CPDiver
Registered
Yesterday morning I dove the Spiegel Grove. I dove off a 50 foot dive boat out of Key Largo. There were 12-14 divers on the boat.
The weather was overcast and light rain, seas were reported to be 1-3, but some on board thought they were closer to 3-5. The Captain and DM gave a detailed dive briefing instructing the divers to hold the drift line until buddies were paired up, and then move along the drift line to the tag line connected to the mooring ball, and then follow the mooring line to the wreck. The directions were clear and concise and the DM stressed we were to hold the lines the entire way down and back up.
My Buddy (another single diver who I met on board) and I were roughly the 7th and 8th divers in the water. We paired up and quickly made our way hand over hand across the drift line to the tag line. About half way(35-40 feet) across the tag line all the divers were backed up. After no movement occurred within about 20-30 seconds, and 8 divers were elbow to elbow in some fairly significant seas, I popped my head up to find out what the holdup was. I was surprised to see the 1st diver in line was upright in the water, and appeared to have his reg out of his mouth and was coughing or spitting water. (I noticed he was wearing a snorkel, but I could not tell if he had been trying to utilize the snorkel as he made his way across the Tag line) Upon seeing his apparent distress I yelled to the boat and asked the Captain if the diver was having trouble, but I was apparently not heard. I did however, see the Captain was attentively watching the individual in question.
At this point people are banging into each other left and right as anxious divers in the back of the line are growing impatient being tossed about into one another while they use there gas on the surface. After about 60-90 seconds of no movement down the Tag Line my buddy (recall I was paired with him on the boat) became tired of the wait and quickly dove under the line of divers and descended to the Mooring line, which was in view and probably was not more than 50 feet away from us. I then faced a choice. Stay in the midst of what I quickly sensed was a cluster**** of the first order on the tag line or dive to the mooring line to reteam with my "buddy".
I chose to extricate myself from the elbows, knees, and flailing arms before my mask, fin, or reg was ripped from my body by an inadvertant bobbing, flailing diver. The rest of the dive was fine. The vis was great and the ship was impressive. My Buddy turned into Mark Spitz and proceeded to attempt an underwater individual 400 Meter IM and see all of the Spiegel Grove in one dive. I kept up with him for about 10 minutes, but really was not able to "see" much due to the pace. So here I am at 80 feet just in front of and below the forecastle of the Grove with my buddy swimming for the bow (we were moored on buoy 6? - At 62 feet on the superstructure), and about 1250 PSI in the tank. We had agreed to be on the mooring line at 1000PSI and he is swimming for the bow he is likely at or near 1250 PSI. Finally I said screw this, and kicked back to RELAX a bit and let him go ahead. He was nearly 100 feet out before he noticed I was not with him.
My thought process was: He should not be busting a gut to see the bow when he has to swim 250 feet out and back and get to the mooring line with the agreed upon 1000PSI in the tank. And my busting my gut to follow him made no sense since:
1) he was 50 feet ahead of me, and he was about as useful a buddy to me as the 5 foot Barracuda than was swimming alongside me.
2) If he is not going to take the "buddy" bit seriously, I'll be dammned if I am going to increase my heartrate and all of the corresponding risks associated with hard work at depth, just to follow Mr. Spitz around the ship.
Basically, I said "well, here I am on a large wreck, with irregular currents, with no buddy and no redundant air source....I am going to stay relaxed, watch my gauges and get back to the line with 1000psi, unless some emergency should arise"
My buddy returned within roughly 5 minutes (I was waiting and watching his return at about 65 feet) and we both made the line and back to the boat safely.
Upon returning to the boat we found the diver who had apparently had difficulty on the tag line slouched against his tank on the bench breathing very heavily with his eyes closed and a bloody snot bubble shaped like California extending from his nose to his eye. I asked him if he was OK and he muttered "yah....so hard...never had to work...so hard...the current...". I thought the guy may have been having an episode of some sort. The DM saw the guy answer my question and must have helped him on board. Several diviers discussed the divers condition and agreed it was fortunate he made it back on board.
Shockingly, the diver made the shallower second dive despite the condition he was in during/after the first dive.
I know that was a lot of detail, hopefully not too much. While I am an AOW certiifed diver, I have only been on 4 wrecks below 100 feet, and none as large as the Grove. I have never on any other dive experienced either of the scenarios I experienced on this dive. What I am wondering is:
1) Does this kind of thing happen often, where a diver is struggling on the surface but then continues the dive only to return in rough shape? In hindsight, I think the guy is lucky to be alive. (Apparently he is a dive com (sp) or the equivalent of a DM in SSI or another certifying body). Would you call this a near miss?
2) Was it appropriate to duck the tag line to avoid the cluster**** ocurring on the tag line. Seemed like a good idea to me oce I saw my buddy was not encountering heavy current.
3) Is the type of buddy behavior I experienced common? Would you have done what I did and just let him go and say screw it, rather than race around in his fin wash given the facts laid out above? Any suggestions on what other options I may have considered.
4) Also, I believe only 4 or 5 of us carried a lift bag/surface marker and a reel. I was surprised by the lack of preparedness should "**** happen".
While I enjoyed what I saw of the wreck, what will remain with me from this dive are the unexpected occurrences that could have had dire consequences.
I'd love to hear your thoughts
The weather was overcast and light rain, seas were reported to be 1-3, but some on board thought they were closer to 3-5. The Captain and DM gave a detailed dive briefing instructing the divers to hold the drift line until buddies were paired up, and then move along the drift line to the tag line connected to the mooring ball, and then follow the mooring line to the wreck. The directions were clear and concise and the DM stressed we were to hold the lines the entire way down and back up.
My Buddy (another single diver who I met on board) and I were roughly the 7th and 8th divers in the water. We paired up and quickly made our way hand over hand across the drift line to the tag line. About half way(35-40 feet) across the tag line all the divers were backed up. After no movement occurred within about 20-30 seconds, and 8 divers were elbow to elbow in some fairly significant seas, I popped my head up to find out what the holdup was. I was surprised to see the 1st diver in line was upright in the water, and appeared to have his reg out of his mouth and was coughing or spitting water. (I noticed he was wearing a snorkel, but I could not tell if he had been trying to utilize the snorkel as he made his way across the Tag line) Upon seeing his apparent distress I yelled to the boat and asked the Captain if the diver was having trouble, but I was apparently not heard. I did however, see the Captain was attentively watching the individual in question.
At this point people are banging into each other left and right as anxious divers in the back of the line are growing impatient being tossed about into one another while they use there gas on the surface. After about 60-90 seconds of no movement down the Tag Line my buddy (recall I was paired with him on the boat) became tired of the wait and quickly dove under the line of divers and descended to the Mooring line, which was in view and probably was not more than 50 feet away from us. I then faced a choice. Stay in the midst of what I quickly sensed was a cluster**** of the first order on the tag line or dive to the mooring line to reteam with my "buddy".
I chose to extricate myself from the elbows, knees, and flailing arms before my mask, fin, or reg was ripped from my body by an inadvertant bobbing, flailing diver. The rest of the dive was fine. The vis was great and the ship was impressive. My Buddy turned into Mark Spitz and proceeded to attempt an underwater individual 400 Meter IM and see all of the Spiegel Grove in one dive. I kept up with him for about 10 minutes, but really was not able to "see" much due to the pace. So here I am at 80 feet just in front of and below the forecastle of the Grove with my buddy swimming for the bow (we were moored on buoy 6? - At 62 feet on the superstructure), and about 1250 PSI in the tank. We had agreed to be on the mooring line at 1000PSI and he is swimming for the bow he is likely at or near 1250 PSI. Finally I said screw this, and kicked back to RELAX a bit and let him go ahead. He was nearly 100 feet out before he noticed I was not with him.
My thought process was: He should not be busting a gut to see the bow when he has to swim 250 feet out and back and get to the mooring line with the agreed upon 1000PSI in the tank. And my busting my gut to follow him made no sense since:
1) he was 50 feet ahead of me, and he was about as useful a buddy to me as the 5 foot Barracuda than was swimming alongside me.
2) If he is not going to take the "buddy" bit seriously, I'll be dammned if I am going to increase my heartrate and all of the corresponding risks associated with hard work at depth, just to follow Mr. Spitz around the ship.
Basically, I said "well, here I am on a large wreck, with irregular currents, with no buddy and no redundant air source....I am going to stay relaxed, watch my gauges and get back to the line with 1000psi, unless some emergency should arise"
My buddy returned within roughly 5 minutes (I was waiting and watching his return at about 65 feet) and we both made the line and back to the boat safely.
Upon returning to the boat we found the diver who had apparently had difficulty on the tag line slouched against his tank on the bench breathing very heavily with his eyes closed and a bloody snot bubble shaped like California extending from his nose to his eye. I asked him if he was OK and he muttered "yah....so hard...never had to work...so hard...the current...". I thought the guy may have been having an episode of some sort. The DM saw the guy answer my question and must have helped him on board. Several diviers discussed the divers condition and agreed it was fortunate he made it back on board.
Shockingly, the diver made the shallower second dive despite the condition he was in during/after the first dive.
I know that was a lot of detail, hopefully not too much. While I am an AOW certiifed diver, I have only been on 4 wrecks below 100 feet, and none as large as the Grove. I have never on any other dive experienced either of the scenarios I experienced on this dive. What I am wondering is:
1) Does this kind of thing happen often, where a diver is struggling on the surface but then continues the dive only to return in rough shape? In hindsight, I think the guy is lucky to be alive. (Apparently he is a dive com (sp) or the equivalent of a DM in SSI or another certifying body). Would you call this a near miss?
2) Was it appropriate to duck the tag line to avoid the cluster**** ocurring on the tag line. Seemed like a good idea to me oce I saw my buddy was not encountering heavy current.
3) Is the type of buddy behavior I experienced common? Would you have done what I did and just let him go and say screw it, rather than race around in his fin wash given the facts laid out above? Any suggestions on what other options I may have considered.
4) Also, I believe only 4 or 5 of us carried a lift bag/surface marker and a reel. I was surprised by the lack of preparedness should "**** happen".
While I enjoyed what I saw of the wreck, what will remain with me from this dive are the unexpected occurrences that could have had dire consequences.
I'd love to hear your thoughts
) 
