I did a boat dive last weekend with my regular buddy. A third diver, who was less experienced, asked if she could join us. Since the trip was organized by our dive club and I'm an officer of the club, I felt compelled to allow her to join us.
The first dive of the day turned out to be fairly advanced ... probably more advanced than the skills of the newer diver. We splashed in and descended on the anchor line. Visibility was about 15' ... lots of particulate in the water .. and a medium current was running. I led, with the new diver in the middle, and my normal buddy at the rear. We found the pinnacle, which began at 75'. We dove the pinnacle, reacing a depth of 95', until the newer diver reached 1200# (our agreed turn point). My computer was at the top end of the green Nitrogen loading zone, so I would have turned the dive at that point any way.
I led the group back towards the boat, ascending to about 30 feet before doing so. The poor vis meant there wasn't really any visual reference (couldn't see bottom, couldn't see any reef, etc.). The newer diver began having bouyancy problems, ultimately swimming upside down to stay at 30' and losing the battle. Her BC wasn't fully vented, so I swam to her and began venting but, by the time I got the BC vented, she was at the surface. My computer wasn't in the "yellow" Nitrogen loading zone and we surfaced about 15 feet frm the boat. Rather than have her descend and do a safety stop, which would have required a surface swim to the anchor, we exited. My regular buddy stayed down at 15' for 3 minutes, then surfaced.
Everyone was ok, but clearly we 'skirted the limits' by skipping the safety stop and surfacing too fast. My questions:
1) Should I have ended the dive when I suspected it was beyond the limits of the new diver?
2) Should I have surfaced with her, knowing that she was close to the boat, or should I have stayed down for a safety stop?
3) Should I have made her swim to the anshor line, descend, and do a safety stop?
The first dive of the day turned out to be fairly advanced ... probably more advanced than the skills of the newer diver. We splashed in and descended on the anchor line. Visibility was about 15' ... lots of particulate in the water .. and a medium current was running. I led, with the new diver in the middle, and my normal buddy at the rear. We found the pinnacle, which began at 75'. We dove the pinnacle, reacing a depth of 95', until the newer diver reached 1200# (our agreed turn point). My computer was at the top end of the green Nitrogen loading zone, so I would have turned the dive at that point any way.
I led the group back towards the boat, ascending to about 30 feet before doing so. The poor vis meant there wasn't really any visual reference (couldn't see bottom, couldn't see any reef, etc.). The newer diver began having bouyancy problems, ultimately swimming upside down to stay at 30' and losing the battle. Her BC wasn't fully vented, so I swam to her and began venting but, by the time I got the BC vented, she was at the surface. My computer wasn't in the "yellow" Nitrogen loading zone and we surfaced about 15 feet frm the boat. Rather than have her descend and do a safety stop, which would have required a surface swim to the anchor, we exited. My regular buddy stayed down at 15' for 3 minutes, then surfaced.
Everyone was ok, but clearly we 'skirted the limits' by skipping the safety stop and surfacing too fast. My questions:
1) Should I have ended the dive when I suspected it was beyond the limits of the new diver?
2) Should I have surfaced with her, knowing that she was close to the boat, or should I have stayed down for a safety stop?
3) Should I have made her swim to the anshor line, descend, and do a safety stop?