Out of Air at 84 ft

[FFMDiver]

And what do you do if you find your car not between the lines? Never mind how it happened but this time there's a cliff on the other side of the white line. The drive master just told you to drive without mentioning the cliff. Do you take the time to stick you head between your knees and kiss or just immediately start crying and praying?

I love this response....

 

[pilot fish]

Well, I had a brewing cup of tea go cold whilst reading this thread so I am going to contribute though it may be a repeat of what people have said before. 84 feet is not that far from the surface!! I know, as I prepare for DIR-F, that I can slowly swim 25m in a pool on one breath. If this is a rec dive, then you do not need to make a deco stop (that could be the reason why you are out of air - you didn't dive your plan and stayed down too long!!) and the 3 min stop is only a recommendation, I believe. If you are solo diving, you have contingency, your pony or your slung bottle. If you are buddy diving, you have contingency, your buddy. Solo divers don't drag their contigency on a 30 foot lanyard!! Buddy divers don't have contingency 30 feet away. It took some effort to get thirty feet away without anyone noticing. Is this at night? How strong is the current? How good is the visibility? I know I can make the surface from 84 feet without ascending too fast. Chances are, there may be divers do their safety stop on the way up also. I don't always know I can reach that spare air 30 feet away. So I would chose to ascend because I know that air is guaranteed on the surface, regardless of surface conditions. I must point out that the few deep dives I have done, my buddy has never been more than 5 feet away and I have dove with people I have just met before geting in the water! Diving in NY where the visibility isn't always great , this should be so instictive to you that I am suprised you have been subjected to the wandering buddy leaving the stationary diver routine!!

Earl Grey? Try Lapsong Shushung on a cold, rainy day like this? very smokey.

This is not a tech dive. It's a warm water, Caribe dive. I don't dive NY, yet, because it is a bit over my head, at the moment, currrent, cold, extra mill suit, low vis, etc. Have you?

 

[pilot fish]

That's because there is no cut-n-dry correct answer to the question ... it depends on the situation ... can you see your buddy? ... can they see you? ... are they swimming toward or away from you?]]]

That in itself IS an answer. Yes, you can see him/them. He/they are off to either side, below, above, behind ,or in front of you. He/they do NOT see your situation. Good vis, 60 to 80 ft

 

[Far_X]

Earl Grey? Try Lapsong Shushung on a cold, rainy day like this? very smokey.

This is not a tech dive. It's a warm water, Caribe dive. I don't dive NY, yet, because it is a bit over my head, at the moment, currrent, cold, extra mill suit, low vis, etc. Have you?

Tea is PG Tips - imported directly from England!! Just a regular cup of tea but better than Liptons which is hardly tea anyway!! If I hadn't dove up here in NY, I would still only have seven dives in my log book. The first thing I did when I moved here in March was buy a dry suit!! A lot of the boat dives prefer you to have your own emergency supply but I have yet to dive with my sling bottle set up as I haven't got everything I need for that yet. Most of the beach dives we do are at high slack and how long they are varies every time. They could be five minutes without vegetation wooshing past you, or as long as 20 minutes. Buddy is always close as the visibility is crap but then it is not far from the surface on the beach dives. You are more likely to be far from the exit point rather than having an OOA situation. I am going to Bonaire for a couple of weeks in April so I can let you know what the international buddies are like then!! My guess is that I will have the same experience as here, they will be right next to me!! Either they lead and I follow, or I lead and I make sure they are following.

 

[jonnythan]

Lots of people, myself included, do their first dives in NY. I've never dived anything that wasn't cold, heavy exposure protection, lots of current, low vis, or any combination of these factors.

 

[RonFrank]

Well you forgot to include that your no good buddy not only left, but before doing so he chummed the waters. Now there are 300 20' Great White sharks in a feeding frenzy, and thre is NO MORE CHUM!!!



Just when things could not possibly get ANY worst, they DO!! In your panic, you have backed into the coral, and cut the heck out of your arm!! To make matters worst, a baracuda swims by avoiding a hungry Great White, and there goes your mask!! Another shark mistakes you fin for a fish, and there goes one fin!!



So now you are at 84', bleeding, surrounded by Great Whites in a feeding frenzy, out of air, without a mask, and missing one fin!!! So what do you do?? What??

Don't worry about how you got to 84' surrounded by Killer Sharks, OOA, missing a fin, and mask, the most important thing is to discuss what the REAL alternatives are...

:1poke:

Ron

 

[NauticalbutNice]

Don't worry about how you got to 84' surrounded by Killer Sharks, OOA, missing a fin, and mask, the most important thing is to discuss what the REAL alternatives are...
Ron

Your options are:

a) die
b) die
c) throw a less experienced diver in their path, steal his/her mask and fins and air and make a break for it.


I understand where pilot fish was coming from with the original post. I also like the way people have digressed. It's useful. And in the end it's all hypothetical anyway. You don't know what you'd actually do, unless you've been in that situation. I haven't, so I can't really say.

Nauticalbutnice :fruit:

 

[Far_X]

I understand where pilot fish was coming from with the original post. I also like the way people have digressed. It's useful. And in the end it's all hypothetical anyway. You don't know what you'd actually do, unless you've been in that situation. I haven't, so I can't really say.

Nauticalbutnice :fruit:

I wonder how many people would make a different choice if they survived the first situation and suprise, suprise, they found themselves in the same situation again? Wandering buddy, stationary diver!! Would experience make them more relaxed (SSDB) or would they panic again?

 

[simbrooks]

I understand where pilot fish was coming from with the original post. I also like the way people have digressed. It's useful. And in the end it's all hypothetical anyway. You don't know what you'd actually do, unless you've been in that situation. I haven't, so I can't really say.

I havent either and hope i never will, again this is due to the fact that i hope i would never make the errors that could lead up to this situation! But i have to laugh at Ron Frank, Boogie711 and MikeFerrera's counter what if's!

 

[pilot fish]

Tea is PG Tips - imported directly from England!! Just a regular cup of tea but better than Liptons which is hardly tea anyway!! If I hadn't dove up here in NY, I would still only have seven dives in my log book. The first thing I did when I moved here in March was buy a dry suit!! A lot of the boat dives prefer you to have your own emergency supply but I have yet to dive with my sling bottle set up as I haven't got everything I need for that yet. Most of the beach dives we do are at high slack and how long they are varies every time. They could be five minutes without vegetation wooshing past you, or as long as 20 minutes. Buddy is always close as the visibility is crap but then it is not far from the surface on the beach dives. You are more likely to be far from the exit point rather than having an OOA situation. I am going to Bonaire for a couple of weeks in April so I can let you know what the international buddies are like then!! My guess is that I will have the same experience as here, they will be right next to me!! Either they lead and I follow, or I lead and I make sure they are following.

After I finish nitrox cert I will try dry suit cert, I think.

If I did NY dives, in that cold and low vis, I would have a longggggg talk with my dive buddy pre dive. I think because we do warm water Caribe dives, with high vis, we tend to get a bit lax. That is my guess.