Even on inland dives by name roll calls prevent accidents

Simple tips to avoid being lost at sea.

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

Jim and Joan surfaced near the mooring line to find waning sunlight, calm seas and nothing else.  No boat, no divers; as far as they could see in any direction, just open ocean.  The reality that they were all alone on the ocean at sunset sunk into them like a heavy stone.  Joan, the more even tempered of the two, stepped up and took charge hoping to forestall both her own panic and her buddy’s. 

We have all read the stories or seen the movie, or both, and know how this will probably turn out.  It seems that every year we have a small rash of stories about people lost at sea while diving on commercial boats and after everyone we get lots of email inquiries about how it happnes.  So this month’s Diver Down is a departure from our regular format and it is all about the well prepared diver and the steps that he or she can take to minimize both the risk of being left at sea and the risk of being lost at sea if you do get left. 

The Well Prepared Diver

To some extent, as recreational divers, we are all at the mercy of the commercial dive operators we choose.  Each operator will have its own procedures and operating protocol but regardless of the protocol used, there is one fact that is absolute – any procedure that does not verify with 100% accuracy that all passengers are back on board the boat before the vessel pulls anchor is unsafe and should not be used.   In short, there is virtually no excuse for a vessel to leave the dive site without having a full accountability for every diver on board.  The well prepared diver will book his charter with an operation that uses a 100% accountability protocol.   These come in a few different forms, the most common of which is a name by name roll call for every person on the boat each time the boat moves.  Another option is a tagging in and out system.  Using this system when the divers leave the boat, they remove a special tag from a board and clip it to their BCD.  When they return to the boat, they return the tag to the board, giving the crew a visual indication that everyone is back on board.  Both of these systems work if the divers use them properly.  A name by name roll call can only fail if it is either not completed or a diver on the boat answers for another diver.  In short, it is 100% accurate if it is used every time and every diver answers only for himself.  The tag system only works if the divers physically take the tag when they enter the water and return it when they enter the boat.  If you leave your tag on the boat, the crew will think that you are on the boat.  A simple head count system is not adequate and should never be relied upon because it is too difficult to count divers with consistent accuracy as they move around the boat.  So the first step for the well prepared diver is to make a decision as to which operator to use.  Check Internet reviews, call the operation, and ask them directly them about the safety precautions in use.  Safe vessels should have oxygen on board, use certified crew, follow the standards of an ISO certified dive training organizations and utilize an effective diver accountability system every time the boat is moved. 

The next step for the effective diver is insuring you are in good physical condition for diving, that you have current skills or have completed a scuba skills update, and finally that your gear is well serviced and complete for your dive excursion.  This brings us to our next topic area.

The Well Prepared Gear Bag

Most divers understand that regulators require annual service, BCs should be checked routinely for leaks and proper inflator function, and that heel straps and mask straps needs to be inspected for wear and age damage.  However, divers are less conscientious about checking their safety equipment.  You should carry a safety sausage, a small strobe light, and a sonic signaling device such as a “Dive Alert” on every dive.  However, these devices are useless if they don’t work when you need them.  I have seen a number of divers over the years remove a safety sausage or surface marker bag in both real world and practice scenarios only to find that the bag was in some way damaged and either could not be inflated or would not hold air.  The same is true with sonic signaling devices that have corrosion frozen buttons, leaks, or due to corrosion make an anemic or no noise when activated.  Just before every dive trip, you should remove these items, test them for leaks, and activate them to be sure that they work properly.  You should also install fresh batteries in your small marker strobe (incidentally, you should remove the batteries from your strobe before you store it after every dive trip).  Activate the strobe and let it run for one to two minutes to ensure that it works properly.  You should also submerge the strobe in a sink of water to ensure that it does not leak.  Once all of your equipment is serviced, checked and verified in good condition, you should pack it so that the regulator, instrumentation and safety equipment is well protected.  Now, you are prepared to dive, but first you need a plan.

The Well Prepared Dive Plan

The first step in a well prepared dive plan is selecting a site that is commensurate with your ability, experience and fitness level.  Stepping off the boat into a screaming current is o.k. if you are ready for it, not so much, if you are not.  Diving was never intended to be a marathon sport and swimming as far from the boat as possible generally accomplishes nothing except for allowing you to miss a significant portion of all the good things to see on the dive.  It can also facilitate your ability to get lost at sea.   Listen to the briefing and plan to start your dive by swimming into the current.  Use a rule of thirds for both your gas supply and your planned bottom time. Swim away from the boat for a third of your air or until you reach one third of your allowed no decompression limit.  Use the next third to make your way back to the boat so that you arrive within sight of the mooring line or exit point with another third of your time and gas supply remaining for any emergencies that may occur. You don’t have to waste this remaining one third; use it to poke around that segment of the reef or wreck adjacent to where you will ascend.  Most boats will give an expected bottom time in the dive briefing.  If the Captain or crew indicate that you should be back on board in 45 minutes, it is generally not a good idea to wait one hour just to see if he boat will still be there.  If you desire to complete a plan that is outside the parameters discussed in the briefing, you should discuss that plan with the crew and get their permission before doing it. 

How to Get Left at Sea

There are two basic ways to get separated from your boat.  The first and most common is to get swept down current so rapidly or without realization that you are unable to surface and signal them.  The current by itself is seldom the culprit in this issue.  Divers generally have a distraction that causes them to lose the anchor line or their situational awareness long enough to get caught up and literally swept away.  Dislodged masks, broken fin straps, free flowing regulators, and a dropped piece of equipment are all extremely common culprits in this scenario.  This is why it is vitally important to have your equipment prepped, serviced and efficiently rigged for the dive.  Situational awareness is also very important.  If you are drifting in the current, you will not feel any current at all.  Use visual clues on the bottom and ascent or tag lines to keep yourself where you should be.  By maintaining a constant awareness of these clues, you will also be able to identify when you are being swept away.  If you are caught in a strong current, you should complete a safe ascent as soon as you can and immediately attempt to signal the boat using your safety sausage and sonic alert device.  If you are on a night dive, you should also immediately activate your marker strobe.  The other way to get left at sea is to stray too far from the boat or stay too long on the bottom.  If you know that the boat plans to weigh anchor at 3:00, you should plan to be back on well before 3:00.  Use the rule of thirds discussed above to manage your underwater time and meet this goal. 

How to Get Found at Sea

So you have either tried all of the above and failed, or you made one of the mistakes outlined here and now you find yourself in the great big ocean with no boats in sight.  What do you do?  Stay together.  There are multiple reasons to stay with your buddy, some of the important ones are:  you can keep each other calm, staying calm and in control may well be the difference between survival and death.  The psychological support of another diver can be invaluable in keeping your cool.  Do something.  My grandparents used to say:  an idle mind is the devil’s playground.  Religious beliefs aside, it is a true statement that an idle mind in a stressful situation will both invent problems that do not exist and inflate minor problems to monumental size.  So think about the things you can do to improve your situation and implement them.  For example, rigging your hoses or BC straps to keep you and your buddy together even if you fall asleep.  It is best to stay where you are, if you can.  Eventually, someone will realize that you are missing and the central point of the search will be the location where you were last seen.  In many popular diving locations, there are mooring buoys that you can hold on to in order to stay put.  In most places around the world, coastal waters are populated with navigational buoys and other navigational markers, which can also be used to make your location stationary if you can reach one.  In some instances, these buoys will also offer stationary or floating platforms that you can pull yourself up onto to reduce your exposure and risk of hypothermia.  As soon as you take stock of your situation, you should deploy your marker devices.  The maximum effective range of your sonic alert device is slightly over two miles in no wind and useless in a strong wind.  So don’t expend your tank air if there is no one within earshot to hear your signals.  Likewise, your strobe light is much less effective in the day time than it is at night.  It is preferable to use a strobe with run times of 24 hrs or more on a single set of batteries but if yours is more limited than this you should consider conserving the batteries for most effective use.  If you see aircraft overhead, day or night, activate the strobe, otherwise save your battery for use after dark.  There is a tendency for divers to hang on to or wrap the surface marker under their arms to boost buoyancy.  Don’t.  The purpose of the bag or safety sausage is to improve your chances of being seen, maximize that effort by inflating the bag fully and keeping it on the surface and extended skyward as far as possible.  The larger and higher the bag the more visible it is to passing vessels and search teams.  Minimize movement to conserve heat and save energy.  Finally, don’t drink the water.  No matter how thirsty you are, salt water is not the answer to your problem and it will likely create nausea or other problems that will only add to your level of dehydration. 

Analysis of the Real World Probabilities

The reality is that divers get separated from their boat every day and the vast majority of them are found within minutes or an hour.  It is a rare event that one of these stories makes it into the news because they usually end without incident.  Following the simple steps in this article will assist you in ensuring that you never find yourself in this situation or that if you do, you will be quickly located with a harrowing story that you can use to entertain in dive bars around the world. 

Lessons for Survival

• Only dive with safety-conscious, quality operators. 

• Plan.  Make a conservative dive plan and stick to it using the rules of thirds.

• Briefings rule – adhere to the instructions provided in the dive briefing. 

• Prep and check your gear, especially your emergency equipment. 

• Use your signals.  If lost, deploy your marking devices as soon as possible and ensure that they are as visible as possible.

• Stay together.  If you get separated from the boat, be sure you stay with your buddy. 

• Stay calm.  This is probably the most important of all the lessons because it is most essential to your survival.