Down current + bad visibility + DM disappeared

[timz]

Like the other posters, I think you handled the situation very well. If your dive count is correct, better than expected. Good call to thumb the dive, far from everyone thumbs the dive when they really should. And like the others, I think this was a very valuable lesson about whom to trust during a dive.

Now for a few questions/comments:

• It seems as if you were three buddies and one DM. Correct?
• Did you have a pre-dive discussion with the DM about separation procedures?
• Was the DM there to oversee you, or was s/he expected to be more of a guide?

If you were three buddies, you should be aware that this puts an extra strain on your task loading. I often dive threesomes if needed, but particularly if I carry a camera I prefer to dive in normal buddy pairs. Keeping track of two buddies while operating my camera while maintaining buoyancy, keeping track of tank pressure and N2 loading stretches my mental bandwidth.

My best dives with buddies I didn't know from before - including the few guides I've dived with - have been after a leisurely chat about preferred style, buddy distance, primary objective of the dive, speed, swimming formation etc. It doesn't need to be formal and you don't need to make big deal out of it, but if you have a pre-dive chat, you can avoid some confusion underwater because you've tuned in a bit, so to speak. This may be something to consider in the future.

You seem to have a good attitude, so continue to stay safe!

-On the first dive, we did a 3 buddy 1 DM. We made a decision on 3 buddy and let our DM/Guide do his work and we thought we would be able to follow.
-No separation procedure was discussed. We made a mistake here because we thought we could just follow wherever the DM/guide goes.
-He is our dive guide.

I did not expect to take profesional videos on this dive. I was just hoping to capture some seahorse if we encounter one, which this place is famous for. So, there is no stress on handling the gopro. And I wad trained by my instructor to keep checking and estimate my air pressure without looking on my SPG since the open water. So, there's no stress there either.

But I am a little stressed out with another buddy which just took his refreshment 3 days before dive. And his last dive was 2 years ago during his advance open water. He wasn't able to respond when i asked him for his air pressure and he seems to forget most of his hand signals. He has problem with his buoyancy and kept swimming around. Me and my usual buddy was a little worried about him.

---------- Post added October 20th, 2015 at 05:52 PM ----------

I'm sure the Moon has some effect on visibility. It seems to affect everything else! I'm not sure how far you are from the other diver you photographed, so it's hard to say what distance you could readily see. I would call it 10 or 15 feet, but that's more of a guess than a statistic. It could easily be half that. I've enjoyed better vis in fresh water lakes, so it's pretty bad, for ocean diving.

I've read about the tide effect cause by the moon. And tide can mean current. And current means watet movement and it cause affect visibility. That's my scientific logic. [emoji4]

The DM/Guide fins was 2 feet from me. It looks far because i shot in wide using gopro. Which is very wide.

Yeah... this is not a popular dive site for divers in Malaysia due to the cleanliness of the entire area.

Imagine i can smell ashes when i clear my mask. Haha.

 

[Bob DBF]

BTW,

What visibility would you guys call this?? Screenshot taken with gopro hero 4 silver

Timz

The usual.
This looks like the lake, the ocean is a bit browner.


Bob

 

[timz]

The usual.
This looks like the lake, the ocean is a bit browner.


Bob

It's ocean. At South East Asia along Straits of Malacca.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

It sounds like you handled it EXTREMELY well (especially with less than 24 dives). However, if your dive was 14 minutes, and your depth was very limited, there was no need to do a stop at 10 meters. In fact, if I was getting pushed around with very poor visibility and unknown depths, I would not be doing ANY safety stops. I would have been extremely nervous and done everything I could to get to the surface as soon as was safe.

Your inexperience caused you to be overly cautious about the ascent rate, when a down current with an unknown depth was actually the real threat.

I should emphasize that I think a lot of divers would have been in serious trouble in those conditions. You probably should have launched an smb on a spool - if that was an option. It would have given you a visual reference, something to judge depth, help everyone to stay together and provide more information about the intensity of a downcurrent.

 

[timz]

It sounds like you handled it EXTREMELY well (especially with less than 24 dives). However, if your dive was 14 minutes, and your depth was very limited, there was no need to do a stop at 10 meters. In fact, if I was getting pushed around with very poor visibility and unknown depths, I would not be doing ANY safety stops. I would have been extremely nervous and done everything I could to get to the surface as soon as was safe.

Your inexperience caused you to be overly cautious about the ascent rate, when a down current with an unknown depth was actually the real threat.

I should emphasize that I think a lot of divers would have been in serious trouble in those conditions. You probably should have launched an smb on a spool - if that was an option. It would have given you a visual reference, something to judge depth, help everyone to stay together and provide more information about the intensity of a downcurrent.

Thanks. Make sense to me for not making the 10m stop. Should have gone straight to safety stop.

Well, regsrding SMB... I haven't get one yet....[emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]
But after hraring all the advises from you guys... i will get one before my next dive.

---------- Post added October 21st, 2015 at 03:18 AM ----------

It sounds like you handled it EXTREMELY well (especially with less than 24 dives). However, if your dive was 14 minutes, and your depth was very limited, there was no need to do a stop at 10 meters. In fact, if I was getting pushed around with very poor visibility and unknown depths, I would not be doing ANY safety stops. I would have been extremely nervous and done everything I could to get to the surface as soon as was safe.

Your inexperience caused you to be overly cautious about the ascent rate, when a down current with an unknown depth was actually the real threat.

I should emphasize that I think a lot of divers would have been in serious trouble in those conditions. You probably should have launched an smb on a spool - if that was an option. It would have given you a visual reference, something to judge depth, help everyone to stay together and provide more information about the intensity of a downcurrent.

Thanks. Make sense to me for not making the 10m stop. Should have gone straight to safety stop.

Well, regsrding SMB... I haven't get one yet....[emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]
But after hraring all the advises from you guys... i will get one before my next dive.

It sounds like you handled it EXTREMELY well (especially with less than 24 dives). However, if your dive was 14 minutes, and your depth was very limited, there was no need to do a stop at 10 meters. In fact, if I was getting pushed around with very poor visibility and unknown depths, I would not be doing ANY safety stops. I would have been extremely nervous and done everything I could to get to the surface as soon as was safe.

Your inexperience caused you to be overly cautious about the ascent rate, when a down current with an unknown depth was actually the real threat.

I should emphasize that I think a lot of divers would have been in serious trouble in those conditions. You probably should have launched an smb on a spool - if that was an option. It would have given you a visual reference, something to judge depth, help everyone to stay together and provide more information about the intensity of a downcurrent.

 

[Searcaigh]

When you buy an SMB and spool, learn how to use it first, it's not difficult but some advice from someone who uses one regularly will help.

I have done a lot of diving in SE Asia and I know what you mean by pampered divers, I have seen cases where inexperienced divers have been taken down to 30M to see something interesting and they have had no idea about buoyancy control, which I look upon as being very irresponsible of the dive op.

If you do a lot of diving in these conditions in the Malacca Straits, you are going to enjoy the rest of what Malaysia has to offer.

 

[Storker]

When you buy an SMB and spool, learn how to use it first

I'd say "practice regularly" as well. In my experience, shooting a dSMB is a skill with a short shelf-life. It's easy to get a little rusty if you don't do it once in a while.

it's not difficult but some advice from someone who uses one regularly will help.

There are also quite a few decent videos on YouTube.

 

[mnjhuz76]

But how many meters/feet visibility would you call it??

From the picture I'd 'guesstimate' about 5m given the GoPros wideangle lens plus the shorter optical perception of about 1/4 under water and the guess that the diver upfront is roughly 2m in length incl. fins.

 

[timz]

When you buy an SMB and spool, learn how to use it first, it's not difficult but some advice from someone who uses one regularly will help.

I have done a lot of diving in SE Asia and I know what you mean by pampered divers, I have seen cases where inexperienced divers have been taken down to 30M to see something interesting and they have had no idea about buoyancy control, which I look upon as being very irresponsible of the dive op.

If you do a lot of diving in these conditions in the Malacca Straits, you are going to enjoy the rest of what Malaysia has to offer.

Noted. Thanks. But would you prefer the oral inflated type or the Alternate air source inflation type??

Or just get one that offers both inflation method??

I've seen myself diver inflating an SMB with AAS and it shot up with the diver.

My thinking is using an oral inflation type can be more easily controlled.

I'd say "practice regularly" as well. In my experience, shooting a dSMB is a skill with a short shelf-life. It's easy to get a little rusty if you don't do it once in a while.



There are also quite a few decent videos on YouTube.

Thanks. Noted.

Yeah... Actually, I'm a Malaysian and it's currently monsoon season. So, east coast of peninsula is closed and I couldn't wait till next year to taste the salt water again.

From the picture I'd 'guesstimate' about 5m given the GoPros wideangle lens plus the shorter optical perception of about 1/4 under water and the guess that the diver upfront is roughly 2m in length incl. fins.

Thanks. But he went into dissapearance within 2 kicks... haha.

 

[gfaith]

Noted. Thanks. But would you prefer the oral inflated type or the Alternate air source inflation type??

Or just get one that offers both inflation method??

I've seen myself diver inflating an SMB with AAS and it shot up with the diver.

My thinking is using an oral inflation type can be more easily controled.

My buddy (wife) and I carry two different ones. Her's is a 4 foot oral inflated. Mine is 6 foot and pretty large diameter.

We dive quite a bit in Cozumel and usually use hers in calm conditions lots of waves and wind we will use mine and

inflate it with the AAS. I have to agree on that practise statement you can do it on or before your SS. Oh yeah be sure

the finger spool or reel plays out the line freely.. I have seen someone yanked up by that SMB too .. Yes it was me..

Tip: Be sure the SMBs have a Over Pressure Valve