I don't know why I never thought of it before.
Wanted to get a lost diver drill done on this morning's dive. But during our exit (when I had wanted to do the drill) some other things came up which I wanted to talk about, so there wasn't a great spot to place a lost diver (the part of the lost diver played by a small backup light tucked in the silt).
But what if...
The thought crept up on me slowly...
What if there... was... no lost diver? What if the drill went in a way that eliminated the possibility of finding the diver. Because there IS no diver?
Bear in mind that I've done Intro with these students. We had practiced and drilled and discussed and debriefed a more typical lost diver drill, ending with finding me enveloped, flailing, in a silt cloud.
But this time for Full Cave...
Will they recalculate appropriately? Will they monitor their gas and stick to the recalculated plan even when they haven't found anyone? Will they read cues in the cave to someone being there... or not? Will they communicate? What will they do when they don't find a diver? Start leaving markers and lights and other such contents of their pockets as a trail of breadcrumbs?
I suddenly felt very, very silly. But I'd never seen the drill tried or discussed this way.
"What the hell! Let's find out!" as I crept out of the darkness in my role as an observant ghost, signalled Diver #2, "Hey, where is Diver #3?"
It was awesome!!! So many discussion points! So much fun to watch. And an additional 1/2 hour of dive time.