Location: Spanky's Coral Reef, Key Largo
Today we went to Captain Slate's Scuba Adventures in Tavernier Florida. We all loaded onto the boat and got our Scuba and snorkel gear ready to take on our first reef of the trip. Everyone was excited and ready to go even though it was insanely humid and there was no wind on the water. We finally anchor and get into the water! We descend as a team and were diving the reef in a group, but everyone was still assigned a buddy so no man, or woman, was left behind. We saw so many beautiful fish, corals, a school of blue striped grunts and porkfish and even a hawksbill turtle during the beginning of our dive. I kept checking on my partner to make sure I wasn't swimming too fast and that she wasn't in distress and then all of a sudden BOOM! I look next to me and she's gone. I panicked as I saw the group swimming away from me but I had to find my buddy so as I looked around I finally found her and pulled her back to the group. This is a frightening moment because a few things ran through my mind like 1) did she get eaten by a shark and 2) was I next!? To avoid these thoughts here are some tips of what to do in case you get separated from your buddy.
Tip number 1: Do a full 360 degree look for your buddy, check above and below you as well because your buddy could have seen something they found interesting and swam off without telling you or could have surfaced without warning you.
Tip number 2: If you have a tank banger (ex: the metal butt of a dive knife) bang it on your tank to try and get their attention if they know that is a signal for them to come to you.
Tip number 3: If you can't find your buddy after doing both of these steps then surface and look for air bubbles to try and locate your buddy.
Tip number 4: Go over what to do in missing buddy procedure! Have a plan already set up, a meeting place, sound, or plan to surface in case a buddy is lost or can't be found. This will save you a lot of time and you will be less panicked if the situation were to occur.
Got that? OK! Now that everyone knows how to properly handle a missing buddy situation I hope you all have a little more peace of mind for the next time that you go diving. Stay safe and always stay with your buddy! Stay tuned for the next installment of man vs wild,who knows what will happen next with the Tropical Ospreys...
For information on the dive center click here.
For more information of missing dive buddy situations click here.
HAHA. Losing your dive partner can be a very frightneing experience. I think you did a perfect job explaining how to handle that situation. Sometimes it can be easy to be distracted by fish swimming by but its always important to stay with your dive group.
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