Pauly854
Contributor
I had some problems this past summer on a drift dive. First off, this was my first ocean experience. I have been diving for several years, mainly quarries, and feel that I am very comfortable at depth. The dives were set up as groups of 4-6 people, with one towing a surface buoy. The first dive, another member of our group had the buoy. This was good, because I just wanted to enjoy my first ocean dive, and not worry about that thing. Plus, my 16 year old son was with us, and I wanted to keep very close tabs on him. The dive was uneventful, until we looked for the buoy guy, and he wasn't there! I had been keeping him in sight, and saw him about one minute earlier, but he was now gone. My son's air was at the point of heading up, so we got everyone's attention (surface as a group was the plan), gave another look around for our guy....then began to surface. We found him on the boat. He said he suddenly became buoyant, and couldn't stay down. He looked worn out from the effort, and I admit that I was a tad concerned about him for awhile. Nevertheless...that is when I became the buoy guy. It is a necessary job...that I never want again!
The next few dives were uneventful, and I really didn't mind the buoy so much...until the night dive. The first sign of a problem, is when we reach the bottom and I am a farther away from the rest of the group (total of 4) than I would have expected. We regroup, and begin the dive. Now, I was under the impression that drifts were the "lazy dives". No need to fin, no effort, just go where it takes you. That sounds great...until you have a shutterbug in the group. Stop, take a picture, chase down a critter, take a picture, investigate that coral, take a picture. I was quite used to it by this 3rd day, but something was now different. There is a surface current. It is apparently much stronger than the one at depth. I find myself being towed by this damn buoy, much quicker than the rest of the group. They are all hovering over something, pictures are being taken, and I am about ready to have a coronary trying to fight this current. The whole time I am still getting further away. My son swims up to me, and I signal to him that he is to stay glued to me. The rest finally come up, and I try to explain the issue, and that they should stay near me...but being towed by a buoy isn't really an easy thing to pantomime. I'm not sure how much they understood, but my son stayed within arm's reach the rest of the dive. The others still kept drifting off, and we wound up not surfacing together.
The DM had explained to us that "the only person who isn't lost, is the one with the buoy. It is YOUR job to stay with the buoy guy, not the other way around". That sounds all fine and dandy, but I really hated to let the current take me when I knew these guys were snapping pictures. I would be out of sight before they realized it...and it was a night dive. That is finally what I had to do, so that my pulse rate slowed down to normal. I kept my kid with me, and we drifted. I burned through my tank rather quickly on that dive, and was at ascent psi way early. Should I have made one last effort to get back to them (risking a myocardial infarction) , to tell them I had to go up...or was a safe and orderly ascent with appropriate air reserve, the right choice?
For the record, I have no problem with photographers. He made copies for everyone, and they are a treasured reminder of me and my son's first ocean dives. It is just that the attention that was lost while photographing, made my dive go from pleasure, to a day's work.
The next few dives were uneventful, and I really didn't mind the buoy so much...until the night dive. The first sign of a problem, is when we reach the bottom and I am a farther away from the rest of the group (total of 4) than I would have expected. We regroup, and begin the dive. Now, I was under the impression that drifts were the "lazy dives". No need to fin, no effort, just go where it takes you. That sounds great...until you have a shutterbug in the group. Stop, take a picture, chase down a critter, take a picture, investigate that coral, take a picture. I was quite used to it by this 3rd day, but something was now different. There is a surface current. It is apparently much stronger than the one at depth. I find myself being towed by this damn buoy, much quicker than the rest of the group. They are all hovering over something, pictures are being taken, and I am about ready to have a coronary trying to fight this current. The whole time I am still getting further away. My son swims up to me, and I signal to him that he is to stay glued to me. The rest finally come up, and I try to explain the issue, and that they should stay near me...but being towed by a buoy isn't really an easy thing to pantomime. I'm not sure how much they understood, but my son stayed within arm's reach the rest of the dive. The others still kept drifting off, and we wound up not surfacing together.
The DM had explained to us that "the only person who isn't lost, is the one with the buoy. It is YOUR job to stay with the buoy guy, not the other way around". That sounds all fine and dandy, but I really hated to let the current take me when I knew these guys were snapping pictures. I would be out of sight before they realized it...and it was a night dive. That is finally what I had to do, so that my pulse rate slowed down to normal. I kept my kid with me, and we drifted. I burned through my tank rather quickly on that dive, and was at ascent psi way early. Should I have made one last effort to get back to them (risking a myocardial infarction) , to tell them I had to go up...or was a safe and orderly ascent with appropriate air reserve, the right choice?
For the record, I have no problem with photographers. He made copies for everyone, and they are a treasured reminder of me and my son's first ocean dives. It is just that the attention that was lost while photographing, made my dive go from pleasure, to a day's work.