alicia5272000
Registered
I was on a dive where the depth was 90ft and this was only my second time going deep. I was certified PADI in April 2014 and AOW August 2014. I have a Galileo Luna dive computer. For those who don't have one, it has a bar on the right side that lets you know if you are ascending too fast. You are not supposed to go much further than halfway on the bar. I would also like to preface this story with the fact that I used 2474 psi during the dive and started with about 3100-3200 so when I surfaced I had between 626-726 psi so I would have had time to take a slower ascent. In addition, my computer said the dive lasted for 17 minutes.
I was partnered with someone who had been diving for 30 years. When we went down we were separated from the group and descended and were just roaming the bottom when another diver joined us. The dive master had said that we would be headed North along the reef. We were headed south, so I used my buddies slate to say "They were headed North should we go that way" but I couldn't get a response from him and he was just looking around and started swimming again south. I figured we were separated from the group anyway, so we could just dive and head up when we were low on air. A few minutes later, he comes to me with his slate which read something about going North. I was trying to point that we should go north and which direction it was but he kept pointing south and I couldn't get him to turn around. So when I got to 1100 psi I told him we needed to head up.
We started to ascend and at first I was having trouble going up because I had emptied all my air (found out I shouldn't do that later in the day) and was only ascending as fast as my computer told me too. He kept motioning for me to go faster but i listened to my computer. Because he kept motioning I started going up faster until my computer started beeping at me. So I slowed down within my computers range. He then grabbed my hand and started pulling me up. It really freaked my out because my computer beeped and said "ascent too fast". I pulled my hand out of his grasp. He then started gesturing for me to go faster and I kept pointing at my computer. He grabbed my hand 2-3 times more and I kept pulling my arm out of his grasp. By this time I am really freaking out because the other guy is starting to get close and keeps motioning for me to go faster. Finally they back off and I try to do a safety stop. Within about a minute they are motioning for me to come up. I then sense someone behind me and could feel him grabbing my gear because I felt a pull. After that it's hazy because I was so freaked out, but I remember that they did back off. But when they kept grabbing on to me I just went up because I was really panicking. My ears were killing me because I had not had a chance to clear them.
After we got back on the boat my original buddy said something about he thought I was narcing out. They both said I was ascending way too slow and that I didn't need a safety stop because we had only been down there about 15 minutes. The diver who had joined us, who I will mention is learning to tech dive, came up to me later and said that when a group of "advanced" divers agree about something that you should listen i.e. I was ascending too slow and I should have listened to them and come up faster. And that computers sometimes fail and he never uses his. I will add that when the dive shop owner looked at my computer he said that by looking at it I ascended too fast.
I am wanting to get people's opinion on what I should have done. What would you have done in that situation. Is it ever ok for someone to grab you if you are conscious? And at only 30-40 feet? If the computer says I am ascending too fast and I have enough air to make it to the surface is there any reason I should speed up. Am I wrong for being utterly enraged? When I came up I tried to explain to the dive master but was so upset I didn't know how much air I had when I was ascending and just shut up because I was on the verge of bawling. I let it go and just buddied up with someone else for the rest of the trip. It wasn't until I spoke with the owner and he looked at my computer that I knew (after surfacing) I had had enough air to slowly ascend.
I have one other question. I was skeptical about my buddies abilities b/c before we got in the water he didn't even know how we were supposed to descend and I had to tell him what the dive master had said, he didn't know which way was north (with a compass), and kept staying in front of me and never looking back. I had to chase him to tell him I was low on air. Does the length of time a person has been diving have any bearing on their abilities and safety skills? Can someone be diving a long time and just cheated death? I ask b/c I have a tendency to be highly critical and don't know if I'm just being nit picky.
I was partnered with someone who had been diving for 30 years. When we went down we were separated from the group and descended and were just roaming the bottom when another diver joined us. The dive master had said that we would be headed North along the reef. We were headed south, so I used my buddies slate to say "They were headed North should we go that way" but I couldn't get a response from him and he was just looking around and started swimming again south. I figured we were separated from the group anyway, so we could just dive and head up when we were low on air. A few minutes later, he comes to me with his slate which read something about going North. I was trying to point that we should go north and which direction it was but he kept pointing south and I couldn't get him to turn around. So when I got to 1100 psi I told him we needed to head up.
We started to ascend and at first I was having trouble going up because I had emptied all my air (found out I shouldn't do that later in the day) and was only ascending as fast as my computer told me too. He kept motioning for me to go faster but i listened to my computer. Because he kept motioning I started going up faster until my computer started beeping at me. So I slowed down within my computers range. He then grabbed my hand and started pulling me up. It really freaked my out because my computer beeped and said "ascent too fast". I pulled my hand out of his grasp. He then started gesturing for me to go faster and I kept pointing at my computer. He grabbed my hand 2-3 times more and I kept pulling my arm out of his grasp. By this time I am really freaking out because the other guy is starting to get close and keeps motioning for me to go faster. Finally they back off and I try to do a safety stop. Within about a minute they are motioning for me to come up. I then sense someone behind me and could feel him grabbing my gear because I felt a pull. After that it's hazy because I was so freaked out, but I remember that they did back off. But when they kept grabbing on to me I just went up because I was really panicking. My ears were killing me because I had not had a chance to clear them.
After we got back on the boat my original buddy said something about he thought I was narcing out. They both said I was ascending way too slow and that I didn't need a safety stop because we had only been down there about 15 minutes. The diver who had joined us, who I will mention is learning to tech dive, came up to me later and said that when a group of "advanced" divers agree about something that you should listen i.e. I was ascending too slow and I should have listened to them and come up faster. And that computers sometimes fail and he never uses his. I will add that when the dive shop owner looked at my computer he said that by looking at it I ascended too fast.
I am wanting to get people's opinion on what I should have done. What would you have done in that situation. Is it ever ok for someone to grab you if you are conscious? And at only 30-40 feet? If the computer says I am ascending too fast and I have enough air to make it to the surface is there any reason I should speed up. Am I wrong for being utterly enraged? When I came up I tried to explain to the dive master but was so upset I didn't know how much air I had when I was ascending and just shut up because I was on the verge of bawling. I let it go and just buddied up with someone else for the rest of the trip. It wasn't until I spoke with the owner and he looked at my computer that I knew (after surfacing) I had had enough air to slowly ascend.
I have one other question. I was skeptical about my buddies abilities b/c before we got in the water he didn't even know how we were supposed to descend and I had to tell him what the dive master had said, he didn't know which way was north (with a compass), and kept staying in front of me and never looking back. I had to chase him to tell him I was low on air. Does the length of time a person has been diving have any bearing on their abilities and safety skills? Can someone be diving a long time and just cheated death? I ask b/c I have a tendency to be highly critical and don't know if I'm just being nit picky.