harleyxx
Contributor
I just got back from a cruise and did a shore dive on Cocoa Cay. There were no "accidents" or injuries, and everything ended up ok, but I learned a valuable lesson.
The dive started from the shore. We geared up and waded out into the water and checked our buoyancy. The plan was for a wave runner to tow us out to the dive site. We were to lay down on our stomach's in a basket towed behind the wave runner.
Well, it was a rough and wild ride out to the dive site and no one suggested that it might be a good idea to put my regulator in my mouth. Needless to say, I got a face full of sea water and ended up swallowing a couple mouthfuls of saltwater. Plus I was bouncing up and down on by weight belt that had somehow managed to shift so that I was laying on the weights.
I felt a little queezy once I got to the dive buoy but figured it would go away.
We descended to about 35-40 feet and I felt fine for the next 10 to 15 minutes.
Suddenly I felt a wave a nausea hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew I was on the verge of hurling, there was no stopping it. Fortunately I was behind everyone else when it hit me. MY first instinct was to pull my regulator out and let nature take it's course. Then my better judgment kicked in and I went ahead and hurled into my regulator. I did this three or four times before my stomach settled down.
I fanned the polluted water away, thankful that no one saw me chumming the water and caught up with the rest of the dive party. Then all of a sudden my regulator was breathing wet. With every breath I was getting a half a mouthful of water. I tried to purge it, and blow it out but it was still giving me a mouthful of water with every breath. I was getting a little anxious but contemplated signaling my buddy. (In hindsight, I should have done so anyway) I decided that something might be stuck in the diaphragm and switched to my octopus. I poked my finger in the vents and purged my regulator saw a few small chunks of "breakfast" come out. I then switched back to my regulator and it was back to normal.
I had once again fallen behind the rest of the dive party but caught up to them again. My buddy turned around and gave the the OK signal. I signaled back OK and we finished our dive.
Little did I know the worst part was still to come. Once we surfaced at the buoy we had a rather long surface swim back to the shore. As soon as I got to the surface the wave of nausea hit me again. I ended up chumming the water all the way back to shore. This nausea seemed to sap all my strength. Although I considered myself in better shape than the rest of the divers I was the last one to make it back to shore. I cleaned up my equipment drank some fresh water and collapsed into a beach chair for the next 5 hours. This was supposed to be a easy fun shallow reef dive, but it turned out to be the most stressful dive I have had so far.
Here is what I learned. If getting towed by a wave runner, put your regulator in and keep your mouth shut. Swallowing even a little bit of sea water can totally ruin your day! I also realize that by using my own octopus I was in rendering it unavailable for my buddy, not a good move. I should have shared air with my buddy while I cleaned out my regulator.
This was by no means an emergency situation, but I would like to know if anyone else has had a sudden onset of nausea at depth and how they handled it.
Edit: My Regulator was a Scubapro MK17/S555
The dive started from the shore. We geared up and waded out into the water and checked our buoyancy. The plan was for a wave runner to tow us out to the dive site. We were to lay down on our stomach's in a basket towed behind the wave runner.
Well, it was a rough and wild ride out to the dive site and no one suggested that it might be a good idea to put my regulator in my mouth. Needless to say, I got a face full of sea water and ended up swallowing a couple mouthfuls of saltwater. Plus I was bouncing up and down on by weight belt that had somehow managed to shift so that I was laying on the weights.
I felt a little queezy once I got to the dive buoy but figured it would go away.
We descended to about 35-40 feet and I felt fine for the next 10 to 15 minutes.
Suddenly I felt a wave a nausea hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew I was on the verge of hurling, there was no stopping it. Fortunately I was behind everyone else when it hit me. MY first instinct was to pull my regulator out and let nature take it's course. Then my better judgment kicked in and I went ahead and hurled into my regulator. I did this three or four times before my stomach settled down.
I fanned the polluted water away, thankful that no one saw me chumming the water and caught up with the rest of the dive party. Then all of a sudden my regulator was breathing wet. With every breath I was getting a half a mouthful of water. I tried to purge it, and blow it out but it was still giving me a mouthful of water with every breath. I was getting a little anxious but contemplated signaling my buddy. (In hindsight, I should have done so anyway) I decided that something might be stuck in the diaphragm and switched to my octopus. I poked my finger in the vents and purged my regulator saw a few small chunks of "breakfast" come out. I then switched back to my regulator and it was back to normal.
I had once again fallen behind the rest of the dive party but caught up to them again. My buddy turned around and gave the the OK signal. I signaled back OK and we finished our dive.
Little did I know the worst part was still to come. Once we surfaced at the buoy we had a rather long surface swim back to the shore. As soon as I got to the surface the wave of nausea hit me again. I ended up chumming the water all the way back to shore. This nausea seemed to sap all my strength. Although I considered myself in better shape than the rest of the divers I was the last one to make it back to shore. I cleaned up my equipment drank some fresh water and collapsed into a beach chair for the next 5 hours. This was supposed to be a easy fun shallow reef dive, but it turned out to be the most stressful dive I have had so far.
Here is what I learned. If getting towed by a wave runner, put your regulator in and keep your mouth shut. Swallowing even a little bit of sea water can totally ruin your day! I also realize that by using my own octopus I was in rendering it unavailable for my buddy, not a good move. I should have shared air with my buddy while I cleaned out my regulator.
This was by no means an emergency situation, but I would like to know if anyone else has had a sudden onset of nausea at depth and how they handled it.
Edit: My Regulator was a Scubapro MK17/S555
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