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Alert Diver Article When you're diving, do you always know where your buddy is? What about when you're diving at night? Here's a surprising tale that reminds us to be aware of our surroundings - and buddies - at all times.
Since I became a certified diver in 2000, some of my favorite dives have been in Cozumel, Mexico. That explains my recent move to this tropical island paradise.
Living in Cozumel and representing DAN® as a regional field representative, I have come to enjoy the diverse diving choices here more than ever. That includes Paradise Reef, the site of a night dive in May. This shallow dive of approximately 42 feet (13 meters) offers abundant marine life with extended bottom time, and it's only a few minutes by boat from Caleta, the southern marina of Cozumel.
This was only my second-ever night dive, and I was excited to be diving with a group of eight friends vacationing from various Latin American countries.
During the briefing, our guide advised us that recently currents had been particularly strong; at times, he cautioned, they even ran in the opposite direction than normally expected. He explained the use of dive lights, especially for signaling. He reminded us of the name of the boat, in case anyone got separated from the group and surfaced near another vessel.
Before anyone entered the water, he took a giant stride to check the current. He soon returned to the surface and reported that the current had changed and was running in a north-to-south direction. He returned aboard and asked the boat captain to drop us at the north end of the site.
Underwater splendors
After descending to the reef, we began seeing excellent specimens of Paradise Reef marine life. We saw a playful spiny pufferfish that fluttered in circles when we assembled to watch it.
Next, our guide gathered us around a large coral head that had opened its polyps, extending fragile tentacles into the current to feed on passing particles. I was fascinated by the length of the many night-feeding tiger tail cucumbers; they looked like painted fuzzy ropes. Everyone in the group noted the loud, vibrating mating call of the endemic splendid toadfish. We also spotted several large king crabs and a spiny lobster taking a daring trek across the open sand.
My favorite find was a beautiful, color-changing octopus moving from coral to coral; first light pink, then pale blue, then soft green, it morphed into all the colors of its background. While we watched, mesmerized by its colors and gentle movements, a second group of divers passed us, heading in the opposite direction. Evidently their dive guide hadn't noticed the change in current before directing his group to enter the water.
The darkness kept me focused only on things in my immediate circle of light and that of my buddy. (Given the odd number of divers, I had paired with the divemaster.) As we neared the end of the hourlong dive, our guide found a sharptail eel on the sand flat diligently hunting something. The eel kept its head stuck in the sand and dug until it surfaced with a mouthful of something tasty. It did this while other tiny fish continually nipped at it.
Surfacing to trouble
After making our standard safety stop, I surfaced near my buddy, who had been much more aware of the entire group than I had. "We were short one diver for half the dive," he said, very concerned.
"Do you see him aboard the boat?" I asked as we strained to see the approaching vessel.
After a few tense seconds of silence, he replied with a very relieved "Yes!"
Ooops. Wrong dive group
It turns out that one of our group accidentally joined the second dive group that crossed us near the octopus. He was not aware he'd made a "wrong turn" until he surfaced. As divers on that boat removed their masks, one by one, he saw unfamiliar faces in the moonlight.
Divers on that boat directed inquiries to him in Japanese. Our friend recognized nothing familiar about that boat. The boat's divemaster asked whether he knew the name of his boat. He remembered the briefing and gave the necessary information to the crew. That boat transferred him back to our boat. Our missing diver was waiting on our boat when we surfaced.
On this dive I learned firsthand that it's much more difficult to recognize a group of divers in the darkness rather than in the daylight, even though these divers were my friends. I also learned that although I may be familiar with what the dive boat looks like, it's important to pay attention to its name.
Because of a good predive briefing and a good memory on the part of our divemaster and the missing diver, we returned to the marina as happy divers, with our group intact.
Some good advice
Despite the happy outcome, this story could have had a different sequence of events. The diver could have been stranded before being found, or worse. Here are some observations that we can all learn from.
Not all members of this dive group followed the buddy system. Some were overconfident, underestimating a basic rule of diving: Keep track of your buddy. As divers, no matter how experienced you think you are, always use a buddy and know where that buddy is. Always.
At night, divers might be seen only as moving lights: The color of wetsuits or fins, buoyancy compensation devices or faces might not be so noticeable. Again, know where your dive buddy is.
Slow and smooth movements with your lights will reflect calmness, an indication that everything is OK on the dive. Jerky or erratic movement can reflect the opposite. Someone's erratic light movements will catch everybody's attention. This might just be to point out an interesting creature, but it might also mean trouble, so be aware of such light movements.
Contain your excitement. Don't get too excited trying to point out every creature you see; you might cloud a fellow diver's attempts to alert everyone to trouble. The way you dive reflects your comfort within the environment.
About the Author Laura Johnson joined the DAN staff in 1999 and worked with both the Membership and Business Membership teams at DAN America headquarters. Certified to dive in 2000, she took her first trip to Cozumel, Mexico, that same year. She now permanently resides there and is an international field representative for DAN in Mexico.
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