Denied to dive for 48 hours

[chiara93]

I was in the Maldives for a diving vacation and on the third day of boat diving, we were to dive Lucky Express. As I traveled solo, I was buddied up with someone from Belgium. The briefings were done in German, Japanese, then English. In hindsight, I should've clarified my questions with the DM, but I relied on my buddy. I wasn't too sure that I heard right about no safety stop even though we were doing a drift dive, 30m max, negative entry if there is a strong surface current. My buddy said yes, when I asked the question.

When we got to the sight, DM checked the current, and told us to do a negative entry. I thought I was the only one having problems finning until I looked around and saw everyone down at the bottom, 30m, crawling and trying to make their way around the thila to where the drift will start. After a minute or so of drift, we were signaled to stop at a sandy inlet, safe from the strong current. From there, we would ride the up current then down current to the other side where we could see the big ones.

Well, all 8 pairs of divers made it to the other side, but due to the strong current, most of us except for two couples along with the DM, aborted the dive after less than 20 minutes. Now this where I felt stupid because even though I knew about the safety stop at 5 metres for 3 minutes, I didn't do it due to the fact that my buddy told me that there was none. Oh yeah, he wasn't around at this point. When I looked up, he was already at the surface. So, I slowly went up continuously, questioning my action throughout, even though my computer was crying for me to stop.

Back on the boat, 4 divers including my buddy, were feeding the fish with their breakfast, and all of us suffered headaches. Once back on the island, I mentioned my concern to the DM, and she checked my computer. She and her manager told me that I couldn't dive for 48 hours as a safety precaution. Asked me why I didn't do a safety stop, and I just told her that it was a misunderstanding on my part.

The lesson I learned from that is no matter how stupid I may look or sound like, I would ask the DM doing the briefing for clarification about the dive. I need to communicate better with my always new buddy(since I travel solo) and listen to my gut feeling. I knew better, but I relied on my new buddy for information.

 

[gypsyjim]

Both you and your computer knew you should do the stop. You have to protect yourself. Even if no one else does the right thing you have to be responsible for your own safety. Your gut knew, and so did you.
Better to watch everyone else go to the surface as you wonder why, as you continue to dive as if your life depends on safe practices. It does.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Glad to hear that you survived the incident. Sounds like a challenging dive plan. I hope you were carrying some essential emergency equipment for diving in areas with strong currents, e.g., topside noisemaker, signal mirror, surface marker buoy, etc. With current, it's very easy to become separated from the boat.

For the record, the fact that your buddy ascended without you indicates that he was either inexperienced and lacking buoyancy control...or had an inability to communicate with his buddy. Both of these can be very dangerous. If you were diving as a buddy pair (and I think you were), each of you is "holding" emergency air for the other. Consider what might happen if you had an issue at depth and your buddy was on the surface. To me, it sounds like your Belgian buddy was relatively inexperienced...and possibly poorly trained.

I'm curious about the topside conditions. Was it rough? The reason I ask is to get a better idea of what caused the 4 divers to be "feeding the fish."

Also, at what rate did you ascend? Your computer may have been crying at you to do a SS...but it also might not have been happy with an overly aggressive ascent. I've seen divers who can't tell the difference with their computers -- they just hear the dive computer beeping at them and know that it's "angry." FWIW, the Suunto algorithm penalizes the user for ascents faster than 33fpm or missing a recommended SS. Other dive computer manufacturers might be a little more liberal with permitted ascent rate.

As part of your continuing dive education, you may want to review why divers do recommended safety stops, when a safety stop is "mandatory," and how to operate your dive computer (deco screens, safety stop indicator, etc.). Also, it wouldn't hurt to review the typical symptoms of/first aid for DCS, AGE, and carbon dioxide retention.

It sounds like you learned the very valuable lesson of being assertive and taking responsibility for one's own dive. I think a lot of people go through this as newer divers. Thank you for sharing your story.

Have fun and dive safe...

 

[eponym]

Chiara, thank you for the detailed post. The good news is, that nagging feeling is your brain laying down new thought patterns. Next time check your checklist, then do an internal check. Who ya gonna trust?

On the other hand, for 30m max I would have guessed a 24-hour sit. Did you make a too-rapid ascent? Did your computer lock you out for 48?

-Bryan

PS. Maldives, gotta love 'em!

PPS. Saw bubbletrouble's post made while I was writing, and he's spot-on about the Suuntos and fast ascents (even for a portion of the ascent). Sawtooth profiles can also give them fits.

 

[openmindOW]

Thank you for your post. Posts such as yours are a contribution to the dive community as a whole. Thank you for your contribution.

Did you make it down to 30 metres of depth? If so, how long were you there?

Of course, Safety stops are a smart habit to develop.

You learned. Keep diving, friend.

 

[Web Monkey]

The lesson I learned from that is no matter how stupid I may look or sound like, I would ask the DM doing the briefing for clarification about the dive. I need to communicate better with my always new buddy(since I travel solo) and listen to my gut feeling. I knew better, but I relied on my new buddy for information.

Wrong lesson. The real lesson is that you should follow your training.

A safety stop isn't manditory but a deco stop is. A 20 minute 30m dive on air is right up to the edge of the SSI tables and requires 10 minutes of deco on vPlanner.

I'm unaware of any computer that will complain about a missed safety stop, but they'll all complain about a missed deco stop or a too fast ascent. I'm guessing that you actually had a deco obligation or a dangerous ascent and that's why they wanted you to sit out.

Terry

 

[chiara93]

Chiara, thank you for the detailed post. The good news is, that nagging feeling is your brain laying down new thought patterns. Next time check your checklist, then do an internal check. Who ya gonna trust?

On the other hand, for 30m max I would have guessed a 24-hour sit. Did you make a too-rapid ascent? Did your computer lock you out for 48?

-Bryan

PS. Maldives, gotta love 'em!

PPS. Saw bubbletrouble's post made while I was writing, and he's spot-on about the Suuntos and fast ascents (even for a portion of the ascent). Sawtooth profiles can also give them fits.

Thanks for all the feedback. The computer did lock me out. I can't remember the brand of the computer(gray, square) because it was a rental. I checked my dive log, and the I did a faster ascent than required, my bad. To top that, I didn't do a safety stop. As for the condition, the water was choppy ~3 ft, raining at the start of the dive, visibility was good though. And over there, Maldives, it's mandatory to have a computer, torch, and a surface marker with you.

 

[Darnold9999]

Is there a computer that would lock you out for a missed safety stop or too aggressive an ascent? Safety stop is by definition not manditory so I would doubt it. I can't imagine a boat barring you from diving for missing a safety stop or even an aggressive ascent. Sounds like you went into manditory deco and skipped that stop - be glad all you missed was a day or two of diving. A missed deco stop combined with a too fast ascent with a chamber nearby is not a good idea - far from a chamber it becomes a really bad idea.

The trip is over, but I think there are a couple of lessons to be taken away.

You are responsible for the plan and your dive. If you need to do a safety stop to keep yoursef safe then do it. This sounds like the classic "trust me" dive.

Rental gear. Using a device that you didn't understand to keep yourself just on the razor's edge of safety. i.e 20 min at 30M. Not a good idea.

 

[chiara93]

Our max depth was 30m at the beginning, but we didn't stay down at that depth for long.

I chuck it up as a learning experience, be that it was the hard way which I would like to avoid as much as possible.

 

[Haiko]

Might it not be a good idea for any diver to own his OWN computer? I can imagine that a rental one is still calculating previous dives made with it? So that could affect your "new" and fresh diveplan and make you stop for 48 hours...?