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.

 

[rgkv]

I've done a couple of dumb things, jumped in with my air off,, jumped in with out my weights, best one of all was when I first got my Gopro and was filming myself stepping off the pool edge with out my reg in my mouth LOL, believe me, i have in on film...

 

[SlugLife]

I've done a couple of dumb things, jumped in with my air off,, jumped in with out my weights, best one of all was when I first got my Gopro and was filming myself stepping off the pool edge with out my reg in my mouth LOL, believe me, i have in on film...

First time I took my action camera in the water, I was doing side-mount practice, relatively shallow, and found some swim-goggles. I went to drop them off at the shore, and tie them to a railing, and some woman said "Oh my god, those are my goggles!" and she was really excited.

Later in that dive I found a pair Oakleys in perfect condition. So I went to shore, and didn't think about tying them to a railing.

(all on video of course)

My buddy has a youtube channel, and I've had to criticize him SEVERAL times, because he'll find an iphone or iwatch, find the owner, give it back, and NOT RECORD GIVING IT BACK AND THEIR REACTION!

 

[BlueTrin]

Checking your savings account balance may be one of your biggest concerns after starting this hobby

My worst was probably one of these:
- realising mid dive that I had my phone in a pocket while trying to get my wet notes. I saw my buddy bubbles from laughing when I showed my phone (never ever put a phone where it can get wet, you will forget one day to remove it)

- a buddy went OOA because he didn’t t check his manifold during a flow check and didn’t connect the SPG not moving to the manifold being closed

- during my AOW, the instructor left me with a buddy and DM when I kept telling me I am close to 50 bar. He didn’t come back before we had to ascend and I didn’t control well the speed of the ascent. The lesson here is to always think for yourself and not trust anyone blindly just because they are more “experienced”

 

[Adamastor]

Depending on where you dive and who handles your tank, you might jump in the water with the tank half-open (quarter-open...). Always make a stop at 5m while descending to check your and your buddy's gear. At 5m, breathing should start becoming difficult with a half-open valve, simply ask your buddy to open it fully for you.

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

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

When your f&%$ing Poseidon rebreather fails its startup checks! That gets an Oh Crap from me every time! Fortunately the new solid state cells are so accurate that the unit can be really picky and the cells will keep it within the tight tolerances so now when the unit throws up an error code during the prestart checks it usually is because there is genuinely something wrong.

 

[Nick_Radov]

Depending on where you dive and who handles your tank, you might jump in the water with the tank half-open (quarter-open...). Always make a stop at 5m while descending to check your and your buddy's gear. At 5m, breathing should start becoming difficult with a half-open valve, simply ask your buddy to open it fully for you.

You should do your flow checks on the surface, not underwater. And while it's nice for buddies to help each other, you should also be able to manipulate your own valves.

 

[MB NZ]

Most common issue for me has been related to navigation, not that I'm bad at it! In fact buddies are amazed that I somehow get them back to the anchor chain, but I've had my "oh crap!" moments too. In all honesty and retrospect, these events were due to overconfidence or just having such a good time that I stopped thinking about my location. Most of them have resulted in nothing more than a little stress and a long surface swim back to the boat. One time was more serious

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

Most common issue for me has been related to navigation, not that I'm bad at it! In fact buddies are amazed that I somehow get them back to the anchor chain, but I've had my "oh crap!" moments too. In all honesty and retrospect, these events were due to overconfidence or just having such a good time that I stopped thinking about my location. Most of them have resulted in nothing more than a little stress and a long surface swim back to the boat. One time was more serious

Someone I know bought a Shearwater Nerd2 specifically to help her with her navigation because the compass is always just a glance away - it does seem to have helped her navigation.

 

[Adamastor]

You should do your flow checks on the surface, not underwater.

Indeed, but if the valve is partially open, you may not notice it on the surface.

And while it's nice for buddies to help each other, you should also be able to manipulate your own valves.

Agreed, I was looking at the problem from a newly certified recreational diver perspective.

 

[steinbil]

Indeed, but if the valve is partially open, you may not notice it on the surface.

I'm quite sure he means flow check as in manipulating the valve with your hands (and then testing regs) to make sure it's fully in the open position just before splashing. As long as you don't do half a turn back, you will catch any mistakes as the valve will either be fully closed or fully open.