Close call in Hawaii...what happened?

[ozziworld]

I think you should name the opartor and the "dive professionals" attending to you at the time. have you dived with them before?

They should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Were you taking an 'Intro Course" ?
2. If you were not doing this dive as part of a class, did they check your training history?
3. If this was a part of a course why was the instructor so far away and not right there with you?

The most important thing you should get from this thread is that you should get proper training from a reputable instructor. You obviously enjoy diving enough to risk diving without proper training.

 

[TSandM]

Well, I don't think you should reconsider diving, but I think you should look at what you can learn from the experience.

First off, you found out that equipment can fail. Today's stuff is so reliable, it's easy to lose sight of that. You should always dive with the thought in the back of your mind, "What will I do if . . . "

Second, you found out that you don't panic and bolt. This is a FABULOUS lesson. It's one you unfortunately can really only learn from having been put under significant stress, and you got it early (so did I). Believe it or not, this will help you stay even more composed in future stressful situations. But . . . although you didn't panic, you weren't thinking the whole situation through as well as you could have. I'm assuming you had a secondary, or octopus regulator of some kind? You could have switched to that when the primary began to deliver water, and could at least have seen if that one would breathe drier. (Now, you aren't certified, so you may not ever have done regulator switches as a drill -- which is a powerful argument for why full certification is a good idea if you are going to dive repeatedly!)

Third, you learned that, even when the viz is fantastic, a buddy 25 feet away is no buddy when it comes to a gas emergency. Many people get quite complacent about buddy skills in warm, clear water; you can't breathe that any better than you can breathe the cold, green stuff. One's buddy should never be further away than one is comfortable swimming with no air. I have tried this as a drill, and 25 feet is the absolute outside limit, and I much prefer ten feet or less.

Next, you have learned why so many people own their own regulators. I don't know what the "pop" was that you heard, but having two regs breathe wet when you were head down suggests to me that this is a model which doesn't breathe dry if it's upside-down. There are regulators like that, although most of them won't let in as much water as you're describing. At any rate, when you own your own regs, you can decide only to consider models that breathe dry in all positions.

At any rate, there are a bunch of lessons here, and the constructive way to deal with the experience is to think it through and debrief yourself . . . Where did you do things right, that you should remember for next time? Where could you have done better? What preparation might have aided you in handling things better? You take the answers to those questions and become a better diver with them.

 

[jaybombs25]

I don't think the reg failed twice.. Quite a bit of regs breath wet when inverted in a head down position... I doubt the tank had anything in it because it would restrict airflow and instead of getting water he would just find it hard to breath... He said he wasn't certified and was most likely doing a DSD having done 3 others before.. I believe that the reg started to breath very wet he got flustered and believed that the reg was totally flooded... I can't think of any problem that could be "breathed" through which would cause a reg to initially 75% flood

 

[Graeme Tolton]

Perhaps a hard breathing second stage or a restriction in the tank valve could cause an exhaust valve to tear or become inverted. This would cause flooding. I was breathing from my pony on surface to time how long i had with it and to calculate my air consumption. When I ran out and the breathing go difficult, my exhaust valve ended up slightly inverting.

 

[aascubagirl]

Well, I have to say that I am very impressed with your overall composure in handling the described situation. I can honestly say that I most likely would not have been as calm had I been a non-certified diver with the same problem. So, seriously, great job keeping your head together = staying alive!

I also would say that TSandM has it exactly right. You learned a fabulous lesson about NOT bolting that will stick with you forever and which will make you a better diver. And, the importance of being close to your dive buddy was really highlighted. Buddies and/or dive leaders can get so far from each other without realizing it...what would have happened had you run out of air completely instead of being able to partially breathe off your reg? I would imagine that in the future, you'll be sticking close to your buddy!

Thank you for posting your experience on here. I don't think it is necessarily productive to post the operator's/dive professional's name as that would most likely degenerate into finger-pointing and name calling but that is your choice. I guess if folks are concerned from a safety perspective and want to avoid a certain company that is fine but I think it would be more fair if you PM'd that info to the folks requesting it.

 

[devilvike]

Thanks to all for their input on this. Just to clarify a few ponts...

1) I do not want to point fingers at the dive company other than to say they are a "large" company operating in Hawaii. My only real complaint I had was how they treated the situation afterwards by looking to dismiss the subject asap.

2) I am not certified (hadn't found the time) but I was taking an intro course for the third time and think that was the only thing which prevented me from panicking. Had it been my first time I may have lost it.

3) I did not know some regulators can "breath wet". This seems like a dangerous proposition to use equipment like this on beginners without explaining the possible consequences. Still, I am inclined to believe that this was not the normal operation of the regulator. After the the initial pop there was plenty of water...a mouthful. It was enough that I was not able to take any air into my lungs. Under the circumstances I had totally forgotton about the octopus hanging at my side and decided my only option was to use the residual air in my lungs to blow the water out through the regulator and hope that my subsequent breath was water free. My next few breaths still contained water, but in much smaller amounts. In fact, the regulator kind of gurgled each time I breathed, which was very slowly to prevent the inhalation of seawater. I can safely say the mouthpeice was firmly in my mouth and no leakage was occuring through the sides of my mouth.

4) I did not see exactly what was replaced as I was seated at the end of the boat with my back to the captain who made the switch. After the regulator was replaced I mentioned it continued, but only off and on and only when I dipped my head with nothing more than the gurgling that had occurred previously. Being stubborn, I continued the rest of the dive while keeping my body position and head tilt in the forefront of my mind.

I think the best advice I have heard is that I need to forget the intro tours and just get certified. That feeling of helplessness still lingers in my mind, but maybe I can regain my sense of control and confidence if I take the full training course.

Thanks again to all.

GS

 

[openmindOW]

Go get certified. Where do you live?

 

[devilvike]

I live in Chapel Hill, NC

BTW...One final note. This was a two tank dive and the first dive went off without a hitch. I was able to tilt my head and dive at steep angles with no issues. I used the same regulator for both dives until they swapped it out for a different one after I started having problems. It was after they changed to a new tank that had all these problems. Perhaps the tank was at fault afterall?

GS

 

[scubaren]

I am surprised that an instructor left you 25 feet behind. There is no excuse for that. As a beginning OW student I was taught that if you stay with you buddy at all times. It just makes no sense that any instructor would not keep a close eye on you as you are not certified and very much in the early stages of learning to dive.

 

[edm81363]

"I am not certified but I have taken intro courses on 3 seperate occasions"

There's a huge difference between having been scuba diving and knowing how to safely scuba dive. Take the class - you'll learn tons and be MUCH safer in the water!