Request for information not covered in any course

[lexvil]

From the little info posted, 20 minutes is about right for a diver recall which is normally what they would do if they see a drifting diver on the surface, better to have one in distress than 10 who may panic if they surface and the boat is moving away. Did they not have a skiff or some other small boat?

As to not calling the dive at the beginning will need to know more before specific comment but my general rule is if it doesn’t feel right, even without specific problems then call the dive.

Breathing is first priority the best place to do that is on the surface sometimes DCS is treatable drowning less so. Once your gas is gone make sure the surface is the next thing in the plan and once there if needed ditch weights, if necessary ditch everything but the floaty stuff.

Next most important thing to do is get back in the water!

 

[yle]

What was unthinkable was that a boat would not respond to a repeated distress signal (which they heard and were aware of) for 20 minutes because other divers had not finished their dive. Waves were 4-5 feet and the other divers had instructers with them and a mooring to support them on the surface.

Interesting... did the crew offer any explanation for the delay? I think most of us would assume that a crew in this situation would make assisting a diver in distress their highest priority... but we just never know for sure until the situation arises.

 

[Brian G]

What was unthinkable was that a boat would not respond to a repeated distress signal (which they heard and were aware of) for 20 minutes because other divers had not finished their dive. Waves were 4-5 feet and the other divers had instructors with them and a mooring to support them on the surface.

This type of situation is almost impossible to navigate correctly. There is no way for a captain to determine how much risk they are taking on by delaying a response to a distress call, but they have a pretty good idea of how much risk they are taking on by maneuvering the boat with divers still in the water. I'm not saying this is your situation, but imagine a captain who, in response to a distressed (but not in much danger) diver, runs over and kills a diver who is in the water underneath. An underlying rule of survival/rescue is to not make the situation worse.

My conclusion from this is that I need to have a mentality where I am not relying on the boat to put my needs above others. Obviously you need the boat, but if you don't know what's going on on the boat, and they don't know how much distress you're in, there's a pretty good (bad) chance that your priorities will be different.

All those words basically to say that I don't dive without my DSMB/whistle/mirror any more. My takeaway from your post is that maybe I should consider how comfortable hanging out on the surface for an extended period of time would be before I splash. I'm pretty comfortable in the water and waves, but certainly at some point it would get to be too much. I'm glad you survived to tell your tale, and I'm sorry that Scubaboard is so aggressive with the "perfect diver" mentality. It's pretty easy to make a mistake, and it's definitely difficult to hear people telling you that you're an idiot. Thanks for posting!

 

[lowwall]

On the surface and with the boat aware of your position is not an emergency situation unless you are injured or with an injured diver. If you were, did you give the help signal?

Otherwise, just wait it out. You can always dump weights if it makes you more comfortable. Since you were OOA, you were a swimmer anyway so you might as well inflate your BCD, take it off and use it as a kickboard to head for the boat.

Sorry if this didn't apply to your situation. That's the problem when you post only part of what happened.

 

[KathyV]

It is impossible to know the particulars of this specific incident and it may be that mistakes were made by both the diver and the dive op. We can just be glad that there were no fatalities.

But it makes me grateful for the excellent and thorough boat orientation that is given to all new arrivals by the Reef Divers op in the Caymans the first time you start a new trip with them. It doesn't matter if you have dived with them in the past, they review all of the boat/dive operations and especially the safety procedures when you start to dive with them - either as a repeat or for the first time.

Each of their boats is equipped with a very loud siren and voice system that can easily be heard underwater. They turn it on so you can listen to it for short time during the boat orientation. They use sound signals and emphasize that if you hear the diver distress siren you must "stay down, don't surface!" because they are going to move the boat, and they tell you what to do in various scenarios - whether it is you or someone else who requires assistance.

I wish that this was the standard equipment and procedure for all dive boats.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

It is impossible to know the particulars of this specific incident and it may be that mistakes were made by both the diver and the dive op. We can just be glad that there were no fatalities.

But it makes me grateful for the excellent and thorough boat orientation that is given to all new arrivals by the Reef Divers op in the Caymans, the first time they start a new trip with them. It doesn't matter if you have dived with them in the past, they review all of the boat/dive operations and especially the safety procedures when you start to dive with them - either again or for the first time.

Each of their boats is equipped with a very loud siren that can easily be heard underwater. They turn it on so you can listen to it for short time during the boat orientation. They emphasize that if you hear the siren you must "stay down, don't surface!" because there is a diver in distress and they are going to move the boat, and then they tell you what to do in various scenarios - whether it is you or someone else who requires assistance.

I wish that this was the standard procedure for all dive boats.

What's their diver recall signal?

 

[KathyV]

What's their diver recall signal?

They use different sound signals and they broadcast voice instructions underwater telling divers what to do. Below is a video showing a test of their system:

https://binged.it/2KKOYNm

Edited to Add. I sent a note to Reef Divers asking them to confirm that I was correctly sharing describing their alarm system to friends, they sent this response:

"It's likely better if your friend waits and gets the info first hand from Reef Divers staff on the boats, because they demonstrate the alarms. Just know that we are 100% committed to diver safety and have equipped our boats and trained our staff appropriately. Basically there is one (siren signal) that tells divers to return immediately to the boat. And there is one that advises divers that there is an emergency and that the boat is leaving. Divers are instructed to remain in place until the boat is gone at which time they should ascend, get together as a group, and know that another boat has been called to come pick them up."

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

They use different sound signals and they broadcast voice instructions underwater telling divers what to do. Below is a video showing a test of their system:

https://binged.it/2KKOYNm

I think that I am remembering the boat orientation correctly, but I will call upon other frequent divers with Reef Divers like @Damselfish and @AggieDiver to correct me if I have got it wrong.

Wow! People who don't work at Microsoft use Bing?

Thanks for the link. I'll watch it later.

 

[KathyV]

Wow! People who don't work at Microsoft use Bing?

Thanks for the link. I'll watch it later.

You can find the video on youtube whatever server you use:

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I usually use chrome or google, but my job defaults to bing. You can find the video on youtube whatever you use.

I was just teasing. I'm an ex-Microsoftie.