Bogie
Contributor
I am writing this just so others can get a learning experience and there is no intention of putting anyone down. I point out mistakes that were unexpected and surprising.
I try not to boss people around and respect others space and I assume other divers have some common sense and basic understanding of diving.
I met a couple of divers at local easy diving beach and asked to join them for an easy dive. I have dove this site over 40 times. They were newer divers and I went through safety buddy checks. They had 80 ALs and I had 100 steel so I told them to me signal half air and ascent for safety stop. Neither ever signaled.
Diver 1 said he had many dives but they were in Florida. I knew diver 1 was going to be a problem because when we descended he never could get horizontally stable so I knew I would have to watch him. I lead very slowly along the wall by the pier. I was checking on both every 15 seconds while I pointed out critters. I made the turn around at about 15 minutes into the dive because I knew diver 1 was burning through his air. I signaled to diver 1 to tell me how much air he had left in his tank. He gave me some screwed up hand signals and indicated he was he was OK. Well, I thought at least I made him look at his gauge and we were only down for 15 to 20 minutes in 30 feet of water.
I continued slowly to head back to shore and within 10 seconds he grabbed his buddys octo from his side and shared breathing out of it. He never signaled for air and just grabbed it. They were wrestling a bit and I grabbed them stabilized them and they held on to each other on ascent. I stayed right next to them. They stopped at 15 feet and diver 2 wanted to do a safety stop. I thought that was not wise because one was out of air and diver 2 must be low. Now they stop at 15 feet sink to 30 feet. I was so surprised that I swam down grabbed diver 1 by the tank valve and raised them back up to 15 feet. They both came up and I signaled to forget about the safety stop and signaled both to surface safely immediately. I did not know what to expect on the surface if diver 1 was going to panic.
I am a rescue diver so I knew diver 1 was out of air, zero buoyancy, zero air, and could panic so I came up from behind, inflated my bc fully to hold him up. I could barely keep him up because he was over weighted. I told him firmly to inflate his BC. He said he had no air. I said blow it up with your mouth. He grabbed the inflator hose and started blowing hard while I kept him on the surface. I could not believe what he was doing. He was blowing without pushing the deflate valve. I told him to push the valve before blowing. He pushed the inflator button and I said dont push the inflate button push the deflate button. He pushed he deflate button let go then blew. I could not believe it. I said no, hold the deflate valve down, blow, let go, then hold down again, blow etc. His BC was finally full and he could float on his own. He was a bit macho and acted like he knew everything. Actually I think he was in partial panic and was not listening. I was ready to pull his weights.
We surface swam back to shore and I asked him what the hell happened. He said his computer stopped working during the dive and he just kept diving and ran out of air. He was 100% out of air and could not inflate his BC. I could not believe this guy. I said firmly if your computer stops working you surface at a safe rate immediately, even if your tank is full. I did not ask him why he did not know how to inflate his BC or why he did not properly signal remaining air or why was he so over weighted.
Diver 2 had less than 250 psi in his tank at the end of the dive and he wanted to do a safety stop with two high breathing divers breathing from the same tank. The dive lasted 20 minutes at about 30 to 40 feet and I had more than 2000-psi left in my tank. What would have happened if I had not been there to stabilize the situation? They both could have easily run out of air. I hope they would have dumped their weights and self inflated their BCs. Diver 1 didnt think it was that big of deal. If he had inhaled one breath of water he would have been in instant panic. He grabbed his buddys octo. How did he know that he had enough air?
I was shocked at what can happen on a simple dive that should have been mellow and easy.
I learn something on every dive.
I learned that you cannot assume anything when diving with new divers.
I learned that new divers can burn through 80 cu of air in a very short time.
I learned that if someone cannot give you a clear understood hand signal for remaining air, go to surface and sort it out on the surface. Insist with a new diver.
I learned that divers from warm water areas have a more difficult time in cold water with thick exposure suits, gloves, hood, weighting, etc.
I highly recommend everyone take a Rescue Diver Course.
Everyone returned safely, so that was good.
I try not to boss people around and respect others space and I assume other divers have some common sense and basic understanding of diving.
I met a couple of divers at local easy diving beach and asked to join them for an easy dive. I have dove this site over 40 times. They were newer divers and I went through safety buddy checks. They had 80 ALs and I had 100 steel so I told them to me signal half air and ascent for safety stop. Neither ever signaled.
Diver 1 said he had many dives but they were in Florida. I knew diver 1 was going to be a problem because when we descended he never could get horizontally stable so I knew I would have to watch him. I lead very slowly along the wall by the pier. I was checking on both every 15 seconds while I pointed out critters. I made the turn around at about 15 minutes into the dive because I knew diver 1 was burning through his air. I signaled to diver 1 to tell me how much air he had left in his tank. He gave me some screwed up hand signals and indicated he was he was OK. Well, I thought at least I made him look at his gauge and we were only down for 15 to 20 minutes in 30 feet of water.
I continued slowly to head back to shore and within 10 seconds he grabbed his buddys octo from his side and shared breathing out of it. He never signaled for air and just grabbed it. They were wrestling a bit and I grabbed them stabilized them and they held on to each other on ascent. I stayed right next to them. They stopped at 15 feet and diver 2 wanted to do a safety stop. I thought that was not wise because one was out of air and diver 2 must be low. Now they stop at 15 feet sink to 30 feet. I was so surprised that I swam down grabbed diver 1 by the tank valve and raised them back up to 15 feet. They both came up and I signaled to forget about the safety stop and signaled both to surface safely immediately. I did not know what to expect on the surface if diver 1 was going to panic.
I am a rescue diver so I knew diver 1 was out of air, zero buoyancy, zero air, and could panic so I came up from behind, inflated my bc fully to hold him up. I could barely keep him up because he was over weighted. I told him firmly to inflate his BC. He said he had no air. I said blow it up with your mouth. He grabbed the inflator hose and started blowing hard while I kept him on the surface. I could not believe what he was doing. He was blowing without pushing the deflate valve. I told him to push the valve before blowing. He pushed the inflator button and I said dont push the inflate button push the deflate button. He pushed he deflate button let go then blew. I could not believe it. I said no, hold the deflate valve down, blow, let go, then hold down again, blow etc. His BC was finally full and he could float on his own. He was a bit macho and acted like he knew everything. Actually I think he was in partial panic and was not listening. I was ready to pull his weights.
We surface swam back to shore and I asked him what the hell happened. He said his computer stopped working during the dive and he just kept diving and ran out of air. He was 100% out of air and could not inflate his BC. I could not believe this guy. I said firmly if your computer stops working you surface at a safe rate immediately, even if your tank is full. I did not ask him why he did not know how to inflate his BC or why he did not properly signal remaining air or why was he so over weighted.
Diver 2 had less than 250 psi in his tank at the end of the dive and he wanted to do a safety stop with two high breathing divers breathing from the same tank. The dive lasted 20 minutes at about 30 to 40 feet and I had more than 2000-psi left in my tank. What would have happened if I had not been there to stabilize the situation? They both could have easily run out of air. I hope they would have dumped their weights and self inflated their BCs. Diver 1 didnt think it was that big of deal. If he had inhaled one breath of water he would have been in instant panic. He grabbed his buddys octo. How did he know that he had enough air?
I was shocked at what can happen on a simple dive that should have been mellow and easy.
I learn something on every dive.
I learned that you cannot assume anything when diving with new divers.
I learned that new divers can burn through 80 cu of air in a very short time.
I learned that if someone cannot give you a clear understood hand signal for remaining air, go to surface and sort it out on the surface. Insist with a new diver.
I learned that divers from warm water areas have a more difficult time in cold water with thick exposure suits, gloves, hood, weighting, etc.
I highly recommend everyone take a Rescue Diver Course.
Everyone returned safely, so that was good.
I can't remember the times on that short dive but I had only used 1,000 psi vs his 3,000 psi. 
