I can relate, as I had a similar experience a ouple of years ago, while taking my Advanced in Cancun.
In the middle of my compass exercise, my instructor decided to go and help some beginners who were with another instructor. He bailed on me, without even telling me!
I was left all alone, in poor visability, under strong current. I was at about 45 feet.
When the reef suddeny disappeared, and the current started dragging me, I tried to locate my direction on my compass, but I was all turned around, and since the reef was nowhere in sight, I decided to look for my instructor (Buddy) for a few minutes. I couldn't find him anywhere, the other divers were nowhere, and visability was getting worse. I decided to surface, and took a 3 minute safety stop at 15 feet.
When I reached the surface, I inflated my bcd. The waves were very choppy, and the boat was against current about 1/4 mile. I was using rental gear, and the Dive shop had a policy that only their crew was to put your BCD and tank on. I learned a valuable lesson that day, because I did not realize that the dive crew had removed my safety sausage signalling device from my BCD pocket.
I tried signaling by yelling, but it was useless. I wanted to use a fin to signal, but it was so choppy and I didn't want to risk losing it. The boat was facing away from me, and I was being dragged out to sea, so I ditched my weight belt, and decided to swim against the current towards the boat.
The boat then began to move away from me, and I was becoming exhausted. I still had plenty of air in my tank, so I put my face mask in the water, and reg in my mouth, and started swimming under water, looking up occasionally. Finally, a lady who had chickened out on her dive spotted me, and the boat turned around and picked me up.
It's true that all of the worst thoughts go through your mind, but amazingly, I stayed pretty calm, except when I started getting exhausted. I had to force myself to remain calm and follow PADI training. The instructor surfaced 45 min later, and said that he left me because he thought I would be ok. Hmmm, unfamiliar waters, PADI course, current, beginner diver, no visability, alone, lousy instructor?
It taught me to never rely on anyone else to check my gear for me, I always carry my own signaling devices, I own my own gear now, and I never rely on a "BUDDY" or an instructor for my own safety.
A quick note on Buddy's:
My wife does not dive, and I always have to be the single guy on any dive trip. It really sucks, but evetytime I find another single diver on a dive, they are usually not interested in being a buddy. The divemaster hooks us up, but then they go off on their own, and never folllow PADI training. I really don't think I could depend on them if I had an emergency, because they would probably get pissed that I was using up their air, and ruining their dive! NO, I don't dive solo, but I feel like I do every time I dive.
In the middle of my compass exercise, my instructor decided to go and help some beginners who were with another instructor. He bailed on me, without even telling me!
I was left all alone, in poor visability, under strong current. I was at about 45 feet.
When the reef suddeny disappeared, and the current started dragging me, I tried to locate my direction on my compass, but I was all turned around, and since the reef was nowhere in sight, I decided to look for my instructor (Buddy) for a few minutes. I couldn't find him anywhere, the other divers were nowhere, and visability was getting worse. I decided to surface, and took a 3 minute safety stop at 15 feet.
When I reached the surface, I inflated my bcd. The waves were very choppy, and the boat was against current about 1/4 mile. I was using rental gear, and the Dive shop had a policy that only their crew was to put your BCD and tank on. I learned a valuable lesson that day, because I did not realize that the dive crew had removed my safety sausage signalling device from my BCD pocket.
I tried signaling by yelling, but it was useless. I wanted to use a fin to signal, but it was so choppy and I didn't want to risk losing it. The boat was facing away from me, and I was being dragged out to sea, so I ditched my weight belt, and decided to swim against the current towards the boat.
The boat then began to move away from me, and I was becoming exhausted. I still had plenty of air in my tank, so I put my face mask in the water, and reg in my mouth, and started swimming under water, looking up occasionally. Finally, a lady who had chickened out on her dive spotted me, and the boat turned around and picked me up.
It's true that all of the worst thoughts go through your mind, but amazingly, I stayed pretty calm, except when I started getting exhausted. I had to force myself to remain calm and follow PADI training. The instructor surfaced 45 min later, and said that he left me because he thought I would be ok. Hmmm, unfamiliar waters, PADI course, current, beginner diver, no visability, alone, lousy instructor?
It taught me to never rely on anyone else to check my gear for me, I always carry my own signaling devices, I own my own gear now, and I never rely on a "BUDDY" or an instructor for my own safety.
A quick note on Buddy's:
My wife does not dive, and I always have to be the single guy on any dive trip. It really sucks, but evetytime I find another single diver on a dive, they are usually not interested in being a buddy. The divemaster hooks us up, but then they go off on their own, and never folllow PADI training. I really don't think I could depend on them if I had an emergency, because they would probably get pissed that I was using up their air, and ruining their dive! NO, I don't dive solo, but I feel like I do every time I dive.
