Strange Experience

[discokat]

I have acrophobia and have never experienced that while underwater and I've done several wall dives. That is why I suggested agoraphobia. You aren't afraid of falling while submerged, at least not me, so I think he might want to look into agoraphobia (or both).

 

[Scubasmed22]

The regulator was my own. It was brand new. So, I will definitely have it checked. The more I consider the situation and read these posts I've developed several conclusions.

I did some reading on narcosis. I would have to say I definitely exhibited several of the symptoms during and after the event.

In evaluating the dive itself, I'm very bothered by the fact that we were that deep. In hindsight, had we been briefed on exactly how deep this particular dive was going to be I'm fairly certain that we would have waved this one off. In the future, I think I will ask more questions pre-dive of the DM so as to better understand the profile that is planned. Ultimately, this is my fault.

When reflecting on the 4-5 wall dives done after this event, I'm able to rethink several situations. First, I was not necessarily bothered by the wall. I think what bothered me is the feeling the bad experience left me with. Second, free descents were not troubling until after the event. My conclusion is that the free descent may well have been a reminder of the feelings as well.

We had been exposed to several swimthroughs prior to this dive. They were no trouble at all. I think the issue with swimthroughs may have occured after the fact. Again, it was a reminder of the anxiety experience.

Is there a particular site I could look up the varying degrees of dificulty regarding various dive sites? I hear some dives described as beginner divers. I hear others described as intermediate and advanced. I would be curious to know what my dive would be classified. The shear depth alone was probably beyond a "beginner" label. I find that having been asked to complete such a dive with only 10 or so logged dives under my belt bothers me. It just reitterates the fact that you cannot put your personal safety in the hands of a DM.

This discussion has been really enlightening. It has caused me to rethink and reevaluate several things. Thanks to each of you for your contributions to the discussion.

 

[discokat]

Your dive sounded like it was Intermediate/Advanced level.

If you ever feel uncomfortable doing a dive prior to entering the water, I wouldn't. I once wailed my head on the metal bench just prior to entering the water. The DM said I was fine but I was uncomfortable so I didn't dive. No need finding out later I wasn't fine when I'm in a position that could seriously injure myself. The water will still be there next time.

 

[lowviz]

I had a very strange experience on my last trip. I have never had any anxiety in the water. I had roughly 10 dives under my belt............While on the wall, I tried to focus on the wall rather than the abyss below. I avoided swim throughs the remainder of the trip...............I had no problem with dives where I could see the bottom. Depth didn't seem to matter. ............

My take on this is that your brain is telling you: "Way too much, and way too fast".

Slow down and get yourself back into "your range". "Your range" is different for different people. Learned this from the late "Captain Zero" when I was seriously considering getting out of this sport.

I was nearly freaked on the Joan III at the time. She lies in about 70' of water, intact and upright, baby wreck, training wheels. Joe called me up to the wheel house for a little "talk".

Joe is no longer with us, so the best I can do is pass it on...

 

[smaucere]

@scubasmed22, I've had the exact same experience coming out over a wall at about 100fsw. A feeling of anxiety/panic attack. I just communicated with my DM for a minute until I could center and refocus and continue with the dive.

I've analyzed why it happened a million times, and I think it was probably a bit of everything that the other posters have said. I was unfamiliar with the depth which was a little mentally overwhelming. I came out over the wall with an abyss below me. it wasn't fear of heights but definitely that sort of anxiety at an enormous open place below me (Ive never felt that with a reef below me), we took the descent pretty fast so I may have been a little narc'ed too. Needless to say I spent my dive looking at the wall and not at the shadows way off in the gloom.

btw, if we're talking irrational fears, has anyone heard of anybody actually "falling down" a wall or unable to control their descent once they get out over it? maybe I don't want to hear the answer on this one.

 

[cloudflint]

btw, if we're talking irrational fears, has anyone heard of anybody actually "falling down" a wall or unable to control their descent once they get out over it? maybe I don't want to hear the answer on this one.

If you dont want to hear the answer i would skip these next few paragraphs if i where you

We had one guy who unknown to us forgot his weight-belt so stuffed his wetsuit full of lead. To make matters worse he had been diving a drysuit but was diving a wetsuit for this dive and didn't bother to change his weighting so he had about 32 pounds of lead in. We where diving a wall which if I recall went down to something like 200m. One group was already in the water diving and this guy got kitted up in the Rhib and rollled in without his BC inflated and just went down like a rocket. Luckily one of the team members who where already down there managed to grab him as he shot down at about 30 meters and was able to bring him up.

Another near incident was going down a very sharp slope (probably about 70-80 degrees) and i noticed the guy in front of me didnt have his BC inflater hose plugged in so i swam up behind him and plugged it in before he went into freefall so to speak

We also had another guy who was diving a site where it was basically a series of sheer drops down to 50 meters and he panicked and had to be brought up due to vertigo. The visibility that day was very good and since the majority of our diving is done in zero or near zero vis he wasn't used to being able to see so far down and it kinda threw him.

Im lucky ive never got into trouble but I do get a certain tingling as I drop over a ledge no matter how much i tell myself itll be fine. I think its a natural reaction to throwing yourself out into the abyss, if we did it on land we would die, but we do it underwater and its fine.

 

[smaucere]

Thanks for giving me things to have nightmares about for the next decade