themagni
Contributor
This will be a long story, but it was expensive. Sometimes you don't get to hear what the story is,because not everybody lives to write about it.
I'm a pretty intelligent guy. I am a Professional Engineer by trade. I dive conservatively and try pretty hard to stay on the safe side. I'm not a DIR Lord, more of a “dork diver”, but all my gear is in good shape, good repair, and I know how it works.
I am in excellent physical shape. I'm 5'11”, 160#, I teach spin, practice yoga, and work out at the nearby gym several times a week. I bike to work daily. My cardiac output was recently measured at 20% above average /normal. So, healthy. I last dove about aweek before heading out for Belize.
For the last couple of years, I've wanted to do some tropical diving. At home, water is 50F in thesummer, so full neoprene drysuit 30# of lead, and a 5#SS backplate. I packed my regs, wing (sans backplate), and fins. The Force Fins fit when I'm wearing my sandals. I know. I said I'ma dork.
For a few years, my wife and I talked about Hawaii for our 15th anniversary in 2013, and I'd dive a little there. She ended up going to Hawaii and other trips, felt guilty, and suggested that I take a trip on my own. I decided to go down to Belize. I got a cheap flight, cheap accommodations, and planned to pick up a la carte diving. One of the goals was the Blue Hole Trilogy, especially after hearing that the two dives afterwards would be some of the best dives of my life. I packed my gear so I'd be more confident with that deep dive.
I arrived at my hotel at 3pm on Friday after flying and stopping over since 8pm on Thursday. On the way in, I stopped at Dive Shop 1 to book two dives for Saturday morning. That booked, I set out to the hotel for a well-deserved rest. I took a nap on a chair on the beach.
When it was time for dinner, the hotel owner bought me a drink. I don't usually drink, but I accepted, and several other people wanted to buy me drinks as well. I had recently separated from my wife, and they felt sorry for me.
I woke up feeling great, had a breakfast, even though it was a lot lighter than I usually get at home. I don't eat meat, dairy, or eggs, so the choices were somewhat limited. Dive Shop 1 picked me up at 8:30 to go out to the local reefs for a few dives. I saw sharks, rays, and even a turtle. Great dives, well worth the trip. Diving in a swimsuit? How... novel. I went back to the hotel, They told me how to access their wifi, sit in the bug andspider nest and try not to get eaten.
The next day, I went with Dive Shop 2 to The Blue Hole. This was the dive that worried me the most out of all the trips, I commented on it in a different thread here. We went on a long boat ride out, it was choppy in the open water, but I had sunblock and a hat and I was heading out to do some of the best tropical diving in the world.
We got our briefing on the Blue Hole. I commented “at home when we do group dives, we have nominal buddies. Are we doing that here?” “No, this is a DM-led dive.” They warned us that our computers would likely go into deco, and I ran my computer in sim mode the night before so I would know what it looked like. On the boat, strapping on my computer, it was showing “error” and “4 dives”. What the heck? I couldn't clear the display, but it fixed itself when it went into the water, as I assumed. It does that sometimes, it's how I fix it, like I said, my gear and I have an understanding.
One girl had a BC problem. I could see what it was, the inflator ring was loose where it attached to the bladder, so I tightened it up, let her know it was good as new, and then told her “if something happens, I have 45# oflift. I can lift everyone here, it's probably the most ridiculously oversized BC in the ocean today.” She thumbed her dive.
Clever girl.
The plan was to drop to a shelf at 30 feet, then go over the wall to the stalactites. We did, we dropped down and down, and I was astonished with how fast the depth got there. I was at 80 before I knew it, then 100, then deeper. Deeper than the recreational limits, deeper than the deepest I've ever done, deeper than the “whoops” area on the NDL limit tables, deeper than I should have gone, deeper than they promised, deeper than the gentleman's agreement.
152 feet. One hundred fifty-two feet. With a single AL80 with air.
I know. And I know better, but it's easy to say that when you're at the computer at home and start talking about gases and tech diving, but it's different when you're in the middle of the ocean in Belize on a trip you've been looking forward to for years after riding a boat for three hours. I wasn't nervous. I trusted the DM, I trusted my computer, which was still set for 1000m (for cold) and I was good.
The divemaster was deeper than me. I've got film to show it.
And there were other divers there with fewer dives than I, and one guy with 4 dives before today. He ran out of air and used the DM's octo. The switch was done when ascending, close to 80 feet. Yes, we still had a deco obligation,and my computer showed me 8 minutes of rise time with a 10 foot ceiling. Egads Mag, you're in a deco dive. No training, one run through on the simulator, in the middle of nowhere. Good luck.
Of course, I lived, we saw bullsharks, swam through the overhanging overhead stalactites? We went up, did our safety stop (which was really a deco obligation) for 10 minutes at 10 feet. We surfaced, left the blue hole, and when trying to get my gear off, a DM knocked my computer off my wrist and it fell to the ground. The battery was knocked loose and my diving day was over.
Of course, that's what you'd say at the forums at home, or when you've got a few hours of, shall we say, enforced thinking time, but that's not what you say in Belize when you're about to do “the two most amazing dives of your life”.
They didn't have tools to fix my computer, so I borrowed a computer from a french gentleman. It was in French, but I can read French. We did our second dive (after a long SI) and it went into deco as well. It was easy enough to understand, so I followed through until it said “no deco”, finished the safety stop, and went up to the boat. We reapplied sunscreen, went out and visited the boobie sanctuary, and had lunch. The lunch they promised, rice and beans, was not there. I didn't get lunch, instead having to settle for a couple of protein bars and a bottle of soda.
We go to the third dive of the day, and this was nothing short of extraordinary. There was a turtle eating coral, gabillions of fish, an just astonishing views all over. We fought a mild current.
The french gentleman's wife's computer broke, so I didn't get one. I didn't ...
I think I have to apologize for this in advance, I'm sorry. Please put down any drinks you may have as you will require one free hand for a facepalm.
...even have a depth gauge.
I know.
I used a visual reference, stayed atwhat I thought was 30 feet, and assumed a 10 minute deco stop. (that's three untrained decompression dives in one day.) I was down for about an hour again (the second dive was about an hour too) and surfaced with 600 psi. I did note that the borrowed computer (which had been on three wrists today) said nothing about deco. I could read it clearly from about 15 feet above it. I had trouble peeing in the ocean. Ten years of drysuit training is hard to break out of, but I managed a little. I wasn't running too dry.
On the way back, we rinsed off, turned in our gear, and dried off. I was shivering.
Remember the part where I'm Canadian and I dive in 50F? I don't shiver in the water. I don't shiver after polar bear swims.
We were given pina coladas by the crew. Now, I don't usually drink and I didn't get lunch, so I got hit hard and fast. I was the first to say “Tip! It should be $5 a tank!”so I got more drinks. I commented a few times that I couldn't feel my lips and the ends of my hands were numb too.
I was too drunk to notice the problem. The crew didn't hear me and the rest of the cattle boat was not experienced enough to realize the problem.
I got back to the hotel, had dinner, drank some water and OJ, and went to bed. I commented that this was the “best day ever”. And you know, it really was. I got to dive the blue hole, I saw so many incredible things, and basically did everything I wanted to do on this trip.
A good night's sleep was all I needed,so I climbed into bed around 7:30 and closed my eyes.
Perfect day.
---------- Post Merged on August 21st, 2012 at 05:34 AM ---------- Previous Post was on August 20th, 2012 at 08:55 PM ----------
I was awake at 11:00 in full flight or fight response. It's a little different in me, my emotions shut down, my brain goes into over drive, and time slows down. My body woke me up with an urgent message.
My head was clear but pounding.
My stomach was sick.
My lips and fingers were still tingly.
“Oh no, DCS. I'm in trouble.”
I put on bug spray, grabbed my laptop,and found the little wifi alcove at the hotel. I had a rare set of symptoms, matched a few, woke up the hotel manager, and called DAN. They told me to sleep it off as it likely wasn't DCS, but “call tomorrow” if it's still there.
I drank another litre of water, took an alleve, and went to sleep. All told, I got around nine hours of sleep.
I was still tingling in the morning. I didn't call DAN but cancelled my dives and went to the doctor. He ran a few tests, figured I had DCS, and I went in for a chamber ride. I did a six-hour stint and nothing changed. He wants to do a second five-hour stint tomorrow.
Now, I didn't pick up DAN insurance. I had meant to, but with all the issues at home, I completely forgot to do it. There was only one thing to do, since I was getting close to“too late and live with it” Out came the MasterCard, and 6 hours and 6600 USD later I watched Mean Girls, American Wedding, and half of Cinderella Man. I talked with the nurse who rode with me.
It's tiring to sit in a chamber. It's boring and it sucks. You change into the all-cotton clothes, remove all your jewelry, and pee in a bottle. Shy bladder + cute nurse...it was really tricky. I couldn't eat the lunch they got me, so I had Gatorade. I ended up with something like 130 calories during the day. You can't bring in anything battery powered, so my laptop and walkman sat in my locker. I took my rings off. I kind of wondered when I would end up taking it off, but I wasn't expecting “just before you go into a deco chamber in Belize.”
While I was waiting to see the doctor, I talked to an exchange medical student from London. As part of the NHS program, all doctors in the UK go to a different country to seehow medicine works there. “Can I get 100 mL of blah blah?” UK:“Sure” Elsewhere: “That's $4500 and takes six months to arrive.” We talked about the differences in health problems and electrical systems here.
The doctor did a few other quick tests, and recommended another ride tomorrow. I said, “I can't possibly afford another five thousand dollars!” His response was, “come see me tomorrow. If you can't afford it, you can sign that you won't get treated, and you can take your chances.”
That was it. No hug, no “are you okay” or anything. I've been crying most of the day. I'm scared that I'm going to die. Maybe today. They were mad that I didn't have my insurance info with me. Come on guys, have some slack. I'm not yelling at you, I'm crying. I'm stressed out and scared. I wrote out a freaking will on a blank piece of paper in a Belizian chamber clinic in case today's my last day. I wanted my separated wife to get everything, I know she and the kids would do okay. You know, in case I got Oxygen toxicity or had a brain aneurism or something else equally fatal.
They wouldn't even let me use the phone to call my insurance company to see if it was covered. I had just given them SEVEN THOUSAND CANADIAN DOLLARS. “We can't make long distance calls.”
I turned to the English woman and said in my trademark flat serious tone, “This is something else you won't see at NHS – someone having to pay for medical treatment.”
After all was said and done, I walked to the water taxi (they wouldn't call me a cab either), and it was next door to the Dive Shop 2, and told them where I'd been. They'd heard about it, which was nice, and I gave them a full account of what happened. I called the insurance company, and they consider these treatments as “medically necessary”, and there's no preclusion for sports or diving, so they will probably reimburse me at the end of the day.
I rode to the hotel, had dinner, and started typing. The story is long, I know, I've been typing for almost two hours, and the hotel is closed and the sun has set and I look like a jerk for sitting and typing instead of hanging out with the other guests, but thank you for reading it. It could be a lot worse. I did get a hug from the owner and his wife, and the owner was pretty upset that I was taken down that far, and that I wasn't looked after properly.
Apparently there's also supposed to be a 50% discount if you get DCS with the local shops here, and I didn'tget that. I'm wondering if I'm being taken for more than a chamber ride too. The first person I met in Belize was the taxi driver, and he ripped me off.
UPDATE: This morning I woke up feeling a lot better. There's still a trace bit of tingling, but my balance is a lot better.
I'm a pretty intelligent guy. I am a Professional Engineer by trade. I dive conservatively and try pretty hard to stay on the safe side. I'm not a DIR Lord, more of a “dork diver”, but all my gear is in good shape, good repair, and I know how it works.
I am in excellent physical shape. I'm 5'11”, 160#, I teach spin, practice yoga, and work out at the nearby gym several times a week. I bike to work daily. My cardiac output was recently measured at 20% above average /normal. So, healthy. I last dove about aweek before heading out for Belize.
For the last couple of years, I've wanted to do some tropical diving. At home, water is 50F in thesummer, so full neoprene drysuit 30# of lead, and a 5#SS backplate. I packed my regs, wing (sans backplate), and fins. The Force Fins fit when I'm wearing my sandals. I know. I said I'ma dork.
For a few years, my wife and I talked about Hawaii for our 15th anniversary in 2013, and I'd dive a little there. She ended up going to Hawaii and other trips, felt guilty, and suggested that I take a trip on my own. I decided to go down to Belize. I got a cheap flight, cheap accommodations, and planned to pick up a la carte diving. One of the goals was the Blue Hole Trilogy, especially after hearing that the two dives afterwards would be some of the best dives of my life. I packed my gear so I'd be more confident with that deep dive.
I arrived at my hotel at 3pm on Friday after flying and stopping over since 8pm on Thursday. On the way in, I stopped at Dive Shop 1 to book two dives for Saturday morning. That booked, I set out to the hotel for a well-deserved rest. I took a nap on a chair on the beach.
When it was time for dinner, the hotel owner bought me a drink. I don't usually drink, but I accepted, and several other people wanted to buy me drinks as well. I had recently separated from my wife, and they felt sorry for me.
I woke up feeling great, had a breakfast, even though it was a lot lighter than I usually get at home. I don't eat meat, dairy, or eggs, so the choices were somewhat limited. Dive Shop 1 picked me up at 8:30 to go out to the local reefs for a few dives. I saw sharks, rays, and even a turtle. Great dives, well worth the trip. Diving in a swimsuit? How... novel. I went back to the hotel, They told me how to access their wifi, sit in the bug andspider nest and try not to get eaten.
The next day, I went with Dive Shop 2 to The Blue Hole. This was the dive that worried me the most out of all the trips, I commented on it in a different thread here. We went on a long boat ride out, it was choppy in the open water, but I had sunblock and a hat and I was heading out to do some of the best tropical diving in the world.
We got our briefing on the Blue Hole. I commented “at home when we do group dives, we have nominal buddies. Are we doing that here?” “No, this is a DM-led dive.” They warned us that our computers would likely go into deco, and I ran my computer in sim mode the night before so I would know what it looked like. On the boat, strapping on my computer, it was showing “error” and “4 dives”. What the heck? I couldn't clear the display, but it fixed itself when it went into the water, as I assumed. It does that sometimes, it's how I fix it, like I said, my gear and I have an understanding.
One girl had a BC problem. I could see what it was, the inflator ring was loose where it attached to the bladder, so I tightened it up, let her know it was good as new, and then told her “if something happens, I have 45# oflift. I can lift everyone here, it's probably the most ridiculously oversized BC in the ocean today.” She thumbed her dive.
Clever girl.
The plan was to drop to a shelf at 30 feet, then go over the wall to the stalactites. We did, we dropped down and down, and I was astonished with how fast the depth got there. I was at 80 before I knew it, then 100, then deeper. Deeper than the recreational limits, deeper than the deepest I've ever done, deeper than the “whoops” area on the NDL limit tables, deeper than I should have gone, deeper than they promised, deeper than the gentleman's agreement.
152 feet. One hundred fifty-two feet. With a single AL80 with air.
I know. And I know better, but it's easy to say that when you're at the computer at home and start talking about gases and tech diving, but it's different when you're in the middle of the ocean in Belize on a trip you've been looking forward to for years after riding a boat for three hours. I wasn't nervous. I trusted the DM, I trusted my computer, which was still set for 1000m (for cold) and I was good.
The divemaster was deeper than me. I've got film to show it.
And there were other divers there with fewer dives than I, and one guy with 4 dives before today. He ran out of air and used the DM's octo. The switch was done when ascending, close to 80 feet. Yes, we still had a deco obligation,and my computer showed me 8 minutes of rise time with a 10 foot ceiling. Egads Mag, you're in a deco dive. No training, one run through on the simulator, in the middle of nowhere. Good luck.
Of course, I lived, we saw bullsharks, swam through the overhanging overhead stalactites? We went up, did our safety stop (which was really a deco obligation) for 10 minutes at 10 feet. We surfaced, left the blue hole, and when trying to get my gear off, a DM knocked my computer off my wrist and it fell to the ground. The battery was knocked loose and my diving day was over.
Of course, that's what you'd say at the forums at home, or when you've got a few hours of, shall we say, enforced thinking time, but that's not what you say in Belize when you're about to do “the two most amazing dives of your life”.
They didn't have tools to fix my computer, so I borrowed a computer from a french gentleman. It was in French, but I can read French. We did our second dive (after a long SI) and it went into deco as well. It was easy enough to understand, so I followed through until it said “no deco”, finished the safety stop, and went up to the boat. We reapplied sunscreen, went out and visited the boobie sanctuary, and had lunch. The lunch they promised, rice and beans, was not there. I didn't get lunch, instead having to settle for a couple of protein bars and a bottle of soda.
We go to the third dive of the day, and this was nothing short of extraordinary. There was a turtle eating coral, gabillions of fish, an just astonishing views all over. We fought a mild current.
The french gentleman's wife's computer broke, so I didn't get one. I didn't ...
I think I have to apologize for this in advance, I'm sorry. Please put down any drinks you may have as you will require one free hand for a facepalm.
...even have a depth gauge.
I know.
I used a visual reference, stayed atwhat I thought was 30 feet, and assumed a 10 minute deco stop. (that's three untrained decompression dives in one day.) I was down for about an hour again (the second dive was about an hour too) and surfaced with 600 psi. I did note that the borrowed computer (which had been on three wrists today) said nothing about deco. I could read it clearly from about 15 feet above it. I had trouble peeing in the ocean. Ten years of drysuit training is hard to break out of, but I managed a little. I wasn't running too dry.
On the way back, we rinsed off, turned in our gear, and dried off. I was shivering.
Remember the part where I'm Canadian and I dive in 50F? I don't shiver in the water. I don't shiver after polar bear swims.
We were given pina coladas by the crew. Now, I don't usually drink and I didn't get lunch, so I got hit hard and fast. I was the first to say “Tip! It should be $5 a tank!”so I got more drinks. I commented a few times that I couldn't feel my lips and the ends of my hands were numb too.
I was too drunk to notice the problem. The crew didn't hear me and the rest of the cattle boat was not experienced enough to realize the problem.
I got back to the hotel, had dinner, drank some water and OJ, and went to bed. I commented that this was the “best day ever”. And you know, it really was. I got to dive the blue hole, I saw so many incredible things, and basically did everything I wanted to do on this trip.
A good night's sleep was all I needed,so I climbed into bed around 7:30 and closed my eyes.
Perfect day.
---------- Post Merged on August 21st, 2012 at 05:34 AM ---------- Previous Post was on August 20th, 2012 at 08:55 PM ----------
I was awake at 11:00 in full flight or fight response. It's a little different in me, my emotions shut down, my brain goes into over drive, and time slows down. My body woke me up with an urgent message.
My head was clear but pounding.
My stomach was sick.
My lips and fingers were still tingly.
“Oh no, DCS. I'm in trouble.”
I put on bug spray, grabbed my laptop,and found the little wifi alcove at the hotel. I had a rare set of symptoms, matched a few, woke up the hotel manager, and called DAN. They told me to sleep it off as it likely wasn't DCS, but “call tomorrow” if it's still there.
I drank another litre of water, took an alleve, and went to sleep. All told, I got around nine hours of sleep.
I was still tingling in the morning. I didn't call DAN but cancelled my dives and went to the doctor. He ran a few tests, figured I had DCS, and I went in for a chamber ride. I did a six-hour stint and nothing changed. He wants to do a second five-hour stint tomorrow.
Now, I didn't pick up DAN insurance. I had meant to, but with all the issues at home, I completely forgot to do it. There was only one thing to do, since I was getting close to“too late and live with it” Out came the MasterCard, and 6 hours and 6600 USD later I watched Mean Girls, American Wedding, and half of Cinderella Man. I talked with the nurse who rode with me.
It's tiring to sit in a chamber. It's boring and it sucks. You change into the all-cotton clothes, remove all your jewelry, and pee in a bottle. Shy bladder + cute nurse...it was really tricky. I couldn't eat the lunch they got me, so I had Gatorade. I ended up with something like 130 calories during the day. You can't bring in anything battery powered, so my laptop and walkman sat in my locker. I took my rings off. I kind of wondered when I would end up taking it off, but I wasn't expecting “just before you go into a deco chamber in Belize.”
While I was waiting to see the doctor, I talked to an exchange medical student from London. As part of the NHS program, all doctors in the UK go to a different country to seehow medicine works there. “Can I get 100 mL of blah blah?” UK:“Sure” Elsewhere: “That's $4500 and takes six months to arrive.” We talked about the differences in health problems and electrical systems here.
The doctor did a few other quick tests, and recommended another ride tomorrow. I said, “I can't possibly afford another five thousand dollars!” His response was, “come see me tomorrow. If you can't afford it, you can sign that you won't get treated, and you can take your chances.”
That was it. No hug, no “are you okay” or anything. I've been crying most of the day. I'm scared that I'm going to die. Maybe today. They were mad that I didn't have my insurance info with me. Come on guys, have some slack. I'm not yelling at you, I'm crying. I'm stressed out and scared. I wrote out a freaking will on a blank piece of paper in a Belizian chamber clinic in case today's my last day. I wanted my separated wife to get everything, I know she and the kids would do okay. You know, in case I got Oxygen toxicity or had a brain aneurism or something else equally fatal.
They wouldn't even let me use the phone to call my insurance company to see if it was covered. I had just given them SEVEN THOUSAND CANADIAN DOLLARS. “We can't make long distance calls.”
I turned to the English woman and said in my trademark flat serious tone, “This is something else you won't see at NHS – someone having to pay for medical treatment.”
After all was said and done, I walked to the water taxi (they wouldn't call me a cab either), and it was next door to the Dive Shop 2, and told them where I'd been. They'd heard about it, which was nice, and I gave them a full account of what happened. I called the insurance company, and they consider these treatments as “medically necessary”, and there's no preclusion for sports or diving, so they will probably reimburse me at the end of the day.
I rode to the hotel, had dinner, and started typing. The story is long, I know, I've been typing for almost two hours, and the hotel is closed and the sun has set and I look like a jerk for sitting and typing instead of hanging out with the other guests, but thank you for reading it. It could be a lot worse. I did get a hug from the owner and his wife, and the owner was pretty upset that I was taken down that far, and that I wasn't looked after properly.
Apparently there's also supposed to be a 50% discount if you get DCS with the local shops here, and I didn'tget that. I'm wondering if I'm being taken for more than a chamber ride too. The first person I met in Belize was the taxi driver, and he ripped me off.
UPDATE: This morning I woke up feeling a lot better. There's still a trace bit of tingling, but my balance is a lot better.
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