Got Lost on a Dive

[INQuarryDiver]

This month I took a dive charter in the FL panhandle. The first site was wreck at about 65-70 ft.

This was dive 19 for me. About half of my dives have been in MidWest quarries, and the other half been dives in the Gulf. I've been diving for about a year. I also have AOW and Nitrox certs.

This was the first dive of three planned for the trip. I decided to experiment and to go with less weight than I used I used on a dive trip the prior week. From 18 to 14 lbs. I thought 15 might be ideal. I was diving in just a rash guard with an AL 80, and rental regs and BC.

The DM me paired with two divers of who were far more experienced than me. We did not go over any formal buddy procedures. I was just going to remain close to them.

The DM reported the visibility on the wreck as 10-15' with a mild current.

As I descended down the line, I noticed I was not using enough weight. I had to put some effort in descending to the wreck. While on the wreck, I was having some issues maintaining the same depth as my dive buddies.

I also noticed the visibility seemed to be getting worse. My SPG hit 1100 psi so decided to head back to the anchor line. My dive buddies were moving much faster than me, and I using much more gas than they were. (I am usually one of the first guys back on the boat from the dives. I try to always be back on the boat with at least 500 psi.)

I didn't want to be "that guy" , and cut their dives short. Also, they were so far ahead of me that I didn't want to burn the extra gas to catch up with them just to let them know I was going to the anchor line. So I turned around, and I made back to the anchor line.

I still had 1000 psi at the anchor line so I decided to swim down to bottom to look for shells for just a second. Well I got my shell, but as tried to return to the anchor line I couldn't find the wreck.

Visibility was a lot worse than I thought. I thought to myself how the world do you lose a shipwreck? I didn't think I had swam that far from the wreck. I'm still not sure how I got separated from the wreck I thought it was right next to me!

I decided to ascend. I struggled to maintain my depth for my safety stop due to my tank getting more buoyant, and having no visible references.

I surfaced about 50 yards from the charter boat. I blew my whistle to let the boat know where I was, and started the swim back to the boat. The DM swam out to me with the tow line. I made it back on board very embarrassed and flustered. The DM chided me for swimming off the wreck, although I didn't intentionally swim off the wreck. The DM also stated I shouldn't have made the safety stop, and I should have surfaced as soon as I was lost. I return aboard with about 600 psi.

On the next two dives of the charter, the advanced divers buddies did keep a much closer eye on me which I appreciate since they are vacation to enjoy themselves not to babysit me.

I really need to work on knowing the lay out of dive sites I dive. Although, this is difficult because the charters pick the sites off the cuff depending on if the site is being fished or dived on by another company.

Renting gear and diving on vacation is a bit frustrating. I didn't really have an opportunity to get my weighting dialed in.

I'm glad I brought a whistle. I also had a mirror and smb. I always feel like pack too much stuff on my bc compared to other divers on charters.

On the three dive charters I have been on so far, I have found the buddy system to be pretty non-existent except for spouses, and friends diving together. Everyone else seems to just do their own thing. The insta-buddy system is not reliable for me. It's hard to develop a team mentality with a stranger in 30 minutes.

A reel would be useful for tying of to the wreck in low viz conditions.

Any thoughts, criticisms, etc. are welcome.

 

[2airishuman]

Time and experience will help with the navigation and weighting.

Consider asking for larger tanks if you are running out of air before everyone else

The buddy system on charters is what you describe, and unfortunately that's what you have to work with.

 

[Saniflush]

I applaud you for putting this "out there". I'm sure many other will be along in a few with many more suggestions than I have but I will tell you that I have tried to make a habit of taking a compass reading wherever I am going to swim away from a known point.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The reason the DM said you should have skipped the safety stop is that even in a mild current you could drift pretty far from the boat in three minutes. The best thing you could do when instabuddies swim faster than you is to relax, enjoy your dive and be at the ascent line with plenty of air. You are responsible for your own safety.

 

[Storker]

My dive buddies were moving much faster than me, and I using much more gas than they were [...}

I didn't want to be "that guy" , and cut their dives short.

We obviously live in different worlds. In my world, I usually don't have "buddies", I have "a buddy". Unless I'm deliberately diving a threesome. And if my buddy for some reason gives me the thumb, that's just how it is. I'd rather that my buddy cut my dive short than ending up in an emergency because they didn't want to be that guy.

Anyone can call a dive, for any reason. The ocean will always be there. If my buddy calls the dive, we'll have a chat about why they did that after we're all comfortable on dry ground, breaking down our gear.

 

[INQuarryDiver]

I definitely need to have a better understanding worked out with my assigned dive partners. Due to my inexperience with deeper diving, how much more gas I would consume compared to more efficient divers, I didn't realize it would be an issue until it was one. I haven't ran into that issue in the quarries.

Thanks all for the input!

 

[Storker]

Due to my inexperience with deeper diving, how much more gas I would consume compared to more efficient divers, I didn't realize it would be an issue until it was one.

Imagine yourself as the more experienced person. What would you prefer? That your buddy stretched their comfort zone to accommodate you, with a significant risk of an emergency situation (and all the crap that that implies), or the minor hassle of not being able to use up your fill?

Sure, oftentimes we spend a significant chunk of money to be able to do that dive. But is that money really worth the hassle of ending up in an emergency situation? Me, I'd rather suffer the waste by me not getting my money's worth than living with a dead buddy for the rest of my life. I'd really prefer that my buddy was "that guy". No matter how annoying that was.

 

[Caveeagle]

Glad you are ok and this did not freak you out too bad. With relatively poor viz and being part of a 3x insta-buddy, you really need to be very pro-active about staying in visual contact with other divers, and also being aware of current and direction to the anchor line etc.

How aware were you of your no deco limits? If you were pretty safe from a deco perspective, then yes, blow the stop and get to the surface. If you were in any risk for DCS, or not sure, I would deploy the SMB and try to make my way back to the line. Of course, I was not there, so other factors would also play. bad weather and chop might also make it hard for the boat to find you etc.

 

[lowflyer]

I think you made quite a big change in weights without doing a buoyancy check. Once in the water and finding you couldn't descend you should have asked someone to hand you some more weight.

Once descended you should have used a compass to see what direction you were going in order to have some idea what direction to go back. Keep an eye on the compass heading because it's easy to be changing course unwittingly. Be self reliant, don't rely so much on "buddies"

Being a relatively new diver, you weren't relaxed, and you were following faster swimming "buddies'. Plus you were fighting to descend and stay down. All this creating anxiety and faster air consumption. Have a brief with anyone who is paired up with you before the dive and let them know if you are a new diver. Unless they are totally self absorbed they will then keep a better eye on you.

In the end, you learned a lot

 

[scubadada]

Hi @INQuarryDiver

14 lbs of weight with a rash guard and an AL80 seems excessive. You may very well be an excessive gas consumer at your level of experience. If you were going to take a trip off the wreck, why didn't you take a compass heading off the wreck so that you could find your way back? Some measures are so easy, but so easy to ignore.