Diving "Etiquette" and the lack thereof

[IceBergSlim]

You are correct, he did not drop his tank. I mistyped and will go back and make my edits to my post. Your friend Jim, on the other hand, is not exactly a kind person in the way he responded.

You created a very long post blaiming others for the miss-deeds of you and your buddy.

You both were at fault for that problem.

But don't stress. Everyone starts in a place such as that.

Keep diving and asking questions.

 

[Scared Silly]

Yes, I was diving but I had lost track of where he was in the initial descent while I was manipulating my gauges. Lee and I are both independent divers so I was certain we'd connect somewhere along the drift dive. (In fact, I spent the remainder of the dive looking for him which was quite stressful to me.) Also, in drift diving you typically dive in packs not so much buddies.

Due to the fact that it was a drift dive, the dive master was leading the way and didn't realize Lee had to bale out on the dive until after she was on the boat.

But even if you have a dive buddy and you see another diver in distress - does one leave the diver in distress? I guess it's akin to seeing someone get robbed or attacked on land. What do you do? Use the fact that you're going somewhere with your spouse or partner as an excuse not to do anything? Or take a moment to stop and help the distressed person out?

By a persons actions one really shows the type of person they are and that is exactly what happened underwater, too.

Unfortunately, you will probably not find my post joyful. Before blaming the other diver you and your partner really should first look at your own diving practices and attitudes.

My wife and I are independent divers but that does not mean we do not watch for each other during the descents, on the bottom, on the ascent, or on the surface.

Why were you manipulating your gauges on the descent? Sound like you were not ready to descend but did anyways.

Assuming that you would find each other during the dives sounds like you two are same ocean, same day divers.

I do not care if the dive consists of me, my wife, and a divemaster leading the way we are still a buddy team. A drift may be a gang bang of divers but that does not mean you still do not dive as a buddy team.

You spent the entire dive being stressed because you did not see your buddy? Sorry I am calling BS on that. If you were really concerned the dive for everyone would have been aborted and a search would have commenced to see what was situation.

Further, the DM should have counting people and should have discovered a missing diver at the start of the dive rather than the end.

You posts sounds like you are trying to absolve your own guilt for not being there and blame another diver for doing what you might have done. At least he was observant enough to do something.

Lee and I have discussed it and affirmed that part of our diving credo is to never leave another diver in distress and help other divers in times of need.

Just be sure you can help each other ... if you are not there for each other it is going to be hard to help isn't it?

 

[SelkieDVM]

I agree in that I would never leave a diver if I thought that they were truely in distress. But I suspect that this what not really the case here, or was not commumnicated as such. And I have to agree with Jim, I don't think you should shrug off your responsibility as a buddy. Otherwise you should be prepared to be a solo diver, and a solo diver should be carrying some form of redundant buoyancy. Heck with single tank rig, if you're properly weighted, you shouldn't need your BC to help you ascend anyway. I mean nothing personal in this, and I hope you don't take it as such. As I said, I wouldn't leave a diver if I thought that they were in peril, I doubt that any of us here would.

 

[ScubaJoy65]

You created a very long post blaiming others for the miss-deeds of you and your buddy.

You both were at fault for that problem.

But don't stress. Everyone starts in a place such as that.

Keep diving and asking questions.

Wow! I'm amazed at how equipment failure turns into misdeeds. And I'm also amazed at how a post, which I wrote very carefully, turns into blaming others.

 

[Walter]

JoyfulLee, until you and your "master diver" lover take responsibility for your own safety, start looking out for each other and gain a few basic skills, you are both very likely to have lots of problems in your diving. You seem to want to ignore weighting/buoyancy issues, problems with staying together as buddies and being unaware of when you are diving solo. You both need to stop looking to blame others and start learning how to dive in a safe manner.

Yeah I know, I'm not even as kind as Jim, but if it wakes you up it might just save both your lives. I suspect Jim and I can both live with that.

 

[Cave Diver]

Wow! I'm amazed at how equipment failure turns into misdeeds. And I'm also amazed at how a post, which I wrote very carefully, turns into blaming others.

What if panic had set in as the other selfish diver left him there to figure out what to do? What if Lee had not been able to get out of this and had - - oh, I don't know - - died? How would that non-caring individual have felt for leaving a distressed diver behind?!

I guess my expectations that others would want to help their fellow divers are just too high.

I think this is the part that most people are focusing on. No mention is made of who, if anyone, his buddy is.

If this was a solo dive, then he pretty well accepts responsibility of it for himself.

If the other diver was his buddy and swam off and left him, they were absolutely in the wrong.

If someone else was his buddy, then that person should have been nearby and assisting with the problem

I wouldnt overly expect a third diver to stay and miss their dive unless an immediate need for their help was needed, apparent and communicated.

Yes, I was diving but I had lost track of where he was in the initial descent while I was manipulating my gauges. Lee and I are both independent divers so I was certain we'd connect somewhere along the drift dive. (In fact, I spent the remainder of the dive looking for him which was quite stressful to me.) Also, in drift diving you typically dive in packs not so much buddies.

By definition, independent means not needing someone elses help. So the other diver swimming off shouldnt have been an issue. Perhaps you meant to use a different term?

There is no reason I can think of why you can't still have a buddy during a drift dive.

 

[ianr33]

Controlled
Emergency
Swimming
Ascent.

Most if not all of us see this as a OOG thing.
But to the letter, OP is right,he made a CESA.
There was an emergency,he made an ascent,he did contole it and he swam.


Glad he's OK.

I dont see it as an emergency. He was on the bottom at the start of a dive with maybe 30 minutes of gas. A problem,yes. Emergency? No

Question for the OP. How much weight did he drop? If you are doing a solo,or essentially solo dive then you need to have a plan for BC failure. This can be any of:
Just swim up (should work fine for correct weighting with an Al 80 and a thin wetsuit)
Inflate Dry Suit
Use redundant bladder on BC
Shoot lift bag and climb/wind up the line

Any of the above is better than just waiting for a stray diver to hopefully help you out!

 

[Scared Silly]

Wow! I'm amazed at how equipment failure turns into misdeeds. And I'm also amazed at how a post, which I wrote very carefully, turns into blaming others.

That is what communication is all about. What you write may not be what we read. Some of us, like myself can not pass judgement on the diver who came to assist as there is not really enough information. All that was said was -

"One of the other divers on the drift dive saw what happened and came over to show Lee that his inflator hose was detached and broken. And then the diver swam away and continued with his dive."

I have no idea what was said between the two. As was stated communication can be difficult. May be your buddy gave the okay sign and appeared to the problem fixed. Maybe the other diver was bothered to be at 80 feet and freaked out.

As such, some of have focused on what many would consider to be poor diving practices that had they not be practiced would have avoid the situation all together.

 

[fairybasslet]

I looked at her profile and she is still a fairly new diver. As for the Master Diver cert... I know a couple of divers who have this certification and in their cases, it means very little. They have a lot of book knowledge and very few dives. In one particular case, I would not dive with one person because he thinks his book knowledge makes him a superior diver. To me, they can be the most dangerous people to dive with.

I have been on many drift dives in Jupiter, West Palm, Australia and Cozumel. I still always had a buddy. I never heard of relying on a "pack" unless it was planned before hand with the group I was with.

 

[ScubaJoy65]

Yes, I'm a fairly new diver with close to 40 dives under my belt. What I guess I'm not is thick-skinned enough to deal with argumentative comments. I want to learn as I love the sport. But I'd prefer to learn without people being mean in how they "teach" me with their commentary and prose. Don't get me wrong, some of the comments have been quite insightful while others have been downright combative. Those types of comments make me wish I never posted my comments.

FYI - to those who've asked - while Lee was descending due to equipment failure that I was unaware of, I was on the surface struggling to get down. By the time I got to the bottom, I assumed the current had taken him on with the group and I quickly tried to catch up and find him. Perhaps I should have stated that from the beginning of my post but I did not see it to be relevant.

Apparently no matter how I would state it, some of you lofty, more experienced divers would find a problem with what is written and a way to poke holes in it. Cest la vie...