Hello all,
I thought I would come out of the shadows and join your web community. I would like to gather information on a near miss incident that occurred recently.
My dive buddy (OWSI) and myself (AOW) were diving in a popular wall dive off of an island (I will leave it un-named, to prevent incriminating myself and my buddy) in BC, Canada that was no so popular this day due to cool temps (10 deg C) and overcast conditions. We arrived on site with three other dive teams on our charter. We went through the dive briefing by the captain and instructed us on boat safety, where to go and what to see. The boat was operating as a live boat as no anchoring or mooring bouys are allowed. The instructions were to go until moderately strong currents were felt and turn around back to the boat. There were no specific instructions as to what to do in a surface, or underwater emergency...you can see where this is going.
After we completed weight checks, we cruised around and saw the sites. My buddy had been there a few years ago and was showing me around. I noticed that the current was picking up and grew concerned (1st mistake). I relied on my buddy's local knowledge and deemed the situation OK. The current became quite strong, in my opinion, to the point that regular kicking was only adequate to maintain position. I signalled to my buddy to surface and return to the boat. We surfaced some distance away from the boat and attempted to signal for a pickup. The signal was not returned, nor were we seen by the captain or anyone else aboard. Due to currents at the surface and ample air, we decided to descend and attempt to swim back near the bottom where we assumed that currents would be weaker (2nd mistake) This was unsuccessful and we were only able to make minimal headway back to the boat. Ascending, we made the decision to continue to signal for a pick up and wait. The current was now strong enough to make a surface swim impossible and we began to drift out to sea. Concern began to grow as our attempts to maintain station and signal were fruitless (whistle, lights and strobes, no SMB as this was a travel trip - 3rd mistake). Our decision was to surface swim cross current to a near by island 100-150metres away because beyond that was only open ocean. Thankfully, we were able to make it to the island and were then able to signal to two nearby whale-watching boats that just arrived. They relayed our position on the radio to the dive boat and we were successfully recovered.
In attempt to learn from this event, I would like to ask the esteemed members their opinions:
1. What should or could we have done differently with the equipment and experience availbable?
2. Did we react appropriately? My buddy and I discussed the incident and agreed that the obvious answer was that we should have turned back sooner.
3. We signaled and waited for pickup but this did not occur. We assumed that there might have been another emergency aboard that would have prevented a pickup.
I would appreciate any constructive feedback. We're all adults here, I don't need to be told how stupid we were, how dangerous the situation was or could have been, etc. I'm merely asking on an assessment of our actions and on what could have been done differently. Thank you in advance.
I thought I would come out of the shadows and join your web community. I would like to gather information on a near miss incident that occurred recently.
My dive buddy (OWSI) and myself (AOW) were diving in a popular wall dive off of an island (I will leave it un-named, to prevent incriminating myself and my buddy) in BC, Canada that was no so popular this day due to cool temps (10 deg C) and overcast conditions. We arrived on site with three other dive teams on our charter. We went through the dive briefing by the captain and instructed us on boat safety, where to go and what to see. The boat was operating as a live boat as no anchoring or mooring bouys are allowed. The instructions were to go until moderately strong currents were felt and turn around back to the boat. There were no specific instructions as to what to do in a surface, or underwater emergency...you can see where this is going.
After we completed weight checks, we cruised around and saw the sites. My buddy had been there a few years ago and was showing me around. I noticed that the current was picking up and grew concerned (1st mistake). I relied on my buddy's local knowledge and deemed the situation OK. The current became quite strong, in my opinion, to the point that regular kicking was only adequate to maintain position. I signalled to my buddy to surface and return to the boat. We surfaced some distance away from the boat and attempted to signal for a pickup. The signal was not returned, nor were we seen by the captain or anyone else aboard. Due to currents at the surface and ample air, we decided to descend and attempt to swim back near the bottom where we assumed that currents would be weaker (2nd mistake) This was unsuccessful and we were only able to make minimal headway back to the boat. Ascending, we made the decision to continue to signal for a pick up and wait. The current was now strong enough to make a surface swim impossible and we began to drift out to sea. Concern began to grow as our attempts to maintain station and signal were fruitless (whistle, lights and strobes, no SMB as this was a travel trip - 3rd mistake). Our decision was to surface swim cross current to a near by island 100-150metres away because beyond that was only open ocean. Thankfully, we were able to make it to the island and were then able to signal to two nearby whale-watching boats that just arrived. They relayed our position on the radio to the dive boat and we were successfully recovered.
In attempt to learn from this event, I would like to ask the esteemed members their opinions:
1. What should or could we have done differently with the equipment and experience availbable?
2. Did we react appropriately? My buddy and I discussed the incident and agreed that the obvious answer was that we should have turned back sooner.
3. We signaled and waited for pickup but this did not occur. We assumed that there might have been another emergency aboard that would have prevented a pickup.
I would appreciate any constructive feedback. We're all adults here, I don't need to be told how stupid we were, how dangerous the situation was or could have been, etc. I'm merely asking on an assessment of our actions and on what could have been done differently. Thank you in advance.
