Imagine This

Southeastern Divers, Inc.

2720 Governors Drive SW, Huntsville Alabama 35805 - Phone: 256-536-8404

"Training the best divers in North Alabama since 1980."

Sean Davis - PADI IDC Staff & Master Instructor

Imagine this…

You and your dive buddy have just finished a great dive at one of your favorite dive sites. You both are really pumped up about the condition of the wreck and the abundance of aquatic life. The visibility being 30-35 feet wasn’t the greatest you have seen but it was still a great dive. Mask and fins in hand, you walk towards the staging area to get the once weightless scuba gear off of your now aching back. After changing your tank in anticipation of another wonderful dive, you grab a snack from your cooler and start writing details about the last dive in your logbook. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice several tiny bright flashes on the water followed by a long, continuous shout for help.

“Help!!!! Help!!!! I need help”, screams a diver on the surface of the water, while waving one arm as if trying to say “hi ya’ll”. Immediately you jump up, look around to see if anyone else is doing anything. Your first instinct is to dive in and swim out to the distressed diver as quickly as you can. You’ve watched tons of Bay Watch shows. In the few seconds it has taken you to make the decision to jump in, you notice another diver running down to the entrance point shouting at the distressed diver. As you approach, you hear her speaking loudly and precisely to other divers on the surface as well as some of the folks standing on the dock. People seem to be doing what she says. Someone runs up to the parking lot, a couple of snorkelers start swimming out to the distressed diver, a couple of divers just preparing for a dive, grab the rest of their gear and splash into the water. She is a PADI Rescue Diver and she is now serving as the scene manager for a diving emergency. She asks you if you are rescue qualified and you answer honestly in a quiet tone…”no”. She tells you its ok; she still needs your help. She asks you and your buddy to stand on the bank in specific spots and point to the distressed diver. You quickly do as she asks and from your new vantage point, you watch the entire rescue unfold.

You hear from one of the divers passing by you that a diver is missing. Five minutes later, squinting to see through the reflection on the water, you identify the tell tale signs of more and more bubbles rising to the surface. The two divers, who were sent to search for the missing diver, gently break the surface with the unconscious dive buddy in tow. After a few seconds of what appears to be removing some gear, blowing through a mask placed over the victim’s mouth and nose, and some more shouting to the scene manger, the divers begin to tow the victim in very quickly. You strain to hear what appears to be a military-like cadence, one one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, four one-thousand, BREATHES, over and over as the divers make it to shore. The victim is then pulled onto the dock where the oxygen (O2) kit is attached.

As you make it to the dock, you see the Rescue Diver performing CPR on the victim. After several cycles, the victim, who is now a patient, starts to cough. All the divers and bystanders are cheering. In the distance you hear sirens wailing followed soon by the arrival of the ambulance. The now breathing patient is loaded onto the ambulance with O2 bottle still attached. I notice the Rescue Diver passing a white dive slate containing patient information and her notes to the EMT as the door is slammed shut. The ambulance pulls off with a pretty good assurance that the diver will live to dive again.

With all the excitement behind you, there is one tiny detail that is still bugging you… What were the tiny bright flashes you saw on the water at the time you noticed a diver needed help? Talking to the Rescue Diver, you found out that the dive buddy had a signaling mirror which allowed him to reflect light towards the bank to attract attention. You also find out that there are many other signaling and safety devices which become part of a good diver’s normal dive gear.

Training is just as important as having good dive gear. That’s why I always say a good diver is always learning. With that being said, I believe one of the most important courses for me was the PADI Rescue Diver course. After I completed this course I felt I was much more comfortable with my diving abilities. Not only could I take better care of myself while diving, but I was also able to help my buddy with confidence in a variety of potential real life situations.

The course is not quite like any of the first few PADI courses mainly because you get a chance to interface with a variety of divers with a vast background of diving and experiences. You get a chance to learn from each other as you progress though the program using the typical PADI step by step method. You start with self-help skills you already know, move on to distressed diver evaluation methods, and after many more review exercises, you end up in open water conducting mock rescues using many, if not all, of the skills you have developed. This is one fun, rewarding course which I honestly believe every diver should complete regardless of your future diving certification path.

In order to enroll in the course you must: 1) be 15 years or older, 2) have an Advanced Open Water Certification (PADI or any qualifying agency), and 3) be trained in First Aid and CPR or Emergency First Response within the last 2 years (Emergency First Response , Primary/Secondary Care courses scheduled monthly)

I promise that you will not be disappointed, and hopefully you will be training for situations which you do not experience in real life.

So in the future, if you hear a diver surface hollering, “Help!!!! Help!!!! I need help!” you will have a much greater ability to positively influence a not so positive situation and perhaps help another diver live to dive another day.

If you are already a Rescue Diver or Dive Professional and would like to refresh your skills, please feel free to call the shop and put your name on the “Rescue Refresher” list.

Live, Love, Laugh and Dive.

Sean J

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