Felipe Telles
Registered
Hi everyone,
This happened to me on my last dive trip, on Malpelo in the beging of this month. Malpelo is known for its heavy currents, making it a very challenging site to anyone not used to currents. We were on a liveaboard, and before the trip our instructor told us that was suposed to be very cold in there and we should bring cold water gear. We packed up our drysuits (me and my fiancee). When we got in the boat our dive master said that the water was very hot, and we decided to not use our drysuits in the first two days of diving which were at Gorgona, a very beatiful island we stoped in the way to Malpelo.
The diving in Gorgona ended up very well, but as I was not using my drysuit and rockboots, my fins were very sloppy, so I had a terrible time trying to overcome the current which was also present at gorgona. My weightbelt was fine, fitting very well, it was ok, except by the fact that it had a plastic buckle. It made me a little worried, but I didnt have any other option since it was the only kind of belt avaible at the time.
We arrived at Malpelo, and even tough it was as hot as Gorgona I decided to go with my drysuit, which made me fell much more comfortable underwater, tough I was toasting outside of it. The weightbelt now become more problematic since it was barely closing, because of the drysuit being bigger on the hips. I was worried about it, and decided after the first dive that I would change it. Anyway, after a few dives I hadn't changed it yet.
On the second dive of the second day, my instructor saw me having problems closing the belt. He said I had to change it, but as we were already on the panga on our way to the dive site I said I would change it after the dive. We dropped down the panga, negatvely boyant because of the heavy current and huge waves topside. Afeter maybe 30 seconds I was at 100 fsw, felling in a huge washing machine. Then just 3 feet away from the bottom, my weightbelt buckle breaks and it goes right to the bottom. I desperate swin down to grab it, and fortunetely I didn't have any problems doing so. My fiancee which was also my dive buddy, grabs me by my first stage to tey to stabilize me as I was getting thown to the rock wall right beside me. We ended up both being thrown against the rocks a couple of times. I was with my drysuit, and I feared I could have a leak, since it was a rock full of barnacles and urchins.
I finally get myself trimmed up as I inflate my wing and I see my DM right in front of me. I show him the weight belt in my hands and he points me the sand part of the bottom nearby. But the current was heavy and I couldn't reach it. I went up a little to try to get rid of the current (my fiancee still holding me), and a french guy who was with us tried to help me, and I pointed him the other DM who was nearby to try to help me.
I put the belt on my back I was away from the heavy current and try to close the belt. Ended up that the plastic buckle was completely broken now, as I had two parts of it in my hands. The DM comes closer and fixes it, and helps me buckle it. She looks at me and asks me if I'm ok. I show her the ok sign. She doesn't believe me. I show her the ok sign with both hands now. And then right after I showed her the thumb up. I didnt feel I should complete the dive. She shows me the sign to follow her and asks me if it's ok again. I think a little and realize that I could be dangerous to thumb the dive so early, because the waves were very high (about 8 feet), and maybe the panga guy wouldn't see me surface, because he wouldn't expect to someone to surface so early.
After this I relax a little bit, look at my spg (I used a lot of gas during the emergency, I think 700 psi), and stay close to my buddy (my fiancee, we talk a lot about emergency procedures, and we invest a lot in training, we know exactly how each other is feeling underwater, and our weaknesses). During the dive I felt a little cold, and I thought a had punched a hole in the suit, but fortunetely it didn't happen. I think the water entered through the seals while the whole thing happened. After 15 minutes, I show my fiancee the low gas sign and thumb the dive. I show the DM I was low on gas and gave her the thumbs up sign also.
I shot my smb from 45 feet deep (it's a 6 foot smb), so the pangas would have more time to see it from the surface. I was a little shaken up yet so I didn't blow enough air for it to stand up tall in the surface, and almost drop my spoll while reeling it in.
We surface, after doing our safety stop, and the waves looked worse than when we went in. It really wasn't but I felt like at that moment. We can't see the pangas, so I look for my whistle. Great, I forgot to tie my whistle. My fiancee grabs the smb and inflates it to the full capacity. Now they see us. Finally I feel safe.
I learned a lot from this incident.
1- Everything counts as a safety device while diving, even your weight belt. I bought one for my own, doing this I'll know it's doing fine, won't break, and fits me.
2-Always be around for your buddy- this is a little obvious, but it's very often neglected. If my fiancee was just a little farther away, I could hit my head on the rocks, could let go of the weights...
3- Always carry your SMB and a noise device while diving. No matter which site. You have to be seen or heard for someone to help you while in a emergency, or alone at the ocean.
There's maybe a little more from this incident I learned, but for now it's all I can think of. Thanks everyone who read this, hope this help someone think a little more about the gear, or the buddy system.
Felipe
This happened to me on my last dive trip, on Malpelo in the beging of this month. Malpelo is known for its heavy currents, making it a very challenging site to anyone not used to currents. We were on a liveaboard, and before the trip our instructor told us that was suposed to be very cold in there and we should bring cold water gear. We packed up our drysuits (me and my fiancee). When we got in the boat our dive master said that the water was very hot, and we decided to not use our drysuits in the first two days of diving which were at Gorgona, a very beatiful island we stoped in the way to Malpelo.
The diving in Gorgona ended up very well, but as I was not using my drysuit and rockboots, my fins were very sloppy, so I had a terrible time trying to overcome the current which was also present at gorgona. My weightbelt was fine, fitting very well, it was ok, except by the fact that it had a plastic buckle. It made me a little worried, but I didnt have any other option since it was the only kind of belt avaible at the time.
We arrived at Malpelo, and even tough it was as hot as Gorgona I decided to go with my drysuit, which made me fell much more comfortable underwater, tough I was toasting outside of it. The weightbelt now become more problematic since it was barely closing, because of the drysuit being bigger on the hips. I was worried about it, and decided after the first dive that I would change it. Anyway, after a few dives I hadn't changed it yet.
On the second dive of the second day, my instructor saw me having problems closing the belt. He said I had to change it, but as we were already on the panga on our way to the dive site I said I would change it after the dive. We dropped down the panga, negatvely boyant because of the heavy current and huge waves topside. Afeter maybe 30 seconds I was at 100 fsw, felling in a huge washing machine. Then just 3 feet away from the bottom, my weightbelt buckle breaks and it goes right to the bottom. I desperate swin down to grab it, and fortunetely I didn't have any problems doing so. My fiancee which was also my dive buddy, grabs me by my first stage to tey to stabilize me as I was getting thown to the rock wall right beside me. We ended up both being thrown against the rocks a couple of times. I was with my drysuit, and I feared I could have a leak, since it was a rock full of barnacles and urchins.
I finally get myself trimmed up as I inflate my wing and I see my DM right in front of me. I show him the weight belt in my hands and he points me the sand part of the bottom nearby. But the current was heavy and I couldn't reach it. I went up a little to try to get rid of the current (my fiancee still holding me), and a french guy who was with us tried to help me, and I pointed him the other DM who was nearby to try to help me.
I put the belt on my back I was away from the heavy current and try to close the belt. Ended up that the plastic buckle was completely broken now, as I had two parts of it in my hands. The DM comes closer and fixes it, and helps me buckle it. She looks at me and asks me if I'm ok. I show her the ok sign. She doesn't believe me. I show her the ok sign with both hands now. And then right after I showed her the thumb up. I didnt feel I should complete the dive. She shows me the sign to follow her and asks me if it's ok again. I think a little and realize that I could be dangerous to thumb the dive so early, because the waves were very high (about 8 feet), and maybe the panga guy wouldn't see me surface, because he wouldn't expect to someone to surface so early.
After this I relax a little bit, look at my spg (I used a lot of gas during the emergency, I think 700 psi), and stay close to my buddy (my fiancee, we talk a lot about emergency procedures, and we invest a lot in training, we know exactly how each other is feeling underwater, and our weaknesses). During the dive I felt a little cold, and I thought a had punched a hole in the suit, but fortunetely it didn't happen. I think the water entered through the seals while the whole thing happened. After 15 minutes, I show my fiancee the low gas sign and thumb the dive. I show the DM I was low on gas and gave her the thumbs up sign also.
I shot my smb from 45 feet deep (it's a 6 foot smb), so the pangas would have more time to see it from the surface. I was a little shaken up yet so I didn't blow enough air for it to stand up tall in the surface, and almost drop my spoll while reeling it in.
We surface, after doing our safety stop, and the waves looked worse than when we went in. It really wasn't but I felt like at that moment. We can't see the pangas, so I look for my whistle. Great, I forgot to tie my whistle. My fiancee grabs the smb and inflates it to the full capacity. Now they see us. Finally I feel safe.
I learned a lot from this incident.
1- Everything counts as a safety device while diving, even your weight belt. I bought one for my own, doing this I'll know it's doing fine, won't break, and fits me.
2-Always be around for your buddy- this is a little obvious, but it's very often neglected. If my fiancee was just a little farther away, I could hit my head on the rocks, could let go of the weights...
3- Always carry your SMB and a noise device while diving. No matter which site. You have to be seen or heard for someone to help you while in a emergency, or alone at the ocean.
There's maybe a little more from this incident I learned, but for now it's all I can think of. Thanks everyone who read this, hope this help someone think a little more about the gear, or the buddy system.
Felipe
