What would you have done?

[The Logic Theorist]

The setup:

I have an AOW cert, but this was my 2nd non training dive (11th dive total). I'd booked a trip through my LDS for wreck diving this past weekend. I do not have someone I dive with regularly, and asked when I booked the trip if I could expect to be paired up with someone on the boat. I was told yes, you're on a trip with us, we'll make sure you are able to dive.

Fast forward to the boat, we're pulling in and dropping anchor at the first dive site of the day. It's 128ft max, 118ft av, which is by far the deepest I've ever been. I go to the guy running the trip and say ok, there are 5 of us on the trip with the LDS, and everyone else on the boat seems to be with a buddy they're used to. Who am I diving with? He puts me with the dive instructor for the shop, who is obviously going to stay down a lot longer than me. I'm assuming I'll run out of air before I run out of no-deco time since I usually do.

We set the plan to be as follows: We'll drop together. When I'm out of air I'll signal to my buddy, he'll make sure I get back to the ascent line, and I'll ascend on my own. I say I'm comfortable with that and agree to the plan.

My line of thinking at this point is: Viz is really high, there's little to no current, there are plenty of divers in the water, and I'm sure I can handle an ascent on my own. I'm not even bringing my camera so I have nothing to distract me from diving safely.

So, we descend. No problems. The wreck is amazing, I see a few huge sandtiger sharks (a first for me to see any sharks at all!), and the next thing I know I'm at 126ft without even really realizing it. I'm diving on a computer, so I'm watching the countdown timer for no-deco and watching my air fairly regularly. With 2 min of no-deco time left I start trying to get my buddy's attention. I get it when the no-deco on the computer is blinking zero, and point this out to him and signal for up. He flashes me an ok, and then turns around and swims off in the other direction from the line! I'm completely confused at this point. I thought the plan was that he was taking me back to the ascent line when I needed to ascend. I wait another full 3 min while he's off doing whatever (I can see him clearly, but he's far enough off that I don't want to swim over to get him) and I realize that now I'm past my no-deco time AND running a little shorter on air than I'd like (I still have 1000 left, but I know I still go through air fairly quickly). I'm hesitant to leave my buddy. I'm not concerned that he's going to need my assistance, but I don't want to just vanish and leave him wondering where I am and cause a possible panic. However, realizing that I'm not going to be able to make a proper ascent and extended safety stop if I wait any more I say screw this and head for the line.

I end up ascending too quickly according to the computer, but I do extend my safety stop to 5 min @18ft and get back to the boat with 300psi.

I talked to my buddy after and he said he was taking me around the wreck back to the line (I didn't think to ask why, as that makes no sense to me to take the long way around when I'm out of time, and had I not ascended when I did I wouldn't have had the air necessary to extend my stop). He ended up staying down 51 min and doing a staged decompression dive btw.

So, is there anything I should have done differently? Could have done differently? As an extremely new diver, I'm always hesitant to leave my buddy even when I know they're much more experienced than me. Should I be pissed that he didn't follow the plan? Should I have bolted for the ascent line as soon as I realized he wasn't going with me? Should I refuse to dive with people who are on a different dive plan than me?

Tips appreciated, as right now I'm thinking every little ache or tingle means I'm bent and going to spontaneously go into a coma at any moment. (Ok, not really, but I am concerned)

 

[Puffer Fish]

Ist rule - take care of yourself... that was a very stupid dive to make... and the instructor should have said so.

And your dive plan should have been to be going up before you reached deco.....

The problem is, you are still in the student mode, and have not yet gotten to the "I a diver" mode... this takes some time.. and is normal.

 

[The Logic Theorist]

Ist rule - take care of yourself... that was a very stupid dive to make... and the instructor should have said so.

Please elaborate on what you mean by this. Stupid to go to the depth I did? Stay down as long as I did? What?

The plan was to go up before running out of air OR before reaching deco, whichever happened first. I definitely did not plan to go into deco time and would have preferred to not.

 

[gangrel441]

First, glad to hear you are back safe and sound, and looking for answers.

The first lesson to be learned here is situational awareness. The deeper you go, the more likely (in most cases) that you will run out of no-deco time before you run LOA. 128 ft with no residual nitrogen at the begining of the dive should only give you about 8 min of bottom time. On such a profile, you should make sure you are aware of what your computer is telling you. As you ascend, the computer will track you nitrogen loading and compensate for time spent shallower. However, you don't want to rely on this either. It is best to stay well within the limits, whether they are on a computer or a table.

That said, with only 11 dives logged, and none outside of a class, 128 ft is a dive you probably should have taken a pass on in the first place. After AOW, PADI only recommends a max depth of 100 ft, and you are only certified to dive in conditions you are familiar with. That isn't to say that you can't go past 100 ft, but you should work your way into it gradually.

Did the instructor you buddied up with tell you anything before the dive about him doing staged deco? Was he diving doubles? Did he have any slung bottles or set any stage bottles on the way down? These would be some pretty good hints that this dive might be outside the realm of dives you were ready to take on. If not, then I am not so sure he was doing anything but riding his computer himself. Either way, the guy shouldn't have paired up with a recreational diver.

On future trips, make sure you talk with the trip organizer and/or the boat captain to make sure you know what you are getting into before you step on the boat or give them your hard earned money. Make sure they are clear on your experience level, and find out what you can about depth, currents, water temps, etc.

Above all, don't be too hard on yourself. Learn your lessons, and continue diving and learning!

 

[TSandM]

Should I be pissed that he didn't follow the plan? Should I have bolted for the ascent line as soon as I realized he wasn't going with me? Should I refuse to dive with people who are on a different dive plan than me?

Absolutely yes to the first and last questions.

There are so many things wrong with this story, I don't really know where to begin, and almost none of it is your fault. Since your LDS knew you, and had a group going on the trip, AND you took care to ask about having a dive buddy, AND they told you they would take care of it, I see it as their responsibility to make sure you had a buddy who would be cognizant of your new diver status and be conservative and safe. The fact that the person who behaved as you describe was an instructor with the shop appalls me.

One of the scariest things in diving is what you don't know that you don't know. I assume you were diving an Al80 -- Do you know how much gas you need to get you and a buddy up from 126 feet on an Al 80? If your "buddy" had had a malfunction (say a freeflow, for example) would you have had enough gas to get him to the surface safely, even at the point when you recognized how deep you were? Did anybody ever teach you to think about such things? (This is NOT a criticism of you, BTW.)

Many problems with dives occur on descent and ascent. Ascent, for example, is one of the common times to have trouble with ears not adjusting equally on both sides, which causes vertigo. Ascent, for new divers, is also a time where buoyancy issues can be severe. In my opinion, a plan which permits a new diver to make a solo ascent from 120 feet is utterly unacceptable, and I don't care how benign the conditions are. What if you HAD run out of air during your ascent? Did this instructor have any idea what your gas supply was, when you signalled him that you needed to end the dive?

This is really how I see the dive, and I'm going to be blunt because I'm annoyed that this kind of thing can happen: You, as a brand new diver, were on a boat where the first dive exceeded what you should have done safely. However, you don't have the information to tell you that because you weren't taught it (although the recommended limits for OW certification ARE a clue). You are following an instructor, and because he's an instructor and seems to think the plan is OK, you think it's okay, even though you WERE taught to stay with your buddy. So you're doing a "trust me" dive, and then the person you are trusting with your safety proceeds to come up with a plan that involves allowing you to dive alone at great depth. Said person doesn't monitor your gas supply, doesn't communicate well, and appears to ignore the signal to end the dive. The only thing that went RIGHT is that you didn't let his behavior suck you into staying at depth until you didn't have the gas to make the surface.

What could you have done differently? You could have decided this dive was beyond your training. You could have refused to accept a dive plan that involved surfacing alone. You could perhaps have been more vehement underwater in communicating your status when you needed to end the dive (although it might not have made any difference, given the plan.) And for the future, you can find dive buddies who take the relationship seriously. And check out THIS link to give you a little more information on how to assess your gas supply against your consumption rate, to decide if you are safe in making the dive you're contemplating.

Glad this ended well. I'd shoot your dive buddy.

BTW, my 10th dive was to 130 feet in Molokini on an Al80, with an instructor, so I did the same "trust me" dive you did. Further, my husband was sent up from that dive (although from 40 feet, not 120) by himself. So I'm guilty of everything I'm irritated about here. Luckily, I subsequently learned better, and I now dive with people who gas plan, use conservative parameters, and put good buddy practices at the heart of their diving style.

 

[Puffer Fish]

Quoting does not seem to work.. so will try post quick reply.

Part of learning to be a diver is that adjustment time from having a class (student) and being someone that is independent. They talk about depth limits for new divers, but it is really a time for you to adjust to a different point of view.

Doing a dive, where you are with an instructor, to a depth that would normally be a deco dive, where you may be affected by Nitrogen, with someone you don't know, is just not smart. You don't how he will act... he does not know how you will act...

Your story should never have happened.. but the responsibility for it is yours, not the other diver.

Think of it this way..... Had you had a real buddy, when they saw that your time was up, would have insisted you go up.... but that did not happen...

 

[Blackwood]

The plan was to go up before running out of air OR before reaching deco, whichever happened first. I definitely did not plan to go into deco time and would have preferred to not.

If you are running low on one, you're likely running low on the other (I'm assuming you were in singles). If you blow by your NDL and incur a 10-15 minute ascent from 120', you'll likely not have the air to complete it. Choosing between bent and dead is easy, but its still something you don't want to do.

When you are going that deep, it's good to know exactly when the dive will be over. Is the turn going to be based on deco or gas? Don't leave it up to chance. Figure it out beforehand. Incidentally, I always consider gas to be the limiting factor in diving. Deco is merely a consideration that goes into your gas plan.

Unless you have an unhumanlike low gas consumption rate (unlikely since you are so green, but not impossible), don't go that deep on singles.

 

[Blackwood]

Oh, and if this happens in the future (you signaling to end the dive and your buddy not doing so), screw the "low on air" signal. Give him "I'm out of air" and go for his reg. I bet you he'll oblige then



But yah, this dive shouldn't have happened. Here's a rule of thumb for buddying up. If your gear is VASTLY different, e.g. you have one tank and he has three (including one set aside for deco), don't do the dive. He is obviously planning something for which you are not equipped.

 

[SteveAD]

Puffer might be a bit harsh to say stupid, But I agree in concept. with less than a dozen dives you need to be getting comfortable with the basics of diving in <60 feet where problems don't run up on you quite so fast. Your first duty is to your own safety. If a dive plan is made and your buddy unilaterally changes the plan in a way that adversely affects your safety, your options are either force your buddy back on plan (good luck on that) or stay on plan yourself. The first mistake however was starting off without a known buddy. Dive more (but less aggressively) get to know some regular buddies, and in the future sign up for trips as a pair.

 

[Puffer Fish]

TSandM - could not agree more... this sort of thing happens a lot.. sadly.