We had a situation on a dive boat on the Big Island. It was the night Manta dive, and there were about eight or nine boats full of divers at the site. Everyone swam to the manta-watching area and then hunkered down. No mantas came, so we did a bit of a night dive on the way back to the boat. We had one diver in the group who wasn't doing well -- he was having some major buoyancy issues, and was not appearing to pay much attention at all to what was going on around him. The DM was watching him, and Peter and I kept an eye on him for quite a while, too, because I wasn't really sure he was okay. Then we ran into a whole bunch of divers from another boat, and I lost sight of the man in keeping track of Peter and the guide. We weren't far from the boat.
When we reboarded, the man we had been watching was not there and did not board with the rest of us. No lights were visible in the water near the boat, nor were any bubbles, as best one could tell in the dark. But a quick radio check revealed that the diver had gotten on one of the other boats. He had apparently had an asthma attack underwater and had aborted the dive, without communicating with anyone.
I felt quite guilty about it, although he was not my responsibility. I did not speak to the man on the boat and certainly had no idea he had asthma or was having problems. But it was clear in the water that he was either a horrible diver or was unwell, and I felt like I should have made some kind of issue out of it there.
I don't know what we would have done if he hadn't been found on one of the other boats.
When we reboarded, the man we had been watching was not there and did not board with the rest of us. No lights were visible in the water near the boat, nor were any bubbles, as best one could tell in the dark. But a quick radio check revealed that the diver had gotten on one of the other boats. He had apparently had an asthma attack underwater and had aborted the dive, without communicating with anyone.
I felt quite guilty about it, although he was not my responsibility. I did not speak to the man on the boat and certainly had no idea he had asthma or was having problems. But it was clear in the water that he was either a horrible diver or was unwell, and I felt like I should have made some kind of issue out of it there.
I don't know what we would have done if he hadn't been found on one of the other boats.
