Near Death Experience!

[divenut2001]

"Chill Out Dude!"

New Diver.
1st Ocean Dive.
Made Some Mistakes.
Worthless Buddy.
Bad Call By DM.

All in all I'ld say he did pretty good and probably learned more from this one dive and "some" of the comments and sugestions on this board than any training he had prior to this. None of us were "perfect" when we first started diving. We "all"had to hone our skills which means learning from our mistakes and working on skills.

Oh yeah, about that spell checker...

1. Check out gear. Rented or owned
a. Inflate BC-- look at air guage- listen - exercise dumps and inflation ports
b. Mask- Fins adjusted-weight coirrect and release ok
c. Snorkel good idea especially in rough water--
2. Boat dive and navigation--- Take some sort of compass bearing. Anchor line works!
3. Strong swimmer can also kick towards a boat, weak swimmer can kick towrds boat, advanced Padi diver that has passed the tread water test-- Do not become SEVERELY traumatized if so do not participate in this activity, instead write a novel and watch an action movie
4. How was a dive buddie going to save your beacon when you surfaced?
5. Taking a course does not make you experienced.
6.What about your dive buddie-- why did YOU abandom him after a 30minute dive? Becasue the dive master says so!

 

[LuvsItWet]

I first want to thank EVERYONE for their support and sage advice, and you're right, I believe I've learned more from my experience and the advice here on this board than any course could teach, (eg: cds are out! I'm getting a good signaling mirror) and I'd like to thank you all!

To correct a few misconceptions though:

1) This dive operation rarely anchored the boat and this day was no different, hence there was no anchor line.

2) I WAS watching my guages throughout the dive and realized I was "eating air", but attributed it to my nervousnous at the time. My manual inflater was strapped down to my bc and while I knew where it was and could easily add air when needed, it was horizontal with the rest of my body so I didn't the small bubble trail.

3) At 15', trying to kick to the boat (had I even knew where it was) against the current, is totally ludicrous, especially in a "low on air" situation.

Ocean diving and quarry diving (which I'm limited to most of the year) are totally different! At the time of the incident, I had probably only had 6 open ocean dives under my belt.

 

[Stirling]

To save you the trouble of going back and finding and reading the article, the CD is actually not a very good idea, because it looks very shiny but is actually only about 20-25% as effective as a 3x5 mil spec signal mirror, and about half as effective as a 2x3 signal mirror.

I carry a little 2x3 signal mirror that I got from REI in a pocket, and if I had realized that the 3X5 size was twice as effective (which wouldn't have been hard to figure out, as the surface area is more than twice that of the 2x3 mirror), I would have gone for the larger mirror. Even so, what I have is twice as good as a CD.

And that's not saying much. I don't put a lot of stock in any signal mirror, because when the sun is shining, there's an awful lot of light reflecting off the surface of the ocean, and your ability to signal a boat that is probably just barely in your line of sight when you're bobbing around on the surface is not all that great (and is reduced to about zero when the boat is out of your line of sight, while a surface marker extending a few feet above the surface *is* still visible to people on the boat). In other words, get a signal mirror (like I did) if you want to, but don't make too much of it.

 

[BigboyDan]

Nightmare realized.

Pony bottle. Your DM should always carry one, and donate when necessary, a diver at depth with 500psi qualifies. (Diver recriminations should wait until topside debriefing.) After donation to the almost OOA diver, the DM should gather his thoughts and plan for a ascent with ALL concerned divers.

 

[detroit diver]

If this was asked and answered before, I apologize.

Does anyone know what the minimum pressure is required to sound the Sonolert effectively?

 

[ReefGuy]

Mine is 200lbs (Dive alert)

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

I suspect the minimum tank pressure required to operate DiveAlert
will be a function of the first stage. Some first stages start having
flow problems below about 300 PSI (for example my old Dacor 950
XL), others work well down to at least their IP of about 150 PSI and
perhaps beyond (my current Atomic B1T2).

 

[detroit diver]

If 150 lbs is the minimum, then this type of unit wouldn't have worked for the person in question. They had only 100 psi at the surface.

A whistle would have been a better option at that point.

 

[billtodive]

Prior to my first ocean dive, my LDS suggested I take a safety sausage and some type of dive alert in addition to my whistle. I told her I was undecided on what dive alert to buy, she sent hers with me for the trip. I will see that my primary dive buddies (adult children) have the same for our quarry/lake dives..

 

[bilznut]

You know, my first salt water dives were in Jamaica. Montego Bay, PADI certified dive shop on the property of Sandals or Beaches resort, I don't remember which. After all the routine and regimentation we had learned in our certifacation course in the states, we were ready. Hell, I even boned up on boat diving etiquette on this web site before leaving just to make extra sure I had it down.
We arrive at the shop, (which is nothing more than a shack on the beach) the morning of our dive and pay for our trip. Raggedy rental gear is produced and issued. The DM is wakened from his sleep on the side of the shack and promptly fires up a spliff. He whistles down the beach and an out of commision glass bottomed boat pulls up to the dock. We dove two sites without problems.
I was new to diving. I have since dove all over the world and have never seen anything close to as bad as it was in Jamaica. Maybe more should be said on that aspect of things.
I have to be truthfull though...as stupid as what we did was...I still have very fond memories of it and enjoy telling this story after being thoroughly checked in/over, log searched and lined up in formation for our next plunge into the deep.