Probably Narced
Registered
While on a recent dive trip I found myself buddied up with a diver I was not at all comfortable with. Despite claiming to be a certified rescue diver I noticed she seemed at best uncomfortable in her Scuba gear on the boat and on our initial dive actually forgot to hold her weight belt during her "giant stride" she failed to notice the weight belt had been lost during entry and as our group descended she was struggling on the surface clearly far to buoyant to make a descent. A Minimal error perhaps but it had flagged some concerns in the back of mind. Admittadley once a new weight belt had been secured she looked a lot more comfortable under water despite in my opinion swimming a little too close behind me.
Anyway the following day were diving a new site, there is some surface current and our dive master announces we will be making a descent on the bouy line to 20 meters, everyone suits up and jumps. In total there are 4 of us in the group plus a dive master leading the dive. As we descend we notice the buddy team at the back has failed to grasp the bouy line are being swept out of view by the current (it was not paticualry strong but certainly noticeable and I had no issues with a bouy line descent as a measure of caution). We at 10 meters and the dive master clearly signs "stay here, Stay level", me and buddy both give the "ok" and he swims towards the buddy team being swept away. Visability at this depth is very poor, I would estimate no more than perhaps 2 - 3 meters. Im hanging onto the line an watching the dive master to ensure I can keep eyes on the group. Barely a moment later I turn to check my buddy and to my amazement she has finned off into the blue, I mean I just see the tips of her fins disappearing into the gloom. I have a split second to decide if I chase her or if I stay as instructed on the bouy line and in my moment of hesitation she is gone out of sight.
During the dive brief our dive master had clearly stated "if you find your lost and alone stay at your location for 1 minute, look for bubble and then make a safe ascent at no more than 18 meters per minute" as the dive master comes back to the line with our other two divers he immediately notices my missing buddy and signs "where is your buddy" I sign back "swimming, this way" and point in the direction i saw her take off in. We start the clock for 1 minute and swim in the direction I saw her head in staying at 10 meters. There is no sign of her and no sign of any bubbles but really vis is so bad Im not surprised at all. After a further minute at 3 minutes at 5 meters looking for any sign of bubble trails we surface fully expecting to see her top side. She is not there, we give it another 2 minutes but no show. Having already alerted the boat to look for her from there elevated position the dive master now assumes a missing diver and with the help of an instructor off the boat who should of been teaching an AOW class they start a 25 minute search pattern around the boat, still no....show.
Im really quite worried by now, I mean what on earth could of happened to her that she wouldn't of made some sort of ascent by now, realising she is alone. Im berating myself for hesitating. If I had took off after her Im confident I could of brought her back to the bouy line and saved all this. Its been around 35 minutes to 40 minutes since we saw her.
As another group from out boat who had been on a fun dive start to surface we obviously ask if they have seen her. Turns out she was down with there group the whole time. Logic defies me on this decision both from the dive master leading the group accepting a diver joining and from her decision to just buddy up with other divers while underwater knowing that we must surely all be worried and looking for her.
I partly blame myself for not making that initial call soon enough. I could of saved a lot of hassle if I had chased her down at the start and reasonably speaking there was little risk in doing so. The diver her self certainly should not of continued her dive on her own, let alone joined the other group and the dive master leading the group should of at the very least led her back to the bouy line and asked her to ascend.
As it was no one was hurt which in my mind is the main thing
Anyway the following day were diving a new site, there is some surface current and our dive master announces we will be making a descent on the bouy line to 20 meters, everyone suits up and jumps. In total there are 4 of us in the group plus a dive master leading the dive. As we descend we notice the buddy team at the back has failed to grasp the bouy line are being swept out of view by the current (it was not paticualry strong but certainly noticeable and I had no issues with a bouy line descent as a measure of caution). We at 10 meters and the dive master clearly signs "stay here, Stay level", me and buddy both give the "ok" and he swims towards the buddy team being swept away. Visability at this depth is very poor, I would estimate no more than perhaps 2 - 3 meters. Im hanging onto the line an watching the dive master to ensure I can keep eyes on the group. Barely a moment later I turn to check my buddy and to my amazement she has finned off into the blue, I mean I just see the tips of her fins disappearing into the gloom. I have a split second to decide if I chase her or if I stay as instructed on the bouy line and in my moment of hesitation she is gone out of sight.
During the dive brief our dive master had clearly stated "if you find your lost and alone stay at your location for 1 minute, look for bubble and then make a safe ascent at no more than 18 meters per minute" as the dive master comes back to the line with our other two divers he immediately notices my missing buddy and signs "where is your buddy" I sign back "swimming, this way" and point in the direction i saw her take off in. We start the clock for 1 minute and swim in the direction I saw her head in staying at 10 meters. There is no sign of her and no sign of any bubbles but really vis is so bad Im not surprised at all. After a further minute at 3 minutes at 5 meters looking for any sign of bubble trails we surface fully expecting to see her top side. She is not there, we give it another 2 minutes but no show. Having already alerted the boat to look for her from there elevated position the dive master now assumes a missing diver and with the help of an instructor off the boat who should of been teaching an AOW class they start a 25 minute search pattern around the boat, still no....show.
Im really quite worried by now, I mean what on earth could of happened to her that she wouldn't of made some sort of ascent by now, realising she is alone. Im berating myself for hesitating. If I had took off after her Im confident I could of brought her back to the bouy line and saved all this. Its been around 35 minutes to 40 minutes since we saw her.
As another group from out boat who had been on a fun dive start to surface we obviously ask if they have seen her. Turns out she was down with there group the whole time. Logic defies me on this decision both from the dive master leading the group accepting a diver joining and from her decision to just buddy up with other divers while underwater knowing that we must surely all be worried and looking for her.
I partly blame myself for not making that initial call soon enough. I could of saved a lot of hassle if I had chased her down at the start and reasonably speaking there was little risk in doing so. The diver her self certainly should not of continued her dive on her own, let alone joined the other group and the dive master leading the group should of at the very least led her back to the bouy line and asked her to ascend.
As it was no one was hurt which in my mind is the main thing
