Close Call

[jeferpat]

I learned the importance of knowing how to navigate well this past Saturday. Went out in my boat with a diving buddy to a reef off Fort Lauderdale to do a 2 tank dive. When we entered the water we felt a mild current running form south to north, so we decided to head south into the current. At 1500 psi we turned around to go back to the boat. On the way back to the boat I recognized all the visual queues I had memorized, but then I started seeing stuff I had not seen before so we decided to surface. Once in the surface we looked for the boat and realized we had missed it and it was like 2 blocks south of us. We went down again to head back to the boat, but this time the current had gotten stronger or may be we were already tired. We kept on kicking hard until the air supply was about 200 psi and we were exausted. We resurfaced to realized the boat was still like a block away and the current was stronger at the surface. At this point we knew we were not going to be able to reach the boat so I inflated my emergency sausage and we started drifting north. Thanks God I have one of those very loud whistles and after like 40 minutes of drifting 2 guys in a fishing boat went by at about 4 blocks from us and they heard the whistle and saw us. They picked us up and took us to the boat which was already a good 1/2 mile away from us. I learned a few things from this experience. One is never go diving in a private boat leaving it unattended. Also I need to take a navigation class and learn how to judge distances underwater. I'm a newbie at diving, but my partner has a couple of years of experience which did not not seem to help in this case. The one thing that helped us in this situation is that we were relatively calm and we had the whitle and sausage so we could be heard and seen. One thing I can tell you guys is that you won't catch me diving from my boat in a very long time.

 

[lhpdiver]

Glad you are ok and wiser for your experience.

My wife and I dive off our unattended whaler all the time off the Broward coast. We have developed a set of rules we live by however. In the summer we try to dive early in the morning. We check the weather, TV and NOAA, as well as looking off on the horizon. We listen to the dive boat chatter on channel 18.

Yesterday I had to decide whether to dive 3 times. First site had a 2-3 ft chop. We went closer to shore and I anchored but when I put the ladder over the side the current took it off the boat. Got the anchor back in the boat and finally settled for the "Balls" off Pompano where there was still a slight North current but not bad. I made sure we were South of several other moored boats. We swam South into the current and drifted North on return.

We try and dive sites where there is a wreck or a reef with a nice edge to it which makes it easier to follow. When we are anchored, my wife goes in first and swims to the line. If she has any trouble, we call the dive. We dive steel 100s filled to 3700-3800 and are normally back on the boat with 1000+. I trail a 100 ft line, I run a line along the side of the boat from the bow to the stern which we can grab onto while getting our fins off, and another line which we can clip our BCDs to while climbing up the ladder (which is secured to the boat). I always have a big yellow lift bag and a reel. I am seriously thinking of putting a handle held VHF in a water proof container and attaching it to the flag.

If you are a new diver I would encourage you to dive the charters until you are very comfortable with your skills. Even then - it is very relaxing when I get on a charter
and I can have the boat find me at the end of the dive. But my wife and I don't make the big "imprint" on a site like a boat with 24 divers and we often see some neat things which are scared off otherwise.

Hope you get something wothwhile from all this.

Oh - and by all means - continuing your dive education is a great idea !