Tale of woe: How I was "THAT" diver (non-fatal)

[Esprise Me]

Pretty sure @markmud meant "same ocean buddy," i.e. someone whose idea of buddy diving is two people in the same ocean on the same day, not necessarily looking out for one another. I think the common use of the acronym to mean "son of a bitch" probably contributed to the popularity of the term, since it can be frustrating to dive with someone like that, so it makes a good pun.

 

[AfterDark]

Also ... I HAVE an SMB and reel, but never carry it because the reel keeps coming undone and unspooling. Anyone know of a YouTube that clearly - and easily - explains how to set it up so that it doesn't unspool on a dive? I know there's got to be an easy trick to it, and I know I should be carrying it. I carry a whistle, and I know how to make a loud whistle with my fingers (it's fun at concerts and graduations!!). But I need to carry that SMB ...

I keep all my safety gear in one pouch clipped/tied/hooked whatever works on one long looped line attached to the inside of the pouch. I unfasten what I need and keep in or put back what I don't. The pouch is on the waist belt of my harness right hand side. Without gloves I know by feel everything in the pouch and can remove most items without removing everything.
I have a small strip of two sided Velcro wrapped around my spool the line runs thru a hole in the strap so I don't lose it when I deploy.
The pouch contains a: quick open very sharp knife on a ss rubber coated coiled lanyard. A 6' SMB w/finger spool, and a divers flag sewn onto the top. A whistle, signal mirror, and 50 lb lift bag.

It appears that a little more self-discipline/patience on the part of the OP diver would have made up for a lot of small mistakes later. To address the lack of a compass. I wear a small compass on my watch band which provides me with a compass below and above water.

 

[Bob DBF]

"same ocean buddy," i.e. someone whose idea of buddy diving is two people in the same ocean on the same day, not necessarily looking out for one another.

From my use and understanding, two solo divers being buddies because a buddy is required, but neither party actually wants, or needs, a buddy.

Not to be used in in reference to poor buddy skills, which is another topic.

 

[clownfishsydney]

I too cannot see anything he did wrong. He was only six metres from his wife when the visibility went bad, in my view (and everyone I dive with), this is side by side. Being overly tough on himself I reckon.

 

[AfterDark]

I too cannot see anything he did wrong. He was only six metres from his wife when the visibility went bad, in my view (and everyone I dive with), this is side by side. Being overly tough on himself I reckon.

Unlikely at the start of a dive I understand but, if either had an OOA situation they would have been a long way from each other. Neither diver expected the vis to drop but it did.

 

[Schwob]

For what it is worth, I agree with the by proxy OP. Loosing the buddy (and the anchor line and the yet to come DM) was his mistake, in this case it was no one else’s mistake. What the visibility was briefed at, what it initially was and what it became plays no role in that. Except maybe for the buddy from hell who is trying his / her darndest to get lost, trying to blame other factors for a buddy loss is imho flawed. Those things play a role that the diver needs to account for. Things do get harder in poorer visibility but poor visibility is as much at fault for loosing someone as the wetness of the water is - imho. And I am saying that with a degree of guilt too. A year ago I also managed to loose my buddy. She swam off with the DM in degrading, 20‘ vis and I chose to spend more than 20‘ worth of travel time with a frogfish. Way more... I needed to learn from this. And my buddy too. And I think we did. Would we have learned from it if we just blamed it on visibility or the DM? Now the DM knew I am a comfortable solo diver (and I found my way back to the boat just fine after searching for „them“ at the surface for quite a while, albeit, because of traffic I rolled up my DSMB and went for the boat under water in the end.) But our plan was to dive as buddies and I had at least 50% part in breaking it... and I wasn‘t set up for a solo dive with full redundancy either... The simple fact is that I had it in my hands to not loose my buddy, but somehow chose to trade her for a frogfish, yeah, one of my first, but still, not a good trade ... So I too was that diver, maybe 3 times all together by now (they varied and I sure hope I learn from each „mishap“.

 

[InTheDrink]

Interesting thread. I’m about to go diving in the Philippines and for obscure reasons won’t be taking my rig.

I think this makes a big difference.

The proxy OP is certainly too hard on himself as viz changing that quickly wouldn’t be expected in that environment unless advised by the operator. Otherwise touch diving would be recommended.

The only fault I can find is not having a DSMB. It’s the absolute least you should have on any dive of any metres.

Otherwise I don’t see any fault. Conditions changed rapidly. **** happens.

 

[george_austin]

20 ft is good visibility. The lower the visibility the better the chances are that you’ll have something toothy and interesting looming just beyond your visual range, but preparing to surprise you with a close, speedy swim by. It’s more challenging and skill building diving too.

If the water clarity is too great, usually (depending on locale) you’ll just have a bunch of snarky, snippy shutterbug simpletons spending most of a dive in shallow water on some bug hunt, seeing who can photograph the most interesting little worm. Cruises are not really great times for diving. Better for exploring bottleshops and dive bars that have dancing girls. JMHO

 

[Scraps]

Then Antigua. Here the dive gear was poorly fitting. It was way too small and useless for a fat guy like me. But I did not really mind the tank flopping around as the cummerbund kept coming undone. At about 45' on our way to 65' my reg started breathing very hard. Inhaling was pulling my mask against my face. So I went to the octo and it was the same. The high pressure gauge was reading a full tank and did not dip as I breathed, so I knew the valve was on. I hesitated before calling the dive, but if it was already having trouble at 45', I did not want to have to be concerned about something failing the rest of the way while on a dive, so I found the DM, explained the situation and was escorted back the boat where I sat out that dive. Second dive with different reg was great.

Sorry I'm late to this discussion, but this scenario leaves two unanswered questions: Did he check the valve to see if it was all the way open? Did the problem resolve itself when he ascended?

If both your primary and octo are breathing properly at the pre-dive surface check and then both start breathing hard at 45 feet, you most certainly do not know--as the narrator asserts--that your valve is open. More specifically, you do not know that it is open all the way.

A partially opened valve will cause a problem that matches this incident. At the surface, the partially opened valve seems to breathe fine. But when the diver gets two or three atmospheres down and needs two or three times more air with each breath than he did at the surface, the constrained air flow from the tank doesn't supply enough air to keep up with the demand. The SPG will say there's plenty of gas because there is; and the diver thinks he knows the valve is open. It's easy to blame the regulator instead of the user.

As my IT friends say, "99% of computer errors occur between the chair and the keyboard."

I'd have more confidence in the "bad regulator" diagnosis if the event description positively stated that the valve position was checked post-incident and confirmed to be all the way open, and if we knew the breathing problem persisted all the way back up to the surface.