Left Behind...

[Fish_Whisperer]

Okay.. My own funny (or maybe NOT so funny) story:

I was diving in Cozumel, and still being a n00b, I had burned through my air in less than 40 minutes. I didn't have a dive buddy, although there were two dive masters in my group. We were doing a drift dive on Palancar Reef, I think... Anyway, being low on air, I let one of my team know that I was low on air and I was going to have to surface. I went up, did my deco stop, and then surfaced. No boat! WTH?? :confused1 I looked down but the current had already carried my team out of sight, so there I was, all alone, low on air, and no boat to be found. After initially inventing a few new swearwords, I inflated my BC, and lay on my back, bobbing around like a cork. My biggest fear was that I was going to be run over by a boat, so I grabbed my octopus which is bright yellow, and held it up in the air. (For whatever good that was going to do, but it was better than nothing..)

The current was carrying me towards a buoy, and I was less than a mile from shore, and beyond the buoy, there were a couple of cruise ships docked at the pier, so worst-case scenario, I could either swim for land, grab the buoy, or else drift over to the cruise ships and yell until someone took pity on my dumb azz... LOL

So, I bobbed around for a bit, wondering what had happened to the dive boat, and after about twenty minutes, another boat pulled up and asked me what boat I was with. I told them and they radioed them, and then told me that they would be along presently. Then, they patrolled around me in wide circles. I was thinking, "Why don't you just let me get the hell out of the water?" Hrmph...

After about ten more minutes, my dive boat came back, picked me up, and then went to pick up the other divers that had surfaced. I was more than a little irritated that the boat hadn't been looking for me, but reasoned that because I was a n00b, I must have done something wrong, but reasoned that all's well that ends well.

When I got back to the dock, I was rinsing my gear when my instructor came up to me and said, "It's not your fault that the boat wasn't there." The story I got later was this: The dive leader for the first team had jumped in and descended, only to find that once he got down to depth, he had to take a crap, so he surfaced and the boat took him to shore. Apparently, he was in mid-crap when I'd surfaced. After he was done, the boat took him back to his dive team and dropped him in so he could descend and finish the dive with them. Then they jockeyed the boat around to come find me, now that the current had been merrily carrying me along some distance from the original dive site.

Once I got back from Cozumel, (nearly a week overdue, thanks to Wilma), I bought a see-my-sausage and stuffed it in one of my BC pockets.

Shortly after coming home, I happened to see that piece of crap movie, "Open Water." I thought, "Yeah.. I know how that feels..." LMAO

-Frank

 

[Warren_L]

Sounds like the dive operator did the wrong thing. They should never leave the group without a boat, especially for a reason like that. If someone had a real problem, they'd be in a world of trouble. Thankfully nothing bad happened as a result, but as you can tell, the potential was there. And you were wise to purchase a deployable surface marker. I always carry one with me, sometimes two - a large 6 foot one and a smaller 3 foot one for that reason.

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

Scary experience! Glad you can laugh about it. It does make a good story!

 

[Kevfin]

Good story, I'm glad your okay, and I hope a learning experience for some.

I carry a smb on my BC when I do boat dives... It's long and bright...

thanks for sharing

 

[TheRedHead]

Sadly, I find it believable. You don't want to get anywhere near the cruise ship pier. :no

My advice is to stay away from the larger operators and stick to the 6-packs. You can even find shops that use bigger tanks so you won't have to surface before your group.

In a pinch, I've been told by DMs that waving a fin is a good idea. But you did the smart thing in buying a safety sausage.

I'm glad to hear that you came away from it with a sense of humor. It's a classic story and I'm sure it will make the rounds in the dive shops.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Well, my first option was to swim for land, if the boat hadn't come around. I could have easily managed it. What's the reason for staying away from moored cruise ships? (er... Not that I have any particular burning desire to approach one! I was just looking at all of my options)

My safety sausage isn't so big, but it inflates nicely, and it makes ME happy! LOL

 

[TSandM]

This appears to me to be an example of the fact that S*** happens

 

[J75]

Glad that you got back safely. The dive operator is totally at fault. When doing drift dives in Coz, the boats usually stay right behind the bubbles and pick up the divers as they surface a few at a time. The boat should have never left the divers behind. What if there had been an emergency when someone surfaced?

 

[fairybasslet]

Hmm. Don't the boats have heads?

 

[DandyDon]

Yeah, that happened to me once. I inflated my sausage and sounded my Dive Alert until a boat picked me up and took me to mine. I was toward the south end of the channel tho, there was a rare south current taking me toward Belize, and I was too far from land. I thought about dropping weights to float higher, but was not going to give up my BC for anything. Funny how fast weird thoughts race thru your mind when you think you're in trouble.

BTW, you do not want to ascend alone. Many other things can go badly on ascent. Whatever it takes, take someone with you.

Glad you got a sausage. I hate to see ANY diver get on a boat without one. I may be the only one here who encourages newbies to get one, but they are cheap and essential, I think. What about a storm whistle - did you get one of those too?

Hmm. Don't the boats have heads?

Some big ones do, the smaller ones do not.

Going ashore so the DM could take a comfy dump was not right. Do that in the water or from the side of the boat, but do not abandon divers. OMG :11: Which operator...??