Monastery dive accident Reposted from http://diver.net/bbs/messages/37566.shtml

[eightytwenty]

Funny that this ancient thread has been resurrected. Shore diving best practices differ by site, but crawling out at Monastery Beach is not a smart idea. It is safer and easier to swim to the far northern or southern edge (depending on which side you're diving), deflate your BC, remove your fins, time the waves, and then briskly walk out. Crawling leaves you in the breaking surf zone too long and increases the risk of getting tumbled. If you get knocked down at some point then sure, keep crawling until you're high and dry. But don't start out that way.

Yup, spot on.

Too many people try to crawl out of Monastery with their fins on and end up yard saleing all their gear all over the beach. When I was helping with the local university classes, I had to get in for fins, masks, weight belts, and even an entire rig once, as the diver got tired of crawling with weight on their back and dumped the quick release buckles on their poodle jacket.

The crawl has become somewhat notorious in the area, and is in many cases treated as the only way to exit, but doing exactly what you described is a much simpler, and more effective method. The crawl is for after you get toppled.