The stupidest thing I have ever done was purchased all brand new gear for one of my kids when she was 12. What was I thinking?
Whats the dumbest thing you've done?
- Thread starter Water Monkey
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bikefox
Guest
Trusting that the divemaster knew where he was going. I decided that since it was a "guided" dive I didn't need my compass. We didn't only miss the wreck, we swam several hundred yards in the wrong direction. After a wasted dive and a loooong surface swim, I always bring my compass and navigate along the way, guided or not.
CamG
Contributor
Greetings WaterMonkey and the most foolish thing I have done to date is mutter the "NEVER WOULD I LIKE THAT"! Thousands of dollars and many training hours later I am doing and loving just what I said I never would! My diving has taken me into a whole different universe and I stopped limiting the future! Now the future is only limited by time and $$$$!
The second world class mistake was not testing my quick disconnect on my pee valve pre-dive. The rest is history shortly into the dive I found I could not relieve myself at all and it was very painful. Then with out warning the resistance was gone and AH.AH much better. This was at about 85' mind you and in about 5 minutes I was feeling rather cold in my lower area. Then it hit me and I was not dry any more!
I do not know what was worse the knowledge of the failure or when I surfaced on the dock. My discrete buddies felt that the local community, several OW classes and about a dozen dry suit divers should share in the fun. So being of sound mind I unzipped and jumped back in to rinse my suit, it was hilarious! The looks on the faces and the dry suit divers were quite sympathetic but laughing on the inside.
I have learned that a little humility goes a long way and the ability to laugh at yourself is important.
Dive safe and learn from me NEVER dive anything you have not tested pre-dive!
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!
The second world class mistake was not testing my quick disconnect on my pee valve pre-dive. The rest is history shortly into the dive I found I could not relieve myself at all and it was very painful. Then with out warning the resistance was gone and AH.AH much better. This was at about 85' mind you and in about 5 minutes I was feeling rather cold in my lower area. Then it hit me and I was not dry any more!
I do not know what was worse the knowledge of the failure or when I surfaced on the dock. My discrete buddies felt that the local community, several OW classes and about a dozen dry suit divers should share in the fun. So being of sound mind I unzipped and jumped back in to rinse my suit, it was hilarious! The looks on the faces and the dry suit divers were quite sympathetic but laughing on the inside.
I have learned that a little humility goes a long way and the ability to laugh at yourself is important.
Dive safe and learn from me NEVER dive anything you have not tested pre-dive!
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!
Ok so today right now, I left my wetsuit at home, and only found out after a four hour drive and ferry cruse to some of the best dive sites in BC. So I spent the day playing father goose
tight rope walker
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I always get myself into trouble when I don't think things through all the way. Like this time I thought I could save a lot of money using my dremel tool instead of going to the dentist. Yep, didn't think that one out. I was bug ( lobster ) diving up in Gloucester Massachusetts, and had one cornered under a rock. I had him right where I wanted him, right out of arms reach.
He was starring at me, and me at him, when I came up with another excellent idea. At the time I was wearing those neoprene three finger mitts, warm, but offer no crush protection.
My plan was simple....I would stick my arm all the way under the rock, put my hand right in the bugs face, and when he bit me, I would have him........and would simply pull him out. It all made perfect sense at the time.
Now, know this to be true, good size bugs up here have been known to crush a three gauge console in the wink of an eye. But I wasn't thinking about that at the time.
So, as the bug was egging me on, I put my plan into motion. Everything was going as planned. I stretched out my arm under the rock, put it right in the bugs face, and he even accommodated me, by biting, biting, and just to make sure, he bit me one more time for good luck . It was at that moment that I remembered the story of the three gauge console being crushed by an irate lobster.
The last thing I remember was the look on the lobsters face, it looked as though he was laughing at me. Partner number three came over and pulled me from under the rock. He said my eyes looked like XS. My hand was throbbing like I had clamped it in a vice.
At that moment, that the lobster crawled out from under his rock, just far enough to give me one last grin, then he backed back inside.
I was thinking of coming back with dynamite, but the state frowns on that sort of thing.
He was starring at me, and me at him, when I came up with another excellent idea. At the time I was wearing those neoprene three finger mitts, warm, but offer no crush protection.
My plan was simple....I would stick my arm all the way under the rock, put my hand right in the bugs face, and when he bit me, I would have him........and would simply pull him out. It all made perfect sense at the time.
Now, know this to be true, good size bugs up here have been known to crush a three gauge console in the wink of an eye. But I wasn't thinking about that at the time.
So, as the bug was egging me on, I put my plan into motion. Everything was going as planned. I stretched out my arm under the rock, put it right in the bugs face, and he even accommodated me, by biting, biting, and just to make sure, he bit me one more time for good luck . It was at that moment that I remembered the story of the three gauge console being crushed by an irate lobster.
The last thing I remember was the look on the lobsters face, it looked as though he was laughing at me. Partner number three came over and pulled me from under the rock. He said my eyes looked like XS. My hand was throbbing like I had clamped it in a vice.
At that moment, that the lobster crawled out from under his rock, just far enough to give me one last grin, then he backed back inside.
I was thinking of coming back with dynamite, but the state frowns on that sort of thing.
DaleC
Contributor
Three stellar events come to mind:
Descending with a snorkel instead of a regulator in my mouth. I discovered that mistake about 1' below the surface. Lesson learned - get rid of that darn snorkel!
Upon request, turning someones (doubles) left post off instead of on (It was already on) when I hadn't dove doubles before. This was discovered about 1/2 way through the dive when they went OOA with a SPG that read full. Lesson learned - figure out which way the valves are supposed to turn and always breath both regs before starting a dive.
Only opening my valve 1/4 a turn. This was discovered when my breathing became laboured at depth. Lesson learned - Don't rush and forget that "all the way on 1/4 way back" crap and watch my SPG when doing a pre dive check.
Descending with a snorkel instead of a regulator in my mouth. I discovered that mistake about 1' below the surface. Lesson learned - get rid of that darn snorkel!
Upon request, turning someones (doubles) left post off instead of on (It was already on) when I hadn't dove doubles before. This was discovered about 1/2 way through the dive when they went OOA with a SPG that read full. Lesson learned - figure out which way the valves are supposed to turn and always breath both regs before starting a dive.
Only opening my valve 1/4 a turn. This was discovered when my breathing became laboured at depth. Lesson learned - Don't rush and forget that "all the way on 1/4 way back" crap and watch my SPG when doing a pre dive check.
DaleC
Contributor
Oh brother, I feel your pain. Where were you heading? My guess is Agamemnon channel.
Chugwhump
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My story of a lack of respect for the sea:
There were almost no boats out that day, and we pretty much had the ocean to ourselves.
The ocean was about flat, but the weather was overcast dull and there were light squalls well offshore.
My regular dive buddy and I paddled about 1 mile offshore in my two kayaks after a beach launch and we dropped onto a beautiful reef in 75' or so
I got busy taking pictures and did not notice the little reef hook that I use as an anchor had popped loose due to the squall that moved in above us after 35 minutes or so submerged.
The kayaks were tagged together and had a flag on, but only one down line without enough scope in the line length for the waves and wind that moved over us.
I realized within 1 minute or less of it being dislodged from the place I had hooked it that the little anchor and its accompanying line was missing, and immediately signaled that we needed to surface to retrieve the kayaks. We came up into an unbelievable maelstrom of high winds, 4'-6' seas, and solid sheets of rain. We could not see the boats. We just started going with the current which was running north in the hope of chasing down the kayaks, but the winds were coming from the southwest, essentially blowing the boats out to sea.
After a short time kicking like mad on the surface we could see the boats and my extra tall dive flag once in a while if we and the boats both hit a high wave.
We saw them a couple times in 5 minutes time but could not catch up. So in a break in the rain, I decided to shed my BC, hand it to my buddy, and chase down the boats probably not much more than 50-75 yards away with just my fins and snorkle plugged in.
I got about half way to the boats, but could not see both my buddy and the boats at times. I was very concerned about leaving my buddy behind, and just gave up the boats for lost and headed back to him. He wanted me to get the boats and bring them to the beach and he would just submerge with my gear and swim for shore. His thinking was that hopefully I would find him somewhere along the way. We had over 2500 psi left in our 130 cf tanks and routinely swim 3 miles plus on shallow dives so we knew we could easily make it back to shore.
We inflated one of our giant DAN safety sausages, submerged to 15' and started swimming back to shore. We heard a boat approaching revving its engine up and down and surfaced. The rain and wind had settled and the boat with a couple fishermen/divers who knew what a safety sausage meant (Idiot Marker for the most part) came close and said "Hi Guys, did you lose those nice kayaks way up there?" They loaded us up and ran us about 1/4 mile to my boats. We grabbed the rope and ptowed them up close to the exclusion zone buoys close to shore near where my truck was parked and we brought them back in.
Lessons:
Do not kayak dive when squalls are around as high winds create sudden large waves that obscure
your little boats from boaters and yourself if you lose them.
Use a rather large kayak type anchor when submerged, do not go light with a 1 pound steel hook when a 3 pounder is warranted.
Pay really close attention to your anchor when not drifting.
I clip it off now with a light plastic dog leash to me when I stop or take my eye off of it while not holding it.
I cannot even begin to figure out why I have not met Darwin on the other side as yet for so many reasons.
Chug
Learned his lesson
There were almost no boats out that day, and we pretty much had the ocean to ourselves.
The ocean was about flat, but the weather was overcast dull and there were light squalls well offshore.
My regular dive buddy and I paddled about 1 mile offshore in my two kayaks after a beach launch and we dropped onto a beautiful reef in 75' or so
I got busy taking pictures and did not notice the little reef hook that I use as an anchor had popped loose due to the squall that moved in above us after 35 minutes or so submerged.
The kayaks were tagged together and had a flag on, but only one down line without enough scope in the line length for the waves and wind that moved over us.
I realized within 1 minute or less of it being dislodged from the place I had hooked it that the little anchor and its accompanying line was missing, and immediately signaled that we needed to surface to retrieve the kayaks. We came up into an unbelievable maelstrom of high winds, 4'-6' seas, and solid sheets of rain. We could not see the boats. We just started going with the current which was running north in the hope of chasing down the kayaks, but the winds were coming from the southwest, essentially blowing the boats out to sea.
After a short time kicking like mad on the surface we could see the boats and my extra tall dive flag once in a while if we and the boats both hit a high wave.
We saw them a couple times in 5 minutes time but could not catch up. So in a break in the rain, I decided to shed my BC, hand it to my buddy, and chase down the boats probably not much more than 50-75 yards away with just my fins and snorkle plugged in.
I got about half way to the boats, but could not see both my buddy and the boats at times. I was very concerned about leaving my buddy behind, and just gave up the boats for lost and headed back to him. He wanted me to get the boats and bring them to the beach and he would just submerge with my gear and swim for shore. His thinking was that hopefully I would find him somewhere along the way. We had over 2500 psi left in our 130 cf tanks and routinely swim 3 miles plus on shallow dives so we knew we could easily make it back to shore.
We inflated one of our giant DAN safety sausages, submerged to 15' and started swimming back to shore. We heard a boat approaching revving its engine up and down and surfaced. The rain and wind had settled and the boat with a couple fishermen/divers who knew what a safety sausage meant (Idiot Marker for the most part) came close and said "Hi Guys, did you lose those nice kayaks way up there?" They loaded us up and ran us about 1/4 mile to my boats. We grabbed the rope and ptowed them up close to the exclusion zone buoys close to shore near where my truck was parked and we brought them back in.
Lessons:
Do not kayak dive when squalls are around as high winds create sudden large waves that obscure
your little boats from boaters and yourself if you lose them.
Use a rather large kayak type anchor when submerged, do not go light with a 1 pound steel hook when a 3 pounder is warranted.
Pay really close attention to your anchor when not drifting.
I clip it off now with a light plastic dog leash to me when I stop or take my eye off of it while not holding it.
I cannot even begin to figure out why I have not met Darwin on the other side as yet for so many reasons.
Chug
Learned his lesson
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
9 years ago I joined this quaint online community called ScubaBoard... 
Best mistake I ever made!
First mistake happened in September of 1969 on my very first OW dive in Lake Underhill near downtown Orlando. Too cheap to buy a hard pack ($30) I opted to tie rope around the neck and body of the tank creating two arm loops. Hilarity ensued. Then I happened to surface near some bull rushes just a couple feet from the biggest water moccasin I had ever seen. Before the snake could react, I submerged and headed in the general direction of the concrete dock. In a display of supernatural directional aptitude, I found the concrete dock piling with my head. Meanwhile, my "buddy" had surfaced a few hundred yards on the other side of the dock.
Best mistake I ever made!First mistake happened in September of 1969 on my very first OW dive in Lake Underhill near downtown Orlando. Too cheap to buy a hard pack ($30) I opted to tie rope around the neck and body of the tank creating two arm loops. Hilarity ensued. Then I happened to surface near some bull rushes just a couple feet from the biggest water moccasin I had ever seen. Before the snake could react, I submerged and headed in the general direction of the concrete dock. In a display of supernatural directional aptitude, I found the concrete dock piling with my head. Meanwhile, my "buddy" had surfaced a few hundred yards on the other side of the dock.
diver 86
Contributor
first night dive - Cozumel. left boat without fins. Everyone had good laugh. In the scope of things, not huge, but I'm new. Give me time and I'll make much bigger goofs.
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