sarora
Guest
I got PADI open water scuba diver certification in August, 2004 in Bala, Ontario. After getting certified, I decided to do my first recreational dive trip in Brockville last weekend (Sep. 11/12, 2004). The trip consisted of four wreck dives in Brockville, Ontario (Henry C. Daryaw, Lillie Parsons, Muscallonge and Robert Gaskin). I just picked Brockville just because the weekend was suitable for my schedule. I didn't know anything about the type of dives and conditions of dives. On Saturday, I dived Henry C. Daryaw (87ft.) and Lillie Parsons (60ft.). The current was strong in the first dive and I was running low on air. On ascent, I had to buddy breath with the dive instructor. But it was all fine. I really enjoyed the second dive - and it was my favourite.
The next day, I descended down the rope (current) at Muscallonge dive site with the initial air of 2800 psi and at 80ft once I got down, I was down to 1700 psi. At this point, I realized that I am using a lot of air. We were told that if we were close to 1500 psi, we should tell the dive master and should slowly start making my way up. At 1500 psi, I was able to tell my air count to the dive master. He asked me to follow him. My buddy was right besides me. I realized that I was sinking and had too much weight on me. I had to put more air in BCD. A thought went into my mind that I cannot inflate my BCD because I will end up using a lot more air. I went around the wreck trying to find the line (the line was no where to be seen). Then all of a sudden, I started hyperventilating. I felt suffocation. I thought I couldn't breathe. I realized that my breath was very shallow and fast, but I couldn't make it stop. I got a panic attack!
Next thing I know I am looking up, disregarding any signals from my buddy and making my way to the surface. The buddy followed me. I have never felt like that in my entire life. I have never ever had a panic attack. So I don't even know what I was going through. But one thing for sure, all the training that I went through was no where in my mind. I was just looking to get to the surface. I started going up from 75ft up very fast (not the usual 1foot/second) without any safety stop. I wasn't even thinking of stopping. I still had regulator in my mouth with a lot of shallow breathing. I was looking up and thus couldn't really see what my buddy was trying to tell me. I thought that I was dying. I kept going up and I saw the light. At this point I don't remember what happened. The next thing I noticed was my BCD getting a lot of air in it. My buddy had inflated my BCD. I immediately removed the reg from my mouth and that followed with a vomit. I looked around and saw my buddy trying to take me to a line that was thrown by another boat (not our boat). But the current was so strong that both of us were not going near it. I knew at this point what was going on - there were at least three boats around us but about 40-50 ft away. One of the divers from the nearest boat jumped in the water and brought the rope to us. We used the rope to get back to the boat. They took both of us to our boat where I was supposed to get some oxygen but the boat didn't have any. The boat then took us to the shore, where I got oxygen immediately. The were asking me a lot of questions. They then took me to the hospital, where I got more oxygen and had to get chest x-rays done. I was feeling alright (phsycially but not psychologically) - and this whole ordeal about hospital scared me more than anything. I thought that something was wrong with me. The x-rays were fine (they were looking for water in my lungs) but the doctor said that if I see any symptoms of the bends, I should go to the hospital immediately. This is my second day since the incident and so far I feel fine physically.
This incident has given me a very different perspective on life. I feel happy to be alive and to be able to share this story with others, angry for getting the panic attack, guilty for also involving my buddy in it and letting him go through this ugly experience .... and there are a lot of other mixed emotions I have. I am still trying to recover, but I know for sure that I need to do the same dive again to get some closure. I should be calm and relaxed and deal with the shortness of breath under water. I know now that CO2 was built up because of shallow breathing - during the incident I had no clue that it was CO2. I just needed to take a deep breath. I love exploring and there is a whole new world under water. I would like this incident to not stop me for pursuing my interest and I am going to try my best to overcome any fear that triggered this panic attack.
All the people that love me have been angry at me for playing with my life. They talked to some of their diver friends and they are saying that I shouldn't have gone that deep as a beginner diver. They are wondering that why didn't the instructor/dive masters alert me about this. I told them that it is my responsibility and I should have been more aware. Besides, even if they had alerted me, I would have still gone given my adventurous spirit. I was ignorant, but I urge all you beginner divers out there to be more aware and diligent than me. Also, another lesson I learnt from this is to never go diving alone. I am a fairly independent person in life who wants to do everything herself without asking for any help. I was assigned a buddy and sometimes we develop hesitation in showing our weaknesses to our buddy. If I am able to trust someone down there, I believe I would have been more calm and relaxed.
Please take good care of yourself, be safe and enjoy every second of your life! May God bless you!
The next day, I descended down the rope (current) at Muscallonge dive site with the initial air of 2800 psi and at 80ft once I got down, I was down to 1700 psi. At this point, I realized that I am using a lot of air. We were told that if we were close to 1500 psi, we should tell the dive master and should slowly start making my way up. At 1500 psi, I was able to tell my air count to the dive master. He asked me to follow him. My buddy was right besides me. I realized that I was sinking and had too much weight on me. I had to put more air in BCD. A thought went into my mind that I cannot inflate my BCD because I will end up using a lot more air. I went around the wreck trying to find the line (the line was no where to be seen). Then all of a sudden, I started hyperventilating. I felt suffocation. I thought I couldn't breathe. I realized that my breath was very shallow and fast, but I couldn't make it stop. I got a panic attack!
Next thing I know I am looking up, disregarding any signals from my buddy and making my way to the surface. The buddy followed me. I have never felt like that in my entire life. I have never ever had a panic attack. So I don't even know what I was going through. But one thing for sure, all the training that I went through was no where in my mind. I was just looking to get to the surface. I started going up from 75ft up very fast (not the usual 1foot/second) without any safety stop. I wasn't even thinking of stopping. I still had regulator in my mouth with a lot of shallow breathing. I was looking up and thus couldn't really see what my buddy was trying to tell me. I thought that I was dying. I kept going up and I saw the light. At this point I don't remember what happened. The next thing I noticed was my BCD getting a lot of air in it. My buddy had inflated my BCD. I immediately removed the reg from my mouth and that followed with a vomit. I looked around and saw my buddy trying to take me to a line that was thrown by another boat (not our boat). But the current was so strong that both of us were not going near it. I knew at this point what was going on - there were at least three boats around us but about 40-50 ft away. One of the divers from the nearest boat jumped in the water and brought the rope to us. We used the rope to get back to the boat. They took both of us to our boat where I was supposed to get some oxygen but the boat didn't have any. The boat then took us to the shore, where I got oxygen immediately. The were asking me a lot of questions. They then took me to the hospital, where I got more oxygen and had to get chest x-rays done. I was feeling alright (phsycially but not psychologically) - and this whole ordeal about hospital scared me more than anything. I thought that something was wrong with me. The x-rays were fine (they were looking for water in my lungs) but the doctor said that if I see any symptoms of the bends, I should go to the hospital immediately. This is my second day since the incident and so far I feel fine physically.
This incident has given me a very different perspective on life. I feel happy to be alive and to be able to share this story with others, angry for getting the panic attack, guilty for also involving my buddy in it and letting him go through this ugly experience .... and there are a lot of other mixed emotions I have. I am still trying to recover, but I know for sure that I need to do the same dive again to get some closure. I should be calm and relaxed and deal with the shortness of breath under water. I know now that CO2 was built up because of shallow breathing - during the incident I had no clue that it was CO2. I just needed to take a deep breath. I love exploring and there is a whole new world under water. I would like this incident to not stop me for pursuing my interest and I am going to try my best to overcome any fear that triggered this panic attack.
All the people that love me have been angry at me for playing with my life. They talked to some of their diver friends and they are saying that I shouldn't have gone that deep as a beginner diver. They are wondering that why didn't the instructor/dive masters alert me about this. I told them that it is my responsibility and I should have been more aware. Besides, even if they had alerted me, I would have still gone given my adventurous spirit. I was ignorant, but I urge all you beginner divers out there to be more aware and diligent than me. Also, another lesson I learnt from this is to never go diving alone. I am a fairly independent person in life who wants to do everything herself without asking for any help. I was assigned a buddy and sometimes we develop hesitation in showing our weaknesses to our buddy. If I am able to trust someone down there, I believe I would have been more calm and relaxed.
Please take good care of yourself, be safe and enjoy every second of your life! May God bless you!
