Over the years, I've had a number of near misses while diving. Most of these have been equipment or operator related. Although at other times it has been my poor judgement as a result of inexperience. Sometimes s*** just happens that you have very little control of. This was one of those times...
It was 1984. I was in Bonaire for 10 days with a group of relatively experienced divers. The Head Instructor at Captain Don's Habitat and I had become fast friends and he had a day off and invited me to come on a dive with him and his friend, a professional marine biologist from the research station the following day. The wreck was the Windjammer (The Mari Bahn) which is in 200' of water. No mixed gas was available, so the dive would be on air.
As a past Navy Diver, I had several dives on air past 200', was able to manage narcosis and wasn't worried about my performance or the dive plan.
Two instructors from New York also wanted to do the dive at the last minute and although I was leary of their competence, it wasn't my call. It was agreed that each diver would dive solo and at that depth would not depend upon others to assist them. Six divers from my group would act as safety divers, stages were set and lots of decompression gas was available.
We went to the bottom and split-up. I entered the wreck (which didn't provide a hazard as the wreck is open on one side) and swam through it, then crossed over and down to the bow anchor. I checked my depth at 225' and started a lateral ascent. I noticed two divers relatively close together and identified them as the instructors from New York. They were about 50' from the ascent line at a depth of about 190'.
As I approached the first diver, he gave me the sign "Give me Air." :shocked2: This is not what I was expecting... I immediately gave him my octopus. The closest diver to him was unresponsive, although he looked at me, he didn't respond when I tried to wave him over; he was obviously narced.
Before I started the ascent, I wanted to get to the narced diver and tried to move my "air receiver" to be in a position to assist. He froze, but I was able to move him with some difficulty. During this time, the diver experiencing narcosis started to panic and he quickly went OOA.
In my mind, I felt that my only option was to donate my back-air to the two OOA divers and do a free-ascent over to and up the line to the first group of safety divers who were to be at 130 feet. Failing that, I knew the first stage bottles were at 30'. I knew that the two OOA divers would quickly run out of air, but I couldn't do more than that. I could not share air with two divers, one frozen, the other narced. They would be on their own. Hopefully it might give them enough time for assistance to arrive. I started to remove my B.C. ...
I just got my equipment off when help arrived. I was given air and retrieved my kit. Needless to say, I was extremely pleased.
The two OOA divers were escorted to the first decompression stop. I couldn't even look at them I was so ticked-off. When we surfaced, I was spitting nickels. They should not have been on that dive. Two instructors who should have known better.
When I sat down quietly and started to think about it, I started to shake from nerves. The dive plan was solid and the safety divers did their job.
So what did I learn? That regardless of what's said. Solo divers diving at their own risk. When it comes down to it, I just couldn't only look after myself. I had to help. It could have got me killed.
Although I felt the dive was safe for me to do, even though I wasn't diving in a team, I have a team mentality. I've done deeper dives with people who I don't know, but I talk to them about their experience and feel comfortable with them before diving. I'll never again leave it up to a Head Instructor at a dive resort to do this for me.
I often wonder if those two instructors realized how close to death they came? I wonder if the experience benefited them and/or their students?
You can do everything right, have all the right safety precautions, all the right equipment and although you do nothing wrong, you can bear the brunt of an accident.
Let the flaming begin.
It was 1984. I was in Bonaire for 10 days with a group of relatively experienced divers. The Head Instructor at Captain Don's Habitat and I had become fast friends and he had a day off and invited me to come on a dive with him and his friend, a professional marine biologist from the research station the following day. The wreck was the Windjammer (The Mari Bahn) which is in 200' of water. No mixed gas was available, so the dive would be on air.
As a past Navy Diver, I had several dives on air past 200', was able to manage narcosis and wasn't worried about my performance or the dive plan.
Two instructors from New York also wanted to do the dive at the last minute and although I was leary of their competence, it wasn't my call. It was agreed that each diver would dive solo and at that depth would not depend upon others to assist them. Six divers from my group would act as safety divers, stages were set and lots of decompression gas was available.
We went to the bottom and split-up. I entered the wreck (which didn't provide a hazard as the wreck is open on one side) and swam through it, then crossed over and down to the bow anchor. I checked my depth at 225' and started a lateral ascent. I noticed two divers relatively close together and identified them as the instructors from New York. They were about 50' from the ascent line at a depth of about 190'.
As I approached the first diver, he gave me the sign "Give me Air." :shocked2: This is not what I was expecting... I immediately gave him my octopus. The closest diver to him was unresponsive, although he looked at me, he didn't respond when I tried to wave him over; he was obviously narced.
Before I started the ascent, I wanted to get to the narced diver and tried to move my "air receiver" to be in a position to assist. He froze, but I was able to move him with some difficulty. During this time, the diver experiencing narcosis started to panic and he quickly went OOA.
In my mind, I felt that my only option was to donate my back-air to the two OOA divers and do a free-ascent over to and up the line to the first group of safety divers who were to be at 130 feet. Failing that, I knew the first stage bottles were at 30'. I knew that the two OOA divers would quickly run out of air, but I couldn't do more than that. I could not share air with two divers, one frozen, the other narced. They would be on their own. Hopefully it might give them enough time for assistance to arrive. I started to remove my B.C. ...
I just got my equipment off when help arrived. I was given air and retrieved my kit. Needless to say, I was extremely pleased.
The two OOA divers were escorted to the first decompression stop. I couldn't even look at them I was so ticked-off. When we surfaced, I was spitting nickels. They should not have been on that dive. Two instructors who should have known better.
When I sat down quietly and started to think about it, I started to shake from nerves. The dive plan was solid and the safety divers did their job.
So what did I learn? That regardless of what's said. Solo divers diving at their own risk. When it comes down to it, I just couldn't only look after myself. I had to help. It could have got me killed.
Although I felt the dive was safe for me to do, even though I wasn't diving in a team, I have a team mentality. I've done deeper dives with people who I don't know, but I talk to them about their experience and feel comfortable with them before diving. I'll never again leave it up to a Head Instructor at a dive resort to do this for me.
I often wonder if those two instructors realized how close to death they came? I wonder if the experience benefited them and/or their students?
You can do everything right, have all the right safety precautions, all the right equipment and although you do nothing wrong, you can bear the brunt of an accident.
Let the flaming begin.
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