noj3333
Contributor
So, I’ll recap a quick scenario that happened to me a few weeks ago…
Pre-dive briefing the DM covers group/ buddy separation. They say the standard, “If you get separated, search underwater for a minute, then safely surface, and the boat crew will direct you to the bubbles and you can rejoin your group underwater”. Pretty simple, and straightforward…
On the actual dive the visibility is poor, maybe 7-8 feet, and the current was on the stronger side, with 2.5’-4’ waves (poor conditions for my warm/ clear water experience, but I wanted to expand my experience, and I thought this was within my comfort zone, but on its edges)…
Maybe 20 minutes into the dive I separated from the group, do my quick underwater search, shoot my SMB and surface. I find the boat and it’s maybe 400+/- yards away from me. I can see the crew waving their arms, and maybe yelling. I signal that I’m ‘ok’ (raise one hand as high as I can and do the thumb/ pointer finger ok signal)… Then I take a quick compass heading, roll my SMB back up, descend to 20’ and begin to swim to the boat.
After swimming for maybe 10-15 minutes I was unsure of how much distance I had covered so I shoot the SMB again, and surface… I was still 200+ yards from the boat, and had around 1100psi remaining so I made a decision to surface swim to the boat (actually swim to a line they had down current from the boat, where I could pull myself in as needed).
SO… HERE’S MY QUESTION. If I’m NOT in serious distress, but I needed to be picked up in the water, what’s the proper signal. I was reading another post and it said to give an ‘ok signal’, followed by raising both hands into the air (like a referee would do for a touchdown in American football). According to that post the captain should know that signal to be, “The diver is ok, but needs/ wants to be picked up”. Is that a universally accepted signal/ way of conveying that information? If not, what would you do as an experienced diver?
As a side note… once on the boat I learned the entire group had broke up pretty quickly, and people had wondered back to the boat in small groups the entire time I was in the water… I guess I was the only one to shoot my SMB even though several people had them, so they told me good job on that. They also said when I had surfaced the first time they were calling me to the boat… but I was so far away I was out of hearing distance…
Pre-dive briefing the DM covers group/ buddy separation. They say the standard, “If you get separated, search underwater for a minute, then safely surface, and the boat crew will direct you to the bubbles and you can rejoin your group underwater”. Pretty simple, and straightforward…
On the actual dive the visibility is poor, maybe 7-8 feet, and the current was on the stronger side, with 2.5’-4’ waves (poor conditions for my warm/ clear water experience, but I wanted to expand my experience, and I thought this was within my comfort zone, but on its edges)…
Maybe 20 minutes into the dive I separated from the group, do my quick underwater search, shoot my SMB and surface. I find the boat and it’s maybe 400+/- yards away from me. I can see the crew waving their arms, and maybe yelling. I signal that I’m ‘ok’ (raise one hand as high as I can and do the thumb/ pointer finger ok signal)… Then I take a quick compass heading, roll my SMB back up, descend to 20’ and begin to swim to the boat.
After swimming for maybe 10-15 minutes I was unsure of how much distance I had covered so I shoot the SMB again, and surface… I was still 200+ yards from the boat, and had around 1100psi remaining so I made a decision to surface swim to the boat (actually swim to a line they had down current from the boat, where I could pull myself in as needed).
SO… HERE’S MY QUESTION. If I’m NOT in serious distress, but I needed to be picked up in the water, what’s the proper signal. I was reading another post and it said to give an ‘ok signal’, followed by raising both hands into the air (like a referee would do for a touchdown in American football). According to that post the captain should know that signal to be, “The diver is ok, but needs/ wants to be picked up”. Is that a universally accepted signal/ way of conveying that information? If not, what would you do as an experienced diver?
As a side note… once on the boat I learned the entire group had broke up pretty quickly, and people had wondered back to the boat in small groups the entire time I was in the water… I guess I was the only one to shoot my SMB even though several people had them, so they told me good job on that. They also said when I had surfaced the first time they were calling me to the boat… but I was so far away I was out of hearing distance…