ignivomous
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Hey all,
I'm a new diver, just completed my advanced open water today, but had a near miss during the deep dive that has the instructors and I baffled.
This morning, the instructor, another student, and myself set out for a 100' deep dive. We made our way down to depth and swam around a bit, wrote our names in the silt on a platform and then started swimming to an 80' platform towards the end of the dive. When we got there, it started feeling like the air my second stage was delivering had gotten a lot colder and I started to have trouble breathing the colder air. I got my instructor's attention, and by then it felt like my regulator had started to free-flow, so I went to grab my alternate. My primary wasn't free-flowing though, and even switching to our emergency pony bottle didn't help. It felt like I was "breathing water" in with every breath. I made an emergency ascent, stopping at 15' for an unbearable 3 minutes with the feeling of "breathing liquid" / drowning.
I wasn't working hard / exerting myself, nor was I showing any narcosis symptoms, and while the water was chilly (about 40 degrees, in a 7mm suit) it wasn't terrible. I'm not prone to anxiety, and certainly wasn't stressed or uncomfortable down there until I had gone a minute or so without a good breath.
I'm a firefighter paramedic, and not estranged to out-of-air exercises. This was very different, it felt like the air transfer in my lungs was bringing water in and out with it. I've had a wet cough all day since, and made one short dive about half an hour after the incident to 30' with no issues.
Has anyone had students with this before, or experienced it themselves? I would feel a lot more comfortable diving at depth if I knew what I did to cause this and how I can avoid it in the future.
Thanks for any help or tips ya'll can give me!
-EDIT-
I forgot to mention that I don't have any relevant medical history, I'm 21 years old, and this was my 9th dive (second dive below 60').
Also, I do not believe this is equipment failure. I know that I must have done something wrong, just trying to figure out what it was.
I'm a new diver, just completed my advanced open water today, but had a near miss during the deep dive that has the instructors and I baffled.
This morning, the instructor, another student, and myself set out for a 100' deep dive. We made our way down to depth and swam around a bit, wrote our names in the silt on a platform and then started swimming to an 80' platform towards the end of the dive. When we got there, it started feeling like the air my second stage was delivering had gotten a lot colder and I started to have trouble breathing the colder air. I got my instructor's attention, and by then it felt like my regulator had started to free-flow, so I went to grab my alternate. My primary wasn't free-flowing though, and even switching to our emergency pony bottle didn't help. It felt like I was "breathing water" in with every breath. I made an emergency ascent, stopping at 15' for an unbearable 3 minutes with the feeling of "breathing liquid" / drowning.
I wasn't working hard / exerting myself, nor was I showing any narcosis symptoms, and while the water was chilly (about 40 degrees, in a 7mm suit) it wasn't terrible. I'm not prone to anxiety, and certainly wasn't stressed or uncomfortable down there until I had gone a minute or so without a good breath.
I'm a firefighter paramedic, and not estranged to out-of-air exercises. This was very different, it felt like the air transfer in my lungs was bringing water in and out with it. I've had a wet cough all day since, and made one short dive about half an hour after the incident to 30' with no issues.
Has anyone had students with this before, or experienced it themselves? I would feel a lot more comfortable diving at depth if I knew what I did to cause this and how I can avoid it in the future.
Thanks for any help or tips ya'll can give me!
-EDIT-
I forgot to mention that I don't have any relevant medical history, I'm 21 years old, and this was my 9th dive (second dive below 60').
Also, I do not believe this is equipment failure. I know that I must have done something wrong, just trying to figure out what it was.
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