Safety Stop Dillema....???

[Grendel]

Friends, Romans, Countrymen.....

Thanks so much for all of your responses. Since the incident and my post I have discussed the dive at length with the other divers. We all count ourselves lucky. Divers #3 and #4 have seen the errors of their ways and SAY that it will not happen in the future. This remains to be seen but suffice it to say that I am not banking on it, nor am I planning to dive with them in the future. As for my buddy, we have talked at length about what happened and it truly seems to have been an isolated instance of bad judgement on his part. In retrospect he realizes how his actions put him and others in danger. He said that this incident was the first "scare" he has had diving in ten years and perhaps it will serve as a wake up call to temper his invinciblity complex. Don't get me wrong, he has never said or demonstrated anything to that effect until this incident, but I think it is safe in retrospect to say that he has become more than a bit too cavalier in his ways with regard to diving. Having thought about it quite a bit I'm still not sure what, if anything, I should have done differently other than dive with someone else. We planned the dive and talked about contingencies and signals, my buddy and I dove the plan, but obviously thisgs fell apart. Oh well, I learned alot and we lived to tell the tale.

Grendel

 

[blacknet]

Hello,

Well the classic rules of surfacing, wait for the buddy and yadda yadda yadda is all fine, IFF (meaning if and only if) your buddy does it to. BTW if you and your buddy followed the 'rules' in the first place you wouldn't get lost etc..

However, reality isn't a perfect situation or perfect events. In my case ,w/ the us army ranger buddy who vanished, I kinda expected him to do just that. On dive #1 I was like "ok this is fine, lets see how this plays out" I looked around abit and looked for him then after about 10 mins I surfaced and called it. On dive #2 he did the same thing but this time I aborted immediately when he took off, I even watched him go, tried to get his attention but he just brushed me off and went anyway.

Ed

 

[Thistle]

Hi Grendel,

As you might be aware there are drivers claiming they never had an accident since they took their driving license and one day they end up killing themselfs or God knows who.

It is understandable, as far as I am concerned, they they might be tempted to go searching for their buddys but it is very strange for an experienced diver to run out of air just like this. Experience in diving is about knowing your own limits and abilities. No ofense ment but they do not look like... An experienced diver has habits, things he shall always do the same, no matter what, the behaviour you described looks prety different.
I think i'll just stick to the advice many before me gave it to you that's namely find other people to dive with.
Victor

 

[sea nmf]

Hi All,

I may have missed the reference. I understand the rules regarding surfacing if you lose your buddy. What has not been addressed, and maybe doesn't need to be here, is what is the next step if your buddy does not surface?

At what point does the rest of the party search for them? They may indeed be in trouble and this is where Rescue Diving Training would come in, no?

So, it has been quite awhile since I took the Rescue course, and I am wondering how much time needs to go by before there is an underwater search?

Thanks for all the entertainment and education I get here. I never miss a day without reading the board!

 

[Ldreamin]

I have had this happen to me before and believe it or not it was my ex boyfriend that became an instructor. We were in Cozumel and he took off with some friends(taking pics) and left me. I did have a problem on that dive with my ears(which I did what I needed to to be safe) but he knew nothing about it until after the dive when I told him. At the time he was already a divemaster going for instructor and he didn't see the problem(because I'm a "confident" diver) until I pointed out....what will you be teaching your students? Practice what you preach!! What if......
Ldreamin

 

[greg somers]

The big thumb to you....
Find some new friends.
Cheers keeping your head together Ears,
There can be only one,
The Gasman.

 

[egg007]

You did not do too bad.However
(1) I feel tha instructor should have come down, shared air and sent you the least experienced diver up after your 3 mins + safety stop.
(2) A common error is people being unsure on the status of who if anyone is missing and what the exact scenario is.
(3) I disagree with thinking that you are not going to come across this type of event again.

Let me give you some typical experiences i have had:

(1) A "RAMBO" german buddy in the Caribbean who underwater went ahead of the entire group ignoring me his buddy, I had to resort to buddying with the divemaster.

(2) Other divers in the group seeming to ignore the safety stop of 3mins at 15 feet. What they did was slow dive at 20 feet for the 3 minutes along a wall. I ignored their ascent and did my three mins.

My advice would be to do advanced certifications, they help to train you for these type of situations