OkByMe
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Deep six - toss overboard, get rid of - Ex Marine.
I'm the Pariah again
- Thread starter FPDocMatt
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On my last dive trip there were 16 of us on a live aboard 3 were doctors, on the first day who ran completely out of air and had to be rescued, a doctor, the next day who jumped in without latching the housing on their $15000 camera, a doctor. The next day who had to be rescued from sinking to the bottom, a doctor. The next day who had to be stopped from sinking again, a doctor. Who came back with 200PSI, a doctor. I have a new attitude towards doctors. This guys last sentence says he still feels like crying, crying over this? What the heck is he going to do if the pandemoniums get loose on a dive?
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mmcdanie
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You are a member of an indigenous people of southern India originally functioning as ceremonial drummers but later having a low caste or no caste, again? 
Great post. I'm still a novice, and I would have most likely failed to do the correct action. Thanks for sharing the experience.
Great post. I'm still a novice, and I would have most likely failed to do the correct action. Thanks for sharing the experience.
A couple of additional observations:
One is regarding buddy separation. To get buddies separated enough so that they can't find one another requires that they be further apart than the visibility, or hidden from one another by structure. In tropical water, you can see people a long way, and bubbles perhaps even further. If you are doing any kind of a situational awareness sweep, you won't go so long between checks on your buddy that he can completely disappear. My Fundies instructor taught me a mantra, which I pass on to our students: What's my depth? Where's my buddy? Look at the fish . . . If you keep cycling through those things, and add a "What's my pressure?" check every five minutes, you can avoid a great deal of trouble. And if, despite doing that diligently, you can't for a moment locate your buddy, you know he can't be far -- and if you think about the possibilities, you will know where to look. If he isn't in front of you or within your field of view to the sides, he may be above you or behind you (both places that masks severely limit vision) or he may be on the other side of some piece of structure, in which case ascending a few feet will almost certainly give you a view of at least his bubbles. In very low viz, this may not work as well, but in those conditions, buddy pairs should stay MUCH closer together.
The other point is about buddy loss and whether it's an emergency. Obviously, it isn't necessarily . . . but I've read too many stories where the last time someone is seen alive is just before their buddy lost them. I've had ONE case of prolonged buddy separation in OW in the last five or so years, and it scared me and my husband badly, even though the person who was missing was an OW instructor and the dive was a simple one, and the overwhelming likelihood was that he was okay. (He was; he had mistaken another group of divers for us, and followed them.) My husband and I followed protocol, surfaced, reported the issue to the boat, and stayed on the surface for about five minutes. We then proceeded with our dive, but throughout all the underwater time, I was fretting about our friend.
I can easily see someone with less experience, and with an unknown buddy, feeling that a separation was, if not an emergency, an impending one, and not knowing exactly what he ought to do about it. I wasn't sure exactly what we were supposed to do in our situation, once we had executed the protocol. Obviously, nobody was going to start a major search for an experienced diver on a familiar, 50 foot reef site, just because he failed to follow procedures. Of course, if it had turned out that he had had a heart attack underwater (and we're all of an age where that's possible) we would all have felt horrible, and been raked over the coals by the knowledgeable on scuba forums.
I don't always defend Matt, but in this case, I think he was faced with a problem that seemed urgent to him, and he just wasn't sure how to deal with it. His response wasn't optimal, and I suspect he's learned that, and it upset the boat captain, who, instead of politely explaining the problem once Matt was on board, decided to use the same strategy that spouses use with one another when they're annoyed -- he got sarcastic and unpleasant. The result was a whole bunch of unhappy people.
I like this kind of story, especially in forums read by beginners, because there are a lot of lessons here for everybody involved.
One is regarding buddy separation. To get buddies separated enough so that they can't find one another requires that they be further apart than the visibility, or hidden from one another by structure. In tropical water, you can see people a long way, and bubbles perhaps even further. If you are doing any kind of a situational awareness sweep, you won't go so long between checks on your buddy that he can completely disappear. My Fundies instructor taught me a mantra, which I pass on to our students: What's my depth? Where's my buddy? Look at the fish . . . If you keep cycling through those things, and add a "What's my pressure?" check every five minutes, you can avoid a great deal of trouble. And if, despite doing that diligently, you can't for a moment locate your buddy, you know he can't be far -- and if you think about the possibilities, you will know where to look. If he isn't in front of you or within your field of view to the sides, he may be above you or behind you (both places that masks severely limit vision) or he may be on the other side of some piece of structure, in which case ascending a few feet will almost certainly give you a view of at least his bubbles. In very low viz, this may not work as well, but in those conditions, buddy pairs should stay MUCH closer together.
The other point is about buddy loss and whether it's an emergency. Obviously, it isn't necessarily . . . but I've read too many stories where the last time someone is seen alive is just before their buddy lost them. I've had ONE case of prolonged buddy separation in OW in the last five or so years, and it scared me and my husband badly, even though the person who was missing was an OW instructor and the dive was a simple one, and the overwhelming likelihood was that he was okay. (He was; he had mistaken another group of divers for us, and followed them.) My husband and I followed protocol, surfaced, reported the issue to the boat, and stayed on the surface for about five minutes. We then proceeded with our dive, but throughout all the underwater time, I was fretting about our friend.
I can easily see someone with less experience, and with an unknown buddy, feeling that a separation was, if not an emergency, an impending one, and not knowing exactly what he ought to do about it. I wasn't sure exactly what we were supposed to do in our situation, once we had executed the protocol. Obviously, nobody was going to start a major search for an experienced diver on a familiar, 50 foot reef site, just because he failed to follow procedures. Of course, if it had turned out that he had had a heart attack underwater (and we're all of an age where that's possible) we would all have felt horrible, and been raked over the coals by the knowledgeable on scuba forums.
I don't always defend Matt, but in this case, I think he was faced with a problem that seemed urgent to him, and he just wasn't sure how to deal with it. His response wasn't optimal, and I suspect he's learned that, and it upset the boat captain, who, instead of politely explaining the problem once Matt was on board, decided to use the same strategy that spouses use with one another when they're annoyed -- he got sarcastic and unpleasant. The result was a whole bunch of unhappy people.
I like this kind of story, especially in forums read by beginners, because there are a lot of lessons here for everybody involved.
If that is the case, then I agree that it was a naive idea to begin with.
If I found out it was MY doctor that forgot to close his camera housing before a dive, or finished a dive with 200psi, it wouldn't change anything, since it has nothing to do with whether or not he is a good doctor.
TS&M,
I agree with what you have said, but to be honest, I am really afraid for Matt. He is a rescue certified diver who really seems to have a lot of issues with basic skills. I really hope that he can get a grip on these issues and learn to really enjoy the beauty and peace that comes with diving safely. He does a lot of destination diving and doesn't seem to dive where he lives to get experience and find people willing to help him.
I may have been a little harsh with Matt in my earlier post and I don't condone overbearing berating boat captains, but Matt does seem to bring a lot of this on himself. I wish he lived closer to Virginia or N.C. as I would love to work with him in these enviornments. It makes Carribean diving seem seem like a bathtub.
I agree with what you have said, but to be honest, I am really afraid for Matt. He is a rescue certified diver who really seems to have a lot of issues with basic skills. I really hope that he can get a grip on these issues and learn to really enjoy the beauty and peace that comes with diving safely. He does a lot of destination diving and doesn't seem to dive where he lives to get experience and find people willing to help him.
I may have been a little harsh with Matt in my earlier post and I don't condone overbearing berating boat captains, but Matt does seem to bring a lot of this on himself. I wish he lived closer to Virginia or N.C. as I would love to work with him in these enviornments. It makes Carribean diving seem seem like a bathtub.
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