kanonfodr
Contributor
That happens sometimes with divers who don't have a team mentality, especially when diving with divers who are new to the area. Classic "Same Ocean, Same Day" diving. It's pretty disillusioning to newer divers and while I'm glad you have survived the experience (and learned from it to boot), I understand the frustration it caused.
I still see a few mistakes made on your own, and this is not to be mean. You mentioned that you had not dived Hanauma Bay before in the daytime. I'm not a fan of night diving a site I don't know well if there is not a strong, knowledgeable buddy with me. A good way is to do one dive in the afternoon to scope it out, then do a dive later that night that follows a similar plan to the previous dive, or better yet incorporates knowledge gained from the afternoon dive to hopefully lead to a more enjoyable night dive.
Also, if I'm diving an unfamiliar spot I try to pick a distinct feature (the cables for example) and always stay to one side of it. And return to it frequently, making a kind of search pattern. It may take a few dives to become completely safe in an area, but you would have learned a lot about that area and can begin branching out, creating a map in your head that uses known points to navigate through your subsequent dives.
That being said, I'm not the person to pick apart your dive and say "This is where you messed up.", but instead offer small bits of knowledge that I have been given to help others along. I hope your future dives are much less traumatic, and consequently funner.
Peace,
Greg
I still see a few mistakes made on your own, and this is not to be mean. You mentioned that you had not dived Hanauma Bay before in the daytime. I'm not a fan of night diving a site I don't know well if there is not a strong, knowledgeable buddy with me. A good way is to do one dive in the afternoon to scope it out, then do a dive later that night that follows a similar plan to the previous dive, or better yet incorporates knowledge gained from the afternoon dive to hopefully lead to a more enjoyable night dive.
Also, if I'm diving an unfamiliar spot I try to pick a distinct feature (the cables for example) and always stay to one side of it. And return to it frequently, making a kind of search pattern. It may take a few dives to become completely safe in an area, but you would have learned a lot about that area and can begin branching out, creating a map in your head that uses known points to navigate through your subsequent dives.
That being said, I'm not the person to pick apart your dive and say "This is where you messed up.", but instead offer small bits of knowledge that I have been given to help others along. I hope your future dives are much less traumatic, and consequently funner.
Peace,
Greg
