Should I have done something different?

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Hello, Feedback?
I recently went on a dive to Key Largo. A group of 6 people rode down from a Miami dive shop. We went out with a different dive op, which had a few more people on the boat.
I met some great people and buddied up with a guy from Toronto. During the first dive, I was following my buddy. I was into the dive, enjoying the view. As I happened to look in back of me, another diver was struggling with his tank. The tank had slid down through his tank strap and the tank was floating above him. I quickly swam forward to my buddy and tugged on his fin,waved for him to follow, and then swam back to the struggling diver. I reached him, asked for an ok, got it and then proceded to assist him with restrapping on his tank. My buddy assited. The other guys buddy was the third to arrive and looked bewildered. After all was settled we gave the ok to the two divers and received it back, and then we went on our dive.

A week later, I am sitting here wondering about the situation. Was it correct to spend that few extra seconds to grab my buddies fin? Being an alert buddy, and in highly visable water, he would have seen me heading back? What if the struggling guy had been unable to breath and that few seconds was too long? Should the guy of aborted the dive at that time? Because of the tank? Because of his buddy? Would you have said something to the guys buddy after the dive? The guy did thank me after the dive and the four of us talked briefly about it. The guys buddy said he was unaware of the tank comming out.

Nick

 

[opiniongirl]

Well, Nick,

I'm sure you will get a plethora of opinions on this. IMO, you did great!

You evaluated the situation, evaluated where your buddy was, signaled him appropriately, and worked as a team to assist the other diver. It could've been a much different situation if your buddy contact had not been as close together.

Regarding the other buddy team, yes, that should have been handled by him, but I would imagine that both divers would have seen the error in hindsight, and I imagine that this was discussed during your chat.

All in all, you acted quickly and in a responsible manner. Well done!

OPG
PADI Master Instructor

 

[Kayla]

Well, as a personal opinion, I think that you did it right. Your first responsibilities are to you and YOUR buddy.. and then to everyone else. So, letting your buddy know that you were turning around was a smart move. Chances are that if the guy hadn't have been able to breathe and there was no one around, he would have aborted long before you got there, and that wouldn't have been your fault. It kind of sounds to me like HIS buddy wasn't paying attention. Hes lucky that you were there, or who knows how long he would have struggled???

Thats JMHO... kudos to you for seeing him and helping out!

 

[ShakaZulu]

If I was you buddy, I would have appreciated the fact that you signalled me.........good job.

PS. What are doing looking behind you, if your buddy is in front of you, scared of sharks???

 

[ScubaNinja1127]

When in doubt, always take the most cautious route. It's very seldom, if ever, a bad idea to not communicate something of that nature to your buddy. Even the most experienced divers have been know to forget to look around sometimes, so spending the extra seconds a much better answer than your buddy going into a tailspin trying to figure out what happened to you.

 

[rmediver2002]

Sounds like a great job to me!!

 

[Mr. Nice Guy]

If I was you buddy, I would have appreciated the fact that you signalled me.........good job.

PS. What are doing looking behind you, if your buddy is in front of you, scared of sharks???

Welll..., I do most of my diving in a local lake. On my first trip to Key Largo, which also was my first ocean dive, I did see a a Hammerhead. This was my second trip to Key Largo. I have this phobia.....

 

[Gary D.]

Ya did good!

Gary D.

 

[ScubaNorth]

You did excellent. I wouldn't fault your buddy he may have been 1 second away from doing a check on you. You and your buddy would have to hold hands to see everything the other was doing. However victim #1's Buddy was sleeping on the job, and should get a slap.

 

[String]

Although its a situation the person should have been able to deal with alone (via dekit) or better his buddy to help with there is nothing wrong with lending assistance if you feel it'll do some good in any situation.

As for your buddy and telling him, its a judgement call - if the other guy is alone, cant breathe etc then it go direct, if he's just faffing about but has air and no immediately sign of bolting by all means get buddys attention first.