Request for information not covered in any course

[KathyV]

A diver on Reef Diver needed to be be shuttled back to the resort urgently. They rushed her back and left their divers in the water. We, (who were close by), aborted our dive and collected them. Those UW megaphones made the entire process absolutely effortless.

In fairness, I got there early on Saturday (6:45 AM flight) and was able to do an afternoon dive. Unfortunately, I proceeded to bruise my middle ear with an equalization issue on that dive that kept me side-lined for 4 days so I did miss the first day with our group on the boat. I'll ask my brother-in-law if they did go over the siren recall system when I was not there, The good news is that I was healed enought to try diving on Wednesday afternoon and had no issues - so I missed out on 12 dives on Brac but still got in 7 dives (and 6 more back on Grand Cayman).

Thanks for the info. They ask new arrivals to show up at the boat 15 minutes early before their first dive and they are pretty adamant about making sure that everyone has received the complete boat orientation - so I have heard that siren many times!

I sent an IM to CBBR and asked if all of their boats have the Oceanears Diver Recall system installed? I have always found them to be prompt in responding and here is the reply:

"It's installed on all our boats. However, it's the tropics and occasionally things break. So when that happens, we have to use a backup system until we get the parts."

So maybe there was a mechanical problem with the system when you were oriented to the boat? Sorry you didn't get to hear that melodious siren, but glad that there were no diver in distress issues and that you recovered and were able to enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

[NothingClever]

@Kharon

Glad you’re back on dry land, safe and sound. Sounds like you had a tough experience.

I think what you’re looking for is relatively simple....it’s a list of what I would call, in the broadest terms, contingencies. Some contingencies are full-blown, time-sensitive emergencies, some are major inconveniences that could lead to dire situations if unaddressed in a timely manner, some are addressed simply with small adjustments.

Perhaps organizing the contingencies into broad categories would be helpful. Below are the ones that came to mind:

1) Incomplete plan amidst groupthink to make the dive
2) Hazardous entry conditions
3) Incompetent DM, guide or boat crew
3) Suboptimal health conditions (current or permanent)
4) Equipment failure (UW and surface)
5) Dive buddy who elevates risk (ignorance or willful negligence)
6) Sealife hazard
7) Mid-dive change in conditions (current, UW and surface visibility, temperature, swells, wind)
8) Isolated diver (you get lost or the boat is gone isolating you or your dive buddy disappears)
9) Hazardous exit conditions

There are probably some better titles for these categorical “bins” and there are probably bins I’ve missed but these may provide a start point for you to start itemizing the various problems that are swirling around in your head and organizing them into manageable bits.

I think Tursiops mentioned something about probability versus severity. Some problems are very unlikely but would be severe if they happened while other problems are likely but not as severe. It’s important to evaluate the hazards in these two aspects to ensure the fear of a potential incident doesn’t overtake rational thought. The fear is good but you want to channel it into evaluation of the situation, determining realistic and effective adjustments and final decision-making.

I think someone had a good suggestion to spend some time in the Near Misses and Accidents and Incidents forums. That will help you start assigning actual problems that befell someone else to broad categories so that when you start suspecting there might be some elevated risk, you can shift your mental energies to analyzing the forecasted problem (rather than allowing yourself to get overwhelmed contemplating the hazards).

Lastly, when you build out your contingency list, do what Turk recommended and train each dive. Dive with people that will honor your intentions to rehearse before the splash.

You’re on track. Don’t let the dorks here get you down and don’t go down with dorks out there.

 

[markmud]

My thanks to everyone who made positive contributions. It has sparked a number of (for me) valuable insights and allowed me to re-think my gear, more fully define allowable conditions for my dives, and more. The experience itself certainly humbled me - something I definitly needed.

This isn't to say I've had enough. Keep thoughts and suggestions coming. I just wanted to let you know your help is appreciated.

Hi Kharon,

Thanks for starting this thread. I don't want to ring my own bell here, but on more than several threads I have been torched for erring on the redundant, and being very cautious about how I dive, where I dive, and with whom I dive. I got rid of my BP/W for reasons that you mention here on this thread. As you may read below my avatar, I try to dive self-reliant even while buddy diving. I carry a small SMB and a 6' SMB with thumb spool as you have mentioned regarding additional buoyancy (and for other more obvious reasons). Two whistles, and etc.

As @chillyinCanada mentioned in post #107, I was also caught in a river. I wasn't worried about being rescued, as I was only worried about protecting my head as I was bouncing over boulders. I breathed some air and mostly water. Water is dense and powerful when it is moving.

As @tursiops questioned you about relying on the dive vessel and its skipper, I too worry about that scenario.

I was a professional mariner. I was trained in survival at sea, no matter by fire, sinking, or collision. I have lived on the Ocean for months at a time (years of my life, not days of my life). I spent most my time on the ocean in vessels that were less than 100 feet long; not ships.

We all must respect the ocean. As divers, we all must think about down-currents, seas, set, and drift (and a host of other things).

I can't give you advice, except to put your head on the proverbial "swivel" before the dive, during the dive, and after the dive. The landlubbers that I see crewing most boats are not blue-water mariners, nor green-water mariners for that matter (some truly are, but very few). My wife and I have cancelled a dive at the dock. Others witnessed the crews actions and followed our action; the trip was cancelled because the paying customers staged a peaceful mutiny.

Before you splash, think about the conditions at hand, and think about different survival scenarios if conditions deteriorate. Where would you go if the boat left you? What would you do if the current kicks in? If you are berthed below, have you travelled the various egress routes. Have you spoken with the captain about his/her standing orders for a fire watch (I didn't, I read the COI for the vessel and assumed it was being followed).

Hopefully, you will be prepared to thumb the dive (or trip) before you splash or early on into the dive if you get the "butterflies" in your belly as you notice the surface conditions deteriorating. @rhwestfall Request for information not covered in any course

My point is this: Respect the ocean; it is not the place that vacation dive brochures, and dive training agencies would like us to think it is; it is not a benign safe place to play. In some places it can be, most of the time it isn't.

markm

 

[Kharon]

Here's what I've come up with so far.

ADDITIONAL GEAR & RULES:
1. Never enter the water if you can’t comfortably do a long surface swim in full gear on snorkel.
2. Always take a compass heading from the entry point to the reef and know how far away the reef is.
3. Always use a cork on a ribbon to check for current as soon as you hit depth.
4. If the conditions aren't what you expected (surge, current, topography (or lack of), etc. abort.
5. Add a high quality (oral inflate with dump valve) snorkel vest under the harness (redundant buoyancy and adds flotation in front).
6. Carry two big SMB’s – redundancy and added buoyancy.
7. Carry a reel to attach to weights – drop them or wedge them in a cranny to act as an anchor and prevent drifting.
8. Add a storm whistle in addition to the Diver Alert – redundancy.
9. Go back to a 13 cf pony. 6 cf is comforting – 13 cf is double and not much more weight or dfficult to transport. Maybe a 19 cf. - more air is always an advantage. !9 cf is about the max I could travel with.

 

[johndiver999]

Yeah. I moved to the harness/donut (smallest I could find) to minimize drag and for travel. It allowed me up to 25% more bottom time. Never considered hostile surface conditions and having to hang on the surface for an extended period waiting. Lessen learned. Back inflate (for me) sux on the surface, particularly in high choppy waves.

The snorkel vest is orally inflatable and has a dump valve. It really takes only a tiny bit of room in a suitcase and is unnoticable under the harness. It will provide additional buoyancy and redundancy. Same with two big SMB's. Very little additional baggage but redundancy.

I wonder why that wasn't/isn't part of the solo course. Redundant everything else. Some that could easily be done without - some that you will probably never ever need the first of. Seems to me that buoyancy redundancy is more important than some of the other stuff. Maybe that's just my recent experience talking. Still it's something I'm adding to my kit. Think I might sell my pony off and get one double the size too. Also adding a whistle to the kit. Diver Alert was useless when the main tank went dry. Whistle for redundancy.

I think your willingness to discuss some of the aspects is great.

I'm sure that experiencing a nearly fatal incident has re-calibrated your perspective and risk assessments. We jump into the ocean with the gear we select. Regardless of whether we follow our "gut", training recommendations or internet advice, you instantly become constrained and completely responsible for whatever assumptions and choices you have made.

I see a lot of advice about no ditchable lead, minimal lift necessities (and some even talk about using NO BC) and also the recommendations as to the acceptability of reliance upon a buddy for air supply redundancy. I often think that each one of these choices, can make a diver unnecessarily vulnerable under certain conditions. Each one of those "decisions" makes me nervous and combining all three when diving is something I don't do unless the conditions are very benign. Yet a lot of recreational divers are very "comfortable" diving with all three "strikes" against them.

The newly acquired emphasis on redundant buoyancy might be addressed (in warm water) by a weight belt, a redundant bladder and possibly smb's, but the idea of wearing a snorkeling vest under the harness is a solution I have never seen anywhere. Perhaps, a continuing analysis of more typical solutions should be made before trying something "unusual"?

A snorkeling vest under a BP/W harness would probably work fine, but I think it would be quite cluttered under a normal recreational BC.

If we look at a THEORETICAL scenario of a diver drifting away with no air in rough seas alone, then the following should improve the chance for a good outcome:

• wearing a recreational BC which provides a more heads up support and
• the diver was buoyant enough (via being fat enough and/or wearing enough wetsuit) that dropping some lead was easy and practical
• The diver avoided wearing a steel plate and/or non ditchable lead (in warm water)
• The diver is calm enough and skilled enough to effectively make use of the snorkel
• Carried an smb for signaling and possibly for additional surface support.
• Has a whistle
• Has a light to signal if/when it gets dark

And all this would be typical recreational gear without the need to go to extremes or unusual configurations.

It only takes one or two mouth fulls of water and one mis-timed inhalation in wave chop to induce a coughing fit and ineffective respiration which will incapacitate a diver on the surface in less than a minute.

It is embarrassing to screw up and end up on the surface way behind an anchored boat, but even if we all assume we won't make that mistake, accidents happen.

You could be involved in rescue of a buddy which requires a direct ascent, we could have an equipment problem that requires heading straight up, the boat could break free of the anchor or the captain could deliberately cut free from the anchor/mooring to rescue another diver, so it is very reasonable to assume that sooner or later, anyone could end up (drifting off) in very similar conditions to the OP - even if our dive execution was as "perfect" as Trump's phone call.

A discussion of the the exact cause(s) of why the situation developed may be less useful than a good analysis of how best to handle it when it occurs.

 

[tursiops]

A discussion of the the exact cause(s) of why the situation developed may be less useful than a good analysis of how best to handle it when it occurs.

Yes!

 

[markmud]

7. Carry a reel to attach to weights – drop them or wedge them in a cranny to act as an anchor and prevent drifting.

On a couple of dives, we tied in to the anchor with our reel.

• If the anchor dragged, we would know it.
• Also, navigating back to the boat in the surge and pour vis in Monterey Bay would be easy.

the boat could break free of the anchor or the captain could deliberately cut free from the anchor/mooring

That happened to me at Santa Cruz Island CA. I was solo. I thought I was going to have to swim to the beach that I scoped-out before I splashed (just in case).

I like those posts.

Has a light to signal if/when it gets dark

You may be floating into the night. As I know from real life, seeing a person in the water (man overboard) is very difficult. At night it is almost impossible unless you have a signaling device.

cheers,
m

 

[tursiops]

Here's what I've come up with so far.

ADDITIONAL GEAR & RULES:
1. Never enter the water if you can’t comfortably do a long surface swim in full gear on snorkel.
2. Always take a compass heading from the entry point to the reef and know how far away the reef is.
3. Always use a cork on a ribbon to check for current as soon as you hit depth.
4. If the conditions aren't what you expected (surge, current, topography (or lack of), etc. abort.
5. Add a high quality (oral inflate with dump valve) snorkel vest under the harness (redundant buoyancy and adds flotation in front).
6. Carry two big SMB’s – redundancy and added buoyancy.
7. Carry a reel to attach to weights – drop them or wedge them in a cranny to act as an anchor and prevent drifting.
8. Add a storm whistle in addition to the Diver Alert – redundancy.
9. Go back to a 13 cf pony. 6 cf is comforting – 13 cf is double and not much more weight or dfficult to transport. Maybe a 19 cf. - more air is always an advantage. !9 cf is about the max I could travel with.

Thoughtful list.

Not sure about #3. Surge plus current is hard to estimate. One way is to just hang there for a minute, see where you end up relative to your starting point. With surge you go back and forth over it; with current you move away from it. With both you need to hang long enough that the surge "averages out" so you can see the net motion caused by the current.

I'd reword #4 to be "If the conditions are worse than what you expected..."

#7 is interesting. Obviously depends on water depth, and on strength of current. Kind of awkward if there are waves of any size...you are constantly tensioning and slacking (think tangling) the line. Doesn't take much current to cause a LOT of drag on you, so the typical line on a typical reel is probably not strong enough. Might want to put a compliance segment in the line...like a heavy-duty bungee.

#9. Definitely. 6 cuft is just too small in any sporty situation. 13 is minimal, 19 is beginning to be useful.

 

[lowviz]

That {Not diving a live boat} means no diving in the Philippines, Indonesia, Maldives, Galapagos, Cozumel, many other parts of the Caribbean, or SE Florida. Too bad, there is some good diving out there.

You forgot the St. Lawrence River.

I'm a local diver by force. Certed in the Gulf of Mexico (Texas Riviera) with the kid. Rest of the fam was 'stuck on the beach', or the shops, or the whole blessed length of South Padre Island. I nearly packed it all in half-way through.

Never again. Nope. I am a local diver and I cannot be reached by any means when and where I dive. I come back from my dives centered, renewed, and ready for the next round.

Works for me, your mileage varies...

 

[tursiops]

You forgot the St. Lawrence River.

I'm a local diver by force. Certed in the Gulf of Mexico (Texas Riviera) with the kid. Rest of the fam was 'stuck on the beach', or the shops, or the whole blessed length of South Padre Island. I nearly packed it all in half-way through.

Never again. Nope. I am a local diver and I cannot be reached by any means when and where I dive. I come back from my dives centered, renewed, and ready for the next round.

Works for me, your mileage varies...

Hey, it works for you, that's fine. I guess my point was that it is a relatively narrow view of diving in general, and so makes it hard to generalize your advice to other people and locations.

For example:

I have 'not being found' totally solved when I splash as a solo diver. Nobody is looking for me.

Except for maybe that boat captain that took you out to the site....he is in deep doo-doo if he comes back without you. Saying you were a solo diver is not going to save his butt. But, maybe you were just being sarcastic?

I get it about solo diving and self-sufficiency. it feels good. I enjoy it too. But it is a rare dive where it can be 100% self-sufficient, and you are really on your own. Shore dives, fill your own tanks, service your own gear. Maybe. Boat dives, not so much.