Nell loved macro photography more than anything. She had the patience for hovering in place, waiting for her subjects to forget she was there. They would return to their normal activities, and Nell would get the shots she was looking for. The problem was, her dive buddies did not have her patience. They got bored and wandered off while she waited.

THE DIVERS
Nell had more than 10 years of diving experience. She'd dived for years before the photography bug bit her. Since then, she's lived and breathed it. She was good at spotting little things on a reef that most divers missed, and she quickly discovered she had the skills necessary for macro photography, capturing extreme close-ups of small underwater animals and fish. She was petite and fit from a life of regular exercise.

Ted had been diving for a year and had made about 50 dives. He was in his mid-30s and had no known health problems. However, he didn't exercise ­regularly and wasn’t in the best shape. He was 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighed about 250 pounds. Because he didn’t get out much during the day, he liked to swim around a lot on dives, doing his best to see as much of the reef as he could before exhausting his air. He was known to finish dives early because he ran low on air.

THE DIVE
Ted’s regular dive buddy was sick, but he didn’t want to pass on their dive boat reservation, so he showed up without a partner. The boat crew asked Ted if he would mind buddying with Nell, and he agreed. Nell told Ted she was a photographer and planned to take photos on the dive—but didn’t give him any more detail.

Ted and Nell descended to the bottom and began swimming along the reef. Ted was enjoying the dive when he saw Nell stop and move close to the reef. He assumed she was going to take a quick photo, then they would move on to see more of the dive site.

THE ACCIDENT
After waiting more than five minutes without an indication from Nell that she was done and wanting to continue the dive, Ted began looking around. He did his best to keep Nell in his peripheral vision.

He did want to explore some more, though. He'd paid for a dive, not to watch another diver nap on the bottom. So, Ted moved off along the reef. He would glance back and note Nell had relocated, but she always seemed to be hovering in place with her camera up to her mask.

Ted was annoyed, and not paying attention to his bottom time or even where he swam. Suddenly, he noticed it was hard to breathe. He looked at his pressure gauge and realized he was nearly out of air. On top of that, he was 60 feet underwater and had no idea where his dive buddy was.

Ted began to panic. He was a long way from the surface. He looked around for the boat but couldn’t find it. He began to ascend, then glanced back at the reef and spotted Nell. She looked up and they made eye contact. He signaled to her that he was low on air and he was going to surface. She immediately began swimming toward him, signaling to him to slow down. She clipped her camera to her BCD and pulled her alternate air source out, getting it ready for him.

Ted got one last breath off his own regulator before he ran out of air. Nell arrived a moment later. She held onto his BCD while she gave him her alternate air source. She positioned herself directly in front of in his face, making eye contact, signaling him to breathe slowly and easily. After a couple of breaths, she could see him begin to calm down.

Nell never let go of Ted, and kept a firm grip on his BCD to prevent him from bolting to the surface. They made a slow, controlled ascent. Nell helped Ted orally inflate his BCD on the surface, then they swam back to the boat.

ANALYSIS
Both divers made mistakes. Nell didn’t accurately describe her plans for the dive, and even though it wasn’t the dive Ted imagined, he should have stayed closer to Nell. He also should have monitored his own air supply along with his position relative to the boat.

Had they discussed the dive and their mutual goals, they could have compromised to spend part of it photographing and the rest exploring, but neither diver explained what they expected.

It could have turned out far worse than it did. A rapid, uncontrolled ascent from 60 feet could easily cause an arterial gas embolism and Ted could have lost consciousness before he even made it to the surface, suffering from stroke-like symptoms and cardiac arrest.

A key to being good dive buddies is to ensure you have compatible goals underwater. Photographers are often so focused—no pun intended—on getting their shots, they forget about their dive buddies. Often, the best dive buddies for underwater shooters are people who like to be good spotters, looking for interesting scenes or critters to photograph.

When buddying with someone new, talk about air-consumption rates. In this case, Nell was fit. Even if she had been swimming around, she would have used significantly less air on the same dive than Ted. The fact that she also was hovering in place, relaxing and concentrating on her subject, made it more likely that she was using very little air on the dive. Realistically, the boat crew should not have teamed them as dive buddies, but it's possible they were the only two unaccompanied divers on board.

Lessons For Life

• Monitor your air supply. No one is responsible for you running out of air but you.
• Stay with your buddy. Dive buddies don’t have to stay on top of each other, but they should stay close enough to assist should a problem arise.
• Have similar dive goals. This should be worked out before the dive begins. Plan the dive and dive the plan.
• Move slowly and easily through the water. Rushing around is the quickest way to burn through your air supply.

About Lessons for Life

We're often asked if the Lessons for Life columns are based on real-life events. The answer is yes, they are. The names and locations have been removed or altered to protect identities, but these stories are meant to teach you how to handle a scuba diving emergency by learning from the mistakes other divers have made. Author Eric Douglas takes creative license on occasion for the story, but the events and, often, the communication between divers before the accident are entirely based on incident reports.