Too much current and a negligent dive master??

[pbr]

I was diving Key Largo last week with two buddies when we had an unsettling incident as follows;

We were diving the Spiegel Grove and since it's an "advanced dive" we had hired a dive master. The sea was high (3 to five foot swells) and one of my buddies (a women) was always the first in the water due to the fact that she is prone to sea sickness.

Here is the incident, the dive master went in first and held onto the mooring line. He told us that there was a ripping current and that we needed to grab the line as soon as we hit the water. Lynn went in but missed the mooring line and was swept away by the current. John went in and held the line, and I went in and held the line. The divemaster indicated that we should descend on the line which we proceeded to do. The current was fearsome all the way to the wreck and the DM decided it was unsafe to continue so, back up the line we went.

Meanwhile, Lynn had to be "rescued" by the onboard divemaster who swam to her with a granny line (about 200 yards).

She was royally pissed that our divemaster didn't come get her.

I'm not sure it was his fault but am not sure what the "proper" procedure is. Any comments?

 

[MechDiver]

I was diving Key Largo last week with two buddies when we had an unsettling incident as follows;

We were diving the Spiegel Grove and since it's an "advanced dive" we had hired a dive master. The sea was high (3 to five foot swells) and one of my buddies (a women) was always the first in the water due to the fact that she is prone to sea sickness.

Here is the incident, the dive master went in first and held onto the mooring line. He told us that there was a ripping current and that we needed to grab the line as soon as we hit the water. Lynn went in but missed the mooring line and was swept away by the current. John went in and held the line, and I went in and held the line. The divemaster indicated that we should descend on the line which we proceeded to do. The current was fearsome all the way to the wreck and the DM decided it was unsafe to continue so, back up the line we went.

Meanwhile, Lynn had to be "rescued" by the onboard divemaster who swam to her with a granny line (about 200 yards).

She was royally pissed that our divemaster didn't come get her.

I'm not sure it was his fault but am not sure what the "proper" procedure is. Any comments?

Why didn't you ask him why he didn't help her and get his opinion first hand?
Whatever, if there was a second DM on board as you indicated, and if the first diver did not indicate she was in distress, then IMO the first DM did correctly in dealing with you and the other diver.

Second guessing stuff is stupid and never accomplishes anything. If you wanted to know, you should have asked him/her.

 

[simbrooks]

I dont know protocols, but as there were two DM's aboard and she got picked up, there shouldnt be too much of a problem. Unfortunately on a site with lots of current hitting the line and staying on it are things you have to stay on top of.

If there wasnt another DM, wouldnt the boat have gone to pick her up after the rest of the divers had got off and started down the line - ie the capt could get the engines going again once the water was clear of divers. She got help a little quicker than this case. Although there is the safety concern of her drifting away the capt should be able to see her, i think the DM had a duty to stay with the divers actually going down and leave the capt (in this case another DM instead) deal with stragglers at the surface.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

"proper" procedure will vary with circumstances.

But, "proper" procedures should be discussed (in greater detail) prior to anyone jumping in, so that mutual expectations are in line with mutual intentions.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate"...

 

[MikeFerrara]

It sounds like theyr course of action worked ok.

Maybe they should have briefed better on the emergency procedures they use but other than that I don't see a problem. They had some one in the water with you and they had some one else available to play "go fetch".

It's pretty common on the boats I dive on to take care of divers near the boat first. If you get blown off the wreck your own until the boat can safely move.

 

[pbr]

It sounds like theyr course of action worked ok.

Maybe they should have briefed better on the emergency procedures they use but other than that I don't see a problem. They had some one in the water with you and they had some one else available to play "go fetch".

It's pretty common on the boats I dive on to take care of divers near the boat first. If you get blown off the wreck your own until the boat can safely move.

Thanks guys. I think there wasn't anything the 1st DM could have done differently. After all, if he went after her they both would have been swept away as he couldn't possibly have retrieved her without a granny line. Therefore, the onboard DM would STILL have to go get them.

I agree that he should have stayed with us and pass Lynn off to the onboard divemaster.

By the way, I wasn't trying to second guess the DM, just get a few comments for "next time".

 

[SDAnderson]

I was diving Key Largo last week with two buddies when we had an unsettling incident as follows;

We were diving the Spiegel Grove and since it's an "advanced dive" we had hired a dive master. The sea was high (3 to five foot swells) and one of my buddies (a women) was always the first in the water due to the fact that she is prone to sea sickness.

Never dive beyond your training and experience. With or without a DM, the SG remains an advanced dive that you weren't prepared for. It sounds as though there wasn't any training going on - clearly you had no idea what the expectations and "what if's" were for this dive and that ALWAYS remains your responsibility. Hiring a DM was a good idea, but his job is to be a guide, not an instructor and never rely upon anyone to be your own personal rescue diver. Think ahead, ask questions, demand answers, be proactive. Otherwise it's just a trust me dive and those are always bad things.

Here is the incident, the dive master went in first and held onto the mooring line. He told us that there was a ripping current and that we needed to grab the line as soon as we hit the water. Lynn went in but missed the mooring line and was swept away by the current. John went in and held the line, and I went in and held the line. The divemaster indicated that we should descend on the line which we proceeded to do. The current was fearsome all the way to the wreck and the DM decided it was unsafe to continue so, back up the line we went.

Not that it matters much, but I'll bet that it wasn't the mooring line that she was trying to grab - more likely a drag line or a granny line. I also don't know how she could miss it, whatever line it is, but you should both understand that this is an important skill. If you can't jump in the water and grab the line on the way in, you shouldn't be diving where there is a current.

Next question is, if your friend has just been swept away, why did you jump in the water? Was there some kind of assistance that you could provide or were you just on autopilot, unthinkingly creating an additional liability that needed watching by the DM?

Meanwhile, Lynn had to be "rescued" by the onboard divemaster who swam to her with a granny line (about 200 yards).

She was royally pissed that our divemaster didn't come get her.

First, quotes around "rescue" aren't necessary - this was not a "sort of" rescue, it was the real thing. A diver was being carried away by the current and that is a clear and immediate danger, especially in a high traffic area like over the SG. Second, why does she care who rescued her? From my armchair, it sounds like the DM's were working as a team even if you divers weren't and that they responded quickly and aggressively to address the multiple problems they faced. They got the job done and that's what counts.

I'm not sure it was his fault but am not sure what the "proper" procedure is. Any comments?

It's good that you're analyzing this experience - painful though the process often is, it's the best way to learn and improve. Anger, however, has no part in the process. Mistakes were made and, as is often the case in rescue situations, a whole string of mistakes were made by more than one person. Your team should sit down and take a hard-nosed look at what happened and evaluate everyone's performance in detail. What did you do right, what did you do wrong, what should be done next time? You also should have taken the time to suck the marrow from the two DM's on the boat - they had a lot to teach you and you missed the opportunity to learn.

As far as what is "standard" procedure in a situation like this, it's hard to say. Given the current and the general level of competence described, I think leaving the two divers unattended hanging on the line would have been less than optimal. Somebody needs to swim to get the loose diver or else everyone in the water needs to be returned to the boat so that it can go pick the diver up. That would normally 86 the dive (which happened anyway) and would also have resulted in a delay of several minutes in the rescue effort. I can't tell from your post if you proceeded with your dive before the rescue was effected, but that might be problematic. On the other hand, if the DM's were confident that a rescue could be made, getting the remaining divers off the surface and into (hopefully) calmer waters deeper down might not have been a bad idea.

It sounds like a valuable learning experience so I'd like to turn the tables on you and ask what you learned and what you think should have happened?

 

[Doc Intrepid]

It sounds like theyr course of action worked ok.

Maybe they should have briefed better on the emergency procedures they use but other than that I don't see a problem. They had some one in the water with you and they had some one else available to play "go fetch".

It's pretty common on the boats I dive on to take care of divers near the boat first. If you get blown off the wreck your own until the boat can safely move.

I'm not in any position to criticize any procedure, or any decision made by the Dive Masters.

She was royally pissed that our divemaster didn't come get her.

I'm pointing out that when a diver gets back onto a boat "royally pissed" when she expected behavior X and instead received behavior Y, someone failed to understand conditions and consequences.

(Moreover, when this involves someone you've paid to accompany you, there is some confusion as to roles and responsibilities.)

That's why I would suggest there are lessons here to be learned involving pre-dive communications.

 

[simbrooks]

Reefraff (and actually anyone else that wants to comment), this is not a flame as i know jack about such things, but what should have happened then?

We dont know if there were more people on the boat aside from the 3 mentioned divers, 2 DM's and assuming a capt, so we cant know who else gets affected by this incident, but....If this girl was first off and missed the line, should all the divers stay on board and pick up the DM again to get the boat moving to rescue her or just do something simple like throw her a line (or in this case a spare DM with line) to pick her up and either her buddy waits for her on the boat or at the line while she tries again to re-enter at the buoy. I am not trying to act selfishly/stupidly on this and saying that i would dive without my buddy if they were swept off down current, but what can you really do if a diver in another buddy pair has this happen - do all divers wait it out? The operations i have been on around here suggest that if you miss the line, that you dont bother tiring yourself out swimming against the current, once the other divers are in the water and at the buoy, they will come and pick you up and drop you at the buoy again - this seems sensible to me and doesnt inconvenience the other divers - i assume this would be reasonable if the diver who missed the entry wasnt in trouble, if they were in trouble who knows what the capt would do, but the diver generally should be able to look after themselves, swim up, inflate BC, breathe of reg, drop weights if they get into most forms of trouble and then get picked up afterwards. Again i speak from inexperience and would like to know if anyone else has different experiences with boat dives in current?

Obviously this should be covered in the dive briefing, but i would like to know what people have done, suggest or have seen in similar circumstances.

 

[Uncle Pug]

From the limited set of *facts* presented I would have to agree point by point with Steven's post and add that if the current was rippin' as stated the boat operator should already have had a tag line deployed behind the boat of sufficient length that a diver missing the granny line would be able to haul themselves back.