She thinks she almost died..but she didn't!

[SeaHorse81]

Diving with your daughter holding hands is BAD. Seriously, I mean that. If she is certified, then she would be able to control her buoyancy and swim and handle basic things on her own. Holding hands is a crutch, mental and physical that tends to stunt her development and also keep her insecure of her own abilities. She should not be doing any dives where she needs (or really wants) to hold hands.

I agree with you to a point, DD, but current changes the equation. I am an adult diver, very confident swimming on my own, with no desire to hold hands with anyone on a dive. Except sometimes when there's a strong current. I have repeatedly found that, as a small woman (especially when wearing a draggy dry suit), I get blown away far worse than anyone around me in a strong current, and there was an occasion when I had to grab hands with my instabuddy (to his great surprise) just so I could stay with the group.

If OP's daughter is a junior diver, she may be similarly small of build and subject to struggling in current, in addition to having minimal experience. I wouldn't see a problem with offering that little bit of extra support in more difficult situations as she's figuring it out.

But your point about dependency is well-taken.

 

[CuzzA]

Drop a jug/bouy for descent and to mark the site. Use a buoy with a divers down flag.

If divers seperate, you pick the set of divers that are down current. They are the most likely to get further away from the site and the up current divers will eventually meet you on their ascent or on the surface.

I know what you mean about Gulf Coast diving. I live in the Tampa Bay Area and I imagine our conditions are very similar.

This was Monday.


You don't see it in the video, but we are following the buoy line.

 

[Skeptic14]

When you say mark it with a buoy, how exactly does this work? Is it weighted/have some sort of anchor that will keep it in place? What ensures you placed it correctly and over the site, especially at deep sites, 80+ feet?

Probably just my ignorance, but with a boat load (16ish) divers of differing experience levels and potentially only 20' of vis I could see have the divers spread all over and none on the site.

What is a typical Tampa area dive? Depth, vis, at what depth can you usually start seeing the site?

 

[CuzzA]

We use this buoy. Dive Buoy - $54.95 :: American Bandit

When we find the site on the bottom machine we throw the buoy. We have an 8 lbs. lead weight attached to the line and it drops pretty quick.

We give a site briefing. For example, the ledge or structure drops off on the east side and runs northeast and southwest. The current is running south so head northeast into the current and turn your dive heading back southwest. Giving the site briefing provides all divers with the info they need to find the site even if they get away from the buoy line. In that example, If they know the current is pushing south and the ledge runs southwest, they should swim northwest to find it. Even on small patch reefs using the buoy line and a good briefing allows for the site to be found.

For dropping a bunch of divers, start up current of the buoy. If the surface current is a little strong, drop the strongest swimmers first so they can stay with the buoy. It sounds
Iike it's not as efficient as anchoring, but it actually is.

The conditions down here average 15-20 feet of viz. Sometimes 2 feet, sometimes 50. Often the top 20-30 feet is limited viz and the bottom opens up to better viz. Sometimes we have top to bottom, usually we don't.

We typically dive in the 40-60 ft range because you have to travel a good distance (1 mile equals 2 feet depth) to get to those depths and anything shallower and the viz is crap. Then you have to get into ~80 ft plus to find more structure and of course eventually you're on the middle grounds.

Edit: Also we will often pick the buoy weight up and move it on top of the ledge if it ends up in the sand or in a position that it could foul on the structure.

 

[Steve_C]

Not anchoring makes sense for some types of dives. For a lot of our dives where you have a wreck surrounded by sand it makes less sense. Follow line down to wreck. Follow line back up to boat.

Personally in low and dropping viz it is really easy to miss an anchor line. More than once I have run a line from my reel to simplify the return to where I want to be.

 

[CuzzA]

And a buoy can serve the same purpose without disabling the utility of the boat.

 

[Bob DBF]

Well it could be she is just jamming you up. Never saw a kid that didn't want to get under a parents skin.

Now is the time for the when you are diving you need to bring your adult game. You were my buddy and we screwed up, there are no more trust me dives, we both have the responsibility to have the dive end safely. The conversation will go on a lot longer than that, but the next time you hear "I almost died" it will have a different tone, especially if you answer "whose fault was it".

The down side is you will be diving with someone that will take diving more seriously and be waiting for you to slip up so that she can bring it to your attention; like a good buddy.


Bob.

 

[BertStevens]

Diving with your daughter holding hands is BAD. Seriously, I mean that. If she is certified, then she would be able to control her buoyancy and swim and handle basic things on her own. Holding hands is a crutch, mental and physical that tends to stunt her development and also keep her insecure of her own abilities. She should not be doing any dives where she needs (or really wants) to hold hands.

Secondly, yeah you screwed up and got lost. I've done that many times, sounds like you had a decent Plan B.

Abigail is an excellet diver. She was the first to master skills in her class and has great buoyancy. She is not a strong swimmer, but adequate. She is not using me as a crutch, as much as she is making sure she doesn't loose me. (Not that I'd let that happen.) Understand, she is 13 years old. And this was her 8th ocean dive post certification. The first 4 were in 100+ viz Mexico.

This is the youngest of my 3 daughters and the only one that wants to dive. I finally have a full time dive buddy. And if she wants to hold my hand while she gains confidence, I'm not going to object. And she did let go as she got more confident.

She is at an age when she will want less to do with me soon enough!

 

[BertStevens]

A self-perceived 'close call' can encourage someone to be more mindful of monitoring their gas supply, and of their dive-in-progress. It can also get them thinking about what could go wrong & how they could react, the kind of thinking encouraged in the Rescue Diver course. While catastrophizing a problem is not what you want her to do, taking it seriously & making it a teaching point may help her become a better diver faster.

You may be better off than had the dive gone smoothly.

Richard.

I don't think she was traumatized. I think she is using humor to lighten the mood as she realized what could have happened. And now it's just a running joke. But it was definitely a teaching moment and in the long run, I believe she will be a better diver.

 

[BertStevens]

Seems like a great relationship with your daughter. I would recommend that diving at 60', working in current, young novice and limited viz, that you increase the low-on-air to around 735psi/50bar. You mentioned that you could see concern on her face, this causes her to use more air.
35' to 45' 500psi will be fine.

I agree with Rich, little perceived mishaps are the best teachers and always remembered.

I get your point about ascending at 700. You are correct, her concern probably did cause her to use gas faster. I'm almost 50 and twice her weight. Other things being equal, she should have had more gas than me. But when we stopped looking for the boat, it was because she was at 500, I still had a little over 800.