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.

 

[CT-Rich]

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.

 

[blue sky]

Mine's left to right and I touch things as I do it. Sort of like the spectacles, testicles, wallet & watch of Catholics!

That is the punch line of my all time favorite joke.

 

[blue sky]

As a DM, I was diving dry and playing the part of a panicked diver for a Rescue class. A student got behind me and inflated my BC while holding my LPI behind my head. I couldn’t dump air fast enough to stop the uncontrolled ascent. Exhaled and flared for all I was worth. Thankfully we were only around 30’ so all parties came out okay, but that sure got my blood pumping.

Now that's frightening!

Shouldn't dealing with a diver in a dry suit be covered in class and pre-dive briefing.

Diving exclusively in south and central Florida, my dive buddies and I don't drive dry. I appreciate your post and will remember it if we ever dive dry. Thanks.

 

[Belzelbub]

Not realizing one of my integrated weights had fallen out where I was sitting on the boat and wondering why I was struggling to sink and was lopsided on my first dive.

I’ve done something like that once. Back rolled in, and when I got to the bottom, I saw a soft weight. I grabbed it, and soon found another. It was then that I realized they were mine. When I placed the weights in my new Zeagle BC, I forgot to zip the top closed. I don’t wear much weight with steels, so had no trouble getting down. If I hadn’t found them, the safety stop would have benn fun.

The main thing would be to investigate why the weights fell out, and whether they're actually secure enough to not do the same during a dive.

Yep, agreed. Lots of different weight release types out there, and some work better than others. In my case, it was pretty obvious why. As long as I close that zipper, nothing is going to fall out unless I pull the cord, so I make sure I double check those red zippers now.

 

[Polarorbit]

Shouldn't dealing with a diver in a dry suit be covered in class and pre-dive briefing.

You shouldn’t need to fully inflate the BC in order to surface anyone. The drysuit just exacerbated the situation. I wasn’t an instructor back then, but I certainly give the topic more attention when I teach it now.

 

[Wibble]

my wife is getting cunning -when a parcel arrives she looks online to see what its worth

Used to work with a guy who’s hobby was racing motorbikes.

What kind of bike do you have asked I. A blue one he replied.

Apparently he's had 9 blue bikes and even had to get a new one painted as it wasn't available in blue! Allegedly his wife didn’t notice they periodically changed. Oh the things we do for marital bliss...

 

[billgraham]

I used to be a mate on a wreck diving boat, and the most common thing I saw was divers getting lost and popping up away from the anchor line. I swam after more than a few of them, we kept a giant reel of poly line ready to go up on the transom. Also, make sure you've got a pair of fins, wetsuit boots, mask etc. ready to go next to that reel, and someone should always be ready to jump in the water. You'd be surprised how far someone can drift away while you're looking for the fins, the line, etc. On many dives, I'd run a line from near (not attached to!) the anchor line out to the edge of the wreck and drop it there for a reference point. You can see that white line from quite a distance away, it helps a lot.

 

[SlugLife]

Used to work with a guy who’s hobby was racing motorbikes.

What kind of bike do you have asked I. A blue one he replied.

Apparently he's had 9 blue bikes and even had to get a new one painted as it wasn't available in blue! Allegedly his wife didn’t notice they periodically changed. Oh the things we do for marital bliss...

Maybe that's a solution to the SO complaining about too many sucba-tanks? Just paint them all the same color and hope they don't notice any new ones.

we kept a giant reel of poly line ready to go up on the transom. Also, make sure you've got a pair of fins, wetsuit boots, mask etc. ready to go next to that reel

Also, this kind of thing can occur when getting into the boat. You start handing fins up, and then something interrupts the process. Swimming even a few feet with full scuba-gear, minus fins can be a giant pain. Even in a lake without current, the wind can push you or the boat away.

(I often have fin-gloves in a pocket; they're no scuba-fin replacement, but I've used them when experiencing cramps at the end of a dive.)

 

[100days-a-year]

A walking diveshop instructor getting on the boat.
A new diver with a camera, scooter or speargun.
Having a Mola swin up in green 15' vis after a GW was spotted earlier.

 

[wildbill9]

Don’t put your wetsuit on backwards. Raise your hand if you have done this. ( my hand is raised). Zipper in back (most cases). Lol