Lost and DM nowhere to be found

[citykid]

This happened a while ago. A week's worth of diving and OW checkout was the vacation. Two or three days after passing the checkout and no problems there I am happy to say, we went out on the boat in Nassau, New Providence, with a different DM, we did not know him. But he came recommended, seemed on the ball, and what did I know anyway, I was a newbie. Anyway, the captain drops anchor and the DM gives the speech. We all are to meet up, us, DM & four other divers, then swim to the wall, blah blah blah. My buddy who's also my gal and I are first to go in the drink. DM tells us to go in, swim to the bow line and wait for everyone else. Then begin our nice little dive.
Well, I go in and await at the bow line. My buddy comes along also. BUT NO ONE ELSE! I wait a while longer and no one.

This story is getting a little long so I'm gonna cut to the chase a bit.

We go looking for the group. We got lost. Newbies lost in the open ocean first week diving. Was I scared? No. I was furious that we were left alone. Maybe it was me being a firefighter that taught me not panic. Maybe it was us taking the training seriously, who knows. But we did take readings on our compass' before and during the dive. We found the wall they went to but not them. We found the wreck that was on the agenda, quite a ways away from the wall and dive boat, and then finally found them. I was very happy with myself for:
a) not panicking
b) using the compass as well as limited visual markers (rocks here, sand patch there), and the viz was not very good (about 30-40 feet - come on, that sucks for newbies and for the Bahamas wouldn't you agree?)
c) finding the group while swimming all around and getting lost in the big blue sea
d) not getting lost (and I mean lost lost; out in the ocean either never to be seen again or miles away from the boat)
e) and not beating the living out of the dm when we got back on the boat (we were in his care after all)

And now we live happily ever after to dive once more.

 

[DeputyDan]

I don't think you were in the DM's care.

You're a certified diver - you were in your own care.

 

[dlndavid]

Sounds like you did OK, and you were nowhere near to being lost before your descent.
I got seperated once when doing my descent in current, kept an eye on the group and eventually caught up, the DM (my AOW instructor) didn't even know I was missing.
He didn't show up to work the next day, had a new instructor.

 

[citykid]

It's all h2o under the bridge. Now as I look back on it I can see both sides. But the DM knew we were brand new, and sent us in the wrong direction. Eitherway, you learn from mistakes and problems. And if that is a benchmark then I am a genius.

 

[pupdiver]

We had the exact same thing happen to us on the first dive on a trip to Belize! The DM gave clear instructions to meet at the bow line and go down together. I joined my wife at the bow line and we waited. Then I saw divers descending, so we descended and joined the group on the bottom. After the dive, I asked the DM what the deal was. He said a couple divers headed straight down so he went after them. The rest just followed. He intended to get them to stay put and then come up to us.

We already had some diving experience so we weren't worried. It would have been a lot more annoying if it happened under your circumstances.

 

[Ann Marie]

Sounds like you all learned a valuable lesson. You are your own responsible diver. Not comfortable or having a problem with the dive? Call it. Afraid you're lost? Surface. Don't want to go as deep as everyone else? Don't. You are the one that has to face the consequences of your dive.

Don't be mad at the DM, when he didn't meet you at the specific location, I would have surfaced to make sure there wasn't a problem/emergency keeping him from joining me. Then, I would have dove my own dive. I would have been mad at the idiots that didn't listen to the dive breifing and caused the group to seperate, and robbed me of my guide.

 

[jeckyll]

:thumbs_up

When in doubt call the dive

Besides my training dives I've never had a 'follow me' dive. Not sure I'd want to. Sounds quit stressful

 

[Diver Lori]

The DM has other divers to be mindful of as well. I've got two students who will be newly certified when they take their first dive trip. I told them to consider ponying up for their own DM on their first ocean dives. The dive op they chose was more than happy to schedule an extra DM for just them, for a fee of course...but it will be well worth it for them to have their own DM to help them get their weighting in salt water right etc. And they won't be holding up the more experienced divers on the boat.

 

[rookers]

DMs can't heard all the cats. From what I can tell they try to spot the most worrisome sorts (those who don't listen to the briefing) and corral them first.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I'd like to hear the DM's side of it. If you got lost it's your own fault. Which you did not since you took compass headings. You can always go up. Hearing the DM go blah, blah, blah, sounds like the guy in open water who knew everything. If you were that concerned that things were not right why did you jeopardize your buddy by continuing the dive? And as for that last little thing you are so proud of it's probably not a good thing to do in a foreign country to a guy who probably knows lots of good places to hide the body of a smart *** foreigner. Chill out dude.