Safety in Numbers??? -- Beware of Virtual Solo Diving

[on_two_wheels]

Maybe I've just been lucky. I've been diving with a handful of members on here. Often, the dive was our first actual meeting. So far, all have been GREAT buddies (WannaLaguna, cppike, sere diver, Oren, et al). Given it was our first time diving together and our first meeting, it could have just as easily been on a boat somewhere.

 

[Wobbegong wannabe]

I think the divers here are all pretty motivated, because we take the time to subscribe to a bulletin board to chat and learn more about diving. However, there are a lot of divers out there that are either happy to be bad, or don't realise that their skills are lacking until something untoward happens.

I'm the first to admit that I'm not a very good buddy; my nav skills are dodgy (actually I get lost in my own suburb still, so it's not one of my strong points out of the water) and my bouyancy could best be described as Improving. However, I realise this and dive ultra-conservatively and actively work on skills building. Some new divers do this and some don't, but without knowing them personally (either face to face or via the net) it's difficult to assess their mindset. Unfortunately, most of the regular divers in my town seem to come as ready made pairs.

If you don't have a pet buddy and want to keep diving, you sometimes have to dive with people you don't know and take your chances. Sometimes (unfortunately) this has an adverse outcome for one or both divers.

 

[Pre BC]

Below are excerpts from BoxerFosterMom's account of the April 26th accident in Grand Cayman that directly relate to the topic of group versus buddy diving.

"What I can tell you is he started the dive with 7 other divers all with different experiences. We were taken to a site and told our depth would be ft. Two of us (myself and his fiancé' didn't want to go to 100ft so we stayed at 60ft hovering over the rest of the group). Half way into the dive approx. 10 min. the DM did a check and noticed one diver was missing. This was when we were suppose to make a left turn, at that turn the slope of the bottom (hard bottom)starting sloping off deeper than we all realized. SPECULATION is the diver either didn't make the turn, or got narked, or something and started going deeper and we didn't notice him leaving the group. He was at 184ft at 14 mins into the dive 19 minutes into the dive and then eventually reached a depth of over 300ft. He then was discovered floating on the surface by a fishing boat."

"One important issue is it was a group dive and there was no assigned buddies. What we have learned is:

ALWAYS BUDDY UP NO MATTER WHO IS IN CHARGE!!
NEVER DIVE PAST YOUR CERTIFIED LIMITS (unless you are certifying for a new level or you are with an instructor and that is your goal to go beyond your limits and it is agreed and you have a dive plan in place)
KNOW THE BOATING LAWS OF THE COUNTRY THAT YOU ARE IN
KNOW WHERE THE FIRST AID KIT IS AND KNOW HOW TO USE IT OR MAKE SURE YOU KNOW SOMEONE ON THE BOAT KNOWS HOW TO USE IT. MAKE SURE THEY HAVE o2, AMBU BAG, AND HOPEFULLY AND AED ON BOARD AND IT IS NOT "LOCKED UP"
KNOW THE BOATS RADIO CALL NUMBERS AND HOW TO USE IT
KNOW YOUR OWN GEAR AND GEAR UP YOUR OWN GEAR, DON'T TRUST ANYONE ELSE TO TOUCH YOUR GEAR
HAVE A DIVE PLAN
AND IF YOU FEEL THAT THE DIVE SITE IS NOT A GOOD SITE FOR YOUR EXPERIENCE ASK TO GO TO ANOTHER ONE OR SIT IT OUT. DON'T BE AFRAID TO SPEAK UP.
AND REMEMBER YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOURSELF AND ONLY YOURSELF. THE DM IS THERE TO "GUIDE YOU" NOTHING MORE.
IF YOU WANT A PERSONAL SAFETY PERSON OTHER THAN YOUR BUDDY, HIRE SOMEONE."

Regardless of who did what wrong on that particular dive, the lessons learned that are are surfacing now that the emotion is largely gone are extremely important. Every new diver should take to them to heart and every experienced diver should resolve to relearn them continuously. The danger of "group diving" is that no one knows who is watching who (or is it whom?).... Until the day comes that every diver is wearing a full face mask with wireless communications, all of us need to know who we are watching and who is watching us before we hit the water...

P