Tonight I had my first real diving emergency while I was hunting for some bugs with 2 of my dive buddies. We have all dove together several times at night for lobster and were looking forward to a very productive evening.
Our plan was to dive from a boat ramp here in Maui, kick out to a reef around 75 yards from the boat ramp, drop down and catch some bugs. We set up our gear and I did all the usual checks (full tanks, computer has working batteries, regs working, bc holds air and listen for o-ring leak). Everything checks out, so we get our gear on, head down to the ramp and start the surface swim. As we are swimming out, one of the guys tells us that if we hear a boat coming, hunker down in a crevice and wait for it to pass. As he is telling us this, we see a boat around 300 yards out starting to make their approach down the channel. We start kicking and get well out of their way.
We get out to the edge of the reef, and we all drop down in 11 feet of water. Immediately, I see a good sized 7/11 crab and decide that this is a good omen of our lobster hunt. We start the hunt when suddenly, 40 seconds into the dive I hear a big pop. I am immediately engulfed in bubbles as I try to figure out what has happened and where am I losing air from. Initially, I thought I got hit by something but quickly realize I definitely would have heard a boat coming long before I would have been hit by a boat. My buddies are both about 10-15 feet in front of me and arent aware of my issues. I attempt to signal my buddies with my light, but no luck there. I take a breath or two, check my air and realize I am losing air. Quick. I started the dive with 3060 psi, in the 10 seconds since I started losing air I was already down to 2300 psi. Decision time.
I can either kick to my buddies and hopefully resolve the issue before I run out of air or I can just make a CESA because I am at 11 feet, less than a minute into my dive and would really have to make some bad decisions to turn this issue into a full blown emergency.
So I kick to the surface and hear the loud hissing of a scuba tank right behind my head. I hit my low pressure inflator for my bcd and didnt notice it inflating. I decide that I need to just manually inflate it and make sure I am positive before I lose all of my gas. Once I am positive, I try to turn off my tank myself, but I find out (the hard way) that I cant reach the knob myself (Im a 24 years old and skinny). I twist and turn, try lifting the tank with my left hand and I just cant reach it without taking off my bcd.
I look under the water and try to signal my buddies again. By this time, it has been almost 30 seconds and both of my buddies are looking back to see where I am. They notice me on the surface and kick up to help me out. The valve gets shut off, and I look to see how much gas I have left. 1300 psi. Great. While on the surface, my buddy determines that it is an o-ring, and needless to say, we call off the dive.
I am glad that this happened in 11 feet of water early in the dive, instead of at 60 feet at the end of a dive. A good learning experience at the cost of sacrificing a dive and a full tank. Good thing there is always tomorrow night to go for some lobster.
Our plan was to dive from a boat ramp here in Maui, kick out to a reef around 75 yards from the boat ramp, drop down and catch some bugs. We set up our gear and I did all the usual checks (full tanks, computer has working batteries, regs working, bc holds air and listen for o-ring leak). Everything checks out, so we get our gear on, head down to the ramp and start the surface swim. As we are swimming out, one of the guys tells us that if we hear a boat coming, hunker down in a crevice and wait for it to pass. As he is telling us this, we see a boat around 300 yards out starting to make their approach down the channel. We start kicking and get well out of their way.
We get out to the edge of the reef, and we all drop down in 11 feet of water. Immediately, I see a good sized 7/11 crab and decide that this is a good omen of our lobster hunt. We start the hunt when suddenly, 40 seconds into the dive I hear a big pop. I am immediately engulfed in bubbles as I try to figure out what has happened and where am I losing air from. Initially, I thought I got hit by something but quickly realize I definitely would have heard a boat coming long before I would have been hit by a boat. My buddies are both about 10-15 feet in front of me and arent aware of my issues. I attempt to signal my buddies with my light, but no luck there. I take a breath or two, check my air and realize I am losing air. Quick. I started the dive with 3060 psi, in the 10 seconds since I started losing air I was already down to 2300 psi. Decision time.
I can either kick to my buddies and hopefully resolve the issue before I run out of air or I can just make a CESA because I am at 11 feet, less than a minute into my dive and would really have to make some bad decisions to turn this issue into a full blown emergency.
So I kick to the surface and hear the loud hissing of a scuba tank right behind my head. I hit my low pressure inflator for my bcd and didnt notice it inflating. I decide that I need to just manually inflate it and make sure I am positive before I lose all of my gas. Once I am positive, I try to turn off my tank myself, but I find out (the hard way) that I cant reach the knob myself (Im a 24 years old and skinny). I twist and turn, try lifting the tank with my left hand and I just cant reach it without taking off my bcd.
I look under the water and try to signal my buddies again. By this time, it has been almost 30 seconds and both of my buddies are looking back to see where I am. They notice me on the surface and kick up to help me out. The valve gets shut off, and I look to see how much gas I have left. 1300 psi. Great. While on the surface, my buddy determines that it is an o-ring, and needless to say, we call off the dive.
I am glad that this happened in 11 feet of water early in the dive, instead of at 60 feet at the end of a dive. A good learning experience at the cost of sacrificing a dive and a full tank. Good thing there is always tomorrow night to go for some lobster.
