Situational awareness sucks when (trying to) take pictures. . .

[Nemrod]

Who cares about a 10 foot hammerhead if you have your macro lens setup and a rare nudibranch in your viewfinder.

I keep hearing solo thrown about and that is fine. But if you are solo then the dives should be planned as such and equipped as such. I am not going into the whole story but recently I got separated from my buddies on a drift dive while I was distracted by turtles and GG. It was a second in a row deep dive and since it was not a planned solo dive I did not have an alternate (fully redundant) air source. I nudged into deco but I planned to catch my buddies with a swimming deco stop. Never happened as I then had my computer die, then my regulator malfunctioned, then I could not get my camera clipped off and stowed (which was then the distraction) and then I dropped my dsmb spool and I ended up swallowing and aspirating seawater. And, yes, I got pneumonia/lung infection (but I continued to dive everyday of my trip). A chest X-ray once home confirmed I had an infection (and multiple C-word tests confirmed me negative). I had a horrible cough and night sweats. Unfortunately for folks on scubaboard I am apparently pretty hard to kill so I am still here to annoy people.

Anyways, I had just checked my spg, I was at 1,500 psi and when I got to the surface I was at 500 psi so it took a full 1/3 of my 80cf tank to get me on top. That is 27.7 cf. Had my regulator failed completely, even if I had with me my usual 19 cf pony, I would not have made it.

My point, if you are going to be solo, then equip for solo and plan as such, henceforth I intend to. Drift diving in current, in a sort of buddy group, it is real easy top get strung out and separated.

N

 

[AfterDark]

If everyone is relying on being self-sufficient as their way out of a problem, then they are all solo divers--solo divers who are coordinating their dives with each other. Which is an alternative to the buddy system.

Adaption

 

[The Chairman]

I was diving with another caver with a camera in the Nicholson Tunnel in the Peacock system. Instead of relying on seeing the occasional light seep around me, I had gotten used to his breathing and the occasional flash instead. Until there wasn't any. I stopped, lowered my head, and looked between my fins to see no one there. I spun around and in a few kicks found my buddy, upside-down lying on the cave floor. My initial thought was that he looked like a dead bug, but his bubbles clued me in that he was alive. Immediately, I saw his left fin had become entangled and gently slipped it off. He took a deep breath and slowly lifted himself out of the silt, gently spun to being upright, and started to swim. I was impressed that he didn't leave a mark on the cave floor, so he was really just hovering and also that he didn't silt out the place.

After the dive, I asked him how long he was there alone, and the answer was 30 seconds or so. If he didn't have his camera the line snag would have been easy to handle, but he was there to photograph the cave crawdads and isopods. No, I don't wear a hood as I like to listen underwater. I don't wear gloves either. Heck, it's 70F water and I don't even wear a wet or drysuit.

 

[Marie13]

Ahhh but I mostly dive cold water. With a 10 mm hood you can’t hear sh*t. When in warm water, I'm almost always solo

I can hear quite well with a 7mm hood.

 

[Hoag]

I take a camera with me on most dives. If it has been "a while" since my last dive, then the camera stays on the boat until I have done a few dives and have knocked the rust off.

One of the last trips I did was on the Aquacat. I was paired up with an "insta-buddy" for the week. Before we went on our first dive, we discussed where they would be. Their response was "I see you have a camera. I don't want to interfere with your pictures, so I will be a little above you, slightly behind you and offset on the deep water side." Although this put them into a "blind spot" for me, I knew that with a very slight roll, they would be in plain view and that they could see me at all times. For what it is worth, their "formation work" was outstanding. Not once did I look to where I expected them to be and not see them.

Discussing with your buddy where they plan to be and where you would like them to be can avoid a lot of problems.

 

[O-ring]

I work around this by just being a really crappy photographer. It's easy to pay attention to my buddies when all I do is point a GoPro all over the place without regard for the quality of what I am shooting. If I had a giant camera with 50 buttons and was trying to shoot macro stuff or actually take decent pictures I'd probably end up alone in short order.

 

[barth]

Plan your dive and dive your plan.

Make clear to your buddy why you take your camera underwater and what kind of pictures or video you want.

Don’t stop 100 times during a dive for pictures. Only stop for a picture at the most beautiful spots.

Make clear to your buddy that you stop (for photo or video). Also make clear when you want to continue the dive.

Find a buddy who agree with the goal of your dive and want to be a model or want to find macro objects.

Share images and/or video with your buddy after the dive.

A lot of people wants to dive with me, most of them are very good divers. I always ask them if it’s ok if I bring my camera. They want me to bring my camera. It doesn’t matter or it’s a dpv dive or if we want to search for shark teeth or whatever.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

It was a second in a row deep dive and since it was not a planned solo dive I did not have an alternate (fully redundant) air source. I nudged into deco but I planned to catch my buddies with a swimming deco stop. Never happened as I then had my computer die, then my regulator malfunctioned, then I could not get my camera clipped off and stowed (which was then the distraction) and then I dropped my dsmb spool and I ended up swallowing and aspirating seawater. And, yes, I got pneumonia/lung infection (but I continued to dive everyday of my trip). A chest X-ray once home confirmed I had an infection (and multiple C-word tests confirmed me negative). I had a horrible cough and night sweats.

 

[Nemrod]

It was one thing after another thing cascading. None of them alone would have been anything but routine, I had a back up computer but it had slipped down to my wrist and I could not let go of my not fully secured camera ($$$$$) to retrieve it for example. My only thing of concern at the moment was my camera system, not breathing in water, or deco or my air situation or anything but securing my camera. From the movie "300" I was sort of told by my wife as I left on the trip, return to me with your shield or on your shield" so just insert camera in place of shield and you get my priorities. I would have been homeless! And what is a little pneumonia, it never slowed me down. My camera is ALWAYS tethered to my scooter ring but being in DEEP water as I was with recovery unlikely, a single tether is not enough, I was trying to get my remaining four clips set so I could be hands free. It is a long and complicated story. Point was, cameras are distracting, if you are buddy diving best to be with your buddy and if you are solo then be equipped thusly.

Camera insurance, I have that, it covers theft with a police report and it covers floods with proof but it does not cover dropping the system in 200 feet of water somewhere in the Gulf Stream! Are cameras a distraction, yep, for many reasons, not just operating them or composing photos but as well dealing with them before, during and after a dive, it is a stress.

N

 

[MaxBottomtime]

This is why my camera is never unclipped until it is safely back on the boat. I clip two carabiners to the housing before lowering the camera over the side of the boat. After making my giant stride entry, I swim over to the camera and clip the lanyard to my right chest D-ring before unclipping the carabiners. I do this in reverse after surfacing. At no point is my camera not clipped to either me, the boat, or both.