Who am I?
Hi, I’m Marina – an underwater photographer and scuba instructor.

Most of my job involves assisting on dive trips and capturing unforgettable memories for divers to take home.

It’s not unusual for the photographer to get lost from the group for a few moments to set up a shot or snag some pictures of an incredible animal encounter.

Today, I thought, was no different than any other day.

How it started:

We were diving “Sabalos” – a popular dive site in Playa del Carmen.

The site is ideal for intermediate divers. The reef is known as a “finger reef” because it extends out perpendicular to the current. This formation allows us to take shelter from the strong current on one side, then use the current like a jet stream to glide around the edge of the “finger” and settle into the calm, current-free area behind the next wall.

Today, the current was exceptionally strong.

Our divers were having trouble tucking in behind each wall to hide from the current, so we dove most of the dive site along with the current in the open section of the reef. Everything was going according to plan. I was taking photos. The divers were enjoying the huge schools of fish thriving in the current.

Then we saw the most amazing creature of our trip!

A HUGE 2-meter loggerhead turtle swam across our path.

Ancient and friendly, he passed between our dive group and me. I began spamming the shutter button to capture the moment.

The loggerhead tucked himself effortlessly behind the wall. He happily munched on a barrel sponge out of the current while our dive group struggled to keep him in view.

As a photographer, one of my favorite shots has the diver in the background while the marine life is positioned in the foreground. In a desperate attempt to capture this specific shot, I swam hard against the current.

But, by the time I tucked myself behind the reef wall and felt relief from the current, I turned around to realize my dive group was no longer there.

I took one last photo of the loggerhead, then kicked right back into the current to be reunited with my group.

Surely they tucked into the immediate next wall to wait for me.

I kicked with the current to catch up, slipped behind the wall, and looked around. No divers could be found.

I slipped back into the current and followed it to the next outcropping of wall.

No divers.

Now I am starting to worry I actually lost them. Even though I am an instructor and very familiar with this dive site, I still never want to dive alone. It’s irresponsible, and presumably, my group is worried about where I am.

I looked at my watch and calculated the time from when I lost the group until now. As per our lost buddy procedure, I decided to end my dive and come to the surface. I kicked myself into the current, inflated my DSMB for the boat traffic, and slowly made my way to the surface.

3 minutes exactly had elapsed from when I left the turtle until I made it to the surface.

In those 3 minutes, I looked for my group exactly where I expected them to be.

In those 3 minutes, I followed the dive plan as per the dive briefing.

In those 3 minutes, I did not panic. I did not swim hysterically in circles.

In those 3 minutes, I calmly decided to follow our Lost Buddy Procedure. I slowly and safely made my way to the surface.

On the surface, the boat picked me up almost immediately, knowing something was wrong. At the same moment, the captain spotted the dive guide’s DSMB far off in the distance.

What is the lost buddy procedure?

In the event of a lost buddy: look around the reef for 1 minute. If you can’t find them in your immediate area within 1 minute, you slowly ascend and reunite at the surface.

Now you must be thinking it was extremely negligent of me to separate myself from the group for a silly photo. Surely the picture was not that important to ignore the group leaving the area and get myself separated.

And you’d be right.

Luckily, I was videoing the entire experience. The video shows a diver right next to me, focuses on the turtle, then pans back to where the diver had previously been next to me.

Any guesses on how long the video was?

30 seconds.

It took 30 seconds to lose the group and end my dive.

This is how quickly conditions can change.

I am extremely fortunate to be familiar with this dive site and to have all my training. Because of courses like PADI Rescue Diver and Dive Master, I was comfortable turning this into a learning experience, and not a traumatic event.

I am even more grateful for the standardized Lost Buddy Procedure. This meant everyone involved knew exactly what to do to keep everybody safe in this situation.

This is not a situation I would want any diver to experience. But a good diver will be prepared to respond safely to any scenario underwater.

Conclusion:

30 seconds really is all it took to turn a great dive into a potentially dangerous situation.

Divers, I urge you to ask questions during your dive briefings. The conditions and response on this dive site were drastically different from those if we had chosen to dive somewhere with no current, or if the reef had different topography.

Dive briefings aren’t just about fish; they are accident management meetings. They create safe, knowledgeable divers who are prepared for anything that could go wrong on that dive.

If you liked this story and want to hear more, I publish an underwater story like this every month in my newsletter. You can join it here 🙂

To learn more about diving in Playa, visit the website here.