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On Sun, 3 Jul 1994, Harold Gartner wrote:

[Description of dive missing the anchor on return]

> 1.  What can one do besides using a reel to make sure that he gets back to
> the anchor line?  Any other methods used frequently.  (Of course a compass
> reading would have also been helpful but it seemed so close)

A majority of the deep dives I've done involve very similar circumstances,
except instead of a wreck it is a ledge.  Quite often, our anchor would
fall some distance from the ledge.  If it was too far, we'd abort the
dive.  If it was just out of view from the ledge, we'd take some sort of
bearing.  If it was as you describe, we'd make the same decision you did. 
It's a judgement call.  When we'd get stung as you did, we'd recalibrate
our judgement a bit more conservatively the next time.

> 2.  What choice would you have made?  Would you keep to the deco schedule
> and risk the shipping traffic and current? ( No one else was on the boat to
> see a "diver below" lift bag)

I've been in a nearly identical situation 3 times (never on a mixed-gas
dive, last time was about 5 years ago), and several other times guys I was
diving with were in that situation.  In all cases, we responded almost
exactly as you did, and in all cases, things worked out fine.

These experiences contributed to our now very strong philosophy that,
given only two experienced deep divers and a small boat, it is often much
safer to have one person in the water doing the dive with a drift-line, and
the other waiting in the boat - many of the dives we do involve currents
that we cannot swim against. (Folks, this is our experience, and I don't
necessarily say that the same would be true for everyone, and certainly not
in every situation....)

Yes. In your situation, I would have done the same thing.

(and I'll porbably get flamed for saying so....:->)

Aloha,

Rich

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