Guides (DMs) getting lost

[2airishuman]

Those of you who follow my posts know that the vast majority of my dives are solo shore dives in freshwater lakes. One result of this is that I'm accustomed to providing my own navigation, and there are certain automatic actions that I take. I typically set my compass for a course towards shore at the beginning of a dive, note landmarks on shore at the entry point, note underwater landmarks at the entry point, and so on.

I was recently on a guided boat dive in the ocean. I noted the "be back on board" time given to us by the captain, and observed that there were some unusual coral formations shaped rather like a 10' diameter skull right where we splashed.

We had a great dive at a relaxing pace, but as the dive progressed toward the end of the hour it appeared to me that we were not in the immediate vicinity of the boat. Ultimately, our guide gave an ascent signal in an area lacking the unusual coral formations I had noted earlier, and also lacking a boat. He surfaced while we completed a safety stop, and returned. Then, he sprinted off in a new direction with remarkable swimming speed that he had not demonstrated earlier, with the intent that we should follow.

We proceeded this way for over five minutes and I was becoming concerned that one of my buddies (I was diving as a threesome with my daughters) was low on air at 350 PSI. After all, we'd been in the water just short of an hour at this point. I still had plenty of air because I was using a larger cylinder, and was contemplating whether to donate air as a preventative measure. Moreover, she was having trouble keeping up, and I was interposing at a distance where I could just see the guide and she could just see me so she could follow. Just then, the familiar coral -- and the hull of the boat -- came into view. I was back on board a few minutes after the "pool closed" time, said nothing, and nothing was said. I wonder perhaps whether a private discussion ensued between the captain and the DM after the trip concluded.

The dive was shallow and the surface benign so I did not feel there was a safety problem.

I am wondering how common this sort of thing is, and whether there is a better way to handle it.

 

[Doc]

If your buddy that had 350psi remaining at some unknown point...

Did he or anyone attempt to communicate this to the DM? The DM must have communicated in some fashion, "follow me". Did 350 just not get the signal out, a likely problem for a diver in that situation. Did you try to communicate that "alarming" status?

Were you ready to ascend right then with the 350 guy and display a SMB? You said conditions were calm, so you could have waited with him for the boat to come get you after other divers boarded.

But 350 made it through that 5+ minute shallow swim, no small feat. Obviously not the best skill sets, hyper buoyant by then, shallow depths exacerbating buoyancy, under mental stress from staring at SPG, a fast pace.... I mean really, this 350 diver pulled a major rabbit out of the hat. The way you describe their situation, I would have seen 350 in an OOA and at least so bouyant that they went all corklike. Miraculous, actually.

If you don't feel it was a safety problem, what is the relevance of this story? The way you couch it, I am thinking you believe it was a safety issue, it may well have been. Dunno.

You are a "solo diver", I assume this means you carry a completely redundant air supply beyond that 120cf tank you prefer. Were you ready to hand that redundant supply over to the 350 and let him continue underwater?

Do DMs get lost? Rarely. Depends on the DM and locale. What were his announced duties?

Two weeks ago I was leading a group on a dive site that I've done maybe 1800 times. It got so occluded I did get lost and did something I never had done- actually look at my compass. We made it home, the following divers never really understood how lost I was for a moment. I did use it as a teaching moment tho.

A shallow dive...calm seas... Lots of air to breathe right above all of the drama. Many solutions available.

No reason for you to rush after the DM leaving 350 behind. You could have easily noted his newly aquired heading and stayed at 15' depth with 350 instead of stretching the line of vision out so far. If all else fails, you could also blip to the surface, take a heading, then continue the march homeward.

Does this happen? All of those things? Yes, all the time.

 

[ystrout]

I'm sure DMs don't get truly lost THAT often, but it definitely happens. I frequently get lost on my shallow dives and surface to get my orientation. On an hour long, 25 foot dive, I will surface a couple times to figure out where I am. With all the zig zagging and swimming in random directions following fish, it's pretty hard to know exactly where you are. I always know what direction shore or my boat is, but getting to the 50 yard beach access or to the anchor line is tough when you're down for so long and cover so much ground in many directions.

It sounded like he was in the general vicinity of the boat but was off a little bit. I bet that happens pretty frequently.

 

[sea_ledford]

In my guiding experience, it is relatively uncommon, but can be very site specific. Some sites are just really easy to get lost in and if you are depending on natural navigation only, you are going to get lost.

There was one site on Grand Bahama that was notorious for getting the guides lost. It was a huge field of patch reefs with very little change in depth, and clam enough water that sand ripples would provide no useful information. The new guides (myself included) would drop down, get the group organized, then look at a line of patch reefs and say to themselves "I'll just head out this row of coral heads, turn at 1500psi, and come back on the other side of the row." Well wouldn't you know it, but those coral heads are not in an exact line and that method doesn't work. The quick to learn guides would use a compass from the beginning of the dive after making this mistake once. We would also get to a point where we were experienced at the site and damnit I don't need a compass anymore. They would get lost too. One guide even had a special floating slate she would use. She would ID some critter or another, write it down on the slate and pass it around the group. Guaranteed someone would let it go so she would have to go up to "retrieve her slate" take a compass bearing back to the boat and come back down.

But realizing your mistake and sprinting back to the boat rather than do the surface swim of shame? That's not acceptable in my book, but still happens unfortunately.

Also if you see your guide checking their compass for the first time 3/4 of the way though the dive, you are probably lost

-Chris

 

[cruisekingkris]

I think it happens more then we realize. Most people don’t know they missed the mark and follow the leader till they see the boat.

I was in Turks and our well seasoned island local DM swam us past the mark by 8-10 minutes. Myself and another diver seen the SMB on a weight that she dropped at the beginning of the dive. As we swam passed it and gave each other the I don’t know two palms facing up sign. We went along knowing we had plenty of air and after a few minutes signaled to her, asking her where is the boat. After giving the ok sign and looking at the surface, she gave us the stay here while I look for the boat at the surface sign. She came down and pointed behind us. No duh!!! Luckily the top of the wall is at 40’-50’ so air wasn’t an issue. It turned out to be a nice long dive. And a fun joke on the boat.

Yup it happens

 

[northernone]

Also if you see your guide checking their compass for the first time 3/4 of the way though the dive, you are probably lost

-Chris

Love it!

... Depending on the site, the guide and the conditions, humans get lost underwater...

Some guides I know have extraordinary navigation abilities, others.... Erm... Less so.

Throw in new DM, an unfamiliar dive site, a distraction or two, a customer needing help, a strange current and a cloudy day, all bets are off.

Unless it's an emergency, I won't be rushed underwater. If the guide takes off like a rocket without monitoring the group... They are going to be solo diving and can explain to the captain why they surfaced alone.

Cameron

 

[scubadada]

One of the big advantages of drift diving in SE FL, if you have the flag, you are never lost.

 

[CWK]

I’ve had guides misplace a pinnacle on entry. Does that count?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

My understanding is that new DMs are the ones who get lost until they get a lay of the land. Not as they don't swim away when others start getting low on air.

 

[johndiver999]

If the DM was lost or thought he was lost, he should have popped up earlier, (ALONE) taken a peak and re-directed the group, possibly even managed a swimming ascent or shallow - midwater swim if the visibility and skills of divers allowed it. The DM definitely should not be racing ahead and NOT monitoring the client's low on air condition.

If I were in the OP's position, I would have initiated an air share with daughter who was lagging behind. This would keep the two together, allow the practice of skills in a real situation and would prevent the daughter from being low on air and not having a buddy a fin kick away. If she was low on air and kicking hard and still lagging behind, a leg cramp and further complications were not far on the potential horizon. She was tired, low on air and the buddy system had been compromised - even if you could see her back there.

This is an example of a chain of events resulting in marginal decisions by (more than one diver) resulting in an unnecessary decrease in safety. Probably extra frustrating because the initial cause was the fault of the DM not the customer (who has little choice other than to play follow the leader in most situations).

Without sounding too negative, the decision of the OP to position himself in the middle of the DM and the daughter because he was trying to avoid being "lost" was understandable but not the best decision. A failure to properly evaluate priorities. It was probably more important to maintain the buddy system and if the two end up lost (together) on a shallow anchor dive.. well that is embarrassing, but should not be dangerous if you have an smb and a captain is on the ball.

Not an "accident" but a good opportunity to think about how situations evolve toward an incident.