Tether or not tether

[Dody]

@Dody

I wish to apologize for my fellow SB members who are so lacking in knowledge as the solution is simple:

SPEARGUN!!!!

If she starts to drift away, shoot her and reel her back in! You're welcome.

In all seriousness, the fact that she is so inexperienced makes this dive location a bad idea. I suggest diving elsewhere.

You are right. Not the speargun stuff but the fact that she should not dive this site.

 

[mcohen1021]

But... she has an AOW & 50 dives...

the answer should be to get her some qualified training

 

[Doc Harry]

I've done some buddy diving in very poor visibility - like 6 to 12 inches or less.

The first time, we became separated immediately and ended the dive in just a minute or two. Clearly, normal procedures don't work in those circumstances. We thought about a tether, and then eliminated that solution.

For the rest of my buddy dives in poor viz like that, we stayed in physical contact. The follower grabbed the upper arm of the leader, and we did our dives. It was totally dark below 30 feet. We went to 120 feet, following the lake bed down. It was really, really slow going because you have to reach ahead to feel for obstacles. Diving by feel. You have to have your communication signals established before the dive.

In the end, I resorted to solo diving in conditions like that. I've done more than 50 dives alone in deep, dark lakes where the viz was less than 12 inches. A few times the viz was so poor that I couldn't even see my computer or compass, even with a dive light. I started carrying a bag of clear water that I could put between the computer and my dive mask. It's spooky diving, that's for sure.

 

[scubaozy]

Lets hope your wife will not reach the end of her tether..

 

[David Novo]

Is it just me or these threads follow a pattern?
1) Op asks for validation/explanation already expecting a specific feedback;
2) Op does not receive said feedback;
3) Op gets defensive and disregards feedback.

@Dody if you are always going to do your way anyway, why bother?

 

[Dody]

Is it just me or these threads follow a pattern?
1) Op asks for validation/explanation already expecting a specific feedback;
2) Op does not receive said feedback;
3) Op gets defensive and disregards feedback.

@Dody if you are always going to do your way anyway, why bother?

I am not sure this is the subject. I return the question to you. Why should I bother?

 

[Angelo Farina]

@Dody
In all seriousness, the fact that she is so inexperienced makes this dive location a bad idea. I suggest diving elsewhere.

I used to to teach to novices at Maldives. No swimming pool, so in the sea already on first day.
Something impossible here in the mediterranean, where some sessions in pool are required before going in the sea.
Actually Maldives are one of the best locations for a novice: the water is warm, so you do not need a thermal protection suit.
Visibility is usually excellent.
Inside the inner reef around the island, you are basically inside an aquarium, with a sand floor at a depth of 3 or 4 meters and some nice fishes all around you.
After 2 days in this benign environment, we were bringing our students outside the inner reef.
Here you have a vertical wall ending on another sand plateau at 10-12 meters depth, with bigger fish, turtles, small sharks, eagles.
Still almost no current.
And only after other 3 days diving there and completing all the exercises and passing the exam, on day 6 we were bringing our students outside the great barrier separating the atoll from the real ocean.
We did avoid the "KANDU", of course (channels or "pass").
Outside tge external reef the depth can be conspicuous, but of course we were never exceeding 15-18 meters with our newly-certified divers.
Boat not anchored, following the bubbles. Some current, but the dive was always being pushed by it.
So all this is absolutely feasible even by a full novice.
OP's wife is not a full novice, she is AOW and with 50 dives, possibly in conditions much less favourable than what you find in 90% of sites at Maldives.
AOW divers make a significant number of dives in so called "tillas".
They are coral structures raising from the depths but not reaching the surface. The boat anchors on top and the dive patch is usually a complete circumnavigation of the tilla. You usually finish downstream during the descent, so you start the dive against current, reach the point of return, and then countinue back to the boat swimming with the current.
Although not so easy as the previously described dives for novices, also these dives are usually simple enough for an AOW diver.
Only a few dives are more tough, in channels. These can be really spectacular, but require the capability for tge whoke group to dplash in the blue outside the external reef (the depth there is perhaps 200 or 300 meters) descend together and quickly to the final depth (say 30 m), wait one or two minutes midwater, whil the current carries the group towards the entrance of the channel, quickly get a grip on the edge of the channel (where the current is so strong that it can remove your mask) and watch to the big beasts swimming just above you for 20-30 minutes.
The divemaster will evaluate who is ready for this type of dives. These are not for everyone...