Diving accidents a real life example without injuries
Setting the scene
It is about 35° in Egypt, the water is about 24-25° degrees warm. We are a group of 10 divers and 2 snorkelers. We start out for a trip to Tiran Island.
Getting there
Leaving the dive center at around 8.15 o'clock left everybody with the possibility to a breakfast before hand. Planned are 3 dives and we should be back around 5 o'clock.
At 8.45 we arrive at the harbour. Our equipment was with us in the car. For the divers with rental equipment, other equipment had to be organized. I never figured out why they could not take the gear the rented and knew.
From other trips before, we (me and my girlfriend) already know that we have to be a bit patient at the harbour. We have to wait for 30minutes. Our boat is not there yet.
Around 9.30, the boat arrives and we can hop on. Nice. No tanks, no equipment. So we wait on the sundeck for the equipment. At 10 o'clock the guide comes from the diving deck asking us to check our equipment if we forgot anything because he is making a call to some dive shop now. I explain to him that we can not check equipment that is not there ...
Around 10.15 the equipment and tanks arrive and are loaded onto the boat. "Divers prepare your equipment please!"
We prepare our stuff - everything from us is there. The rental equipment gets handed out. Torn and really out of shape regulators. One pressure gauge reads 170 bar. Take a new tank, same thing, take a different pressure gauge - 200 bar. Faulty equipment, BCDs with ripped pockets, glued inflators, you name it. Some people get snorkeling fins for diving - soft and short blades.
Before I get to prepare my weights we have to get to the sun deck because we are leaving the harbour now at 10.45! My girlfriend was lucky and got done. I prepare my weights 10minutes into the boat ride.
Briefing
"Divers, briefing on the dive deck!" Whoop Whoop let's go! It is 12.20 now.
Guide: "Okay, equipment is prepared, weights are ready"
Someone: "No, we did not prepare weights, yet!"
Guide: "Oh okay, then do that now please"
Weights are ready, again, briefing.
The dive planning is presented, hand signals are explained, turn pressure is 100 bar, everything you need is being talked about. Nothing special, nothing really missing. We have two plans, one for with current one for without.
Finally wet suite time! At 12.50 we are finally in the water. Two divers have trouble going down to about 3-4 meters. Missing weights? Nothing a guide can solve be pulling the divers down a bit. Remember the "new" rental equipment - no weight checks. 15minutes into the dive we reach the actual reef where a bit of current is encountered. For us it did not seem like current, but for more unexperienced divers this might have been a challenge. So we start ascending to the top of the reef where we try to stay close to the bottom (around 8meters).
The first person is struggling to stay down and constantly trying to swim downwards - with snorkeling fins. This diver gets really tired and is using a lot of air. After the guide realized this he gave the diver about 2 extra kilos of weights which solved the problem. This diver had to take a rest with his partner to catch some breath. The guide is swimming in front and we divers waited with the tired couple. We could not see the guide anymore - so we wait as a group for about 5-8 minutes until he comes back and signals us to follow. I guess some miscommunication happened. The next diver is having a hard time staying at 6-8meters. The divers tank is at about 50 bar. Just to make sure I signal the guide that this diver has only 50 bar left. Staying close to this diver and making sure he breathes calmly helps him stay at level. This diver is on his 11th dive - 4 from Open Water, 5 from Advanced Course and one check dive the day before. We get to the boats, at this time about 18 boats at this dive site. You can imagine the noise. We have to dive beneath the boats and stay low, because some boats are leaving, the diver with 50 bar is now at about 10 bar, I signal the guide. I stay close to this diver but I am not here to safe the world and supply people with air. But I prepare myself and the diver for the worst. Luckily only one boat is leaving above us and we can start our ascend.
The dive felt really chaotic with a lot of miscommunication and not very professional. Was it the guide, the people, the equipment, the environment? Probably a mix of everything. Never the less we are back on the boat after a 50minute dive. It is 1.40 now - actually lunch time.
The lunch
I am really hungry and the crew is preparing the lunch. Since I already knew we are on a tight schedule I check how much time we plan for the surface interval. About an hour - hmmm - lunch is prepared we have to change tanks - it feels like not enough time because eating right before the next dive is not a good idea.
So I ask the guide what the plan is, he says we could prepare a plate and eat after the second dive. We are in our wet suits and the lunch is in the dry area of the boat. The diver with low air before is not participating in the second dive because 50minutes of surface time does not feel enough for him. He stays strong even after repeated questions by people! I like this diver, he is not feeling prepared and rested for the next dive and sits out. Never go diving if you do not feel it is the right decision. There were no snacks (candy bars, bananas, other fruits or some bread) for us who decided to eat later. Going diving hungry is not very good either. But I prefer this over eating right before diving.
The second dive
People just ate and are now getting their equipment ready. The plan is a drift dive. Standing ready at the edge we are waiting for the "go". But instead someone is calling "use the yellow one, use the yellow one, the other one is free flowing when you breath" - this does not sound good. Looking around I can see a person cleaning an octopus with his finger. We are just moments before the dive.
But nevertheless just a minute later we are all underwater and descending to about 16meters. The freshly cleaned octopus seems to be operating okay. Nevertheless another diver seems to have a problem and starts ascending rapidly. The guide catches up to him and makes sure the person breathes calmly. They are 8-10meters above us and we have no clue what is going on. It seems like they are already doing their safety stop and it seems like they try to signal each other to cancel the dive. Clear communication is missing - again.
Some people are still looking around at the reef. Seems like they did not notice anything yet. Me and my girlfriend ascended to about 10meters to safe some air and check what is happening. The guide signals me to cancel the dive but still do the safety stop - on our safety stop we signal the other divers to cancel and do a safety stop. At the surface the boat is already trying to approach us. The boat crew deploys a line and pulls us all in.
On deck the diver who tried to ascend rapidly described a feeling of not being able to breath, not being able to see anymore and dizziness. Now he is feeling better only the dizziness is still present. He is laying down and given some emergency oxygen just in case.
Now we are having our little lunch break and a boat ride of about 1,5 hours.
The third dive
On the third dive we are only three divers plus the guide. The dive site is quite nice but with only 30minutes of diving it feels really short and just rushing through.
What could we as divers have done better?
When you rent equipment make sure it is in a decent state. This equipment is meant to keep you alive under water!
Ensure you have proper breaks between dives
If you have new equipment (BCD, Wetsuit) do weight check or pack some extra weights and do a weight check after the dive.
What could the trip operator have done better?
Proper time management. If there is no room for three dives - do not squeeze them in. It will just make the time management even worse.
If you are guiding a big group (for me this would be more than 4 divers) you have to have very clear communication and make sure everyone can see your signals.