JBFG
Contributor
So I was diving in an exotic country last summer and all went bad!
There were 4 of us (owner, me, 2 other divers). The initial dive was a wall dive. The owner and I went with insta buddy. Our plan was to dive to 100' and gradually come up before we run out of bottom time.
The other 2 were to stay about 60-70' and follow "on top" of us. Everyone was aware of the plan and we all agreed to it before splashing.
Well the 1 diver decided to follow us for after we've been at dept for a few and left his buddy alone. This promoted my insta buddy to ascend and go link up with the other diver that was left alone. A few minutes later I was going to start my ascent to stay within no deco range as per the dive plan. Well my new 2nd insta buddy decided to stay at depth. I signaled up and ascended about 10 feet, thus extending my no deco limit.
Buddy was still swimming at 100'. I signaled buddy again. At this time he stood in the water column and was vertical. He was not swimming anymore, just standing there. A few second passed, looking at my computer I had about 3 min left of no deco time. I made the quick decision to go back down and shake up my buddy. Once I got there, he was blank staring at me and breading heavily. He was completely 100% passive out of it. I had about 1 min of no deco at this time. Not being sure what to do I just grabbed his arm and inflated my BP/W. He was not responsive at all. Once we hit 50' he "woke up" and started swimming again like nothing happened. He rejoined the other 2 divers that were swimming thus leaving me alone. I was so mad that I kept my distance.
We finished the dive like we planned. Once we surfaced (I was the last one out) I was furious. Buddy #2 was talking about how much of a nice dive it was, etc. I kind of lost it on him. He had 0 recollection of leaving his first buddy's side. He had a full 10-15 min blackout. Talking more and more with him I found out that he was only OW certified, has not dove in 10 years and only had 5 dives under his belt. He never been deeper than 30'. On top of that, his wife just gave birth. He would have drowned in there.
I wondered for the rest of my vacation what I missed, what could I have done better, was it too risky for me, and what else I could have done. Right after my vacation I signed up for my rescue class and completed it 3 weeks after that incident so that I was better prepared in the future. In the end my lesson learn is, I would have probably chat him up more at the beginning of the dive instead of getting to know solely my original insta buddy.
There were 4 of us (owner, me, 2 other divers). The initial dive was a wall dive. The owner and I went with insta buddy. Our plan was to dive to 100' and gradually come up before we run out of bottom time.
The other 2 were to stay about 60-70' and follow "on top" of us. Everyone was aware of the plan and we all agreed to it before splashing.
Well the 1 diver decided to follow us for after we've been at dept for a few and left his buddy alone. This promoted my insta buddy to ascend and go link up with the other diver that was left alone. A few minutes later I was going to start my ascent to stay within no deco range as per the dive plan. Well my new 2nd insta buddy decided to stay at depth. I signaled up and ascended about 10 feet, thus extending my no deco limit.
Buddy was still swimming at 100'. I signaled buddy again. At this time he stood in the water column and was vertical. He was not swimming anymore, just standing there. A few second passed, looking at my computer I had about 3 min left of no deco time. I made the quick decision to go back down and shake up my buddy. Once I got there, he was blank staring at me and breading heavily. He was completely 100% passive out of it. I had about 1 min of no deco at this time. Not being sure what to do I just grabbed his arm and inflated my BP/W. He was not responsive at all. Once we hit 50' he "woke up" and started swimming again like nothing happened. He rejoined the other 2 divers that were swimming thus leaving me alone. I was so mad that I kept my distance.
We finished the dive like we planned. Once we surfaced (I was the last one out) I was furious. Buddy #2 was talking about how much of a nice dive it was, etc. I kind of lost it on him. He had 0 recollection of leaving his first buddy's side. He had a full 10-15 min blackout. Talking more and more with him I found out that he was only OW certified, has not dove in 10 years and only had 5 dives under his belt. He never been deeper than 30'. On top of that, his wife just gave birth. He would have drowned in there.
I wondered for the rest of my vacation what I missed, what could I have done better, was it too risky for me, and what else I could have done. Right after my vacation I signed up for my rescue class and completed it 3 weeks after that incident so that I was better prepared in the future. In the end my lesson learn is, I would have probably chat him up more at the beginning of the dive instead of getting to know solely my original insta buddy.
