Hope you all can read this as it was the only way I know to post it. pilotfish's words are in quotation marks.
The boat Capt says, good news –the vis is around 80 ft and just a trickle of current. Wow, did we get lucky, I thought. How wrong that was. My troubles started at the beginning. Capt gave us a 10 minute to splash so I began to suit up. I was fully geared up and ready to hit the water as we were listening to DM briefing. My dive buddy was just starting to suit up.
Mistake number one: you should have made sure your dive buddy was ready and right behind you hitting the water.
"All other divers were in the water and either on the tag line or wreck line to the mooring ball. I entered the water and went out on the tag line to wait for by buddy."
Mistake number two: you should have went out on the line and waited at the mooring ball. The tag line is for after you come up and may need to hold on while waiting to get back on the boat. Along with this once you were on the line never let go and swim, pull yourself hand over hand. Saves energy and air.:11:
"Mistake one, I did not fully inflate my BC. I went on my snorkel to conserve air. My buddy is at the stern chatting with the DM putting his fins on. Mistake two, I let go of tag line and began a swim over to the wreck line on my snorkel in very small chop, two ft or so."
Two feet is not small, get rid of the snorkel and go on the reg. will be much easier. In fact if you are going in those conditions leave the snorkel on the boat. It will only be a hindrance anyway on the wreck and could get hung up in a swim thru.:shakehead
"After about 10 ft of surface swim on snorkel I began to feel a bit out of breath. Had only 4 or 5 hours sleep the night before.
I reached the wreck line. My buddy enters the water and hits wreck line right away."
Smart buddy.
"Mistake three, I am breathing deeply, and rapidly, trying to get my breath. Not happening because I am in some kind of rush so as to not hold anyone up and moving my fins and arms, which are making matters worse."
From swimming with snorkel instead of pulling with reg in.:huh:
"My buddy tells me to take it easy, take your time and inflate my BC more. I do. He says, we’ll rest at the mooring ball if you need to. I do. His words help me. I turn around and move backwards to the mooring ball pulling myself slowly. It helps. We reach mooring ball and I lift my mask off my nose to get some more air into my lungs. We wait 30 seconds and I’m good to go.
We descend along descent line but there is a force trying to pull us off the line."
Called current.:11: We were like flags in the wind on my second dive. it was a great feeling.
"Hmmmm. We go hand over hand right to the wreck at about 70 ft. We go off the line and immediately we are washed off it."
Where did you go when you went off the line. In current like this best to pick a route before hand and pull yourself along the wreck using railing, handholds, etc.:14:
"I struggle to get back to the railing and find a place to shelter myself from the strong current. Air is going down rapidly. He points to swim thru on the bridge. We go thru it but hit different current on the other side. We struggle to get back over to where ascent line is. I see no other divers. Damn, I think, they are way at the bow or stern enjoying the wreck. My puter is now flashing, blinking, 1170 psi. I tell my buddy I need to get on the line. He is hesitant since he has 1300 psi. I motion I need to go now and we both go to the up line."
"Above me, like a cluster of barnacles, are the other 25 divers on the boat. I look at my puter and see I have only been down 22 minutes at 71ft. What a fast, crummy dive."
Not a fast crummy dive. :mooner: A short but useful learning experience. :11: Next time you should be more prepared and will do better or will have learned nothing and have a similar experience. Either that or if you don't hit the mooring line right off call the dive.
"Back on the boat I’m really down on myself. This very seasoned diver tells me not to be down on myself because it was no better for anyone else. Longest dive on the wreck was 28 minutes that day. Boat Capt says current was mild up above but was ripping on the wreck."
Good ending. Listen to them and learn.:mooner:
"I tell this story so other divers will not make the mistakes I did. BTW, that was my fourth dive on this wreck. Hope it helps.
"
*added quote boxes for easier readibility.
Scuba_Jenny
