Terror on my 12th dive

[Skeeter1097]

I would have called the dive in a hart beat. I am glad you are sell diving I have met a few that stopped diving for reasons like that. This last Saturday , [yesterday ] The viz was very bad. My buddy said he hit the bottom before he saw it. They called the dive and moved a few miles they ended up having two grate dives.

 

[emttim]

See, this kind of stuff worries me because I just got off the phone with my would-be dive buddy for a trip I wanna go on dec 14-16 in Monterey and she basically told me she doesn't want to dive without supervision, despite being a certified diver now that we finished our O/W class, but she'd be happy to pay $100 through the local dive shop (which likes to rip you off on everything, so that's probably overpriced to begin with) to do ocean dives with another O/W class....I was like "well, I don't think our instructor would have certified us if he thought we were too incompetent to dive on our own, so I disagree with that" and left it at that...but again, now the issue of finding a buddy is a problem, and I don't know if I want to go on a boat dive and get stuck with a buddy like the one described in this story, ugh.

Thanks for sharing, OP. I was actually considering just doing the boat dive and buddying up with someone on the boat up until I read this...now I think I know better.

 

[sberanek]

I dove with a guy once who felt the need to swim as fast as humanly possible. He's about twice my size and can easily outswim me just because his legs come up to my mid-section. I told him many times to slow down, but it didn't stick. So in a big bolt of speed I caught up to him, grabbed onto his tank boot and allowed him to pull me to our destination (the dock) like a living scooter. I assumed he would feel the extra drag, but he kept on swimming without a look back. When I asked him about it later, he said he thought he was just swimming slow so I could keep up.

I also second the "Catch bag" post. I want to see the fish/lobsters/crabs, not kill them or even partake in the hunting experience.

--Shannon

 

[carolrose]

You learned a really good lesson on this dive about yourself and what panic feels like to you. Any dive where you learn such a big lesson and come back safely to talk about it is a good dive.

That being said, you had a pretty sucky experience with an unknown buddy, which isn't exactly encouraging since you really have to buddy with people you don't know right now, since you don't have a circle of diving buddys yet.

I would recommend that you consider taking AOW as your next step. I did that as a pretty new diver mostly because I didn't know any divers, and I was intimidated as a new diver asking strangers to dive with me, so AOW guaranteed me a buddy for at least 5 dives. I ended up diving a bunch with my instructor over the course of the summer, and he introduced me to some other divers who I've also enjoyed diving with. In another class I took later, I ended up meeting some really cool people who are now my regular buddys too. Classes are a good way to check out how someone will be as a buddy once you guys are diving on your own but in a more or less controlled situation.

 

[Nikolai]

Thanks to everyone.

Lots of what's been posted here has helped me sort through my thoughts. And don't get me wrong, I didn't mean this as a bash my buddy thread and personally feel no animosity toward him and other than telling him that I struggled to keep up with him I was courteous, thanked him, knowing damn well I would never be doing THAT again. I feel I let myself get into a situation that I shouldn't have and that's on me.

Also I'd never been with someone lobstering and told him it was fine because i thought that meant he would be slow while he looked for the critters. To be honest I only had a :30 Bottom time on an AL80 and he ran out of air and surfaced just after I did, he didn't mind the rushing around blowing through a tank. Just a huge diving style mismatch and lesson learned for me. Now I know if I see the lobster bag to just sit it out

What truly scares me still about the whole thing is how badly logic and common sense went out the window as fatigue and panic set in. I had plenty of air, only 30' depth but let the claustrophobic, burning up, can't breathe feeling take over.

What I would like to know is what can one do to mentally prepare oneself so when things do go to heck you manage to keep your cool? I've never had a panic attack like this in my life and would really like to learn more about understanding/recognizing the onset of things like this and how to stop it before it stops.

Thanks
Nick

 

[Bobyjimmie]

I have slight clausterphobic issues as well that are only instigated and antagonized with overheating. When I go snowboarding if I am in the car wearing all my warm clothes and I get to warm I freak out and rip all my gear off.

As for the lobster bag, not all bug hunters think its a track meet. No idea why people go so fast when you can get way more bottom time and actually cover ground if you just cruise. My instructor taught me right off, take your time there is no rush to get anywhere, he caught me going pretty fast doing my AOW cert when I was doing my nav dive. I didnt realize I was going so fast but he told me afterwards when I got on task like that I would start hauling butt. I was military so the nav thing was nothing to me it was just a task to do, I was a competitive swimmer and water polo player for 6 years so its nothing for me to pick up a lot of speed in the water and not realize it and between the two tasks my instints (lack of better word) would take over.

I cope with this now by making a concious decision to cruise and hang out with my buddy no matter what we do, which means I am usually floating just above him so hes in my line of sight all the time and within arms reach. The best thing I learned is I can get some killer bottom time when I relax and take it slow this way.

After all that rambling, my point is there is no reason to race from one place to another, just gotta relax, enjoy, get there when you get there and if your buddy has the same mentality then even better. Obviously your impromptu buddy didnt have this mentality.

 

[bleeb]

Don't give up! Having gotten the short end of the stick, you're probably on your way to being a better buddy. And ScubaBoard can be a good place to meet up with buddies with compatible goals and attitudes, if you're still worried about diving with strangers. After all, you trusted us enough to ask your questions here.

Regarding your concerns about panic, I don't think anyone has mentioned that CO2 buildup can be one of the causes (or at least makes things worse). So one of the 'contributing factors' was probably the hard swim, both on the surface and under water. Something to keep in mind in the future, and just knowing this fact can possibly help you short-circuit any future panic cycle.

Also, you may want to consider doing not only an Advanced course, but also a Rescue course. A good course will teach how to recognise the symptoms of panic, so that you can break the cycle before they evolve into a full fledged attack, both in yourself and also in others.

 

[emcbride81]

One thing that helped me with a situation not too far from what you mention is that I was told by my instructor to prepare for each dive as if I was the only one who could save me. This really stuck with me. In that regards, if I would have your situation happen to me, I would have surfaced and aborted. If something happened to him after he flew off on his own, that is his problem for being a pee-poor buddy. You are responsible for you only, a buddy is another level of safety.

I must say good job realizing and handling the panic. You handled it well for only 13 dives! You will make a fine buddy.

 

[K_girl]

I had an instabuddy on a boat dive once several years ago that didn't work out for the first dive, but after I spoke with him, the second dive was much better. First, I made a wrong assumption. I assumed that he was more experienced than me. That turned out not to be true, but funny, he let me think that and did not let me know how inexperienced he was. He had only 20 dives and I had over 150 at the time. I let him lead the first dive. He kept swimming away further and further from the boat, he never turned. Visibility was about 25 feet, so I never lost sight of him. We were at 80 feet and I had 1200 pounds left, I gave the signal asking for his air. I figured we should turn around very soon. He signaled he had only 700 pounds left and turned and started swimming away from the boat again. This puzzled me, but I followed him. When I reached 1,000 pounds, I finally signaled to him to start an ascent. I thought perhaps we would ascend and swim towards the boat at the same time. He headed straight for the surface at probably at three times the recommended ascent rate, so I did not follow him to the surface. I did a slow ascent and when I got to the safety stop, I could see he was already on the surface. I did my safety stop and when I got to the surface, I could see he had swam back a good 200 yards to the boat and was already on the boat.

When I got back to the boat, instead of being angry with him, I asked him how many dives he had. That's when he told he had 20 dives and how much he loved diving. I then explained all the rules he had broken and how much he was putting himself and me at risk. Luckily, he was very receptive and concerned. I asked him to let me lead the next dive and this time, we discussed a dive plan that included navigation, air usage, ascent rate and safety stop. Nothing happened on that first dive, but it could have. I'm a good buddy, but I will not put my own neck on the line for someone who is not following the rules.

I think males may have that "macho" thing going on inside their head that makes them feel that they have to be prepared to rescue someone else, no matter the sacrifice. The next time someone takes off on you, just take a compass heading and go at your own pace. I did this once when I got caught-up in kelp, I finally got myself free and my buddy turned back and we found each other. If your buddy doesn't turn around, after a minute or so, do a slow ascent to the surface, do a safety stop if needed. Number one - take care of yourself. If you feel you need to stop - stop. Panic is your worst enemy.

Obviously, in your situation, your "buddy" was doing great, you were the one getting into trouble. He was not in need of rescue, but you were getting there. When you take a rescue class, it's not all about rescuing someone else. One of the things you learn is how to self-rescue. If you never take a rescue class, just remember this motto from the class: stop, think, breathe.

 

[Hinalo]

An instructor once told me that I should get visual contact with my buddy at least every ten seconds or so. That's turned out to be good advice.

I had a very similar dive with a guy I'd been a fellow student with. He just took off on his own in 7' vis. There were three of us buddied up on that dive, and the other guy and I, who were staying close, had to go search for the guy three times. It meant we didn't dive our plan, wasted a lot of air and had to surface way out from shore. it was a very long surface swim.

I've managed to locate some reliable and trustwortjhy buddies by getting involved in local clubs and by luck meeting people getting tanks filled at my LDS. There are good people out there, but going the insta-buddy route makes me nervous.