Terrible dive today!Opinions?

[scubadobadoo]

I just wanted to take a second to thank the posters here for taking the time to post some very good information. We were all there at one point and SB has made us all better divers with the aid of threads like this one. Rock on! :bang:

 

[DivetheRock]

Amen, Scubadobadoo! Thanks again, everyone, for the info. (Pescador775, that's a good post. Thanks)

 

[Jackie]

Pescador. I don't know the last time I saw someone wear a snorkel outside a PADI class. Unless they were in warm water.

 

[ItsBruce]

I was going to add some crucial information. However, it has already been covered in prior posts. Because there is so much good information, I want to point out the two most important items.

1. You should always use the tables or computer to give you a maximum dive time for the depth you have planned. That way you'll have a good idea if your air will last long enough to exceed your NDL. The thing I like about 40 feet is that it is virtually impossible to hit your NDL (absent some prior deep dives that day.)

2. Safety stop is a misnomer. Even if one were required, that does ot mean you have to stop and stay in one place. Stop refers to ascent, not to movement. Cruise around 15 feet and explore... which is what you seemed to have done.

 

[rjpv]

Question based on the responses to the write up.

Were I to find myself OOA at a safety stop, I would be sorely tempted to do a CESA rather than fiddle around with someone's octo. Would that be the last decision I ever made (probably not, if I remember to make some bubbles) or simply unwise?

 

[DandyDon]

Question based on the responses to the write up.

Were I to find myself OOA at a safety stop, I would be sorely tempted to do a CESA rather than fiddle around with someone's octo. Would that be the last decision I ever made (probably not, if I remember to make some bubbles) or simply unwise?

I can't advise you on your life in that situation, but I think I'd do whatever look most promising - the safety stop is a good idea, but not a requirement. If the buddy & his auxiliary second stage were convenient, I'd rather go for that. If not, go for the surface and the sure thing - prepared to drop weights immediately if I had a struggle inflating my BC, hoping the boat's Oxygen kit was in good working order in case I needed it. The one time I asked for one (for another diver), it wasn't.

From my experiences, tho - the one time I really screwed up and ran out my back gas and my pony, I had deco to work off (when I screw up, I do it big) so I found a diver working off deco on the hangline and bummed off him for the deco, then did the Cesa. Be sure you never screw up like I did. :11:

 

[Charlie99]

Were I to find myself OOA at a safety stop, I would be sorely tempted to do a CESA rather than fiddle around with someone's octo. Would that be the last decision I ever made (probably not, if I remember to make some bubbles) or simply unwise?

No problem with the CESA from safety stop after a typical recreational dive, but it is training you and conditioning you to use the wrong response.

There is no way that you should ever go OOA from simply emptying a tank without noticing. That shows a general lack of awareness that is scary.

Breathing from an octo is a NOT a last gasp desperate measure. If you find yourself getting low on air and your buddy has plenty, go ahead and share air BEFORE you run out. Then you need to go back and analyze your dive planning and execution to figure out why you got into that situation.

Charlie Allen

 

[Diver0001]

Well, today my brother and I went for a dive. Here's how it went, and how it is playing on my mind.
We swam out from shore on the surface. I was using my snorkel, and accidentally hit
....snip....

I would appreciate advice on this particular dive profile and its safety measurement, however.
Thanks, guys...appreciate your input very much.

So, in fact, you were alert and watched your air consumption. You knew when you hit the 1/2 way point and you knew when you hit the reserve..... and yet you choose to carry on until you were out of air.

I'm reading skills issues. Not monitoring gas well enough. Not knowing what to do with the information you're getting from your meters. Not knowing enough about deco theory to judge your options....

Is this the way you're seeing it?

R..

 

[DivetheRock]

Diver0001...who are you asking?...This near accident happened a month ago today.
The grandest mistake I made that day was going out from shore too far for the amount of air I had- everything snowballed from there. It was a huge mistake, and I'm not even certain, in retrospect, whether I realized just how far out from shore I was, or if I was being knowingly cocky about it.
Also, the scariest thing on my mind that day was DCS, and sadly I didn't have enough knowledge of DCS theory to help alleviate my anxiety through apllication (as you stated correctly).
But, guess what?...Guess who's learned much since then, and has made it his purpose to pursue education of diving theory?...ME
Sometimes we unfortunately have no other way of truly learning something except through a real event. Lucky for me, I was blessed to both survive and learn a whole lot that day. It has made me a different diver, no doubt.

 

[TSandM]

You know, one of the things that Joe Talavera really pounded on during our Rec 2 class was the idea that we all get way too focused on DCS. DCS is rare in recreational diving, and even if you get it, is unlikely to kill you (again given recreational profiles) but running out of gas will. Staying on top of your gas supply and knowing where you can go with it and for how long is a survival requirement.

The last day of the class, we did some deeper dives off a boat. There were two teams, and Joe went down with both (so he did four deep dives that day). At the end of the third, he surfaced and called for the last team, and the captain of the boat said to him, "Are you okay for your deco?" And Joe looked at us and said, "See, even HE is asking the wrong question. The right question is, 'Are you okay on gas?'"