ALaskowski
Registered
I had a problem with my dive today that forced me to abort and return to the surface and I need to better understand the cause if at all possible. Hope some can give some meaningful input to avoid a repeat.
We were on a boat dive today off of Long Island in the Atlantic for a wreck that laid 60-80 deep. I have never been prone to seasickness, but there were some decent swells on the way out and I began to feel a bit nauseous. I was probably also a little dehydrated and did not eat breakfast prior (couldnt find a Duncan Donuts). Anyway, we got to the wreck site and I geared up with the rest of the group. I was diving a 30% blend nitrox on a brand new tank. Those are the pre-incident facts.
Descent down the anchor line went without incident with my buddy right behind me and after noting the limited visibility, I elected to tie a line from my reel to avoid difficulty finding my way back. A few minutes after doing this (approx. 70), it hit me like a ton of bricks. Now, I have been narced a number of times before and this was very different. I was having difficulty focusing my vision on any particular object and had great difficulty thinking clearly as well as feeling ill mostly nauseous. Some anxiety was also setting in and my breathing was elevated making me burn through my air.
Impaired as I was, I recognized that this was a dangerous situation and signaled my buddy to team up with one of the other groups next to us and that I was ascending (some may argue sending the buddy off was a bad idea noted. As stated, I was not thinking clearly). I was making my way back to the anchor line (like 20 away) and realized I was having extreme difficulty being able to get my hand eye coordination to work to reel up my line and eventually gave up and took it up in a tangled mess to deal with on the surface.
These symptoms largely stayed with me during my ascent and would have been a real problem without an anchor line to assist, as I still couldnt think clearly and was having problems determining which buttons on my BC inflated and deflated. Nonetheless, I was able to make a controlled ascent and all ended without issue except with not feeling particularly well for a time on the rolling sea.
After leaving the site, I had a good meal which made me feel a lot better and then went home, where fatigue rapidly overcame me and I slept for 2 hours.
My question to you all is what the hell induced that? It strikes me largely as CNS related issues like the first symptoms of oxygen toxicity, but I dont see how thats very likely giving my blend had a maximum depth of 120 and we were at 70 for only a very short time. Or could it be to a culmination of other various stress factors that added up to cause this? I intend to have the tank rechecked as well as verifying the blend to ensure that it was really 30%, but if that all checks out, I need answers
We were on a boat dive today off of Long Island in the Atlantic for a wreck that laid 60-80 deep. I have never been prone to seasickness, but there were some decent swells on the way out and I began to feel a bit nauseous. I was probably also a little dehydrated and did not eat breakfast prior (couldnt find a Duncan Donuts). Anyway, we got to the wreck site and I geared up with the rest of the group. I was diving a 30% blend nitrox on a brand new tank. Those are the pre-incident facts.
Descent down the anchor line went without incident with my buddy right behind me and after noting the limited visibility, I elected to tie a line from my reel to avoid difficulty finding my way back. A few minutes after doing this (approx. 70), it hit me like a ton of bricks. Now, I have been narced a number of times before and this was very different. I was having difficulty focusing my vision on any particular object and had great difficulty thinking clearly as well as feeling ill mostly nauseous. Some anxiety was also setting in and my breathing was elevated making me burn through my air.
Impaired as I was, I recognized that this was a dangerous situation and signaled my buddy to team up with one of the other groups next to us and that I was ascending (some may argue sending the buddy off was a bad idea noted. As stated, I was not thinking clearly). I was making my way back to the anchor line (like 20 away) and realized I was having extreme difficulty being able to get my hand eye coordination to work to reel up my line and eventually gave up and took it up in a tangled mess to deal with on the surface.
These symptoms largely stayed with me during my ascent and would have been a real problem without an anchor line to assist, as I still couldnt think clearly and was having problems determining which buttons on my BC inflated and deflated. Nonetheless, I was able to make a controlled ascent and all ended without issue except with not feeling particularly well for a time on the rolling sea.
After leaving the site, I had a good meal which made me feel a lot better and then went home, where fatigue rapidly overcame me and I slept for 2 hours.
My question to you all is what the hell induced that? It strikes me largely as CNS related issues like the first symptoms of oxygen toxicity, but I dont see how thats very likely giving my blend had a maximum depth of 120 and we were at 70 for only a very short time. Or could it be to a culmination of other various stress factors that added up to cause this? I intend to have the tank rechecked as well as verifying the blend to ensure that it was really 30%, but if that all checks out, I need answers
