On Verge Of Panic!!!

[OnceLoyal]

LOL, my insta buddies left me on all the trip accept the one on the night dive. (talking about with in this trip from this thread)
I think it is horrible that when I got hung up in the wreck for a little bit that they never looked back to see if I was ok. I always keep an eye on everyone in the group, especially my DB, and I am new!!! ***!!!!!!!!

 

[DCBC]

LOL, my insta buddies left me on all the trip accept the one on the night dive. (talking about with in this trip from this thread)
I think it is horrible that when I got hung up in the wreck for a little bit that they never looked back to see if I was ok. I always keep an eye on everyone in the group, especially my DB, and I am new!!! ***!!!!!!!!

Over the years, I've noticed the average distance between a diver and his Buddy has increased. In the old days, your Buddy was your lifeline. You had one 2nd stage, no SPG, and often a "K" valve (without reserve). When you ran out of air, there was your Buddy. I think divers back then had a real appreciation that has diminished over the years.

I train touching distance at all times and have failed people on the open-water for consistently drifting too far apart. That may sound odd to some, but if I certify a Diver it's important for me to know that at least once in his diving education, s/he proves good Buddy control. If I feel he's safe enough to dive with any of my sons, he's certified, if not, more training is required..

Technology advances have increased safety and there are certain types of diving where a Buddy can affect safety in a negative way. I can appreciate this, but think things have grown too lax over the years. It's a matter of reasonableness.

 

[DandyDon]

Yippee yay yo cay yey ...

Don, did it ever occur to you that dive buddies who ignore you are not dive buddies at all? They're liabilities.

Did he even notice that you left?

That's someone I'd have a really hard time getting back in the water with ... especially if it was someone I cared about.

Since he was so narc'ed, I suppose you were pretty deep at the time ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Haha, well we are best buds in the real world, he makes a trip a year with me, and I do have that promise to his mom. Regardless of whom I dive with, I do try to be my own best bud as I have had very few I could really depend on and I'm not such a great example of stellar diving anyway so need to do my best.

I've been setting up a new laptop since I returned from Coz (also not a whiz at this) and I haven't downloaded my dive info yet. I'll get to that soon and post this story on a separate Near-Miss thread for discussion, including how deep.

The other option would have been to poke him in the ribs to get his attention, point to your computer, thumb the dive and ascend with him.

How did you know that he wasn't in deco and/or almost OOA also? Your buddy doesn't need you when everything is fine, he needs you when things are getting ugly, and that's just when you ditched him.

Terry

Well, I am more blunt with him than I am boat-pick buds, but he is bigger than me, we were at the entrance of a swim thru, and struggling with him beyond the fin shakes didn't seem like a good idea. As close as he was following the DM we both know well, I figured it might be more prudent to let them go together - but maybe I should have dragged him along. I generally don't impose my ideas on others underwater, helping them only if they accept an offer; hey it's not like I'm "as pure as Caesar's wife".

 

[TSandM]

Having a reliable buddy, who will stay where he can be seen, and who has some commitment to being there if I need him, is a HUGE part of why I selected the approach to diving that I use. I simply don't understand the cavalier attitude that shows up in a lot of these stories, or that I've seen on dive trips among other groups. I guess equipment is so reliable these days that people stop considering risks.

OnceLoyal, I think new divers are the most likely to pay attention and try to be good buddies. It's after you've done a bit of diving and begin to become complacent about the risks that your behavior gets sloppy and careless.

 

[willgr1]

coming into this one a little late, and tried to read all the posts, but i'm sure i missed some.

First, thanks for sharing your experience, hopefully it'll help other divers.

Second, and I don't recall if anyone posted this yet...

....I would recommend you pick up a set or submersible dive tables. I always carry a set of Air tables with deco schedules on the back for every dive. You said yourself you broke your planned limit of 130ft and relied on the DM for a backup plan.

I have to ask, what if a strong current came by and swept you or the DM away? You would have to make an ascent on your own from a deeper depth than planned without knowing if you broke the no-deco limits for that new depth.

While you did say you made a very slow ascent, and even if you did break the no-deco limit you probably would have come out of it on the ascent, it's a scary thought to think you may have ascend with a pending deco obligation (according to tables) and thus left yourself at risk of DCS (especially with an elevated heart rate and breathing rate from the situation).

So, I'm not here to bash you for what I consider a very dangerous dive for a newbie, only to recommend you pick up some submersible tables so you can plan the dives yourself at depth if your depth/time has changed.

 

[OnceLoyal]

coming into this one a little late, and tried to read all the posts, but i'm sure i missed some.

First, thanks for sharing your experience, hopefully it'll help other divers.

Second, and I don't recall if anyone posted this yet...

....I would recommend you pick up a set or submersible dive tables. I always carry a set of Air tables with deco schedules on the back for every dive. You said yourself you broke your planned limit of 130ft and relied on the DM for a backup plan.

I have to ask, what if a strong current came by and swept you or the DM away? You would have to make an ascent on your own from a deeper depth than planned without knowing if you broke the no-deco limits for that new depth.

While you did say you made a very slow ascent, and even if you did break the no-deco limit you probably would have come out of it on the ascent, it's a scary thought to think you may have ascend with a pending deco obligation (according to tables) and thus left yourself at risk of DCS (especially with an elevated heart rate and breathing rate from the situation).

So, I'm not here to bash you for what I consider a very dangerous dive for a newbie, only to recommend you pick up some submersible tables so you can plan the dives yourself at depth if your depth/time has changed.

Thanks for the reply. You actually hit this post right on time!!! Funny how this should work... I had my instructor stop in again to go over a few more things and confirm all the work I did in regarding this. We did do a deco stop.

I actually got some submersible charts today that I will keep in my BC...


As for ascents and deco stops. Me personally I would stay under at a safe depth for as long as I could. Even at 15 I would stay in until my bottle is at minimum safe just to make sure everything is ok. (being that I had to do an early ascent or whatever.) I do not think that would be too much of an issue. I think a lot of people are concentrating on the deco stop and what I would've done. This was definitely not a nodeco dive lol.... Even if we didn't surpass 130. I think 5 min BT is all I would get...just thinking off the top of my head right now. I don't have my BC with my new mini tables on me

Thanks again and perfect timing!!!

 

[OnceLoyal]

Wow, I don't mean to beat on a dead horse with this thread, but... The more and more I research Narcosis the more and more I am thinking maybe my panic was a result of getting narced. (I know about 20 people already tried to tell me this ). Like I stated at the begining of the thread I am not the type of person to panic. I never tried to come across as being macho, I've just learned that freaking doesn't help the situation. I also believe that if i am going to die after trying everything in my power to prevent it, still freaking out is not going to help the situation.

 

[DandyDon]

Wow, I don't mean to beat on a dead horse with this thread, but... The more and more I research Narcosis the more and more I am thinking maybe my panic was a result of getting narced. (I know about 20 people already tried to tell me this ). Like I stated at the begining of the thread I am not the type of person to panic. I never tried to come across as being macho, I've just learned that freaking doesn't help the situation. I also believe that if i am going to die after trying everything in my power to prevent it, still freaking out is not going to help the situation.

I enjoy the mellow feeling. Always wondered if my younger, heavy drinking days is part of that. Anyway, when I drop deeper - I try to remind myself that I am getting drunker. It doesn't start at 100 ft; it starts as we descend and gets stronger - often noticed at 100 and below, but affects all the way at increasing rate.

 

[divnlite]

you know what I noticed the most out of my AOW deep dive was that I felt I did just fine at the 'skilz' we did at 100 feet. Then when we were back on the boat and compared the times and look of the sig's we did at depth, I was shocked. It felt fine at 100 ft but was way out of line with what we did on the boat both time wise and comprehension.
It was a very eye-opening moment.