Series Of Screw-ups

[Plungy]

My dive buddy and I recently did three boat dives at a site we have repeatedly visited over the past few years. We were a group of two plus our our dive guide. Two other larger groups visited the same sites with different guides. The dive boat was well equipped, but had no Zodiac. My buddy and I were not carrying a dive flag.

Background
I purchased a new BCD and a thicker wet suit and did two dives to check my weighting prior to the boat dive. However, I purchased new fins the evening before the dive and did not have a chance to test them, however, I had done about 5 dives in the week before the incident. My buddy was wearing her usual gear and had done about 10 dives in the days before the incident.

I have over 100 dives and my buddy has close to that number. We are both certified Advanced + Nitrox.

Preparation
My buddy and I planned to take photos at relatively shallow depths because we are using GoPros and wanted to highlight the reef's natural colors. We also wanted to dive separately from other groups so we would not disturb them with our work. The dive guide understood this and we agreed to use high O2 nitrox, consistent with our planned depth, to minimize our surface intervals and permit 4 rather than 3 dives.

Dive 1
Without incident.

Dive 2
I was able to do the photo work I planned and with my buddy and our guide, turned back toward the ship with one third tank remaining. The ship was about 250 meters away and we were at 10 m, however the current was unusually strong. I signaled low air to my guide who motioned to me to use his octopus. However, he was 15 m away and did not approach me. I was unable to reach him because of the current and he made no move to come to me.

I was not alarmed, as I knew the area and boat crew. I also had a pony tank.

I was forced to surface, after my safety stop, about 200 m shy of the ship. I waved and called to the ship and the crew waved back. The dive guide did not surface with me, but remained with my buddy and both boarded the boat normally.

I was making almost no progress swimming on the surface to the ship and accidentally swallowed a few mouthfuls of wave that passed over me. I called to the boat a few times without response. I called louder and eventually the crew tossed me a safety line, but it was short.

I eventually reached the line, exhausted but didn't have the strength to climb the ladder for a few minutes. The crew took my BCD, I caught my breath, got on deck, checked my gear and rested for a while.

I told our guide I was tired and might scrub the remaining dives. He seemed upset at this.

Dive 3
I felt better after lunch and a nap.

The divers were told they 10 minutes to gear up. However, only 1 head was working and there were long waits. The dive guides began pushing the divers to hurry.

I normally secure my own fins, but let the crew attach and tighten them on the poop deck. The fin came off about 10 m from the boat and when I bent over to grab it in the water, realized I had no shoulder weights--they had been removed by the crew and in my hurry, I had not checked them.

I had inserted my weight pockets, but I knew they would not be enough to hold me at a 5 m safety stop.

Although I had lost my fin and realized my weighting was inadequate only a few minutes after exiting the vessel, I was surprised to see that the vessel had already set sail and was a good distance away.

The dive guide took at least 5 minutes to surface and he stayed about 7 m away from me in the water, perhaps because he thought I might panic, although I was calm, composed and articulate in the water.

He began shouting that I hadn't checked my weighting. I let him finish shouting.

Then he began saying, "What can I do for you?"

I said I had lost a lot of air looking around for my fin, which he had managed to retrieve.

I said, I think we should terminate the dive, since I was exhausted and I had burned a significant amount of air looking for the fin.

He said again, "How can I help you dive?"

I could see he didn't want to cancel the dive and I had nowhere else to go, so I said, I need some more weight.

He gave me enough weight to get down and I stayed at 5-10 m so I could manage the drift without burning too much air. The dive guide was always at least 20 m away throughout the dive.

I became hyperbuoyant toward the end of the dive and was unable, with the weights I was using, get back underwater. I was even more exhausted than before. Eventually the boat showed up and we boarded.

Analysis

I understand some of the things that I did to contribute to these situations.

However, I am curious what suggestions divers more knowledgeable than me can offer so that I can avoid these situations in the future.

 

[abscuba]

If your not feeling like you should dive don't go, also don't let a deck crew change how you do things. What ever system you use stick to it so that you can catch issues on the surface if the guide is pushy let them be in the rush they are working for you and yes they need to keep the group happy but safety is important.

 

[Diver0001]

Buddy check.

More experienced divers start to skip the buddy check as a matter of routine.

Knowing this, I teach all my OW divers that the pre-dive check is a 2 part process.

1) self check
2) cross check (the traditional buddy check)

I tell them that if they don't have the time to do this that they should scrub the dive.

At the very VERY least take the time to do a self check. If you don't have time for this. Do not dive.

Everything in diving is easier, more relaxed, more fun and more under control the slower you go. Being in a hurry SHOULD raise a red flag. Being in too much of a hurry to at LEAST do a self-check is a non-starter. Do not dive in that frame of mind.

That would be the lesson that I see in your post. It's the same lesson we get over and over again, sometimes without learning it. You're lucky. Some people learn it too late and we talk about them instead of with them.....

R..

 

[Steve_C]

Take your time. Being rushed for any reason is when stuff happens. Rental DMs often get something in their heads, like must do 4 dives, must show the client X which is a ways away. I find it necessary to go over very careful with them what kind of dive I am interested. Some need to know you will not be unhappy if you do not find X. Open water current makes a difference but on a reef if they are going too fast I just go the desired pace and they eventually get the message and slow down.

 

[Edward3c]

Dive 2: Turning to head back to the boat with 1/3 gas was the first error. You should have been at the boat be then.

Q: do you plan your dive and gas requirements or do you leave it to the guide?

 

[Diver0001]

Edward,

I got the impression (I'm sure he will correct me if I'm wrong) that the current, and not the air pressure was the thing stopping him from reaching the boat on the second dive.

You make a good point about planning but I think the error was probably in his navigation, not turning earlier due to underestimating current.

@OP; did the current change during the dive? Was this briefed? It does seem kind of unusual that the DM would plan a dive with a swim back into the current. Can you elaborate on how that situation arose?

R..

 

[Plungy]

First, thank you Abscuba, Roturna, Steve and Edward.

You're absolutely right. No matter what anyone says or does, I am responsible for my dive and my equipment.

We did visual buddy checks, but space was tight and we did so visually only and sitting down.

You're also right that we should have started against the current. However, the only mooring for this site is, to my knowledge, downstream of the usual current flow. So virtually all dives at the site require divers to fight the current coming back.

Usually the current is trivial or moderate. On the day in question, it was stronger than before.

This was not evident in the first half of the dive, which had a very different topography from the return half. The first half was primarily a deep canyon with a closed end, which mutes the current. The return was over a relatively shallow, sandy area, where the current was full force.

There was no emergency briefing procedure nor has there every been on the many dives I have done at this and neighboring sites over several years, with different vessels and dive operators. We are in a relatively remote area and, while PADI shops abound, rules usually yield to profits. For example, a local divemaster friend told me he was regularly doing 5 or 6 dives a day with his computer requiring deco stops, which he ignored. Also, dive guides usually dive on 21 (to save money), while their customers may be on 36 to 40. If you are doing two dives back to back, then a two-hour surface interval, then two more back to back dives, the guide will obviously have higher residual nitrogen levels and may be forced into a deco situation, which s/he will likely ignore.

To me, it's automatic that everyone surfaces if anyone in the group surfaces (and can't get down again). This rule was never discussed and obviously not applied.

There was a lengthy "dive briefing," but it mostly concerned wet room/dry room procedures and little or nothing about the dive itself, which for most customers is simply a matter of following the leader.

Our usual dive guides were not available and, while we discussed the dive plan with the new dive operator and guide, the guide ignored it.

I had consistently provided the dive guide with my air pressure indications. I assumed that he would give me a heads up when he thought we should turn back. He signaled a return at the same time I decided to do it: with exactly one third of the tank left.

 

[2airishuman]

Hello Plungy. Welcome to the boards

I feel your pain on this; we have to take DMs and boats as we find them. While we are each ultimately responsible for our own safety we do not always have the degree of influence over safety-related aspects of the dive that we would like to have. At least, most of us don't, in the real world.

I like to think of accidents/incidents in terms of "off ramps" with the implicit analogy being that if you are on the freeway approaching a toll bridge or whatever then there are a finite number of "off ramps" you can take before you reach it.. any of them keep you from paying the toll.. and each one has tradeoffs. So I will point out some "off ramps" that while not necessarily the cause of the incident are nonetheless things that might have prevented it.

• Fins. You don't describe your new fins. On any dive with a current, wind, or long surface swim, I would use long fins that can deliver speed when asked to do so. I do not have freediving fins but am thinking about getting some. The event you describe is a perfect example why.
• What I'll call "indivisibility of kit." I try to structure my kit so that there are as few removable pieces and as few field adjustments as possible. My fin straps aren't adjustable or readily removable. My trim weights aren't removable without a wrench. I would suggest you evaluate your kit with an eye towards the possibility of similar simplifications.
• Cylinder size. I'm a big guy. That means I use more air than most people, and it also means I can carry any size tanks I want. The social dynamics of boat dives are such that it is always less stressful (and safer) to have more minutes of air than the DM. So I dive with the largest cylinders that are reasonably available.

I don't claim to be an expert and have relatively few dives under my belt but there you go.

 

[Plungy]

Thank you, 2air,

You hit the nail on the head.

The fins are Tusa. However, freediving fins are available at very reasonable prices here. I will definitely check that out.

I do pretty much what you say on the gear. I sort through the day before, pick what I need and on the dive boat, clip everything neatly to the BCD.

As for air consumption, I usually get 45-55 minutes per dive, with 25% of the gas remaining by the time I'm aboard the boat.

On this occasion, though, I burned 1/3 of the tank in the last five minutes of the dive hyperventilating while fighting the current.

I might add that I did two weeks of shore diving in Bonaire and 1 week in Caymans with my usual buddies and no dive guides. And no problems .

 

[Stoo]

This sounds like "just another Saturday" for many people!

One thing I wanted to mention (and this assumes you were not into mandatory deco), but if you are having problems with holding a stop at 10 or 15 feet, there is no reason that you can't do them deeper, where your excess bouyancy may be less of a factor. Your computer will recognize a stop at 20' and allow a countdown. Any deeper, and it likely won't, but if you are at say 23' or even 25', you will still be getting the benefit afforded by the safety stop. The trick then is to make a VERY slow ascent to the surface, but that is going to be easier than trying to hold a stop.Assuming you complete this safety stop at say 23', your computer may squawk at you, but it shouldn't lock you out or anything like that, since it was a SAFETY stop and not a DECOPRESSION stop.

As you ascend from this deeper safety stop, you can flap your arms to reduce your ascent rate and take smaller breaths than you might otherwise. There is a great deal of evidence to indicate that the top 10' or so are the most critical in avoiding an "unearned" hit... slow is good.

But, there is nothing magic about 10' for a safety stop, and taking a deeper stop is MUCH better than blasting up from 10' because you are too buoyant to hold at that depth.

This all assumes that you are in open water, without an ascent line. If you are making a shore dive, find a suitable rock and consider it ballast. They come in all sorts of weights~ ;-)