Question Near incident. What should I have done?

[Cthippo]

I say "Good Job"

You found yourself in an unexpected situation, you evaluated the situation, formed a plan, and executed it, thereby preventing a worse outcome. The details can (and will) be argued about for months, but I think yoh did an excellent job keeping yoirself and the divers around you safe.

 

[Jai Bar]

Is penetrating a wreck normal for the number of dives most of you had?

Probably not, but it is common practice in this specific dive site. Usually meant for experienced divers, tens of thousands of divers every year without incidents. There are several paths to explore, even without penetrating from thw outside it is still an amazing dive site. One of the best wrecks.

 

[marcus213]

I think first of all, their were too many divers in the group,with different skill levels & different agendas! Site seers & pitcher takers don't mix well on a dive. "Been there, done that". I've seen it get crowded like that also w/ other groups. That's why i like diving w/ bright colors in my kit.(neon yellow) it can be very user friendly in the group. Sounds like DM was going a little too fast/ trying to push too much in for his group. DM should have popped the brakes on the dive and gathered his divers up/ checking everyone air Pressure and restarted w/ all divers together again, slowing it down!! You didn't mention BAD VIS ! or NDL! that could have been a whole different animal there! Sounds like ya'll came out pretty good, everyone got back on top OK. SO now, At the end of the day, ANY GROUP can get separated! "IT HAPPENS!!!" WHEN YOU GOTTA COME UP, YOU GOTTA COME UP! So you an your dive buddies "don't freak out" just do what you've been trained to do. Come up nice and slow, hopefully you can find the anchor line, trust your PDC/ do a safety stop, surface, locate the boat or drift line and we'll talk about it when we all get onboard safely! Get back underwater ASAP, don't let this situation get in your HEAD. You know what to do! Go diving my friend.

 

[Jai Bar]

I mean, I knew which part of the ship we were in, and where the mooring line was in the ship. If I was on my own, with the 120 bar me and my partner both had, I have no doubt I'd have found the mooring line one way or the other. The problem was that unexpectedly, someone I felt responsible for was on 50 bar. How could I plan for that?

And yeah, deploying the SMB is exactly the last resort that I always assume is available, but it sounds like some of you agree that this is perhaps more dangerous than I previously realised, yet it doesn't seem like I had a better option given the circumstances, e.g knowing what I know now I think I'd still do the same

You should have prioritized getting to anchor line- any anchor line even not yours- over DSMB in these conditions. Current strong? Use hands to hold the wreck, the closer you are the less strong the current. Like many mentioned, you have to always make mental note where the line is, situational awareness and not trust instructor or guides- to be self reliant just for cases like this. Mental note also places where you are more guarded from current and so on. Your state of mind should be the ability to enter and end any dive safely, even when alone.

Many divers do not realize it is not that easy to deploy smb: it becomes trivial after you practice a few times. But if it was your first time under those conditions it could have gone wrong in so many ways. Especially as you did not mention what leng of line in your spool.

 

[OctopusLover]

These instructor guys know every inch of these wrecks, and how many bars it takes from point to point

So off you all go la de da with a couple of students just on a dive not following some basic instructions

Except... My friend did run out of air without even completing the original plan had I not aborted the dive

What ever happened to "in the event of separation, search / wait for one minute, then surface". Did this instructor not listen to himself the day he taught that?

I told him this at the surface, he said I should know this applies to buddy separation, not instructor-student separation

Presumably we're talking swim-throughs with "visible exit" or whatever the definition is -- as distinct from full "overhead environment". Yes, it is normal in some places.

No, full overhead. Enter room through corridor, exit through different corridor type of thing.

From the description it sounds like a dive to Thistlegorm, or similar.

Correct

I am not sure how proficient you are with deploying a SMB and whether you checked that you have sufficient line to deploy from 20 meters.

Matter of fact, I didn't and I didn't think about this until right now. I'm ordering a 30m reel as we speak. I don't think I would actually have deployed from 20, when the instructor found us at 20 I had only just detached the SMB from my BCD. Thanks for this callout. I'm comfortable deploying the SMB from 5 meters, I do it every dive if the guide allows me just to keep myself comfortable with it

Dont know from your description how long you waited, but in this scenario one minute is probably enough

We didn't wait per se because we were dealing with the other diver mask problem, but I am certain 1m+ had elapsed from the first time I realised the students were behind me and couldn't see the instructor to the point we started ascent.

you should have gone to the nearest anchor line that you see- even if it belongs to a different boat than yours,

There were only two lines, both on the same side and close to each other. The dive started against the current. Our boat was actually far away, we got to the wreck with zodiacs and descended using one of the two lines from the other two boats.

you were probably lucky that the furious instructor found you

This is sobering to read. The conditions at the surface were not choppy, but the current was real, we were waving like flags on the safety stop.

 

[Jai Bar]

Again- ascending along other boat's line is still better than SMBing in the blue with semi or full panicked diver, short of air and too many divers to cling to smb in the current. All boats in the Thistlegorm are used to pick stray divers, most also tie a cylinder + reg for safety stops. I'd expect the instructor to point this durign the briefing.

There are other wrecks in the area in which different scenarios apply. For example, the ones in Abu Nuhas are close to the reef, but conditions on surface are frequently with waves that can throw you onto it (part of the reason that there are so many wrecks there.. ) so each of these dives need to be addressed differently in the briefing- including situations such as "what to do if".

I hope you go back diving in the Thistlegorm for a corrective experience- it is one amazing dive! I usually ask to stay there for as many dives as possible. It is an astonishing night dive too! And this time, you will be better prepared also in asking the right questions during briefing. It is important.

Thanks for starting this thread. It is indeed a near incident or perhaps an incident. There is lots to be learned from beyond just pointing blame...

 

[chillyinCanada]

He might have reacted like that because he felt he was made to look incompetent and not managing the group he was with -well tough luck it sounds to me that the group was only a few moments away from a total cluster f**k
no way anyone should be doing a penetration with 60 bar

He was incompetent and I think that you nailed it. He was behaving angry towards the OP when he may well have been angry with himself.

 

[Jai Bar]

He was incompetent and I think that you nailed it. He was behaving angry towards the OP when he may well have been angry with himself.

Younare probably right, but for the discussion it is secondary importance.

All divers will meet with incompetent guide, instructor or buddy at some point. Therefore it is better even in guided dives to be self reliant, always know how to end the dive even when alone, have situational awareness of where you are in relation to entry/end point, conditions on surface, currents and air consumption of self and buddy. This comes from experience but a diver that has dozens of guided dives and was always allowed to be guided without paying attention to details such as the way and how to navigate out by himself, can be considered experienced only by judging the number of dives, but is he really experienced?

Pure blaming- even if it was guidestructor's to begin with, does not contribute anything positive. Better learn how to deal with such situations regardless of whose blame it is..

 

[OctopusLover]

Younare probably right, but for the discussion it is secondary importance.

All divers will meet with incompetent guide, instructor or buddy at some point. Therefore it is better even in guided dives to be self reliant, always know how to end the dive even when alone, have situational awareness of where you are in relation to entry/end point, conditions on surface, currents and air consumption of self and buddy. This comes from experience but a diver that has dozens of guided dives and was always allowed to be guided without paying attention to details such as the way and how to navigate out by himself, can be considered experienced only by judging the number of dives, but is he really experienced?

Pure blaming- even if it was guidestructor's to begin with, does not contribute anything positive. Better learn how to deal with such situations regardless of whose blame it is..

I'm definitely taking this lesson home, e.g assume every dive is an unguided dive. Thanks all

 

[happy-diver]

Now your getting too much support and suiting yourself as to how where and when it all went

Except... My friend did run out of air without even completing the original plan had I not aborted the dive

Except that you don't know what the original plan was or how far it went, because you aborted it
and went off on your own and then had to back track using the air that was reserved for the plan

A good move to get your friend calm and on the octopus who by this stage probably had no idea
what was going on with the toing and froing, using their air unnecessarily, after aborting the plan

Ten bar is so much of a mega amount of stop air, you can do ten laps of the boat at three metres


Think more about it look at it from other perspectives not just yours and those agreeing with you

Hey I'm on your side