LuvsItWet
Registered
February 18th our dive club took a trip to do the abandoned flooded lead mine in Bonne Terre, MO. It's a 150' walk down into the earth to get to the dock. As it was the first trip for most of us, we had to do the mandatory skills check out (Flood and clear mask, and buddy breathe) at 45'. I should state I was diving with a new 7mm farmer john wetsuit and unsure of what weight I'd need. I'm 160' and normally use 8 lbs in my 3mm so I started out at 24 lbs. I let my air out and couldn't descend. They gave me another 3lbs...still a cork! After another 4 lbs, down I went! We did the first trail and I realized the purge valve on my mask was failing resulting in my having to clear it almost constantly. (I've got a new mask now) A little stressful, but nothing I couldn't handle. The dive was 60 ft for 45 minutes. We got out for a 3 hour surface interval before our next trip.
In the pre-dive briefing it was told that we'd be entering a large cave/room with one entrance and another exit, big enough for one diver at a time. It was not required and could opt out and go around it if we wished.
With the equipment trouble I had on the first dive, I decided to lower the stress and opt out. They have a divemaster leading you through the labrynth and two "safety" divers following up the rear. I was told a safety diver would lead me around the room.
I should add another diver allowed me to borrow his spare mask for the dive.
Our two safety divers were a mother/son team. As we approached the room, the mother indicated to me her son would take me around and to stay with him. I signaled
"OK" and he immediately gripped my forearm as if I was in distress and signaled if I was ok. I said yes but he didn't want to let go of my arm. He finally unravelled his octopus (the hose had to be 5' long!) and indicated I should hold on to it to maintain contact which I was fine with as this dive had very little ambient light and very dangerous if you get seperated from the group. (11 in ours) As I was following, I got a toe cramp in my left foot. Nothing new for me so I told him to wait while I worked it out. We continued and at least 3 TIMES he grabbed my arm and turned me around and was "fiddling" with something behind me. I figured he's a safety diver so he must know what he's doing. We reached the rendevous point and saw the rest of our group emerging from the "room" one by one. This was right after his third "fiddle" with my gear behind me. As we started to rejoin the group, he tried again, and by this time I'd had enough! I pushed him away said I was ok and started to swim to the group. I noticed then I was having a hard time drawing air and my chest was starting to hurt.
I looked at my depth gage and thought it said 110'! I knew that couldn't have been correct and was mis-reading it due to the low light. The group was ahead and above me so I struggled to rejoin them.
I'm a Master Diver and thought to myself: "Am I having a panic/anxiety attack?" (By this time 3 people had aborted their dives for various reasons) It's not like me to do so, but thought to rule it out. It's very dis-orientating down there so I re-joined the group, found a ledge grabbed hold, and remembered: "Breathe, Think, Act". My breathing was not getting easier and my chest was still hurting. This was near the end of the dive and I motioned to the other safety diver (mother) to come to me and signaled I was aborting my dive. She told me to wait and let the dive master know she was escorting me back.
Once we surfaced and I got the regulater out of my mouth, I was fine! After a lengthy surface swim back to the dock, I removed my gear and took my readings for my log book. 2100 lbs of air, 45' depth, water temp 58*. I went to disconnect my regulater from my tank, turned the knob on the tank 1/4 turn, AND IT WAS OFF!!!
I've been diving since 1998, and we were all taught you open it up ALL the way, then back it off 1/4 turn. Since I double check my gear before my descent, I KNOW it was turned on! The only thing I can think of, is he got confused and thought he was opening it instead of closing it!
I never saw him again after exiting but did report his actions to mgmt and his mother.
Lesson learned? Be careful who you let mess with your gear underwater...
Mark
PADI Master Diver
In the pre-dive briefing it was told that we'd be entering a large cave/room with one entrance and another exit, big enough for one diver at a time. It was not required and could opt out and go around it if we wished.
With the equipment trouble I had on the first dive, I decided to lower the stress and opt out. They have a divemaster leading you through the labrynth and two "safety" divers following up the rear. I was told a safety diver would lead me around the room.
I should add another diver allowed me to borrow his spare mask for the dive.
Our two safety divers were a mother/son team. As we approached the room, the mother indicated to me her son would take me around and to stay with him. I signaled
"OK" and he immediately gripped my forearm as if I was in distress and signaled if I was ok. I said yes but he didn't want to let go of my arm. He finally unravelled his octopus (the hose had to be 5' long!) and indicated I should hold on to it to maintain contact which I was fine with as this dive had very little ambient light and very dangerous if you get seperated from the group. (11 in ours) As I was following, I got a toe cramp in my left foot. Nothing new for me so I told him to wait while I worked it out. We continued and at least 3 TIMES he grabbed my arm and turned me around and was "fiddling" with something behind me. I figured he's a safety diver so he must know what he's doing. We reached the rendevous point and saw the rest of our group emerging from the "room" one by one. This was right after his third "fiddle" with my gear behind me. As we started to rejoin the group, he tried again, and by this time I'd had enough! I pushed him away said I was ok and started to swim to the group. I noticed then I was having a hard time drawing air and my chest was starting to hurt.
I looked at my depth gage and thought it said 110'! I knew that couldn't have been correct and was mis-reading it due to the low light. The group was ahead and above me so I struggled to rejoin them.
I'm a Master Diver and thought to myself: "Am I having a panic/anxiety attack?" (By this time 3 people had aborted their dives for various reasons) It's not like me to do so, but thought to rule it out. It's very dis-orientating down there so I re-joined the group, found a ledge grabbed hold, and remembered: "Breathe, Think, Act". My breathing was not getting easier and my chest was still hurting. This was near the end of the dive and I motioned to the other safety diver (mother) to come to me and signaled I was aborting my dive. She told me to wait and let the dive master know she was escorting me back.
Once we surfaced and I got the regulater out of my mouth, I was fine! After a lengthy surface swim back to the dock, I removed my gear and took my readings for my log book. 2100 lbs of air, 45' depth, water temp 58*. I went to disconnect my regulater from my tank, turned the knob on the tank 1/4 turn, AND IT WAS OFF!!!
I've been diving since 1998, and we were all taught you open it up ALL the way, then back it off 1/4 turn. Since I double check my gear before my descent, I KNOW it was turned on! The only thing I can think of, is he got confused and thought he was opening it instead of closing it!
I never saw him again after exiting but did report his actions to mgmt and his mother.
Lesson learned? Be careful who you let mess with your gear underwater...
Mark
PADI Master Diver
