What would you have done?

[diverkristi]

Personally, I don't do the insta-buddy thing.

I want to know my buddy reasonably well. That said, of the divers I know, there are only a few I wouldn't dive with.

Local dive clubs are a great way to meet other divers. We even have one here in WV. Your LDS should be able to giveyou names of locals who dive regularly and would be receptive to others joining in.

Also Scubaboard has regional dive club areas.

Also note: Modifying the location based on conditions is typical in that area. That said, it shouldn't be a modification that all divers wouldn't be able to do.

 

[The Logic Theorist]

Well, depending where you live, that can be very easy or very hard (you don't have your profile filed out).

I am fortunate to dive with a lot of the people on this board, and many are truly excellent people to dive with.

But, I've met people on "cattle boats", shore dives, and at dive shops.

Finding a buddy is usually easy, finding good buddies is not always and what you may want from a buddy is somewhat different than what I would expect.

Funny thing about that, I had registered previously and contributed a number of posts and threads, and when I came back my account was gone.

I live in Washington DC.

 

[Puffer Fish]

Let me clear up a few more items of confusion here:

This was not a class, it was a dive trip.

I signed up through my LDS and not the boat charter.

The pairing up was made by the LDS representative who I signed up for the trip with, NOT the captain.

The instructor I was paired with was supposed to be leading the trip as per the LDS, and I was paired with him as a fallback due to no other buddy being present for me.

Thanks. If you go to say Destin, FL and take a boat dive... they will want to know your experience level, and if this is something new for you, they will assign a DM to dive with you...even if you have a buddy. That DM dives your profile.. comes up when you do... stays with you on both dives. They don't charge more for that (that I know of... but don't actually know). Sometimes, if they need an extra hand, I will take one of the new people (assuming I am just picture taking), and will dive their profile also. Sometimes the boat is half filled with DM's

 

[Puffer Fish]

Funny thing about that, I had registered previously and contributed a number of posts and threads, and when I came back my account was gone.

I live in Washington DC.

I have had that happen also... so this was an atlantic dive I assume..... then it is doubly odd.

I dive Destin (and the surrounding area) a lot, and with the southern Florida SB guys and Gals. One would be hard pressed to find a better group of people

 

[gangrel441]

First off thanks everyone for the tips.

I do definitely take responsibility for my part in this dive plan going awol. I was asking what -I- could have done differently so -I- can make better decisions moving forward. One of those decisions may be to not plan dives or trips with that particular shop again, but I definitely recognize that when all is said and done I was the one that chose to get in the water.

As far as checking the itenerary in advance goes, this charter doesn't post one. They pick dive sites the day of based on conditions. I may take that as a sign that I need to stick to charters that do post solid plans until I'm more experienced so I don't end up in the middle of the Atlantic on a dive I've paid for and have the choice of dropping to 120' or not diving.

As far as dive planning goes, I will be going back to using a table and my watch. I realize the computer will give me more dive time, but from this experience at this point that may not be an advantage for me. Kingpatzer - Yes, I did check my air almost constantly. I did not check the NDL on the table, I was looking at the computer for remaining NDL time, but I did look every time I checked my air.

I definitely realized after this that 2 min was not enough time to get back to the line and ascend and will be adjusting dive plans in the future with that in mind.

I will definitely be more assertive about sticking to dive plans that are within my limits, and not agreeing to solo ascents in the future.

But, I am glad to read from a number of you that once I'd made the bad decision to get into the water, I did make good decisions getting out of it.

Unfortunately, I'm not really sure what to do moving forward in terms of finding good buddies. No one I know dives. I know a few people that say they're interested, but they give all kinds of excuses for why they don't take the plunge. I know one guy who seems pretty serious, but thusfar he still hasn't signed up for OW. I don't want to hang around and wait, I -DO- want to dive. Is it bad etiquette to show up at a boat charter alone and try to find a buddy? Or is that how you meet people?

First - the charter...I don't know how it is done in SC, but my experience on the Great Lakes is that even if the captain doesn't know what site he is going to specifically, he will have some idea of what range of sites he will go to, be it a wreck in 45 ft vs. a wreck in 130 ft. Current and vis are the variables. I would hope that in SC, you could book with a charter that will at least give you that much info.

It seems to me that this captain had a pretty good idea of where he was going in advance, as the instructor knew he was going to a wreck where he wanted to do a staged deco dive. Had the wreck been at 80 ft, I doubt he would have been planning for deco. My hunch is that the instructor and the shop knew where the charter was going already, be it a month or a day before departure.

As for buddies, short of online, the best place to meet dive buddies is through an LDS or a local dive club. Here in Chicago, we have clubs that plan dives quite often at local quarries, as well as lake charters. If possible, I would recommend doing a few quarry dives to see if you can meet some local buddies, then talk to those buddies about signing on to some wreck charters. Seems to work well here...

Not a bad idea to go back to using the table and watch for dive planning, but you don't need to scrap the computer. Some more experiece and perhaps a bit of coaching with using the computer will definately help.

 

[diverkristi]

Most NC dive ops (that I use) want to see that you have several dives to 100 feet before you splash in NC waters at that depth.

 

[Blackwood]

As far as checking the itenerary in advance goes, this charter doesn't post one. They pick dive sites the day of based on conditions.

...I may take that as a sign that I need to stick to charters that do post solid plans...

That's common. A charter that pre-selects a site that happens to be blown out (or has otherwise unexpected dangerous conditions) and still does it is a bad charter, IMO.

Given the unpredictable nature of the ocean, it is impossible to be certain beforehand whether a site offers decent conditions.

What you need to do is be able to suck up the couple-a hundred dollars you spent and not do a dive for which you are unequipped.

Unfortunately, I'm not really sure what to do moving forward in terms of finding good buddies. No one I know dives.

Try the internet. This site probably has ample divers in your area.

The pairing up was made by the LDS representative who I signed up for the trip with, NOT the captain.

FYI, on a boat, the captain is responsible.

 

[nereas]

Let me clear up a few more items of confusion here:

This was not a class, it was a dive trip.

I signed up through my LDS and not the boat charter.

The pairing up was made by the LDS representative who I signed up for the trip with, NOT the captain.

The instructor I was paired with was supposed to be leading the trip as per the LDS, and I was paired with him as a fallback due to no other buddy being present for me.

Well, I would not blame the boat captain, then, although the USCG would still hold him 100% responsible, if something had gone wrong.

 

[ClayJar]

Scrolling through the multiposts, I didn't catch anybody bringing this up, so (emphasis to be mine)...

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'm assuming I'll run out of air before I run out of no-deco time since I usually do.

That's actually a common new diver misconception. Take, for example, a diver whose tank is enough to let him stay down for half an hour on about an 80 fsw dive. The NAUI tables (which I have handy at the moment) give him 35 minutes of NDL for an 80 fsw dive, so his air will run out before his NDL on the 80 fsw dive. (He'd have five minutes more NDL than air.)

At 50 fsw, the diver would have enough air to stretch the dive to 42 minutes, but his NDL at 50 fsw would have stretched all the way to 80 minutes. (He'd have 38 minutes more NDL than air!)

On the other hand, if the diver decides to do a deep dive to 130 fsw, he will obviously go through his air more rapidly, but it will still last 21 minutes or so. His NDL, on the other hand, is *drastically* reduced -- instead of the 35 minutes it was at 80 fsw, he now only has 8 minutes at 130 fsw! Instead of running out of air first, he will hit his NDL a whole 13 minutes before his air is exhausted!


Indeed, one of the things that people are "supposed to learn" in AOW is precisely how gas consumption and NDLs are affected by increased depth. When diving to "OW limits" (60 fsw), it's a rare diver who can manage to have a deco obligation on an rented AL80, but when diving deeper, it actually becomes quite easy to go into deco before your SPG's looking sparse.

 

[The Logic Theorist]

What you need to do is be able to suck up the couple-a hundred dollars you spent and not do a dive for which you are unequipped.

Ok, I'll forgo diving till I win the lottery.:crazy3:

Seriously, I think if this dive plan had not called for a solo ascent, and if my buddy had stuck with the plan, I would have been diving within my limits, although granted near the edge of my limits. I know a good number of you won't agree with me, but that's life, we can't all agree all the time.