Dream Dive Day All Goes Wrong (pt. Lobos)

[Dermochelys]

I was really conflicted about posting my story here. However, after reading many of the accidents and incidents, I'm willing to take some potential criticism in hopes that my story helps others....so please be gentle, I've learned much more since this happened several years ago.

I was a fairly newly minted diver and I was able to book a spot with a dive club to Whaler's Cove in Monterey, CA at Pt. Lobos. For those of you who aren't familiar with the site, it's basically the crown jewel of the area. Anyway, my certification dives were in Monterey and we had about 2 foot viz during those dives, so I was really looking forward to calm water and great conditions. The dive club had gotten all of the openings for the site for the day, and I was really looking forward to diving there, though I didn't know anyone in the club and would be paired with a random buddy.

We arrive on site and the dive club leader has a small inflatable boat. He runs through the general features of the dive site and tells everyone that he will give them a ride out on the boat from the boat ramp where we will drop in, take a few minutes to look around at the reef, and then go out to the sand channel to follow it South back to the boat ramp where we would walk out of the water. Simple plan that made sense to me. I approached the dive club leader and I let him know that I would need a buddy for the day and that I was still a newbie diver. He paired me up with a guy who was "very experienced" (hundreds of dives he said). Great, and as a bonus my buddy has dove Whaler's Cove before, so extra bonus, and I felt really comfortable with him and no longer nervous about having a random buddy.

So, we gear up, get on the boat and jump in. The dive is going great with 30-40' viz, lots of fish and kelp and everything I was looking for. We went around the reef for a bit per the plan and came out in the sand channel. My buddy takes a reading from his compass and we begin to head off.

**Side note*** When renting my gear the shop I used didn't have compasses on the consoles. I asked why, and they said they break too often when rented out. I informed my buddy of this before our dives, and we agreed that he would lead and I would follow.****

Back to the story, my buddy starts heading off, but I know...I JUST KNOW, he's going the wrong way, heading North instead of South. I grab him and signal that we should go the other way. He looks at his compass, points to it, and points to his head and nods. I took this to mean, trust the compass and he knows what he's doing. The then points to his heart, and shakes his head in "no". So basically, "follow the compass and not your heart". I fully agree with this, I figure I must be wrong and of course the compass is right, and we head off again. However, I'm noticing that we're getting deeper and deeper. I grab him again and point in the direction we are going and signaling that it's down. I then point the way I think we should go and basically conveying that it's shallower the other way. Again, from our briefing I know we should be getting shallower. My buddy this time just ignores me and heads off again in the wrong direction.

At this point I have a choice. Follow my buddy like a good buddy should, even though I'm 99% sure he's going the wrong direction and out to sea, or, do I leave him and head back the way I think is correct.

I choose to stick with him and follow him for a couple of more minutes. I then notice the kelp thinning out, and I remembered from one of my biology courses that kelp doesn't grow in deep water. I check my gauge and we're at about 95' on a dive that wasn't supposed to be more than 50'. I grab my buddy and signal that we need to surface because I can't communicate with this guy and I'm running low on air to boot.

We pop up on the surface and we are shockingly far from the boat ramp. I say to him, "You were going the wrong way but I didn't want to leave you". He says, "Oh......sorry, I was reading my compass wrong I guess, I did the same thing the last time I was here"....SERIOUSLY, you must be kidding me!!!! Here I thought he was the experienced diver who knew the site, but apparently he can't read a compass.

We then spent what felt like a good 45 minutes surface swimming back to shore. Looking at Google maps now, think we were a good 750 - 1000 feet out from the boat ramp. It was horrible...simply horrible.

While we are doing the surface interval I tell some other people about what happened desperately hoping they'll pick me a new buddy, but no dice. It was a foggy day and I happened to take the top of my 7mm wetsuit off to cool down, forgetting about sunburn even through fog...more on that later.

So, for the second dive I'm still pretty shaken from our first dive and I suggest we just swim from the boat ramp and "play in the shallow end of the pool". He agrees and we start the second dive. I'm in the more murky water (5-10' viz) about 10 minutes into the dive at about 15-20' depth when I notice that I'm beginning to float slowly to the surface. No matter what I tried, I couldn't stay on the bottom, but I was going up very slowly. Before I know it I feel my fins on the surface. I keep trying to go down, but nothing is working. Finally I give up, surface about 300' from the boat ramp. My buddy and I agreed that if one of us lost sight of the other, we would do a quick 1 minute search and then surface if we couldn't find the other person.

Well, my buddy didn't surface until 10 minutes after I had. Turns out I had lost a weight pouch (integrated system) from my BCD, so my dives were over as I need about 45 lbs (edit: looking back at my log it says I had 38 lbs. that day). to stay down, and losing 15 of that didn't do me any favors. My buddy then said that he didn't want to waste a trip to Monterey and proceeded to finish the dive on his own...needless to say I wasn't surprised that he would continue to dive solo despite, in my humble opinion, that being a horrible idea.

I had another lovely surface swim back to the ramp. I did have a nice harbor seal pop his head up next to me to say hello about 3' from me while I was swimming, so that was a highlight.

Anyway, so two dives ruined after making a special trip to Monterey to what some consider the best diving spot in the area. Oh, and that surface interval, because we had gone deep I wanted a long interval, so it ended up being close to 2 hours. Because I had stripped my wetsuit off, and wasn't too concerned about sun burn (it was a foggy day remember) I got COOKED. Worst sunburn of my life, I was literally lobster red that night and super dehydrated.

So, I'm posting here for two reasons. One, to post my lessons learned, and two to ask some questions.

Lessons first....
1) Make sure your buddy knows how to read his compass.
2) Make sure you have your own compass (I do now, I bought one immediately after this trip).
3) If you know your right, be stubborn. Surface and talk it out, don't go on faith. I let my trust in my buddy's "experience" lead me into what could have been a bad situation.
4) ALWAYS WEAR SUNSCREEN!
5) Make sure your weight pouches are very secure, I thought mine were, but one fell out none the less. As a side note, someone did find my pouch the next day.
6) Drink lots of water when diving

So question, did I do the right thing in sticking with my buddy? Should I have left him knowing he wasn't going the right way? That doesn't seem like the right thing to do, but I could see a situation where a buddy is leading you into danger, so what do you do if they won't listen?

I'm sad to say this experience set me back many years in my diving. I've become distrustful of unknown buddies in general, and being single without diving friends in my area, it means I don't dive much. That was until 2 years ago where I got a good random buddy one on a boat dive (though there were three of us and I had been diving with one of the guys before, so just 1 random buddy and 1 I trusted), and had another good experience just last month with random people (though that was a guided dive). I also now have a strong aversion to surface swims, which means my shore diving has stopped (this was my last one). I really want to get back into diving, and shore diving is common around here, so any tips on how to make surface swims easier would be great.

Anyway, any tips / advice would be great. Sorry for the very long story.

P.S. I'm actually planning another trip to Whaler's Cove to face my demons there...after-all it is my "white whale"!!

 

[NYCNaiad]

re surface swims: I hate them as well and don't often do shore dives because I have a bad back. The only way I've found to make surface swims easier is to inflate my BC and swim backwards with my head above the water. I find it's simple to orient myself on the surface this way, I don't have to keep on looking up and it seems easier on my legs.

re: accidental surfacing. 45 lbs of weight seems quite high to me although of course it depends upon your suit, your gear and your body weight. Are you sure you're not over-weighting? Just a thought that it might be a good idea to read up on and perform an official buoyancy check. When I first began diving, I was really over-weighted. Over the years, I was able to drop a lot of that extra weight which has also made my dives easier. To this day though...if it's been a while since I've been diving, I do notice that my buoyancy isn't as good just because my breathing isn't as in control.

re: insta-buddies: I often have insta-buddies as my dive friends don't want to travel as much as I do. While I have had some crap buddies, I've found over the years that the best way to find a good buddy is to go early to the dive shop and try to speak with the potential buddy(ies). I ask them a number of specific questions that generally help me suss out if they would be a good buddy.

Just by probing, I find they either look confused as to why I'm asking (bad buddy) or really try to answer my questions thoroughly with answers that seem reasonable. If I don't think someone would make a good buddy, I will then find someone who will be a good buddy even if I have to join a couple. If none of this works, then I will pay for a DM to dive with me. (Side note: I make sure to have a buddy on a guided dive as well since a guide isn't there to be your buddy.)

I understand you sticking with your buddy, but if I feel I'm in an unsafe situation, I will call a dive. Since anyone can call a dive for any reason, this then takes the discussion underwater out of the equation. It's simple: I sign to my buddy that we need to go up. He asks me why? I again sign: we need to go up and ask his ok. If he comes up with me, he's a good buddy. If he doesn't come up, he's a bad buddy and I will not feel remorse for surfacing since I followed the protocols and he didn't.

Have fun on Whaler's Cove!

 

[Bohemian Coast Dive]

Wow, that sounds like quite a day- thanks for sharing your story! I'm from the general area and enjoy diving Monterey, so it is particularly interesting to me. Also it sounds like you took away the right lessons from the experience. General rule of thumb (albeit often unspoken) is that any diver in a buddy group can call a dive for whatever reason they see fit. Equalization problems, equipment issues, dive conditions, whatever...If your buddy refuses multiple times, especially if you feel in danger, you do what you need to. You obviously don't want to follow him out to the depths, and you can't really wrestle him back to shore, so you really have no other option than to abort the dive and immediately let others know what is going on...


If you are ever in need of a guide to take another go at the site, let me know-I will be in Monterey fairly often this year, and would love to provide you a 'redemption' trip! Haha

Anyhow, look us up and give me a shout sometime...I enjoyed reading your story and am glad that the experience didn't ruin diving for you altogether. Take care!

-Blaine

 

[elgoog]

45lb is waaay too much for a 7mm wetsuit, even if you consider a 7mm jacket on top, jacket BCD and AL tank. During my OW training in Monterey, I was in a similar setup and used 30lb of lead and was still overweighted.
Next time you go there, do a check near the boat ramp at the beginning of the dive to get a rough estimate and again at the end. Or go to the Breakwater to work the kinks out before you go to Pt Lobos. It's a much more benign environment and less impacted by the tides and swell.

 

[Dermochelys]

I found to make surface swims easier is to inflate my BC and swim backwards with my head above the water.

I did the same thing. Thinking back on it now I wonder if the tide was going out, as progress was very slow that day on the surface.

. 45 lbs of weight seems quite high to me although of course it depends upon your suit, your gear and your body weight. Are you sure you're not over-weighting?

I'm a big guy and on top of that you add a 2 piece 7mm suit, hood, etc., and the weight required to get me to sink shoot up pretty fast. If there was an Olympic event for floating, I think would do really well.

Yeah, on of my lessons learned as well was that I should have insisted on surfacing at the start of our sand channel portion when he was pointing at his compass. He really must of had a bad sense of direction, the sand channel is on the west side of the reef we were diving. We never crossed the channel during the dive, so when we came up to it I knew we needed to make a left turn to go south instead of the right turn he did to go north.

 

[iamrushman]

thanks for sharing your story...........as you can see this is a great place to share your thoughts because you have already made some friends....happy diving in your area.

 

[Dermochelys]

45lb is waaay too much for a 7mm wetsuit, even if you consider a 7mm jacket on top, jacket BCD and AL tank. During my OW training in Monterey, I was in a similar setup and used 30lb of lead and was still overweighted.
Next time you go there, do a check near the boat ramp at the beginning of the dive to get a rough estimate and again at the end. Or go to the Breakwater to work the kinks out before you go to Pt Lobos. It's a much more benign environment and less impacted by the tides and swell.

Using the weight calculator here Estimated Diving Weight Calculator | DiveBuddy.com it comes up with 43 lbs. for me (+/- 4 lbs). I just glanced back at my log and saw that I had 38 lbs. that day, so I've edited my original post, sorry for the mistake.

Looking back on my logs though, my last cold water trip was to Victoria, BC. Again, I was in a 2 piece 7mm suit there, and my weights recorded were 38, 42, and 45 in order. I remember feeling a bit light at the end of the first two dives and the instructor I was with as a guide there kept adding weight to me.
Before anyone else mentions it, yes, I need to lose weight, and I'm working hard on that goal.

 

[elgoog]

Fair enough - you need as much as you need but make sure you actually need that much lead. Try to do a weight check at the end of your next dive - get to about 15ft depth on your way back to shore and dump gas from your tank down to 500psi or so for the check. Another critical thing is to make sure your breathing is really relaxed - that itself made a 7lb difference for me.

 

[eelnoraa]

I also think 45lb on s 7mm wetsuit is too much. Even 38 seem a lot today, but hey everyone is different. I would still suggest a proper weight. Since you are with rental equipment, it is different to be precise because everytime, gears are different. So maybe do a weight check at the beginning with full tank, then add the weight of the gas you are carrying. It should be close enough. I keep saying this over and over, if you can get your own BC and suit to start with. They are far more important gear than a computer or a regulator

I will strongly suggest getting yourself a wrist mount compass. It is not expansive. Diving in open water without a compass is a big NO to me.

 

[Chavodel8en]

1) Sounded like a $h!tty buddy who ignored your desire to stay near the sand channel. Make sure you're matched correctly with a buddy that shares your dive plan goals

IMO, a 45 minute surface swim back is pretty bad, but its not that much out of the norm for Whalers Cove -- THAT IS IF you were planning to explore some of the more remote sites -- which clearly you were not. Whalers Cove is a big site and some folks want to go explore farther. But there's plenty to see around Middle Reef for those wanting to cut down on the travel. Make sure your buddy & you are on the same page

2) As you already know (but might as well restate it), a compass is an absolute must for every diver at Pt Lobos, and most other sites in Nor Cal. Especially if you want to be sure to avoid a long surface swim and/or kelp crawl. Also, IMO, when you asked about the compass, the dive shop should have ensured you had one. I mean its one thing to not include compasses in a kit as a general rule, assuming folks have one -- but why would you send someone out knowing they didn't have one?

Yes, everyone is responsible for their own dive, and yes, you should have insisted on a compass (or better yet, buy your own (and I agree on the wrist mount - easier to navigate not having to constantly look down), but IMO that's sketchy for a NorCal dive shop to send someone out knowing they have no compass. (Note - ive seen this w/ various dive shops here & I don't like it). If need be, charge extra for the compass.

3) If its any consolation, it could have been much worse. I didn't read mention of any kelp crawling. Imagine your first surface swim having to take place over a continuous mat of tangled kelp. If it was late summer, you may have had that added bonus. Speaking from unfortunate experience, it sucks big time (altho I doubt I was as far away as you were).

Good tip - if the kelp looks thick (esp. summer-late summer), climb up on the overlooking bluff and get a bird's eye view of the kelp, just to know what youre looking at.

4) Looks like you were correct in your navigation back to the ramp using topography, so kudos for that. I must say, in my experience, once you get far past the sand channel, Whalers Cove can be very tricky looking at topography. On some occasions I swore that it was getting deeper even tho my compass said Im heading back to the ramp. The reef structures create inconsistent, confusing depth profiles. Maybe this provides some excuse for your buddy's navigation. Altho, another possibility is that he was an inconsiderate @$$h01# and wanted to try to get to some of the more remote features, dragging along an unwilling, uncompassed buddy.

5) Ive had many bad dives at Whalers Cove (crappy viz, bad conditions)-- but also some of the best dives ever. Ive seen a school of hundreds of fish there, which Ive never seen anywhere else in Monterey/Carmel. Ive seen SoCal fish there. So definitely get back there. And don't be disillusioned if your next dive there also sucks, or is merely OK. It would just be a streak of bad luck.

There are many many great dives waiting for you at Pt. Lobos, you just need to get out to them.