Diver Down: It's A Buddy Not a Crutch

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Trust me dive leads to panic attack!

Diver Down: Dive Accidents, Close Calls and How You Can Avoid Them

Each Diver Down case presented on Seaduction.com is written by the author of "Lessons for Life" the #1 column at SCUBA Diving Magazine from 2001-2009.  Each case is based on a real incident that has been thoroughly investigated through official sources and the accounts of participants and witnesses. Names and some minor details have been changed to protect victims and their families.

By Michael Ange

Cindy felt herself at the edge of panic.  She knew she was hyperventilating, but no matter how much she tried, she just could not regain control.  She was at 90 feet and big sharks seemed to be everywhere looming in and out of the murky water.  Cindy’s buddy was nowhere to be seen.  She had only paused for a second, distracted by the 8-foot sand tiger shark, but it had been long enough for him to disappear.  She felt short of breath now and her heart was thundering in her ears.  Gripping the shipwreck’s rail, she tried once more to control her breathing when a large shark nearly brushed against her as she lost control and bolted to the surface. 

The Diver

Cindy was a relatively new diver, in her mid-twenties, in excellent health and very active.  She had taken a semester long open water class that was far more extensive than the training most of her diving friends had received and she had gone on to complete her advanced certification just after her open water class.  However, all of her diving to date had been done in warm, clear tropical water.  She had done dives deeper than her planned dive, but she had never encountered limited visibility or really big marine life. 

The Dive

She planned to complete a dive off the Carolina coast that was reported to be excellent when conditions were good; however, its proximity to the shoals made really good conditions a rare event.  The wreck was also known for the common presence of sand tiger sharks, she was apprehensive but longed to see these beautiful creatures swimming in the wild.  When she arrived at the dock very early on a Saturday morning for the two plus hour boat ride to the wreck, the crew advised everyone that the sea conditions were projected to be between 3 to 5 feet.  Although this was not at all uncommon for the Carolina coast, the conditions were extreme when compared to Cindy’s other experiences and this added to her apprehension.  She expressed her fears to the crew.  They advised that the boats running on the Carolina coast were heavier than the boats running in the Caribbean and were able to comfortably take rougher sea conditions.  As Cindy nervously began to load her gear, the Divemaster introduced her to a recently certified Divemaster who would be her buddy.  Eager to please, the boat’s Divemaster quickly attempted to put Cindy at ease by sharing tales of his rescue training and his recent Divemaster course.  He promised to “take good care of her” and she was beginning to feel better as the boat departed the dock.  The weather report was accurate and as the dive boat rounded the shoals the full effect of the three plus feet seas could be felt by everyone on board.  As the crew dropped anchor on the wreck, several of the divers on board began to get seasick.  All of these events continued to increase Cindy’s anxiety, but she entered the water with her buddy as soon as the crew threw out the trail line and announced that the pool was open. 

The Accident

Cindy and her buddy descended about 90 feet to the wreck where they found worsening visibility.  The 100 feet of visibility she had read about in some of the books was no more than 10 feet.  But, the sharks were present and two of them swam close by as she and her dive buddy settled onto the uppermost part of the wreck.  At least she felt sure they were sharks, they were not quite close enough to be seen, but the silhouette certainly looked like very, very large sharks.  Her buddy signaled to her that he was O.K. and quickly took off along the shipwreck’s rails – never waiting for her response.  As her anxiety continued to increase, Cindy took off to keep up with her buddy.  Just off to the side of the wreck, she continued to see large shapes swimming by and her breathing began to accelerate.  Although the current was mild, she felt as though she could hardly swim against it and she wondered when her buddy who had promised to take care of her would simply look back to see if she was O.K.  She struggled to keep up as he continued to pull away.  They were only four minutes into the dive when she glanced at a passing shape and he disappeared into the gloom.  She as all alone now; gripping the rail of the shipwreck like a lifeline.  She was very nervous about the sharks that she knew were circling in the gloom and the poor visibility heightened her concerns.  As a large shark passed close to her, she lost all control, inflating her BCD and rocketing to the surface. 

The Rescue

The alert boat crew quickly noticed Cindy as she breached the surface like a jumping whale, threw away her mask, and spit out her reg.  The breeze had stiffened on the surface and although the seas were not as large, the sea state had changed from fairly gentle swells to three feet of quick chop.  Cindy attempted to scream for help and signal the boat, but only succeeded in sucking down gulps of seawater.  She was located several hundred feet down current by the time she reached the surface.  Although she could see the boat, it seemed to her to be only a dot on the horizon and she could not keep her head above the swells.  She waved her arms frantically and finally remembered to use her sonic alert device which verified to the crew that she was a diver in trouble. 

The boat crew was responsive and well-rehearsed in rescue simulations.  Quickly checking to see that no other divers had surfaced near the boat, they tied a float ball to the anchor line releasing it from the vessel with several feet of line trailing to ensure that the divers on the bottom still had a set reference for their ascents and something to hang onto once they reached the surface.  The boat then backed carefully away from the dive site and circled toward Cindy.  They approached from just down current of the struggling diver and a Divemaster jumped into the water as the Captain circled the vessel around her and back up current, trailing the vessels tag line and float ball.  The Divemaster grabbed Cindy from behind, securing her tank by the valve and grabbing the passing line with his free hand.  As he held the struggling diver and tried to reassure her, the Captain pulled the line toward the boat, literally reeling in the two divers.  Cindy was pulled on board where she continued to be hysterical and show great signs of anxiety, including shortness of breath.  Due to her rapid ascent, the crew was concerned that she had an embolism or DCS, but she was not calm enough to assess her injuries.  They finally got her onto oxygen and laying on the deck of the boat while the Captain tied back into the anchor and waited for the remaining divers to surface.  With everyone back on board, the group decided to cancel the second dive due to the worsening conditions and they headed back toward shore where Cindy would be evaluated and released from a local medical facility. 

Analysis

Cindy freely admits that she was anxious about the report of sharks on the wreck, was afraid of the potential limited visibility, and was unsure of how she would respond to rough sea conditions.  She had an opportunity when she arrived at the dock to terminate the dive after receiving the report of questionable conditions and she nearly did just that.  Ultimately, she decided to lean on a buddy whom she had only known for a few moments.  Unfortunately, the buddy system requires that each diver be capable of rendering aid to each other.  Cindy boarded the boat convinced that her buddy would be “able to keep her safe”.  In short, she attempted to use her buddy as a crutch.  She could have reduced her anxiety by expanding her experiences in the new environment more slowly.  She recognized that the shift from the tropics to coastal Carolina was a huge jump; however, she also knew that the area offered a number of shallower water wrecks with shorter boat runs and more stable conditions, which would have been great choices for her first Carolina Dive Experience.  Instead, she chose a wreck that she had read about in several dive books because it sounded exciting, as opposed to choosing a wreck that was more in keeping with her abilities.  This was obviously a mistake. 

The fear of dark water, the fear of sharks, coupled with the real physiological stress created by rough sea conditions and even a long boat ride accumulated to create a stress level that exceeded Cindy’s ability to cope.  This is the classic definition of panic.  Had Cindy remembered her training and remained on the bottom, searching for her buddy for no more than one minute, he probably would have found her as he reportedly turned around as soon as he noticed she was missing.  In fact, he was the only diver on the surface when the boat returned to the anchor, surfacing well ahead of the other divers in the group in search of his missing buddy.  However, the buddy is also not without blame.  After providing significant reassurances to a diver who was obviously a novice in these conditions, he admittedly failed to pay close enough attention to her situation during the course of the dive.  Bad form for any buddy but inexcusable for a Divemaster fresh out of training.  Cindy was lucky.  Aside from a severe panic attack, and some residual anxiety that would affect her diving for several years after the incident, she escaped the incident without injury.  She is now an experienced instructor frequently finning along Coastal Carolina and paying very close attention to her students.

Lessons for Survival

• Never use your buddy for a crutch.  Buddy assistance goes both ways, you must be secure enough in the dive to meet your obligations, if you are not the system is destined to fail. 
• Expand your experiences slowly.  Moving to environments that are more difficult is like virtually starting over as a diver.  Take your time and choose your opportunities carefully to avoid incident. 
• Stress is cumulative.  Several little things added up to create Cindy’s situation and a small or perhaps even an imagined event (sharks rarely swim close to divers) was enough to push her over the edge. 
• Do not ignore the little things.  Little fears and little problems can become big ones if you do not address them.  Never let a dive professional or a dive buddy minimize your fears without addressing them.