So I've alluded to it in another thread and because of the divebuddy/wife discussion, and the OOA discussions, I thought I would bring this up as a topic for discussion. Go ahead and critique away, but please read the full post before critiquing.
It was our first dive in two years after only 11 logged dives and I was completely AMPED! I was up at 5:00 a.m. and pretty much bouncing off the walls like a kid who had eaten three candy bars. I ate a healthy (not heavy) breakfast and made sure I was well hydrated.
MISTAKE #1: I did NOT (as the LDS owner had suggested) get in the pool before our trip to get comfortable with the equipment. (However, hubby and I did review our books and divetables, and try on and familiarize ourselves with our rental equipment on dry land before ever leaving town.)
We were in the "Kindergarten boat" with a group of 6 divers who were doing their OW cert with two DIs (one who is the LDS owner); and we were in a second group of 6 novice (but OW certified) divers and one DM (12 total divers, not counting the DM and DIs). The water was very choppy (4'-6' swells) for Cozumel and our group used the giant stride entry while the boat was moving slowly. My dive buddy (hubby) was immediately ahead of me, and I was the last one in.
As soon as I hit the water, I started choking on seawater. I looked to the DM and the rest of the group and it felt like they were all about 100' away from me. I can't remember whether I signalled ok or not, I must have, because I saw that the group was descending. I decided that I probably would fare better underwater, so I started to descend. I got my head underwater (believe me, that's all the further I got) and still felt like I couldn't breathe, so I popped back up to the surface and started waving my arms frantically. I couldn't see the boat and the waves were smacking me in the face, causing me to choke even more. I put my face in the water and realized most of the rest of the group were nearly at the bottom.
This is when I panicked. I felt so alone out there. I had never in my life had a panic attack. I was still waving my arms around, waiting for help, but I thought nobody (including dive buddy who was descending with the rest of the group) could see me so:
MISTAKE #2: Not my mistake, but divebuddy/hubby descended without me.
MISTAKE #3: I took my reg out of my mouth and started hollering for help. Of course, the water smacked me in the face and I would get a mouthful and then couldn't breathe. I tried my snorkel, but the swells were just too much. (Do you think I thought about my octo? NO---DUH! = MISTAKE #4).
Anyway, one of the divers was feeling uncomfortable with the dive, so miraculously, she was still on surface and she heard me yelling. She finned over to me, grabbed my BC and got it inflated, got me on my back, and yelled at me to get my reg back in my mouth, all while somehow managing to calm me down.
The boat showed up (I don't know whether she flagged it or whether they heard me hollering "I can't do this! I can't do this! HEEEELPPPPPPP! gurgle gurgle) and they hauled me back on, shaking like a newborn puppy. Of course, the divers waiting for their OW certs were all wide-eyed and asking whether I was ok. I was humiliated by this point, at the point of tears, and still terrified.
About the time I managed to de-gear, I saw hubby pop up (after apparently notifying the DM that his buddy was missing and going through a nice, slow ascent), worried as heck. He got back on the boat and managed to calm me down and cheer me up like only my best friend can.
Meanwhile, I asked whether I would be allowed to dive again that day, since I basically freaked out on the first attempt. After the DI/LDS owner came up with the new divers, he gave me an "I told you so" (which he's allowed to do since he's also a friend) about getting in the pool before my trip and asked if I was ready to try it again. I responded with a resounding H-E-double-pipefish YES!" and we went to the shallows where entry/exit wasn't nearly as choppy and max depth was about 25'.
When we got back in, this is when I realized that my reg was leaking quite a bit of seawater, and I had the mind to use my octo. When we re-surfaced after a bit of swimming around and looking at the snorkelers (and finding my fin clip which dove off the boat when I was gearing up), I remarked to the DM from the first dive that I had a leaky reg and the reason I think I had the panic attack is because I couldn't breathe.
He checked my reg and turned the dial so I would get more air and handed it back to me. He said that it's normal to get a little water in your reg, especially since I tend to invert to get down the first 15 feet because of my natural buoyancy. The second dive of the day, he pulled me down to the bottom by my BC, but the reg was still leaky. On our second day of diving, hubby and I swapped regulators. After the first dive, hubby surfaced and demanded that the LDS owner look at and fix the reg. Apparently, one of the seals was slightly crimped.
MISTAKE #5: not knowing enough about my equipment to properly check for minor problems.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, except for a couple of times feeling a little panicky at the surface because of the first dive, but feeling better as I descended (and the jellyfish safety stop incident).
In retrospect, I feel as if there were a few contributing factors to the aborted dive. (See MISTAKES 1-5), as well as being completely amped to be diving again having me on edge as it is.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to critique away.
It was our first dive in two years after only 11 logged dives and I was completely AMPED! I was up at 5:00 a.m. and pretty much bouncing off the walls like a kid who had eaten three candy bars. I ate a healthy (not heavy) breakfast and made sure I was well hydrated.
MISTAKE #1: I did NOT (as the LDS owner had suggested) get in the pool before our trip to get comfortable with the equipment. (However, hubby and I did review our books and divetables, and try on and familiarize ourselves with our rental equipment on dry land before ever leaving town.)
We were in the "Kindergarten boat" with a group of 6 divers who were doing their OW cert with two DIs (one who is the LDS owner); and we were in a second group of 6 novice (but OW certified) divers and one DM (12 total divers, not counting the DM and DIs). The water was very choppy (4'-6' swells) for Cozumel and our group used the giant stride entry while the boat was moving slowly. My dive buddy (hubby) was immediately ahead of me, and I was the last one in.
As soon as I hit the water, I started choking on seawater. I looked to the DM and the rest of the group and it felt like they were all about 100' away from me. I can't remember whether I signalled ok or not, I must have, because I saw that the group was descending. I decided that I probably would fare better underwater, so I started to descend. I got my head underwater (believe me, that's all the further I got) and still felt like I couldn't breathe, so I popped back up to the surface and started waving my arms frantically. I couldn't see the boat and the waves were smacking me in the face, causing me to choke even more. I put my face in the water and realized most of the rest of the group were nearly at the bottom.
This is when I panicked. I felt so alone out there. I had never in my life had a panic attack. I was still waving my arms around, waiting for help, but I thought nobody (including dive buddy who was descending with the rest of the group) could see me so:
MISTAKE #2: Not my mistake, but divebuddy/hubby descended without me.
MISTAKE #3: I took my reg out of my mouth and started hollering for help. Of course, the water smacked me in the face and I would get a mouthful and then couldn't breathe. I tried my snorkel, but the swells were just too much. (Do you think I thought about my octo? NO---DUH! = MISTAKE #4).
Anyway, one of the divers was feeling uncomfortable with the dive, so miraculously, she was still on surface and she heard me yelling. She finned over to me, grabbed my BC and got it inflated, got me on my back, and yelled at me to get my reg back in my mouth, all while somehow managing to calm me down.
The boat showed up (I don't know whether she flagged it or whether they heard me hollering "I can't do this! I can't do this! HEEEELPPPPPPP! gurgle gurgle) and they hauled me back on, shaking like a newborn puppy. Of course, the divers waiting for their OW certs were all wide-eyed and asking whether I was ok. I was humiliated by this point, at the point of tears, and still terrified.
About the time I managed to de-gear, I saw hubby pop up (after apparently notifying the DM that his buddy was missing and going through a nice, slow ascent), worried as heck. He got back on the boat and managed to calm me down and cheer me up like only my best friend can.
Meanwhile, I asked whether I would be allowed to dive again that day, since I basically freaked out on the first attempt. After the DI/LDS owner came up with the new divers, he gave me an "I told you so" (which he's allowed to do since he's also a friend) about getting in the pool before my trip and asked if I was ready to try it again. I responded with a resounding H-E-double-pipefish YES!" and we went to the shallows where entry/exit wasn't nearly as choppy and max depth was about 25'.
When we got back in, this is when I realized that my reg was leaking quite a bit of seawater, and I had the mind to use my octo. When we re-surfaced after a bit of swimming around and looking at the snorkelers (and finding my fin clip which dove off the boat when I was gearing up), I remarked to the DM from the first dive that I had a leaky reg and the reason I think I had the panic attack is because I couldn't breathe.
He checked my reg and turned the dial so I would get more air and handed it back to me. He said that it's normal to get a little water in your reg, especially since I tend to invert to get down the first 15 feet because of my natural buoyancy. The second dive of the day, he pulled me down to the bottom by my BC, but the reg was still leaky. On our second day of diving, hubby and I swapped regulators. After the first dive, hubby surfaced and demanded that the LDS owner look at and fix the reg. Apparently, one of the seals was slightly crimped.
MISTAKE #5: not knowing enough about my equipment to properly check for minor problems.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, except for a couple of times feeling a little panicky at the surface because of the first dive, but feeling better as I descended (and the jellyfish safety stop incident).
In retrospect, I feel as if there were a few contributing factors to the aborted dive. (See MISTAKES 1-5), as well as being completely amped to be diving again having me on edge as it is.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to critique away.
.
