Error Losing Your Group - Lessons to be Learned

[inquis]

the OP posts a very helpful teaching lesson in which he takes full responsibility and (nearly) everyone craps on him?

I read those more as adding an additional lesson that was missed by the OP. This should be just as helpful to others reading the thread, which was obviously the OP's intent.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

I'm left wondering what happened with the DM? This was a paid for, guided, dive. Shouldn't the DM have been keeping track? Maybe he or she know you and trusted you on your own? (I've had guided dives where the DM trusted me to be on my own at a distance he wouldn't have ordinarily tolerated.)

 

[Ken Kurtis]

Man, what is up with people today? I mean the OP posts a very helpful teaching lesson in which he takes full responsibility and (nearly) everyone craps on him? I mean, really??

Thanks for that.
On the Internet, no good deed goes unpunished.
And everyone's an expert.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

I'm left wondering what happened with the DM? This was a paid for, guided, dive. Shouldn't the DM have been keeping track? Maybe he or she know you and trusted you on your own? (I've had guided dives where the DM trusted me to be on my own at a distance he wouldn't have ordinarily tolerated.)

Don't dump on the DM (who had three others in tow - you're certainly not suggesting he simply abandon them). Let's be absolutely clear: THIS WAS MY FAULT. I think what he did was fine. I don't know when he knew I was missing from the group. He knows me well, and knows I always catch up to the group. When he felt there was something wrong, he SAFELY parked the group on a line with a safety stop and came back to me. What else would you have had him do in this perfect world that you're creating?

The lesson I think most of you are missing here has nothing do to with separation, solo, etc. Read my last four paragraphs again. THAT'S the lesson IMHO. This is a discussion many of us who do this for a living have frequently: Where's that line between reacting quickly and over-reacting? Assuming everything's OK can be dangerous. So can over-reacting.

There's no perfect answer for any of this. And those of you who are positing that there is, might need to come down off your high horse (or high seahorse) and deal with things in the real world where sh*t happens.

 

[DanBMW]

My wife is a photographer and I'm not and we have the "buddy" conversation on many dives. She cannot be my buddy, it just doesn't work. For the most part, she is diving solo, UNLESS, I make the decision to be her buddy. When I make the decision to be her buddy, It's my responsibility to stay close enough to her so that if she has a problem, I'm there to assist. I cannot count on her, unless I'm really close though, to be my buddy. With 1,000's of dives, all over the world, I'm happy to be her buddy and most of the time, that's how we dive. Realistically, though, we are two solo divers, generally diving together.

 

[Ez E]

I found how the OP reacted(and his follow up posts) to be very professional. Im a newb. I love reading stores like his because divers like me who have never been in an open water situation alone can learn. I would say although the situation may have been a little embarrassing. The outcome was as good as you can expect which is great.

 

[Ez E]

But it need not be. So let me walk you through some of the mental processes. (And FTR, I'm a longtime NAUI instructor with over 6000 dives and have taught literally thousands of students over the years.) What you're describing, and this is an observation not a criticism, is the path to why people panic in situations like this. So let's review step-by-step what's happening and going through our brains.

1. Everything is hunky-dory on the dive. I've got plenty of air, it's a pleasant dive, and I'm going to duck under the bow to see if there's anything interesting there.
2. I come out three minutes later and I don't see anyone in the group.
3. Nothing has changed from three minutes earlier. I still have plenty of air, it's still a pleasant dive, and I simply don't see other people.
4. I decide to abort the dive.
5. I'm now going to do a safety stop. This mean I've got five minutes (like to to do extended safety stops) top assess things. No need to make rash decisions, no need to do anything other than hang.
6. I look around to see what my choices are. The reef in front of me tops out at maybe 15-20 feet. I could surface there and there probably wouldn't be any boat traffic because it's so shallow.
7. I also carry two SMBs (Surface Marker Buoys) with me so would also be able to deploy them.
8. I also know I could swim back to the stern mooring line - 300+ feet away, length of a football field - and maybe our boat's there. But if it's not, I may have created a different problem, because on the surface that's further away from any reef and more prone to boat traffic.
9. I also note that the mooring line to the bow is taut and when I look up, I see there's a boat tied up to the bow mooring.
10. I know it's not our boat - this one has two engines, we have one - but I also know that surfacing on a line next to a boat is safer that surfacing on top of a reef. So I decide that that's what I'll do.
11. Still have plenty of air - over 1,000psi - still have plenty of no-deco time left, and am simply a little embarrassed at having lost everyone.
12. As I'm finishing up my safety stop, I look in the direction of the stern of the boat and see the dive guide coming towards the bow, obviously looking for me.
13. I signal him that I'm OK, he signals back and motions towards the stern, I head that way to find the rest of the group (three other divers) on the stern mooring line, we all ascend, no harm no foul.

And the point in all of this, and not to diminish the fear that you said you would feel had this happened to you, is that that type of fear is something we make up in our minds. It's not based on anything that's actually happening in reality. And that's what leads to panic. But if you can simply rationally think things through, there are numerous options that produce a successful outcome.

I think one problem and the root of the fear you said you might feel - and this is totally my own opinion/observation - is that when we train you, we needlessly put the fear of being alone in the ocean in the back of your mind. I also do fatality investigations and am always amazed by the number of times we see a fatality where there has been an inadvertent buddy separation, there's absolutely nothing wrong (plenty of gas, plenty of deco time, no entanglement, etc.) yet one diver ends up dead because they end up panicking and create a bad situation for themselves.

When we train you initially, we emphasize the buddy system and if we don't say it directly, we at least imply that if you're by yourself, you're in mortal danger. No you're not. Even if I had had a buddy with me in this situation, we would have had the same choices as to where to surface.

I would like to see us as an industry, in a basic class, add a skill that teaches you to be self-reliant if you lose a buddy. What I've done in the past with my students, in the pool, is have everyone (including me) get out. Then I have one person go under and swim one or two leisurely laps around the pool while I observe them from the surface. Repeat for each student. This isn't meant to encourage them to dive solo but recognizes that, especially with newer divers, sometimes things go wrong. And this hopefully gives them another skill and the feeling that if I'm all alone in the water, it's not the end of the world and they can safely decide to abort the dive, do a safety stop, and surface.

Just some things to think about. End of lecture.

Thats a great lecture. Thank you for taking the time to write that. I really appreciate when skilled divers take the time to add their input for the lesser skilled. People will pull up this post years from now and have a great breakdown on “how to react when **** seems to hit the fan”.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

Don't dump on the DM (who had three others in tow - you're certainly not suggesting he simply abandon them). Let's be absolutely clear: THIS WAS MY FAULT. I think what he did was fine. I don't know when he knew I was missing from the group. He knows me well, and knows I always catch up to the group. When he felt there was something wrong, he SAFELY parked the group on a line with a safety stop and came back to me. What else would you have had him do in this perfect world that you're creating?

Definitely not dumping on the DM, but it seems a legitimate question when a guide "loses" a diver. (That is, I'm more asking the question than accusing the DM.)

But in this case, it's very understandable. The DM trusted you to be on your own for a bit. (I've had dives like that, taking photos myself, when the DM was fine letting me lag behind the group.) And he recovered you at the end.

 

[Still Kicking]

I would think it behooves the photog to get someone's attention in the group (preferably the guide's) and give them the univeral photo signal and an OK confirmation, before stopping to get their shot.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @Ken Kurtis

I'm surprised that your group was able to get so far back toward the stern in 3 min that you were not able to spot them. Nevertheless, you did essentially what was expected of you when you were not able to find your group after a reasonable search, you initiated a safe ascent, where you could have found your group, assuming they did the same thing looking for you.