Buddy skipped safety stop

[ShakaZulu]

I bet your dive buddy also feels "tired" after diving....you'd be amazed how much better you feel allowing your body to off-gas properly and really slowing down the ascent from 20-surface.

 

[TMHeimer]

I always do a safety stop, and I don't care if a buddy skips it. If they decide to skip it, they can do so without me. I'll complete my stop. Three minutes minimum, five if I have the time. If they get worried, all it takes is a quick look below the surface and they will see my "OK" sign.

I agree, and it has happened to me. Yes, the safety stop should have been discussed beforehand, but I can see where someone would assume it will be done. If the buddy surfaces and worries about me-- where I am-- it's his problem. He could look down as you say, to see my "OK", viz permitting. If poor viz, it's still his problem. You're safe and he's out of the water. He left you--was he not watching?--let him think about it.

 

[Emparo821]

there is some interesting debate here, i'm curious for those who wish to chime in...if your buddy does skip out on you, what would the recomended action be? follow them up and skip the stop or continue your stop and signal ok if they come back?

this scenario is assuming that the safety stop is not required!

 

[Bubbletrubble]

there is some interesting debate here, i'm curious for those who wish to chime in...if your buddy does skip out on you, what would the recomended action be? follow them up and skip the stop or continue your stop and signal ok if they come back?

this scenario is assuming that the safety stop is not required!

To be clear, safety stops are never "required."

My buddies and I will always signal to each other when we want to surface. The person wanting to surface gives the universal "thumbs up" sign. Everyone else in the buddy team acknowledges the command signal with a "thumbs up" sign of his/her own. We do this even if we are diving in very shallow water. We do this even if we have already completed a safety stop in the 10-20 fsw range.

If my buddy skipped a safety stop, surfaced without me, and did so without signaling ("thumbs up" sign), I would assume that he/she was having some sort of serious problem (medical, gear, etc.). Accordingly, I would conduct a controlled ascent and surface as quickly and safely as possible. Given this situation, I will operate under the assumption that my buddy is in trouble and I should be there to help.

With a new buddy, these things simply have to be discussed and agreed upon during pre-dive planning. I'm not so troubled by the fact that the OP's buddy skipped a safety stop. However, I find it very troubling that the buddy was unconcerned about the well-being of the OP.

It wasn't clear from the original post, but if my buddy had no medical or gear issues and decided to climb back onto the boat (exit the water) without making sure that I was OK and communicating to me that he was OK...let's just say that I would be very, very angry about that.

 

[SCUBASailor]

We were doing a boat dive a couple of miles off the beach at Panama City, FL. That is several hours from home.

 

[under water]

Hello All,

... I’ve done safety stops at 60, 45, even 34 feet. ..

None of those sound like safety stops. A safety stop is spending 3 minutes at a depth of from 10 to 20 feet (nominally 15) just to give your body a little extra time to let go of some accumulated nitrogen at a relatively shallow depth. It is not absolutely required, but might help you feel better and could contribute to lowering some risk.
I think you need to contact your instructor to find out what you were doing at 60, 45 and 34 feet. If he tells you they were safety stops, I would have to ask how deep you went and for how long. Those sound more like decompression stops and are normally not required of someone with less than 24 dives doing OW.

 

[boulderjohn]

H
Now I am a new and very novice diver and most of you have probably forgot more than I know, however, my question tables aside, I’ve done safety stops at 60, 45, even 34 feet. Aside from good practice, what are the general guidelines for omitting a safety stop and how does it cross-reference against an emergency situation? Is it an issues of getting all of the air accrued at depth out of ones lungs safely not to avoid expansion issues or and reducing CO2 levels?

I strongly suggest you review your learning materials carefully, because you are a bit confused. I will give you a quick answer here, but your questions indicated that you need a much more thorough review of these concepts.

It has nothing to do with avoiding lung expansion injuries because of the breathing of pressurized gas at depth. You avoid that simply by breathing as you ascend. Excess air will go out as you exhale. If you have excess air, you can't inhale, so if you can inhale, everything is OK.

When you have been diving, you accumulate nitrogen in your tissues, and that nitrogen has to be released into your blood and then into the air relatively slowly to avoid decompression sickness. If you are diving within recreational limits in terms of depth and time, then you should be able to ascend to the surface at a safe, relatively slow rate without getting decompression sickness. However, just to be sure, you should hang around at about 15 feet for 3-5 minutes to let enough of the nitrogen to leave your system to be sure you are safe. That is a safety stop.

You can omit a safety stop in an emergency from almost any depth or time within recreational limits and still probably be OK. PADI recommends that you always do a safety stop if you go deeper than 100 feet or if you are close to the limits for depth and time. (I will leave the details of how close to your review of the content materials.)

 

[Culcuhain]

just playing devil's advocate...

IF the safety stop was not in the briefing and you did a safety stop, is that "not diving the plan?" and if it wasn't in the briefing and he ascended to the surface and you stayed behind, didn't you leave your buddy? Just some ole devil's advocate there... that is all... back to the bushmills... :-D

 

[fnfalman]

It's good to have knowledge and be able to make decisions for yourself. With a dive profile like you described I would not have made a safety stop either. Depending on what table you chose the no D limit for 60' is 55 to 60 minutes. A 25 minute dive is well within the limit and I will not be a dive sheepel and do a safety stop just because.

I can't agree more. A good diver is a thinking diver. Just swallowing everything whole doesn't make one a smart diver. Or safe diver.

 

[fnfalman]

I bet your dive buddy also feels "tired" after diving....you'd be amazed how much better you feel allowing your body to off-gas properly and really slowing down the ascent from 20-surface.

Or just to slow down a bit, get the mind set settled down after seeing all the exciting and cool stuff deeper down. That's what I use my safety stops for - collecting myself. And practice shallow depth buoyancy control.