I haven't wanted to go diving since the last time I went.......I think it may have been related to thinking I was going to die last time out....what do you think? sounds particulaly wimpy huh Thats the last time I go diving with someone Ive not met befor, may even be the last time I go diving at all.
Scotty Boy
details details.........
mwatson
Sounds pathetic but...........
err ok I'll try. befor I carry on the guy I was diving with was an ok diver. But I'd not met him and didn't know if he was ok or not
I agreed that I would go diving with a concervation group at Roa Island near barrow in furness.. Dive is in a channel 12M deep, channel is an active boat lane. At sea end is a lifeboat station on stilts with concrete ramp and barge. The visibility is generaly only 2-3M at best
The dive must be done half hour befor low tide so silt has been sucked out to sea and so you don't get washed away.
Throught the dive his octo was leaking constantly and he had a 12L, I had a 15L.
At the start of the dive we set of on a compas bearing into the channel, I wasn't leading as he had dived the site befor. we ended up back on shore as he managed to get his compas bearing wrong, this left me kinda lacking in faith with his navigation. We went back in then at 3M had to throw ourself on the bottom as a boat went overhead eek! Once we were in deeper water(12M) we were ok
It was quite cold even in my neoprene suit, after about 50 mins we had made our way along the chanel, then back again and were neering the life boat station, you could hear them working overhead.
We approached what can only be described as a wall of blackness which I assumed to be an overhead environment i.e. the life boat shed(very big) I checked my gauges at this point and had 100Bar left, 55mins on clock We carried on some distance in very poor vis, then the vis went completely, i.e. I couldn't see my hand, only a a bit of green of the housing of my torch, and even tho the torch was on there was no beam coming from it. we swam around holding hands as I couldn't see my buddy at all. Time passed n we still seemed lost, but I couldn't see buddys signals even tho his hands were in front of my face. at a point where is seemed fractionaly clearer I lifted my hand a few times (while holding his) to signal I wanted to abort, trouble is I thought we were undernath something and was having visions of ending up stuck. He got out his DSMB and started to get it ready to go up as we needed to do small deco and safety stop. I knelt next to him in the ink and couldn't se what he was doing, we must have been there for 5 mins befor he gave up, it seemed like hours and now I was realy worried about air as he had a leaky octo and a smaller cylinder, I hadn't been able to see my watch or contents since me entered the darkness. Since his DSMB wasn't working for some reason It was risky to attempt an accent in zero vis, he grabbed my hand again and started swiming, by this time I had no clue which way was which and to cap it all we had to swim with one hand in contact with the floor to make sure we were going along the bottom...........
Eventualy after what semeed an age but was only a few minutes to my conciderable releaf we exited the darkness and swam into clearer water(brown gloom). I checked my gauge to find I had 70 BAR left and 65 mins. We made our way back up the slope observing deco and safety stop exiting 70 mins and >50BAR...I didn't ask what my buddy had left, I was just glad to get out of the water....
What had actualy happened was the tide turned bringing a wall of silt back in. We were close but not under the station. The DSMB had failed for the same reason the octopus was leaking. It had been piut away dirty and left for months, the trigger was seized on the reel so the DSMB couldn't be deployed but fortunatly my buddy had checked it was free befor deploying it or he would have lost it.
OK Ive been low/zero viz, and bad currents and sea conditions Its never bothered me. if I had been leading I would have been ok but since my buddy had constantly changing direction throught the dive I had lost all sense of direction and couldn't see my compass dial coz of viz. I honestly thought I was going to have a nasty accident.
Fortunatly however buddy did know where he was, but couldn't tell me he knew coz I couldn't see his hands properly to read his signals. I didn't loose it and just crossed my fingers stuck with it.
joe
I wouldn't write off diving altogether, i've had a couple of dives abroad that i look back on and think okay i wouldn't do that again but i certainly learnt from them.
Wait until you feel comfortable and do a sheltered dive (Capenwray????). with somebody you know, maybe an instructor.
As a local to Morecambe Bay thats a pretty monster dive you did, the only dive in the bay, even then woah.
Well done i say, your still here and not bent!
mwatson
well I do agree, writing off diving would seem a little extreme, Ive had 70 dive which on the whole have been excellent. I thought best to leave off diving till the enthusiasm reapears Ive loved diving for years even tho Ive never had the time or money to do much of it. I might do the solstice dive again this year with you guys if anyone volenteers to buddy. loch fyne is amazing compared to wales. This time I might stay for a long weekend and do a few other dives too.
charlie
sounds like quite an alarming scenario at the time, mark.
glad that it turned out OK.
these sort of incidents are never welcome but do of course "make us better divers" if that is not too much of a facile statement.
diving with unknown buddies is always a bit of a "wing & a prayer situation" IMHO.
i have no choice at the moment being in a new club & i can't even speak the language! still, all of my dives have been good here although the night boat dive was fun on Wed as we couldn't find our way back to the boat due to strong currents & i ended up firing my dSMB (never easy in the dark). my buddy was glad that i did (although i made a bit of a hash of it by poorly inflating it... very limp ). still we got up ok, making a decent stop at 5m. long surface swim to boat on surfacing though. next time, i'll send up my CO2 powered dSMB on night dives: much easier than faffing with trying to inflate my Buddy one. lesson learnt!
get yourself over to Norway, mark & I'll buddy you. I thoroughly enjoyed our dives together in L Fyne: you were a pleasure to dive with
mwatson
Charlie, that sounds quite alarming I'm not experienced enough for norway me thinks hehehehe
Yes, loch fyne was good last year, realy enjoyed the solstice diving, plenty time to take a few photos n look at the wildlife. Thats my kinda diving.
I think on the whole the stirling club dives were the ones I felt the safest on. After that its been a mixed bunch. Maybe I should take up surface supplied hard hat diving then my mrs can be the tender, I trust her, plus I'm worth more alive than dead hahahaha.
Mrs just said, a buddies like an air bag, you don't necesarly want one, its garanteed to go wrong at the worst moment, it might severly injure you but the law says you have to have one if you like it or not. hehehe she does have a point with some recently qualified padi divers .
I haven't wanted to go diving since the last time I went.......I think it may have been related to thinking I was going to die last time out....what do you think? sounds particulaly wimpy huh Thats the last time I go diving with someone Ive not met befor, may even be the last time I go diving at all.
). still we got up ok, making a decent stop at 5m. long surface swim to boat on surfacing though. next time, i'll send up my CO2 powered dSMB on night dives: much easier than faffing with trying to inflate my Buddy one. lesson learnt!
Thats my kinda diving.