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.

 

[mcohen1021]

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

 

[MidOH]

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.

I had the lost mask fear as well. And I wear soft contacts.

To get over it, before a safety stop on the way up, made sure I was negative and started finning up, and simply took my mask off.

I could see.
Saltwater doesn't effect contacts badly like fresh water does.
No significant pain, maybe a little uncomfortable.
I stayed up right, so water didn't get in my nose. Never swim upside down, and be careful how much you turn your head.

Like a cesa, no mask is no big deal. I don't worry about carrying a spare.

 

[Ukmc]

How about rolling back, negative entry with a closed valve, single back mounted tank… -early in my diving experience, I had a good learning opportunity. I checked my air as we were arriving to a dive site and left the valve open. Unbeknownst to me, a dive guide went through opening/checking everybody’s air, but closed mine. WTF. How do you do that. Or maybe he was just trying to “learn“ me a point . I suspect honest mistake. Took a breath before rolling in, all good. Got in the water, first breath under the water gave me nothing. Realized I did not look at my SPG as I was taking a breath on the surface (I did when I checked the system when I opened the valve). That was my oops moment. A lot of good things came out of it though. One - do not let anyone to touch your gear! Two - do not get complacent. Recheck everything before jumping in. Still remember it as it was yesterday. Now, I just chuckle about it every time I look at my SPG before I jump in.

 

[tursiops]

Two "Oh, crap" moments:
1) Giant stride off a high dock, fins together to help break the fall; part-way down I looked at the water surface...it was ice, not water. Luckily, not very thick. Even luckier, the ladder was nearby for my fast exit.
2) Giant stride off a dock; part-way down I realize my (very expensive) hearing aids are still in my ears...

 

[DAJ]

A few of my most memorable:

Called out to a local dam for an issue with the gate. This was an old dam with the large wheel at the top center of the dam that would be turned and that would raise the gate. The report to us is that the gate must have broken off the pipe and fell down preventing water from being released because they turned the wheel all the way but no water was being released.

Water looked like dark chocolate milk so no lights on this one. I swam over to the main pipe with my buddy and we went down about 30 feet until I felt myself sinking into the mud. I reached down as far as I could but did not feel the gate. I went vertical and used my fins to clear out more mud so I could reach down further.

After a few attempts and creating a deep hole in the mud, I reach down and I can feel the top of the gate. Big problem, the gate was still attached to the pipe as it had not broken off. I reached over and gave my buddy a push up to let him know to surface. On the surface I told him to get to the shore quickly as the gate was still attached. We got out of the water and while talking to the water department about what we discovered, we heard this loud noise and looking back at the damn, my fin kicking and digging was enough to allow the water pressure to force out the blockage. That could have been a bad day if it did that while we were in there digging for the gate. This happened back in the 80s and there is no way this type of dive would occur today.

The second one was a human remains recovery from a vehicle. The coroner wanted the remains removed independently from the vehicle so we went down to do that first. Again, visibility is zero which is normal in our world. Removed the remains and searched the vehicle for others and returned to the surface. The lift plan was to place a large lift bag inside the car and then inflate it from the surface so we would be clear. I was on the passanger side of the car and that side of the car had broken windows so I could manipulate the bag and place it where it needed to be.

When I was done, I felt my way along the vehicle to orient myself and as I using my hand to come across the windshield, just as my fingers rounded the A-pillar, my dive buddy pushed the door closed on my fingers and stuck me to the car. As we had zero vis, he just backed off and surfaced. I knew the bag would not be inflated until I surfaced and I could just barely reach the edge of the door handle with my opposite hand. As I could not get a good grasp on it, it took a few attempts until I got it open and freed my hand. Nothing broken just sore for a bit. One of the positives for wearing thick gloves. The joys of PSD.

 

[Dody]

I had the lost mask fear as well. And I wear soft contacts.

To get over it, before a safety stop on the way up, made sure I was negative and started finning up, and simply took my mask off.

I could see.
Saltwater doesn't effect contacts badly like fresh water does.
No significant pain, maybe a little uncomfortable.
I stayed up right, so water didn't get in my nose. Never swim upside down, and be careful how much you turn your head.

Like a cesa, no mask is no big deal. I don't worry about carrying a spare.

Dumb question maybe. You are at 30 meters and you lose your mask. You still can see… blurred. No way can you read your DC or SPG. Bubbles, I don’t know. How do you control your ascent or even make sure you are not descending?

 

[Wibble]

Dumb question maybe. You are at 30 meters and you lose your mask. You still can see… blurred. No way can you read your DC or SPG. Bubbles, I don’t know. How do you control your ascent or even make sure you are not descending?

Loads of options:
1) get out my backup mask
2) put up an SMB then wind myself up
3) can read a computer if you cup your eye and blow bubbles into the space
4) if an NDL dive, should be able to control the ascent and hang around at 6m for three mins and surface — fine if not too fast and the safety stop is just that. Just ascend slowly; you can feel the pressure in your wing and drysuit change.
5) if a deco dive then run the decompression as well as you can with extra time at 6m-ish
6) look around for another diver to help out

 

[VikingDives]

Dumb question maybe. You are at 30 meters and you lose your mask. You still can see… blurred. No way can you read your DC or SPG. Bubbles, I don’t know. How do you control your ascent or even make sure you are not descending?

All of what @Wibble mentioned, though I'm a little skeptical that anyone could actually read their computer at one hand away. I might have been able to do that in my teens...

As far as descending, you can tell from your ears... Being without a mask isn't hard, it's more of an annoyance.

 

[MidOH]

Dumb question maybe. You are at 30 meters and you lose your mask. You still can see… blurred. No way can you read your DC or SPG. Bubbles, I don’t know. How do you control your ascent or even make sure you are not descending?

Great, I'll have to do this drill again, next time I'm in salt water. Or next time I'm in fresh water with my contacts out. Fresh water makes my contacts sticky, they roll up and painfully disappear behind my eyeball. I've got a prescription mask for fresh water, haven't tried it yet. Obviously I prefer salt water.

I think I can read my comp at least, since it's lit up. I dont remember checking it. My spg is on a 30" hose, so I can get it right into my face. No idea if I can read that.

But basically, I'm thumbing the dive and going slowly up, negatively buoyant. By finning. Just a matter of making the bright blur get closer, and the dark one go away. I sure as heck remember being able to see up.

But what I do specifically remember, I felt perfectly confident with my mask off.

It was part of our open water certification, take our mask completely off, picture taken, put mask back on, clear mask, picture taken. My brother in law laughed at my Pic " nobody said you had to open your eyes and smile for the camera."

 

[TMHeimer]

My diving is usually in pretty "benign" situations (at least the last 5 years as I age). I suppose a couple of "oh crap" moments are when a current (tidal usually) is stronger than predicted or an exit winds up being much more difficult than an entry (surf kicks up, etc.). I usually fine exiting more of a challenge than entering a shore dive since you're walking shallower and can't just flop in and paddle your way out.