Plan your Dive, Dive your Plan.
Last November I dove on the Duane with Ocean Diver's out of Key Largo, near MM 101 (As a side note, I highly recommend Ocean Diver's.). Ocean Diver's required an AOW C-card and they required that my logbook show at least 10 ocean dives in the last year.
My buddy was a "pick-up" from the boat. He seemed capable of "talking the talk" pretty well. Other then that, I had no knowledge of his actual skill level. This was our first dive of the day.
Our dive plan was as follows:
During the safety briefing, it was stated that there would be no decompression dives.
As soon as the safety briefing concluded, my buddy and I splashed. The rest of the divers on the boat were still gearing up.
The current was completely non-existent. At around 25 feet, the haze opened up and the wreck of the U.S.S. Duane suddenly appeared below us. It was absolutely amazing.
We followed the line to the deck. The line we descended was located midship on the Duane. I signaled "Which way?" My buddy pointed forward. I agreed, and we started a slow swim. We both maintained good contact with each other, never straying more than a few feet away. We reached the bow, looked around for a little while, then turned and headed aft. We each checked each others air consumption. I was surprised to realize that his air consumption was fairly consistent with my own. (Our second dive was 85 minutes on Molasses reef. We both surfaced with 1/3 tank remaining.)
We both continued to follow the Dive Plan. We reached the back of the boat and continued to explore. The rest of the divers from the boat had joined us by this point.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a current swept in. It was moving at about 1 to 1.5 knots, toward the back of the Duane. Although neither of us had yet reached 2/3, I suggested we turn the dive. My buddy agreed. We were surrounded by other divers at this point, and they all turned with us.
There were a few moments of confusion as we all started fighting the current to return to the ascent line. I was breathing hard, but we were all making headway.
As I fought the current, I realized I was racing my NDL. I watched the NDL continue to count down on my computer while I worked my way towards the ascent line. The "oh crap!" moment occurred when I visually measured the remaining distance against my present speed and I realized that I wasnt going to make it. I am a strong swimmer, but it was apparent that my NDL timer would reach zero before I would be able to reach the line and begin my ascent. I had less than a minute left, and I was at least 2 minutes away from the ascent line.
While visually assessing distance to the line, I momentarily stopped swimming. This allowed my buddy to get slightly ahead of me. As a result, for the first time this dive, I could not immediately get his attention. (I learned later that in the confusion he had momentarily lost sight of me. When he saw someone ahead of him with blue fins, he thought he was swimming hard to catch up with me.)
My options:
Last November I dove on the Duane with Ocean Diver's out of Key Largo, near MM 101 (As a side note, I highly recommend Ocean Diver's.). Ocean Diver's required an AOW C-card and they required that my logbook show at least 10 ocean dives in the last year.
My buddy was a "pick-up" from the boat. He seemed capable of "talking the talk" pretty well. Other then that, I had no knowledge of his actual skill level. This was our first dive of the day.
Our dive plan was as follows:
We will descend using the line.
After arriving at the deck of the Duane, we will stay together while we explore.
We will monitor each others air consumption.
We will turn the dive when the first person reaches 2/3 air remaining.
We will ascend using the same line.
We will execute a 3-5 minute safety stop.
The dive can be called at any time, by either diver, without question, simply by flashing a thumbs-up sign. (I believe that it is imperative to establish this rule with any dive buddy.)
After discussing our Dive Plan, we practiced a few basic hand signals to reduce the likelihood of confusion underwater.After arriving at the deck of the Duane, we will stay together while we explore.
We will monitor each others air consumption.
We will turn the dive when the first person reaches 2/3 air remaining.
We will ascend using the same line.
We will execute a 3-5 minute safety stop.
The dive can be called at any time, by either diver, without question, simply by flashing a thumbs-up sign. (I believe that it is imperative to establish this rule with any dive buddy.)
During the safety briefing, it was stated that there would be no decompression dives.
As soon as the safety briefing concluded, my buddy and I splashed. The rest of the divers on the boat were still gearing up.
The current was completely non-existent. At around 25 feet, the haze opened up and the wreck of the U.S.S. Duane suddenly appeared below us. It was absolutely amazing.
We followed the line to the deck. The line we descended was located midship on the Duane. I signaled "Which way?" My buddy pointed forward. I agreed, and we started a slow swim. We both maintained good contact with each other, never straying more than a few feet away. We reached the bow, looked around for a little while, then turned and headed aft. We each checked each others air consumption. I was surprised to realize that his air consumption was fairly consistent with my own. (Our second dive was 85 minutes on Molasses reef. We both surfaced with 1/3 tank remaining.)
We both continued to follow the Dive Plan. We reached the back of the boat and continued to explore. The rest of the divers from the boat had joined us by this point.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a current swept in. It was moving at about 1 to 1.5 knots, toward the back of the Duane. Although neither of us had yet reached 2/3, I suggested we turn the dive. My buddy agreed. We were surrounded by other divers at this point, and they all turned with us.
There were a few moments of confusion as we all started fighting the current to return to the ascent line. I was breathing hard, but we were all making headway.
As I fought the current, I realized I was racing my NDL. I watched the NDL continue to count down on my computer while I worked my way towards the ascent line. The "oh crap!" moment occurred when I visually measured the remaining distance against my present speed and I realized that I wasnt going to make it. I am a strong swimmer, but it was apparent that my NDL timer would reach zero before I would be able to reach the line and begin my ascent. I had less than a minute left, and I was at least 2 minutes away from the ascent line.
While visually assessing distance to the line, I momentarily stopped swimming. This allowed my buddy to get slightly ahead of me. As a result, for the first time this dive, I could not immediately get his attention. (I learned later that in the confusion he had momentarily lost sight of me. When he saw someone ahead of him with blue fins, he thought he was swimming hard to catch up with me.)
My options:
- Stray from the Dive Plan and do a Decompression Dive. I can continue along the deck until I reach the ascent line and then add my decompression obligation to my ascent time.
- Stray from the Dive Plan and ascend 10-15 feet until my NDL increases by the 1-2 minutes I will need to reach the ascent line without earning a decompression obligation.
Good post.
