Should I have done more?

[fjpatrum]

Dumpster, thanks for sharing this learning experience. She was stressed but nothing in her behavior indicated to me that she was truly panicked. As such, I don't think there's much more you could have done (once she committed to being in the water) other than maintaining physical contact from the time she thumbed the dive. That might have reduced her stress a little or it might not, it just depends.

Diving with an insta-buddy whom I said I would "watch out for" I wouldn't have taken the speargun but I know you dive mostly with it and it's second nature. Personal preference on that one but I would have chosen differently. It certainly didn't seem to impact your behavior much so it's probably a wash either way.

All in all I thought the whole thing was handled reasonably well until the end when she took off.

I've been very lucky having been insta-buddied on most of my dives and never having had to deal with any of this kind of stuff. My closest was a called dive before we ever dropped below the surface.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

when i was doing my DM i was actively thinking to myself i don't want anyone to die on my watch but i won't put myself in a life threatening position either. in this example, i would have tried to calm the person but if they bolt for the surface and i can't stop them i'm not coming after them. there is no point reason to have two people in a critical condition when 1 will suffice. just look at what happened in malta recently with the english guy.


out of curiosity, what were you going to spear?

We got on the boat, she sat out, my son blew some snot out, and the two of us went back down to retrieve the reel and float..and we shot a few small fish, jacks, porgies for dinner.

 

[flots am]

I don't have much of anything to add, except that over the past couple of years, my limit for smaller stressors in students in class and customers when "I'm the buddy" has moved down from three to two.

Now it only takes two signs of impending doom for me to call the dive, while it used to take 3.

So far nobody has complained, but really, I don't care if they do. They can try out for the next Darwin award when I'm not there.

flots.

 

[TMHeimer]

I'm a late comer to the thread and one with considerably less experience than many of the posters. And no real experience with drift diving other than shore diving occasionally in or near iffy currents. Having said that, I would agree that this dive was beyond her ability level, plus the weighting and new gear thing. I guess I agree also with those who say it's up to a certified diver to take responsibility of themselves (and look at the depth/logistics and possibly not do the dive). Diving in really good viz like that is a rarity for me, but I wonder how far you were away from her from the start of the dive and on descent? It looks considerably further than I would want to be with any buddy, accomplished or not (in the N. Atlantic, decent viz or poor). Generally I am a stickler for tight buddying--5 feet, maybe a bit more in great viz. Maybe that's one reason I dive alone mostly. But then as I said, I'm not a drift diver.

 

[Freewillow]

I must say that from what i read and what i saw in the video it looked way better than you described (maybe it's a had to be there thing)... There are some things i think you could've done differently yes, or rather things I would've and have done differently in similar situations.

1. I would've attempted to "calm" her down at depth first before attempting any surfacing, even in calling a dive i think it's much easier if the person was as calm as possible given the scenario... a moment or two at the bottom just breathing to calm the nerves.

2. I wouldn't have dove with the speargun (the camera is not in your hand and is fine), there was a couple of times i was diving with my instructor and he would be diving with students and other certified but not experienced divers. I would not unclip my camera (or leave it on the boat altogether) until i see how the other divers are doing in the water. You said you would look after her and i think having a reel and the gun is already enough to be concerned about

3. From the video things didn't happen in a flash, it looked as if you had enough time to move over to her and pull her dump valve etc or at the very least make yourself negative an hold on to her


i think that's all that i would've done differently

+1 with all the answers. From her eratic movements, wrong buyancy , mask problems and rapid breathing, I would have taken care of the ascent by grabing her, try to calm her down and begin the ascent while holding onto her. But with a reel, a speargun............Not an easy task.