[4alpha] The "I Lost My Buddy" Dive

Location: Unknown (Anyone knows?)

Time in: um.. morning.
Depth: about 15m
Bottom time: 4 minutes or so

Dive 4 "alpha" (software development term for unsteady, unfinished testing product) was a good bad experience.

We went in after the usual dives, and there was a "bit" of a current. We were supposed to descend without references, but to stay close to the mooring line and meet at the bottom. Ricky and I did our SORTD check, and we started going down. Ricky had some trouble descending, and I was going a bit faster than he was. As I went down, I tried to keep the mooring line in sight, but I lost it. Viz was bad, and the only reference I had was Johnson. And he was going down faster than I was.

I tried to keep both Johnson and Ricky in sight, turning in circles to look up at Ricky and look down at Johnson. I turned again and Ricky was further away... I turned again and Johnson was further away. I couldn't see anything else. One more turn, Ricky was out of sight. And instead of going up to him, I kinda panicked and swam down to tell Johnson I lost my buddy :( Gave him the signals, and we looked around for about a minute and surfaced. We surfaced about 200m aways from where we started! The chaser boat had to come over to pick us up. Ricky had aborted his descent and was already at the boat when we got back.

I think I may have been one of the big causes for the dive being cancelled :( They say the current was strong too, but I don't really know what happened with the other 6.

Anyway, I learnt:
1. Never leave your buddy.
2. If either have trouble descending, both go back up and try again; or just wait.
3. Since I couldn't see the line, I should have gone up earlier, grabbed my buddy, go back to the line, and start over.
4. That divers have big hearts, and they are quick to forgive newbie mistakes and remind me that "these things happen" and to teach me the right things to do next time.

So well, that was the "I Lost My Buddy" dive. Sorry guys.

The fun part was, everyone quickly got over it when MK declared that we must all jump into the sea from the diving platform! So here's some fun photos to remember, divers have all the fun! :)