bad experience, first night dive shore entry

[Spoon]

not a good experience at all, our group had apparently lost track of our dive exit point because this irresponsible dive master followed a stingray into deeper water. we ofcourse followed him. we were infact suppose to get picked up by the boat but upon surfacing a 100 yards from shore amidst violent crashing waves and sharp rocks, getting to shore was the only viable option at that point.

wave upon wave pounded us against the rocks, luckily they werent too sharp or large, we basically just kept getting knockd down just as we steadied ourselves. i even lost of of my fins as i had to help my girlfriend calm down from her panic attack. we were all banged up pretty bad. thank god for our wetsuits and gear for absorbing most of the blows without them we would have been scrathced up good.

reflecting on that event, we were all pretty lucky to leave the water without major injuries, anyone of us could have easily broken limbs or banged a head against a sharp rock and that wouldnt be good. do you think the DM is to blame or we were just victims of an unfortunate situation?

 

[Rick Inman]

Was this a charter boat? What happened to the boat? Didn't it follow your lights?

Sounds like quite the ordeal. Glad you came out OK.

 

[jiveturkey]

It sounds like the DM didn't do his job very well. He should have followed the dive plan and because he stepped outside it caused a lot of trouble. However, as they say, you are ultimately responsible for yourself down there. You shouldn't have followed him into deeper water. By doing that you stepped outside the dive plan.

You said that this was your your first night dive. Was this part of a course or just a fun dive?

Glad to hear you made it out ok. A pounding surf and heavy dive gear can be really dangerous, especially at night.

 

[Spoon]

Was this a charter boat? What happened to the boat? Didn't it follow your lights?

Sounds like quite the ordeal. Glad you came out OK.

it was a charter boat. we in fact were suppose to be picked up but the waves were taking us to shore faster than anticipated, we were like getting sucked in pretty quick, it wasnt an option for us to wait for the boat, heading towards shore seemed like the lesser evil.

 

[Spoon]

It sounds like the DM didn't do his job very well. He should have followed the dive plan and because he stepped outside it caused a lot of trouble. However, as they say, you are ultimately responsible for yourself down there. You shouldn't have followed him into deeper water. By doing that you stepped outside the dive plan.

You said that this was your your first night dive. Was this part of a course or just a fun dive?

Glad to hear you made it out ok. A pounding surf and heavy dive gear can be really dangerous, especially at night.

i had presence of mind not to follow him but i dint have a choice as the entire group followed him, this being my first night dive, i did not want to get left alone in the dark murky waters.

this was in fact part of my advanced open water diving course, i had previously finished my deep dive specialty course. the night dive was a preview to my night dive course but was more of a fun dive.

i learned a lot from this experience, no matter how much you are briefed or how much you think you know and all you can ultimately run into trouble for a variety of reasons: carelessness, diver error, hazardous environmental conditions etc. etc. Best way to deal with it is not to panic and remain calm. i myself was calm throughout and was able to react in time to help my panicked girlfriend.

the event still traumatizes her, at least we got out ok, only thing we lost was our cool and one very new fin

 

[Tollie]

I’m very glad to here that your party came out of what must have been a frighten experience with only a few physical scrapes. I hope you GF is not put off from diving and gets back into the water. It would be a shame if she abandons the sport.

I’m not going to second-guess the DM, boat etc… but to say that night diving does add an extra dimension to the dive. One must be very conservative in choice of dive site and dive profile. Small errors or complication, which could easily be put to rights in the daytime, can cascade into a real cluster at night. Add to that the “primal” affect we experience in night dives and the effect that has on our own perceptions and judgment and actions and you have a recipe for a difficult time.

Any time you take students or very new divers into the water you, as a dive leader, have an important responsibility to ensure as best as you can that the conditions are as benign as possible. This is especially true at night.

 

[cmalinowski]

So, what did the boat do once it didn't pick you up? How was it communicated that everyone was on shore? I am just curious as this would probably freak a captain out.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

I'm glad I'm really lucky at navigation

 

[Charlie99]

lost track of our dive exit point because this irresponsible dive master followed a stingray into deeper water. ....... we were infact suppose to get picked up by the boat but upon surfacing a 100 yards from shore amidst violent crashing waves and sharp rocks, getting to shore was the only viable option at that point.

There's something missing here. Why an "exit point" for a boat pickup?

I have a hard time imagining a situation where going into shore in large surf is preferable to swimming back out and getting a boat pickup.

Is there more to the story, such as one of the divers in the group panicing and heading to shore, which forced the DM and the rest of the group to follow?

Perhaps somebody out of air and not able to or willing to swim out on the surface or wait for a boat pickup?

Please help us understand better so we can avoid the same sort of problem.

 

[Ben_ca]

do you think the DM is to blame or we were just victims of an unfortunate situation?

I think there is plenty of blame to pass around if you want to look at it that way... "Trust me" dives are dangerouse because they lull some people into a false sense of security (and trust).

Glad to hear that there was no permanent damage.