HPT3
Guest
I did my 1st of two ocean dives a few weeks ago off the NJ coast. The 1st one went well. We had good vis and no current to deal with. The second was not so good. We left the first wreck and traveled to "The Flour Wreck." The vis was about 3 to 5 feet. The wreck was nothing more then twisted metal. This being an AOW class, it was my turn to set the wreck reel. The instructor indicated to me to tie off on the anchor line, something that I knew not to do, but he's the instructor. So I did. I was having a real problem with my buoyancy, so I handed the reel to him and he and I and another student headed off. As I said, the vis sucked. So I looked for bugs. Of course, I was the first at 1500psi, so we started back. He gave me a signal to head out toward my left. With the bad visibility I was checking for him and my buddy often. Lucky thing I did. Because after going 15ft or so, I turned around and no one was there. Ok. I'm alone, 60ft down with no reel, bad vis, surge, and my 2nd ocean dive. I must admit this is a spooky feeling when you can only see about 3 ft or so. I stayed cool, turned around and headed back. I saw the line, but no divers. I waited. Then out of the merky water I saw a glimmer of a light. I felt much better now. We went back to the anchor and I made my ascent. I learned a valuable lesson that day. Never give another diver your only wreck reel. I'm looking forward to going out again soon and I'm going to chalk this one up to experience.
