I have been pondering whether or how to post this since it happened last weekend, but I learnt from it, and it may help others think about the risks - so here goes.
I thought I was a safe diver until I recently had an experience on a very benign dive that has made me think about safety on a couple of levels.
Here is the scenario - a club dive (BSAC in the UK) so we had a surface marshall on shore and a safety diver in the water at all times, at a private inland quarry site with a maximum depth of about 17 metres/58 foot. It has a very silty bottom, and after a couple of divers have been in, if they have not been careful, the visibility can rapidly drop to zero. The club has unrestricted access every Sunday and on Wednesday evenings, so we dive there a lot and know the site very well.
The entry is from a landing stage into water about 1 metre/3 foot deep, it stays at this depth on a ledge for 2-3 metres/8 -10 foot, and then there is a slope that quickly descends to 9 metres/27 foot and after that it gradually goes down to 17 metres/58 foot, there are several boats, an aeroplane, bus and several cars in there, and numerous smaller attractions
I was diving with a 12 litre steel twinset, hood, gloves, drysuit etc. and had just finished a dive to the bottom which had lasted about 45 minutes in total, the weather was nice, it was sunny and felt quite warm and I was not cold. I thought I was relaxed and OK and chilled out after the dive.
At the end of the dive I started to de-kit in the water as usual, and was standing near the slope. Almost immediately I dropped my mask - the in water visibility was not good and the mask went straight down the slope - bum !
Never mind, I told the marshall what had happened, put on my spare mask, and made a slow descent down the slope searching for the mask, I made a quick search pattern and I found it, part way down, buried in the silt, which only took me 2 or 3 minutes of searching.
Ok - back to the surface to de-kit again, mask off, both masks stowed, careful not to drop it this time, fins off - drat - can you believe it I dropped a fin ! I have no idea why or what was wrong with me, I dont normally drop anything, let alone twice in one dive. Guess what - it was a black fin, negative buoyancy - so yes, youve guessed it, it started to sink.
Im not having this I thought - so immediately lunged down and grabbed for the fin - no problem, I caught it, but wait, dont celebrate yet, a heavy steel twinset, leaning forward - yes youve seen it coming, I over balanced - and fell face first into three foot of water. No mask on, no regulator in my mouth, hands full of fins etc. and in water just too deep to put my arms down and push myself up.
Alright I know I had some different options, but I chose to roll onto my back and inflate my BC to push my face up out of the water, it worked. A very ungainly splutter and scramble to my feet later and I looked around fully expecting to hear the peals of laughter from my colleagues and dive buddy.
Now - this is what really disturbed me most, none of them had noticed a thing and were still blithely discussing their dives, the rugby or whatever other conversation took their fancy. Not one of them, the dive marshall, safety diver, or my buddy had seen what had happened or moved to help me.
They were not even standing ready to help, and laugh, if I hadt sorted myself out, because they hadnt even noticed it happen.
So my two mistakes ? - my own complacency, at this site I de-kit in the water every week and just hand my fins and bits up onto the shore whilst I climb out, and I got sloppy, twice, and dropped kit, my anger at myself for being stupid twice made me forget the twinset and lunge for the fin putting myself off balance.
The second? - well clearly our buddy procedures had fallen apart or my buddy would have seen my fall and at least had a good laugh about it
If nothing else this brought home to me how the risks associated with diving dont stop until you are safely out of the water and de-kitted, and really you still need to remain vigilant and aware of your buddy until you are.
Dive safe - Phil
I thought I was a safe diver until I recently had an experience on a very benign dive that has made me think about safety on a couple of levels.
Here is the scenario - a club dive (BSAC in the UK) so we had a surface marshall on shore and a safety diver in the water at all times, at a private inland quarry site with a maximum depth of about 17 metres/58 foot. It has a very silty bottom, and after a couple of divers have been in, if they have not been careful, the visibility can rapidly drop to zero. The club has unrestricted access every Sunday and on Wednesday evenings, so we dive there a lot and know the site very well.
The entry is from a landing stage into water about 1 metre/3 foot deep, it stays at this depth on a ledge for 2-3 metres/8 -10 foot, and then there is a slope that quickly descends to 9 metres/27 foot and after that it gradually goes down to 17 metres/58 foot, there are several boats, an aeroplane, bus and several cars in there, and numerous smaller attractions
I was diving with a 12 litre steel twinset, hood, gloves, drysuit etc. and had just finished a dive to the bottom which had lasted about 45 minutes in total, the weather was nice, it was sunny and felt quite warm and I was not cold. I thought I was relaxed and OK and chilled out after the dive.
At the end of the dive I started to de-kit in the water as usual, and was standing near the slope. Almost immediately I dropped my mask - the in water visibility was not good and the mask went straight down the slope - bum !
Never mind, I told the marshall what had happened, put on my spare mask, and made a slow descent down the slope searching for the mask, I made a quick search pattern and I found it, part way down, buried in the silt, which only took me 2 or 3 minutes of searching.
Ok - back to the surface to de-kit again, mask off, both masks stowed, careful not to drop it this time, fins off - drat - can you believe it I dropped a fin ! I have no idea why or what was wrong with me, I dont normally drop anything, let alone twice in one dive. Guess what - it was a black fin, negative buoyancy - so yes, youve guessed it, it started to sink.
Im not having this I thought - so immediately lunged down and grabbed for the fin - no problem, I caught it, but wait, dont celebrate yet, a heavy steel twinset, leaning forward - yes youve seen it coming, I over balanced - and fell face first into three foot of water. No mask on, no regulator in my mouth, hands full of fins etc. and in water just too deep to put my arms down and push myself up.
Alright I know I had some different options, but I chose to roll onto my back and inflate my BC to push my face up out of the water, it worked. A very ungainly splutter and scramble to my feet later and I looked around fully expecting to hear the peals of laughter from my colleagues and dive buddy.
Now - this is what really disturbed me most, none of them had noticed a thing and were still blithely discussing their dives, the rugby or whatever other conversation took their fancy. Not one of them, the dive marshall, safety diver, or my buddy had seen what had happened or moved to help me.
They were not even standing ready to help, and laugh, if I hadt sorted myself out, because they hadnt even noticed it happen.
So my two mistakes ? - my own complacency, at this site I de-kit in the water every week and just hand my fins and bits up onto the shore whilst I climb out, and I got sloppy, twice, and dropped kit, my anger at myself for being stupid twice made me forget the twinset and lunge for the fin putting myself off balance.
The second? - well clearly our buddy procedures had fallen apart or my buddy would have seen my fall and at least had a good laugh about it
If nothing else this brought home to me how the risks associated with diving dont stop until you are safely out of the water and de-kitted, and really you still need to remain vigilant and aware of your buddy until you are.
Dive safe - Phil
! - I had told them I was going down after the mask, and they had watched the bubbles until I came back up, it was when I was standing in shallow water supposedly de-kitting that it all went wrong, I asked them afterwards and they just hadn't noticed, personally even more embarrassing as we take it in turns, and I often am the safety diver after my dive is finished so I am supposed to still be aware and watching myself!
