IslandFrog
Contributor
It has been about a year since this incident occurred, but I thought that I would post it in hopes that it can help others to avoid a similar situation.
Last year, I was invited to join my best friend and his family on a trip to Hawaii to scatter the ashes of his father, who died of cancer earlier in the year. We had also planned to go diving on a couple of days in memory his father who was also a diver. On the trip was also another long time friend of the family, who had taken diving lessons in preparation for the trip. She was only able to complete her course work, pool sessions, and the first two of her certification dives prior to leaving for the trip, due to her work schedule. On the first day of our diving, she completed the last two of her certification dives with the local dive shop as a referral.
On our second day of diving, we had on the boat my best friends brother, his 17 year old son, our new diver and myself. The new diver and I had buddied up. Our DM was the instructor who had completed the training of our novice diver, and on the boat with us was another DM who was not affiliated with the shop and the boat captain, but was a local with knowledge of the local diving.
My buddy was using rental dive gear from the local shop, while I was using my personal gear. I made sure to familiarize her with my setup since I use a 5 long hose and bungied 2nd, and made sure that she understood that in an emergency, I would donate the regulator from my mouth and that I would then use the bungied 2nd.
On the second dive of the day, we were at a site called Suck-em-Up, which is about 20-30ft deep, has a couple of swim throughs which lead to one last swim through where the surge can pull you through the lava tube and out the other side.
The DM led the way into the swim throughs, and the rest of us followed. The swim through was just tight enough that we were single file going through, and I was bringing up the rear of the group with my buddy directly in front of me. Just before entering the final swim through, my buddy suddenly pulled up and started heading towards the surface which was open right above us. She stopped about half way up and turned to look towards me. At this point we were about 10 minutes into the dive, and I thought that she, being new to diving, had gotten spooked but had started to get herself back under control, and I was heading towards her. As I got closer to her, she reached out and pulled the regulator from my mouth. I immediately switched to my bungied 2nd, while thinking that she must still be spooked. Once I got my 2nd in place, I checked on my buddy, who was now breathing on my primary, and got her to give me the ÅÐk signal indicating that she was breathing ok, although she had now grasped my arm and was holding on very tightly.
I was unable to check her spg at this time, as she was holding on so tight and was obviously stressed. I still thought that maybe she had panicked and had perhaps over breathed the rental regulator, so I led us back down and back out the way that we had come into the swim throughs. as we exited, I looked up and decided that with the surge and the volcanic rocks around us, going to the surface there was not a good idea, so started heading back towards the boat. As we approached the anchor line, the DM, coming from around the other side of the swim throughs caught up with us, and signaled to us with the ok sign as a query. I signaled back with the ok sign to let him know that I had us under control. We then surfaced, and the DM joined us while the visiting DM took my friendÃÔ brother and son on the rest of their dive.
At the surface, we learned that my buddies tank was totally empty of air. The DM performed an in water switch of her tank with a full one, and the three of us went back down and completed the dive (although we did not go back into the swim throughs).
Now for some analysis.
As near as I can figure, while we were in between our two dives that day, the captain of our boat took the time to switch our tanks out for us, and either did not change my buddies tank, or switched it to one that was not full.
Upon gearing up for our second dive, and after entering the water, my buddy did not check her spg to verify the amount of air she had. I also failed to check her spg both before we got in the water and immediately afterwards. I really blame myself for this one.
While in the swim throughs, when my buddy ran out of air and stopped her ascent and turned to look at me, she told me afterwards that she had given me the low on air signal, which I totally missed. She was actually out of air, and gave me the wrong signal, but I missed it altogether as I was assuming that she had panicked.
Another area that I messed up on was when the DM was approaching us underwater asking if we were ok, I only signaled back with the ok sign. In my mind, I was thinking that we were ok, using my air supply, and heading for the surface. I think I should have replied both with the ok sign, then pointed to my buddy and given the something is wrong sign. (remember that at this point I did not know that she was actually out of air). I am still not sure if this would have been the best way either as giving both of these signs could be confusing, so I am really interested in getting feed back from working DMÃÔ and Instructors on this point.
Sorry that this has turned into such a long post. I have tried to give all the pertinent information without giving any names of those involved, and especially to not name the dive op. I honestly believe that the dive op is a very good one, and very safe to dive with. Our experience involved a number of errors most of which were our own fault. In the spirit of the old Dragnet TV show ÅÕhe names have been omitted to protect the innocent? (i.e. everyone but me)
Last year, I was invited to join my best friend and his family on a trip to Hawaii to scatter the ashes of his father, who died of cancer earlier in the year. We had also planned to go diving on a couple of days in memory his father who was also a diver. On the trip was also another long time friend of the family, who had taken diving lessons in preparation for the trip. She was only able to complete her course work, pool sessions, and the first two of her certification dives prior to leaving for the trip, due to her work schedule. On the first day of our diving, she completed the last two of her certification dives with the local dive shop as a referral.
On our second day of diving, we had on the boat my best friends brother, his 17 year old son, our new diver and myself. The new diver and I had buddied up. Our DM was the instructor who had completed the training of our novice diver, and on the boat with us was another DM who was not affiliated with the shop and the boat captain, but was a local with knowledge of the local diving.
My buddy was using rental dive gear from the local shop, while I was using my personal gear. I made sure to familiarize her with my setup since I use a 5 long hose and bungied 2nd, and made sure that she understood that in an emergency, I would donate the regulator from my mouth and that I would then use the bungied 2nd.
On the second dive of the day, we were at a site called Suck-em-Up, which is about 20-30ft deep, has a couple of swim throughs which lead to one last swim through where the surge can pull you through the lava tube and out the other side.
The DM led the way into the swim throughs, and the rest of us followed. The swim through was just tight enough that we were single file going through, and I was bringing up the rear of the group with my buddy directly in front of me. Just before entering the final swim through, my buddy suddenly pulled up and started heading towards the surface which was open right above us. She stopped about half way up and turned to look towards me. At this point we were about 10 minutes into the dive, and I thought that she, being new to diving, had gotten spooked but had started to get herself back under control, and I was heading towards her. As I got closer to her, she reached out and pulled the regulator from my mouth. I immediately switched to my bungied 2nd, while thinking that she must still be spooked. Once I got my 2nd in place, I checked on my buddy, who was now breathing on my primary, and got her to give me the ÅÐk signal indicating that she was breathing ok, although she had now grasped my arm and was holding on very tightly.
I was unable to check her spg at this time, as she was holding on so tight and was obviously stressed. I still thought that maybe she had panicked and had perhaps over breathed the rental regulator, so I led us back down and back out the way that we had come into the swim throughs. as we exited, I looked up and decided that with the surge and the volcanic rocks around us, going to the surface there was not a good idea, so started heading back towards the boat. As we approached the anchor line, the DM, coming from around the other side of the swim throughs caught up with us, and signaled to us with the ok sign as a query. I signaled back with the ok sign to let him know that I had us under control. We then surfaced, and the DM joined us while the visiting DM took my friendÃÔ brother and son on the rest of their dive.
At the surface, we learned that my buddies tank was totally empty of air. The DM performed an in water switch of her tank with a full one, and the three of us went back down and completed the dive (although we did not go back into the swim throughs).
Now for some analysis.
As near as I can figure, while we were in between our two dives that day, the captain of our boat took the time to switch our tanks out for us, and either did not change my buddies tank, or switched it to one that was not full.
Upon gearing up for our second dive, and after entering the water, my buddy did not check her spg to verify the amount of air she had. I also failed to check her spg both before we got in the water and immediately afterwards. I really blame myself for this one.
While in the swim throughs, when my buddy ran out of air and stopped her ascent and turned to look at me, she told me afterwards that she had given me the low on air signal, which I totally missed. She was actually out of air, and gave me the wrong signal, but I missed it altogether as I was assuming that she had panicked.
Another area that I messed up on was when the DM was approaching us underwater asking if we were ok, I only signaled back with the ok sign. In my mind, I was thinking that we were ok, using my air supply, and heading for the surface. I think I should have replied both with the ok sign, then pointed to my buddy and given the something is wrong sign. (remember that at this point I did not know that she was actually out of air). I am still not sure if this would have been the best way either as giving both of these signs could be confusing, so I am really interested in getting feed back from working DMÃÔ and Instructors on this point.
Sorry that this has turned into such a long post. I have tried to give all the pertinent information without giving any names of those involved, and especially to not name the dive op. I honestly believe that the dive op is a very good one, and very safe to dive with. Our experience involved a number of errors most of which were our own fault. In the spirit of the old Dragnet TV show ÅÕhe names have been omitted to protect the innocent? (i.e. everyone but me)
