First post, first post-cert dive. Fiasco. Lessons learned from a comedy of errors.

[decompression]

In all honesty, if you check most of our log books you'll find that dive in there somewhere. You survived and most importantly, learned. Well done.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[lemke]

Those types of dives are absolutely the best learning experiences... when most, if not everything, does not go as planned. Been there, still there.

 

[divin'dog]

So yeah, that's my first dive in a nutshell...

That's how a lot of us have learned over the years... Just not all those situations in the same dive!

Good learning experience for you. Be sure to do a proper weight check before your next dive. Guessing takes longer to get right.

 

[Storker]

That's how a lot of us have learned over the years... Just not all those situations in the same dive!

Yup. Been there, done that. Haven't got the T-shirt, though.

However, I'm not quite comfortable with the OP experiencing such a trainwreck of a dive. IMO, that smacks more than a little of a diver venturing into conditions which s/he definitely isn't trained and capable to handle. This time, a bit of luck prevented an outcome that may well have been read about in the "Accidents" forum rather than the "Near misses" forum. I won't open the "which harder, cold or warm water diving" can of worms, but since cold water diving is different from warm water diving, I've seen more than one warm water-certified diver struggling in conditions we locals consider rather normal, and which locally certified divers are quite comfortable with.

OP, you seem to have done a decent job in post-incident analysis and you've got some valuable lessons. That's great. But if you were to do this dive again, would you have done it? Or would you have called the dive before submerging?

Me, I'm a low-risk type of guy, so I prefer to go by baby steps at conditions I'm not familiar with: basically only one new and previously unknown factor at the time. If I'm trying out new gear, I do that at our training site, when conditions are benign. If there's more chop than I'm used to, or stronger current, or a night dive if it's a long time since I did night diving, I make sure that the site is similar to sites I've dived, that I know my buddy and that I know my gear inside out. In your case, you had a decent handful of new factors to handle: Thicker exposure protection, more - and probably not tested - weighting, chop, tide, threesome diving and probably new and unknown gear. To me, that's a couple of new factors too many...

 

[divin'dog]

... In your case, you had a decent handful of new factors to handle: Thicker exposure protection, more - and probably not tested - weighting, chop, tide, threesome diving and probably new and unknown gear. To me, that's a couple of new factors too many...

And when problems come up, it is usually a series of smaller manageable problems creating a larger problem kinda like the perfect storm. There was a lot of new experiences for dgfishy. Tough to harness all that for a comfortable dive. Also, 2 inexperienced divers to Puget Sound and a photographer does not seem like an ideal buddy system for getting acclimated to cold water diving. Forget the photographer and try to find an experienced diver who will be there trying to help you get acclimated and not worried that you will be silting up the bottom.

However, now that you have a "dive" under your belt, I would suggest doing a proper weight check and to absolutely take your time with everything you do... Do not rush through anything. Spend time in shallow water just getting used to the equipment. Play with your buoyancy. Recheck gear. Do a skill or two. Then try to hover quietly off the bottom with your buddy. No need to swim off right away into the deep blue. Get comfortable first, the rest will come. It would help if your buddy is someone who is willing to do the same thing or be patient with you. Also, try to find someone who can teach you how to get into the surf and put your fins on safely... Or try to dive in a nice calm place. It would be one less thing to deal with.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Great post! There's no better teacher than experience. Sounds like you learned a few things to watch out for next time you attempt a similar dive.

 

[Dhboner]

Try to get your hands on Steve Lewis' most recent book: "Staying Alive: Applying Risk Management to Advanced Scuba Diving". I have read it several times and I take something new from the book almost every time (and I have been diving since 1971). The more you understand the evolution of a "cluster F#@*" the better equipped you will be to respond calmly and manage the event. You seem to have deconstructed the dive very well and learned a lot...do yourself a favour and pick up a copy of the book and read it several times as you advance as a diver. You will be a safer diver in the long run.

 

[TSandM]

I read this post and it made me smile. I've done that dive . . . and I've tried to help any number of other people through it.

For those of you who are not Seattleites: The site is one of our most benign ones. If there is strong wind, you can get small waves, and there is also a ferry nearby that kicks up quite a wake. Except on days when the weather is nothing you would want to dive in, the waves aren't anything a Southern Californian would even notice -- but for someone who is unaccustomed to keeping his balance in moving water, they can be disconcerting. My dear friend HBDiveGirl laughs at us when we wait for wakes to go by before entering, but it's all in what you are used to.

To the OP: Next time you head out, just plan that you will use up about half your tank at the beginning of the dive, doing a proper, formal weight check. It will take a little time, but it isn't hard to do. What you want is to confirm that you have plenty of weight to sink, but if you take off 6 or 7 pounds, you can't sink. That will put you right in the ballpark of proper weighting. Your next goal is to arrange that weight so that you can float in a horizontal position. That's the first step toward not kicking up the bottom (and, btw, no photographer should expect to get any pictures worth having when diving with a complete novice, unless it's a picture of the novice diver himself. It takes time to learn how to leave the silty sediments of Puget Sound alone).

Sand IS a nemesis of scuba gear; when I got rolled in the surf at Monastery Beach in Monterey, I was calm and confident, right up until the sand got in my regulator and started it freeflowing. It's unavoidable to get some sand in your gear, but highly desirable to avoid dragging any of your stuff through it. You are going to need a very thorough cleaning of your stuff to make sure you don't have problems on your next dives. See if you can get your experienced friend to help you clean it and check it out.

You are ABSOLUTELY right about the stiff fins and the spring straps! Consider a pair of Mares Power Planas -- they are great rubber fins and come with a stretch strap included in the price.

I am currently beached with a hand fracture, but once I am back in operation, I would be delighted to meet up with you for a day of diving to work on some of these things. NW Grateful Diver did it for me

 

[beaverdivers]

Mistakes 1, 2, and 3: Failure to prep all gear before getting into the water.

Correct - gear up ready to dive.

Failure to adjust the hood so I could hear what was going on.

Remember it will be like going to a Seattle Seahawks game. You will not be able to hear!

Failure to weight myself conservatively.

Correct - Weight yourself properly.

Mistake #4, letting my gear get covered in sand.

Keep your reg in your mouth and your backup reg & inflator protected. At this point it probably would have made sense to call the dive.

So yeah, that's my first dive in a nutshell. If you think I missed some important issues, I'd love to hear about them so I can plan for the future!

I would strongly recommend additional training with a good local instructor that has experience in the challenges of the Pacific NW coast diving.

Good Luck & Good Diving!

 

[undrwater]

DO take up TS&M's offer! It will be tough to find a better experienced buddy.

Photography and first dives really don't mix, and you get to choose your buddies. You also sound like you might benefit from some motion sickness medicine for a while until you get your undersea legs.