we worked our way back in to shore, all the while scanning for our missing buddy.
Once on shore we continued to scan for our missing buddy. After there had been no contact for approximately 45 minutes, we made the 9-1-1 call to the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre and the RCMP to report our buddy missing. While waiting for assistance to arrive, our buddy finally surfaced right at the shore. We of course cancelled all the emergency services who were on their way. We even had a boat come into the bay to confirm the missing diver had been located, as the incident had been broadcast over the marine radio system.
Turns out our buddy had only been on the surface for a couple of minutes, while he fixed his camera. The breeze, and a mild surface current had moved him away from our location. When he descended, and couldn't find us, he went looking for us. Had he ascended again after looking for a minute, he would have found us, and we could have continued with the dive.
Lessons learned:
1. when he had a problem with his camera, we all should have come to the surface.
2. when he couldn't find us after a minute of looking, he should have come to the surface
3. a SMB or dive flag would have marked our location so that he could have come straight back down to where we were (not sure why no one uses a dive flag at any of our shore dive sites)
4. our buddy separation procedures should have been reviewed prior to the dive
We are all very experienced divers. Perhaps we were complacent, as we have all dove this site hundreds of times. In the end, we all came home safely, with the knowledge that our little mistakes could have led to something much worse. When discussing the incident a few days later with the dive shop owners, we were 100 percent correct to call for emergency services when we did. Better to have them coming and not need them, then to need them urgently and not have called them.
Divegoose