REALLY LUCKY mishap

[imwright1985]

We dive the same plan every time we anchor dive, so there was no discussion on the matter, and our location was approx 60 ft dive about 1/2 hr. We would swim to the anchor line then decend. My "Buddy" told me to get in the water first since he is "faster" at getting ready than i am. by the time he was set the chop caused me to lose my grip on the boat and i was about 20 yards down stream. we decend and i hull butt to get caught up to him, he didnt once look at me, i grab my speargun off him and he takes off still not even glancing towards me Dont even get a chance to load it since he is flying everywhere and never looked at me, unless he did for the second i stopped to load my gun and took my eyes off him.
From working so hard to try staying caught up with him needless to say i start to run low on air and start hanging out approx 15- 20 ft above him and about 5 feet to his side so i can keep my eyes on him but not suck up as much air as i would normally at that depth.
As soon as i break surface, he gets bit by an eel, surfaces, then im already about 20 yds away from him we both broke surface about 50 yds behind the boat and i deployed a signal tube, he was flailing his speargun. Our lookout since he has been on the boat with people diving saw that we went to the front of the boat and was only keeping an eye on the front.
We ended up drifting about 300 yards with me flailing the signal tube and from about the same distance as our boat, a boat that was fishing picked us up and dropped us off at our boat.
I was the only certified person on the boat, but my dive "buddy" has read the naui book and has been diving for about 6 years with his parents and brother who are all certified.

Things that were messed up:
1) we shouldn't have assumbed the lookout had enough common sense to scan the water AROUND the boat every couple minutes since you never know what the lower laying current is doing exactly or if someone may surface early from an injury.
2)My dive buddy should be more of a dive buddy than an arrogant idiot to not even glance over at me.
3) we should have dropped off the boat at the same time rather than me try to hold on to the ladder since im the "slow" one that gets ready without assistance in about 1/2 the time as he does
4) my dive buddy should have hung out in his spot or at the anchor line while i was struggling to catch up rather than having me work twice as hard as he is
5) even though it is the keys with the way the current was we should have planned it as a drift dive

so to resolve some of this are there any good dive instructors that are in west palm or the keys that is like a dive NAZI that can possibly break his habbits, its like 3-4 of them that are looking to get certified, he is the worst one for an ego. I admit i should have been more stubborn on his having me get in the water first and that i should have made sure our lookout knew what to do but he is way too arrogant and has little respect for my input so i need to find someone he will take serious because he is "the best" When i went to take my OW he was making fun of me, and made fun of me about my tube (which our rescue boat said that was all they saw and they spoted him while inroute to me

 

[SkimFisher]

Don't operate based on assumption, EVER. Communicate. Clearly. Even if it means being a d**k. You're ultimately putting your life in someone elses hands. I'd remove him from my list of dive buddies until he takes the class. Was this a charter boat or a private boat? Either way, whoever was tending the boat needs a lesson as well. No one wants to look "uptight" so most people just nod and shrug. No one wants to be dead either - which is worse?

The day I have to make a post like this about a crappy buddy is the day I never dive alone with that person again.

You obviously know what went wrong so there's no doubt you've learned from it. Happy diving.

 

[fisheater]

Best solution is to find new (and certified) dive buddies. You now know, for sure, that this guy is totally unsafe. It's not a skill defecit; it's a major personality problem.

 

[imwright1985]

It was a private boat.

I assumed because its pretty much common sense to look around the boat, my first time on lookout i wasnt certified and was running the boat on my own, seas were 4ft and i was scanning the whole ocean around the boat. Figuring the divers would get pushed around a little with the current and that they would be swimming around to different areas.

The whole certified thing If your buddy is responsible and willing to listen or communicate a little with you and knows the basics of how to dive then you shouldnt have an issue. From my OW course, i really didnt learn too much other than a safety stop, how to read tables, and some safety equipment. The main thing that it did for me was allowed me to get comfortable in the gear with propper supervision. 2 of my normal dive buddies that i enjoy diving with arnt certified but they listen, and have the decency to look and see where their buddy is and adjust to stay with them and since i got certified listen to me a little on advice here and there.

Fisheater nailed it on the head, that buddy has a major personality problem, thats why i want them to go through a course with a real strict instructor that will throw curveballs and make him especially learn to pay attention and adjust so he can hopefully learn to drop his ego when he hits the water

 

[SkimFisher]

I assumed because its pretty much common sense to look around the boat, my first time on lookout i wasnt certified and was running the boat on my own, seas were 4ft and i was scanning the whole ocean around the boat.

...yup. Not everyone is that bright.

 

[openmindOW]

Thank you for your post, imwright.

Was your buddy trying to hunt the eel with a speargun? I hope not. Why did the eel bite your buddy?

 

[imwright1985]

The eel bite details are: He shot a hog fish, was hanging out near the reef lining up for a shot on a black grouper when the eel came outa the hole, It was a 6 ft morey and it bit his leg then started shaking him, let go then wrapped around his catch bag and was nosing around at the bag trying to get the hog fish.

The eel bite isnt really related to the mishap at hand, that is just misfortune on his part. My main issues are that if your diving a private boat, make sure your lookout knows to constantly scan the water. Also have a decent dive buddy and plan your dives accordingly for the amount of current you have

 

[Leejnd]

imright, thank you for posting your incident.

There are a couple of things that I find troubling in your story. First, while I know that there is much dissention among the dive community about the current standards of scuba training and the various certifying agencies, I just feel that it is flat-out wrong to dive with an uncertified diver. Watered-down training notwithstanding, certification from some industry-accepted scuba agency is at least a minimum standard that every diver should attain. IMO it doesn't matter whether the person has been diving for 20+ years - uncertified is uncertified. I do realize that being certified doesn't necessary mean one knows how to dive - but being uncertified does mean they haven't received any formal dive training. I simply will not dive with someone who isn't certified.

Second, I don't believe that getting certified is going to solve the problem with that particular buddy. I think Fisheater hit the nail on the head - this is not a training, certification, or dive skills issue. It's a personality flaw that no amount of training is going to fix.

There are certain divers with whom I simply will not dive. I wish them all the best, but their dive practices, IMO, put MY life in jeopardy. If I were you, I would permanently cross him off your list of dive buddies. Any diver who has so little situational awareness, and so little concern for his buddy, doesn't deserve to dive with me.

Best of luck finding a better buddy for future dives!

 

[imwright1985]

LeeAnne -

I dont plan on diving with him unless we are in a big enough group where i wont be putting myself in danger, for right now i will never dive with him again in a 2 person dive. I am pretty sure he is now more serious about getting certified because he was saying that a few times on our way back from the keys, but I want him to have a strict instructor that will make him pay attention (like pull his buddy back and see how long before he notices his buddy isnt around) or stuff like that. This guy just needs someone that he respects from their expertiese level to put him in check and since he has more time diving than I do, he shows no respect towards me and wont listen to me until he realises it effects him.

When I bought my signal tube he made fun of it but the boat that rescued us said that is all they saw and knew a diver was having an issue, as they came to grab me they saw him and they realised it was more than one diver. Now he is talking about getting one or having some of the other divers in our group of friends get some so we have them for each diver in the water.

With an instructor that might help crush his diving ego a little I think it might make him better as a dive buddy

 

[Leejnd]

imwright - you are kinder and more forgiving than I am. A dive buddy needs only to put my life in danger once, and you will never find me underwater with him/her again...group or not.

But your willingness to give him another chance if he gets some good training is commendable.