100' seemed hard to breathe

[ianr33]

. I had to tell myself I couldn't make a mistake down here and I'm not going to die , don't panic, don't panic.

I actually thought if I had to share air could I even do it down here, that's how bad it was for me. Way to heavy breathing and I looked over at my buddy and his eyes were pretty big and he was exhausting a boat load each breath

Sounds to me like a classic "Dark Narc"

I'm guessing it was cold and dark where you were? The nitrogen plays games with you at that depth and any CO2 makes it worse.

I've had it myself in our local lake. A strong,foreboding, feeling of "hey,it would be really easy to die down here"

If you were unsure of your ability to share air in an emergency then you were not diving safely. Call the dive,simple as that. if your buddy gets annoyed at you find another buddy.

The bad feeling will probably go away for the most part with more experience and confidence.Do ten dives at 80 feet then 10 at 90 feet before hitting 100 again.

Even after that expect the odd bad day when it just does not feel right. The only real cure for that is helium. (Trimix)

 

[meagicano]

I'm glad that you posted this topic, because I did my first deep dive a couple of weeks ago and had a similar thing happen. I was diving with an instructor and we're doing the AOW dives on a casual basis (still completely within standards, etc. but not as a concentrated weekend of diving or anything). We decided to try the deep dive because I was interested in seeing how it went.

We had a really frank discussion before going down and he said that if I felt uncomfortable, I should call it. I was diving a 7mm wetsuit + 2nd layer in a quarry where temperature was low to mid 40s at the bottom.

The descent was fine until we got past 75 or 80ft - then I started feeling like I couldn't get enough air (ScubaPro MK17 w/ G250V). I concentrated on my computer, watching the depth tick by, and on my instructor - my eyes would go from the computer screen to the instructor and back again at an insanely rapid pace. At about 95ft it was too much - I gave him the "not really ok" hand sign, still feeling like I was breathing shallow and that I couldn't get enough air. It almost felt like I was gasping. It was dark and cold and scary as hell.

I tried to slow it down and tried to count my breathing so that I could feel like I was more in control, but I couldn't feel comfortable so I thumbed up. We ascended slowly and he kept checking to see when I would be comfortable. When we got up to 70-75 ft, which felt incredibly warm and light, we hovered on a wall for a bit and did the colour checks etc. We spent the rest of the dive practising skills and buoyancy.

When we got out, I had a frank discussion with him about what happened and how I felt. He said it was good because then I would know not to treat recreational depths with complacency (nothing has scared me in diving yet, nor have I really felt nervous) but that I had handled it right by trying to control myself, thinking rationally and by making a controlled ascent and communicating with him as opposed to panicking and bolting upwards.

I still felt like a bit of a failure, but the plan is that we're going to keep building down to it, especially at that temperature and that level of darkness. As I plan to dive up here extensively in the summers, I think it's good I'm experiencing the cold, dark water with the AOW dives with an instructor I trust.

 

[Garth]

Surroundings I guess. I went to the Caymans on my first dive after certification. I went to Big tunnels on 7 mile beach. First dive 115fsw. Amazing. I didn't want to surface. Didn't feel like I was past 30 ft. Looked at my computer and was a bit surprised because I felt great the whole dive and went on diving the rest of the week. greater than 100 ft visability. or more.

Local quarry 91 ffw. 45 deg at bottom. 10 feet visability sometimes. my advanced open water cert it was like 5 feet at times (someone stirred up the bottom maybe). I thought to myself, i better think about what I will do when I can't see my instructor. While planning this and checking gauges, i found myself distracted from the horrible conditions as I was diving wet. I might have been breathing hard. but I questioning my own ability for a bit but i couldn't wait to do it again.
i'm more excited for a drysuit though

 

[TSandM]

It is true that gas gets denser as you go deeper, and work of breathing increases, but with the regs you have, if they are properly adjusted, it really shouldn't be noticeable at 100 feet. (One thing to do might be to have the shop check the cracking pressure on your second stage -- a friend of mine was having the sensation that she couldn't breathe, and it turned out hers was three times what it should have been.)

But narcosis is real, and I think you met it. I had two very bad narcosis episodes early in my diving career, and one of them was precisely what you describe. At 100 feet, I was convinced my regulator was malfunctioning and I couldn't get enough air. I wasn't swimming hard, and I have never tended to breathe fast, so I don't think it was CO2 retention. I think it was narcosis and anxiety. By that time, I knew I had narcosis problems, so I talked myself through the episode until we moved shallower and the feeling went away. This is why 100 feet is my personal hard deck for any dive without helium in my mix.

HBDiveGirl's advice is stellar. The more that the basic act of diving becomes unconscious and fluid, the more mind you have freed up to deal with whatever isn't going perfectly. And a major problem at 100 feet is a different animal than the same problem at 20 -- how would it have gone if you had gone into freeflow down there, where you were anxious and distressed and your buddy was, too? Would you have had the presence of mind to cope with that? It's a long way to the surface . . .

 

[ScoobaDooba]

-- how would it have gone if you had gone into freeflow down there, where you were anxious and distressed and your buddy was, too? Would you have had the presence of mind to cope with that? It's a long way to the surface . . .

Good question but I can say I'm more comfortable with a free flow then buddy breathing only because I've practiced free flows many times on my own. I maybe did 2-3 buddy shares from the shallows in my OW classes and those were never smooth, ie..buddy doesn't face me properly, octo hose gets caught in his arm or around his primary.

 

[scubafanatic]

You learned at least 2 things from this hopefully more. Now you can suspect that you may be a little sensitive to narcosis and when it does start to happen you know how to control it. As time goes on and you dive more you'll feel more at home under the water. Your breathing will be more normal and you'll feel more relaxed. The most important thing you should take away from this is that deep diving for the sake of it is not a reason to do it. As a rule there is nothing much to see past 100' anyway. All my best dives have been above 100'.

.....not to hijack this thread...but where did you read/hear that there's nothing much to see past 100' ??? ....guess you're not a big fan of wall dives ???

 

[TSandM]

Sorry to continue the hijack, but I agree -- there are VERY few places I've been where there is anything particularly better about the diving below 100 feet. Most of the walls I've dived are similar above and below that depth. I've been taken deeper to see a particular animal the guide knew about, and certainly one has to go as deep as the wreck is, to dive a wreck. There are cloud sponges in BC that live in deep water. But for the most part, the top 100 feet is as good as anything I've seen deeper than that.

 

[AfterDark]

Sorry to continue the hijack, but I agree -- there are VERY few places I've been where there is anything particularly better about the diving below 100 feet. Most of the walls I've dived are similar above and below that depth. I've been taken deeper to see a particular animal the guide knew about, and certainly one has to go as deep as the wreck is, to dive a wreck. There are cloud sponges in BC that live in deep water. But for the most part, the top 100 feet is as good as anything I've seen deeper than that.

Couldn't have said it better myself. The reason may take you deep, but just going deep shouldn't be the reason. Aside from research I suppose. This thread is an example why, things went well, how much more stress would it have taken to make things go bad?

 

[gcbryan]

I would have to say that up here on wall dives the sweet spot often doesn't begin until 80 fsw-100 fsw and in some cases the wall itself doesn't even begin until those depths.

Much can be seen above 100 fsw but there's a lot right in that 100 fsw area. It's true that as far as marine life is concerned it's rarely substantially better below that but in many places it does continue to flourish with depth.

 

[Scott L]

Fish and lobster are more abundant in depths greater than 100ft here due to the simple fact that those areas receive fewer visits from divers...