Separated

[Araistar]

****Caution this may be long*****
So I have to ask this because it is bugging me. Have you ever lost your dive buddy and had to surface alone not knowing were he or she was? It happened to me on Wednesday @ Shute Rock. My partner and I were put in just on the edge of the kelp, we descended into about 12-15 ft visibility and took our bearings. I pointed towards the south and signaled to my buddy that we were going to head that way, he acknowledged and so I started to kick that way. I swam for a few minutes and then I looked back to see where he was and he was not there! OK so I don't panic, I stop swimming and hover...still not there...now I'm a little scared just looking into green nothingness and I am alone. I first check my air...as I have only been down for 5 minutes and even with a few panic breaths I had over 2500 psi. I did everything out of the book: I looked for bubbles...none...I acceded a few feet...still none...so I looked for a few minutes and swam back and forth in view of the bottom and then I decided to surface. OK so I'm sure my buddy is not in trouble and that we just got separated but it does me no good to keep going because we will just get more lost. The whole time was coming up I was thinking: what am I going to tell the charter operator? We have been down not even 10 minutes and we are separated! So as I was looking I heard a boat kick it up and go a little distance and stop, so I surfaced slow as I was afraid I was in the middle of the channel and going to get clobbered buy someone heading out to the Islands. So I surfaced and saw my boat but no buddy...now I'm really nervous. Then thankfully I saw my dive buddy on the swim grid, I hung out there for a minute on my back taking some pretty big cleansing breaths thankful that everyone was ok. I signaled the boat I was ok and they came over to get me.

Well now here is what happened: as I signaled to go south and I kicked away I kicked off my buddy's mask... I know...
So he grabbed it and started to clear it, well as he was doing this he must have started to ascend because when he cleared he was in view of the surface (remember vis was 12 feet) so he was close to the top. Well he dumped his BCD and breathed out to try to stop but he surfaced. He signaled to the boat and he came over (that was the boat I heard) and told our operator that he can't find me and I was still down there. Well it was like 2-3 minutes later that I surfaced and he knew I was fine too. Has this ever happened to any of you...why do I feel so bad about it? We are both novice and this was my buddy's first cold water dive...incidentally we had a great time today and everything went fine...and I am glad for some strange reason that this happened because it tested my training and self control. It could have ended REALLY BADLY though and it is that reason that I am still kind of spooked. I am going to put it behind me though and from now on it is in the past...I don't think about it because I don't want it to effect future dives.

Sorry about the long post I just had to get this off my chest.

 

[tc]

So what lessons are you taking away from this experience?

What do you plan to do differently in the future?

(not baiting you- just interested to see if what you gained from the experience)

 

[almitywife]

....... Has this ever happened to any of you........

yep, somewhat similar and during the event i kept checking off the points on how i was all good to go (air, time, conditions ect) and i have faith that my buddy was in the exact same position (if not better)

worst part for my buddy was when he exited to be met by my hubby asking where his wife was

 

[Araistar]

So what lessons are you taking away from this experience?

What do you plan to do differently in the future?

(not baiting you- just interested to see if what you gained from the experience)

Lessons...well first I would say that obviously the training worked, I did what I was told even though it was extremely hard to surface on my own knowing my buddy was by himself and may be in trouble. As for another lesson I could say if my buddy was able to somehow get my attention when I booted his mask off I could have stopped and waited, and I even could have helped get him sorted out again. Last, we should have stayed closer together and we did...pretty much shoulder to shoulder the rest of the two days, it was his first time in cold water and my first time it lower vis conditions. Believe me when I say I learn lessons from all my mistakes...especially the lessons that were hard to learn....

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Welcome to the wonderful world of diving! Good to see you two ended the dive with nothing more serious happening than the learning of a lesson.

I believe the first thing you should have learned was to stay closer together and check each other every few seconds especially since it was a new environment for both of you (cold for him, low vis for you). Had you done that then the emergency training would not have had to come into play so early in your dive career.

Shoulder to shoulder is a great formation for new divers, it's easy to monitor your buddy. Staying no more than an arms length apart lets you signal your buddy with a grab if you need their immediate assistance, even when you aren't looking at them. I realize you're going to have to separate in some environments to go around obstacles but you should be watching each other in that situation especially since you're new.

You should have been able to feel yourself kick him and looked to see what you were whacking with your fin, if you kicked him hard enough to dislodge his mask you kicked him hard enough for you to feel it. Over time you will be able to feel the slightest brush of your fin against something and that's a signal to stop kicking and turn to see what you're tearing up.

Safe diving to you!
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[deepdiverbc]

I always make sure my buddy knows the hand signal I use for diving shoulder to shoulder/in parallel. Any time the vis gets low I use the signal placing the index finger of each hand in parallel.

The single file/follow my fins formation is an accident waiting to happen in low vis.

Another formation I don't like is diving in 3's. In low vis I find it too difficult to keep an eye on two divers and the odds that someone will get separated increase.

I'm glad your buddy was OK. But don't stress it too much. Most if not all of us have lost a buddy. In my history it was usually because the vis was low and I was diving single file or in 3's. Lessons learned.

 

[KrisB]

I'm glad it all worked out for you both.

One thing to add: the "standard" buddy separation procedure is to search/wait underwater for one minute, at which point you surface and *wait* on the surface. If both buddies do this, the longest you'll be separated is one minute. And then you also know to call in help if your buddy doesn't surface within a minute or two of you.

I've experienced buddy separation, but it was because of a crappy insta-buddy. The diver in question neglected the briefing (three bursts on the sub-duck meant that one buddy was missing and that we'd be surfacing a minute later if we didn't reunite underwater. He didn't surface. So, the two of us that were together and followed the protocol discussed waited on the surface, then when he didn't surface, he waited, I went to shore, advised the missing diver's wife and secure assistance from another instructor who was at the beach that day.

Once he figured out we had become separated, he just sat at one point and waited. He was going to surface "soon" as his air was getting low... sigh.

I have a feeling he won't do this again -- it was rather embarrassing for him when this third instructor (me and the guy that followed protocol are both instructors) who he knows well gave him a good lecture.

Two things we learned: ensure buddy separation is discussed and everybody understands the protocol used. Second, if you can, leave your gear around the same place the diver was missing (e.g. with diver #3)... you swim faster without it when you're going for help!