I'm not a full cave diver or trimix certed or even an instructor, but what i am, is someone who has spent their whole life around diving, pushing my own limits in search of huge fish.
I have many first hand experiences with iwr, omitted decos, forgot decos (not me lol), equipment malfunctions at depth and run ins with local wildlife leaving my or my buddies blood/air shooting into the gulf. One story is very relevant to this talk;
Lets say "my friend" and his dive buddy pull up to a submarine spring and drop the hook on the lip in 100 feet of water. We... ummmm... i mean they, are spearfishing over a hole that drops down to 200 feet at the very dark bottom. Diver one (1st mate) drops and diver two (capt) stays on the boat to prep for his dive, diver one flops over puts his head down and kicks for the bottom, pushing jacks out of the way he penetrates the hole (giggity) and keeps kicking. Last time he was here, the fish hit were at 165 so that was the target depth, however, part of the fun is that the fish don't stay there and when I... ****, when
he hits 160 all thats around are a few jacks that followed down from 100 looking for a free meal. No worries, i have the 180&200 ft plans on my slate so down i go looking for some dinner and boy do i find it, at 180' a 40-50 lbs (biggest Ive ever seen) gag (odd) is so taken back by the light that he forgets to run and i stick him on the spine right behind the left eye. Instantly, a 400 lbs jew fish comes from ABOVE me and tail slaps my face so hard that my mask is knocked down and my reg/teeth are broken in the process (jew fish have broken more of my equipment than everything else combined), now our diver is 180 feet under water with a free flowing reg, bloody mouth and flooded mask, guess what his first thought was?
Damnit i lost that gag!!! We're a sick bunch i know lol.
Step one is find the 13 cube pony reg, then i sort out my mask add and start the kick up thinking, i should have brought the 19 cube. We are 4 minutes into the dive, i planned for 8 at 180 so we're ok right? Nope, I slow at the lip, dodge jacks, think about life and how stupid i am for not being prepared for this, mostly trying to keep myself calm and not suck all the air. Reach 40 feet and grab the line for my first stop, I know that theoretically, i can go straight up because i was only at depth for seconds, but good judgment got the better of me and i stay for my off gas at 40. Were now 9 minutes in and Ive been on the pony under stress for 5, feeling like hot **** for saving my own life i chill and slowly pull up to 15 feet, dive time 16 min and on the pony for 12, this in when i have to decide about iwr. I pull my slate off and wright "TANK NOW!!", then attach it to my gun and send it up the line with faith in my capt to help me out. Seconds later, my bud splashed w a 36% al40 in his hand, I have never been so happy to see a fresh tank in my life, we spend a few more minutes together on the line in the name of safety (lol) and climb on deck when the gshock clicked past 22.
Now, i know that a lot of things were wrong (including my fish getting away) on that dive but at the same time it worked out pretty well in the end. I put myself into a dangerous situation that may not have required the iwr but in the name of safety i did it and i would again. We don't plan for iwr but if it needs to happen I'm ready and able to make it happen, safety tank and reg at the ready, boat man paying attention and coming down to watch me during are things that are always there. Other things like ponys (cough cough) backup dive plans and heads up diving are just the way we operate, i know my plan and my buds plan down to the stops because i want him to do the same for me.
I realize most people will never do anything like this, and as spearfishers we break golden rules of diving all the time, but i look at it like this, everything in life is a compromise. What i feel is safe is absolutely not what others feel is safe, what i have a problem with, other people do all the time, life is dynamic and so is diving. You can sit here on the net and slam people for iwr but if i think its going to save my life then I'm doing it no matter what the internet says.
Btw no dcs symptoms at all and i can still see that fish in my... buds mind lol.
