Experienced Divers: What are the most common "oh, crap!" situations?

[Litefoot]

Hello. Thanks for letting me ask a basic question. I'm a brand new recently-certified OW diver. I know that buoyancy control may be the most important skill at this point. But my biggest fear is having a panic attack when something goes wrong. In your experience, what is the most likely problem I will face? Right now, in my limited experience, losing my mask is my biggest fear because I struggle keeping water out of my nose. Is that the answer? That is, focus my practice on those scenarios that I already know will likely induce panic. What do you say?

Note: I am reading and learning form the "What would you do?" thread that is pinned at the top of the forum.

 

[Jeff_O]

Forgetting sh*t at home. Not recharging batteries before the dive. Not securing cam-bands. This is of the things I see others do, a dry tank band will soften and stretch when wet and then the tank slips during the dive and inexperienced divers don’t realize it or can’t fix it.

You got this right. I always wet the tank strap webbing before I clamp it down. Similarly when I go windsurfing, I wet down the harness webbing and all before I put it on. Not very easy to get harness back in place and tightened when on choppy water and too deep to touch bottom. Sitting on the board is more difficult than floating in the water trying to get harness back tight. Sailing long distance without a harness may not really be an option unless you are Popeye the Sailor.

 

[Katie L]

I think there's a huge adjustment from the rules/culture of your initial dive shop where you got your certification, or with a guide that is super attentive, and then diving more independently, with the scaffolding removed, in a future dive.

The "oh, crap!" comes when you realize that you don't have someone paying attention to things FOR you as much, if at all. You know intellectually that as a diver, you're responsible for yourself, you theoretically have the knowledge, but there isn't anyone telling you what to do anymore.

You're used to following along with the whole group, having an instructor ask for your air usage, giving you corrections along the way. Then, all of a sudden, you realize that your mask is foggy, you have a foot cramp, that you can't see your dive buddy and you're not sure how long you should be looking for them before it's time to surface. The guide isn't 3 feet away from you anymore, and you can't shout out to ask a question.

I also find myself not remembering much from the debrief or otherwise finding the new environment too disorienting to apply the information that was shown to me on a map.

Oh! And a big one is that after you get off course or disoriented, the navigation you originally studied seems a lot harder. Sure, you were supposed to go 50 ft south, but what if I was drifting 25 ft east and now I'm totally off?

 

[Katie L]

Why hasn't anyone mentioned an Evil Cozumel Downcurrent as their oh crap moment?

Definitely an "oh crap" moment to realize that you can't stop to collect yourself!!

 

[scubadada]

...You're used to following along with the whole group, having an instructor ask for your air usage, giving you corrections along the way. Then, all of a sudden, you realize that your mask is foggy, you have a foot cramp, that you can't see your dive buddy and you're not sure how long you should be looking for them before it's time to surface...

I've been drift diving in SE FL for about 14 years. I normally dive solo, but I am willing to take new divers with me to orient them to drift diving and to navigating the reef. I have the flag, so I am never lost. The divers with me generally stick like glue and there is no problem. I always tell them that if they lose me to look around for a minute and then make a nice, controlled ascent to the surface. This has only happened twice. Once, the diver was headed back down the flag line as I ascended. The other time, we met on the surface and descended together to finish the dive. Whether it's a minute or two, you should discuss this before the dive.

 

[DogDiver]

My Oh Crap moment came on a cave dive. Ginnie Springs in the Worm Hole Tunnel. It’s a tight Advanced sidemount dive. I was leading in and in 110 feet of water 1800 feet in and found the main line was loose. So we turned the dive with my teammate leading. Poor turn with silty bottom and we blew out the exit. Now I’m making love to the line exiting in zero visibility and I swim into his fins. He is stuck. Oh $hit. With no way to get around him and not enough gas to turn around and complete the circuit exiting on the Hill 400 line. Turned out he was high centered on a large rock and we were only stopped for 5 minutes. But it seemed like an hour.

 

[Catito]

Don't worry, neither of those divers can hear you

What?

 

[SlugLife]

What?

I back rolled off a boat in Bonaire in 2021 and didn't realize my hearing aids were in until I heard the feedback in both ears.

2) Giant stride off a dock; part-way down I realize my (very expensive) hearing aids are still in my ears...

 

[tarponchik]

Every year I dive in the local lake and almost every time I forget to put my weigh belt into the car. Then I just put a couple of rocks into the BCD pockets.

 

[happy-diver]

I tried granite in the ocean once, would have needed a potato sack full, or at least a bucket

 

[tarponchik]

Being heavy as a brick has its pros and cons.