It seemed only minutes before the parking lot was full and the air was filled with the talking and planning of the days activities. Amongst the group joining the activities were my close friends and instructors Virpi Kangas and Ward Conley, their plan for the day was taking them out in Wards small boat so they could dive the Nakaya. Other groups were heading out to swim the fire-hose, while others were setting out to explore the Leaning Tower of Porteau or the Sailboat Hull and others still were off to explore the Granthall.
My dive partner for dive 1 of the day was an experienced diver joining the Ocean Pro BBQ for the first time. Equipped with his twin tanks and local knowledge it looked like it was going to be another relaxing day of diving... boy was I in for a surprise...lol. Apparently swimming as fast as possible was an on-going trend for this weekend. Not long after entering the water my dive buddy started his quest for an Olympic medal in swim sprints...lol. It was all I could do for the most part to keep up and finally signal my buddy to slow down, by this time unfortunately I had burned much of my air so it was time to make my turn and head back. My dive buddy on the other hand, swimming with twins, had lots of air and was less than agreeable to returning quite yet. After a quick conversation through hand signals it was decided to make another pass around the Granthall, this time very slowly and breathing under control, then after our pass, we followed the chain up to 15 feet where we did our safety stop sharing the air in his twins and then made our way the last 15 feet to the surface. On the surface the tides had changed from the night before and now the surface current was now heading away from shore, making the surface swim a lot more challenging. After a bit of a fight against the current to gain a few feet it became apparent that it wa going to be easier to work together. So taking turns doing the tired diver tow with us both kicking the whole time we were able to make faster progress against the current and reach shore in time to see the burgers coming off the grill.
Stripping down my gear and switching out my tank only took a couple minutes then it was time to open up my dry suit and enjoy the fresh air drifting into my suit and cooling my body down. Soon most of the rest of the divers who had not already returned made their way over to the big Ocean Pro Divers tent to find their fill of food and stories about the first dive of the day.
After a quick meal, and some good conversation it was time to catch up with my buddy for dive 2, who happened to be the same buddy from the night before. Dive planning for our last dive of the weekend was pretty simple, both of us a little tired from the night before and from our surface swims from dive 1 on the day, agreed we would dive similar to dive 2 from the previous night. Surface swim out a short distance and then descend and let the water moves us around while we explored the open ocean floor. Finding our neutral buoyancy and just floating in the water with soft gentle kicks to change direction or increase rate and it wasn't long before the current had moved us back out to the Granthall, a couple circles and then over to the fire-hose which we started to follow back towards the first marker. Then it happened, they tell you it happens but until it does you don't know what it's going to be like. I stopped, spotting a particularity interesting plant that appeared to be swimming, and decided to snap a few pictures.
1, 2, 3 frames later and I look to my buddy.... he's gone... nowhere to be seen. Random clouds of silt can be seen in a few directions, unfortunately due to the large number of divers in the water clouds of silt could be evidence of any diver. So, checking my watch and marking the time, then resuming my previous pattern sweeping side to side it was time to look for my buddy. 15 seconds, nothing, 30 seconds, nothing, 45 seconds, nothing, a minute.... nothing! Now it was time to hope my buddy was ok and would stick to our plan, if separated, look for a minute, then head to the surface. So... off to the surface I went spinning 360 degrees during my ascent looking to see if my buddy could be spotted. Upon breaching the surface, I again started my 360 degree surface search looking for any sign of my buddy. Only problem, lots of divers on the surface.... unfortunately... my buddy was not one of them... Could it be that my buddy hadn't noticed I wasn't with him? Is he ok? Where is he? Seconds seemed like minutes and two minutes seemed like twenty. Still spinning on the surface looking and then there, about 200 feet in toward shore, was my buddy, waving and signalling "OK". Taking a navigational heading to where he was and indicating to stay in place, I descended to avoid the strong surface current and swam the distance following tight to my navigational heading and close to the bottom surfacing just beyond arms distance from my buddy. Staying close and both stilled stunned at how quick we got separated we moved to the stairs and up out of the water to warm up, stow our gear and head home safe, sound and reminded of the importance of strong buddy contact.
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