Hi Guys !
I am posting this since it could be useful for most new divers, I have got my OW and AOW in 2004, I Strated Regular Diving in about June this Year, and went good and will be going on good, my dive centre instructor told me to do mask clearing and regulator recovery to check if i am ok with the skilz i passed at the time
But last week, on Sep the 2nd 2005 i made a dive to 25 Meters, and was my first nitrox dive, which because a nightmare dive for me due to a lot of reasons,
:sprite10:OK, first, i had difficulties decending, i used 4 KGs like i always do but i dont know may be the clyinder or something kept me from being properly weighted, but i made it,
:thinkingo Secound, Half way to the bottom i realized that there is a minor sprinking ok water when i breath, Ok now i am think is it because of regulator, second stage first stage or is it just because nitox feels wet. FOR THOSE OF U WHO DIVE FIRST TIME WITH NITROX , Nitox feels like normal air dont expect any changes than normal air , and that is my first error, I convinced myself that it is because of nitox, so i continue the dive
:new_puppy Thrid, We are down 25 Meters and nice i had my digital camera with me taking picture good and happy dive, my buddy was beside me, and here it all begins, He told me to take his picture so i did , he removed is mask so that he can get a nice picture of his face, i got it nice 1, then i told him to take mine, and voila i tried to copy him take off my mask confident that i can put it back on , took my picture nice but i could not put my mask back on at first, then i put it on and clear it blow into it once did not clear , second time did not clear, and third i inhale with my nose and that is where it starts, i paniced totaly i held on to my nose and started breathing like hell from my reg on top of this now i am thinking that water thing in the reg is not nitrox and my reg is leaking. I was totaly blind good enough my buddy was with me he held on to me. I signalled i want to go up. Still Breathing Rapidly He Helps me and we start ascending slowly in about 2 mins i become a bit calm, and try to clear my mask again, no use more water in my nose and back to panic attack.
:11: Forth, we are going up i gave up on mask, we might be about 22 - 20 meters , I feel equiliztion in my ears, we are going down , Why ? i dont know, i equilized signal again for up sign, still going down, i leave my buddy and start accent alone, ok hold my nose with one hand regulator with the other and hear my computer beeping high assecnt rate try to let air out of my bcd could not find my bcd inflator my hand back on the nose try to find the exhaust value on bcd no luck, try to look up with my eye with water flood , nothing, but i know that i am going up, and then i completely gave up , and boom like a rocket to the surface, my cheat was going to burst, i shouted to the boat and tried to exhale in knew what i have done and i need this air out of my lungs , they were hurting, and after 2 mins and a huge burp i got all the air out, good a bit relaxed swam to to boat and got out no sign of my buddy yet, computer beeping fast acent alarm, i tried to relax on the boat and i thought it would be better to keep beathing nitrox since the oxygen was on the shore not on the boat. ( Kinda Pointless )
10 Mins later my buddy surfaced and come on board, guess what my camera droped and my buddy was decending to pick it up, and in the end he got my camera. but could not find me. looked arround and surfaced normally.
Very Dangerous Experiance
Bad Side
I have not had removed my mask 100% for a year
I just did a partial flood when i as refreshing in June
I Did other stuff on my Nitox Traning Dive ( Why the camera in first place )
My Buddy was not my instructor
I did not do enough skill practice on any dives
My Buddy went for the camera , instead of me ( I dont know is it bad cause he did get the expensive camera out )
I was at 25 Meters
I was using rental equipment ( It is time to buy my own )
We did not have oxygen on boat ( Not so much releavant in this case )
Good
I was only on 10 mins in my dive ( no deco )
I was using nitrox
I was still able to breathe
I managed to get the air out of my lungs
Leason Learned
Always keep practicing basic skilz we learn in open water classes, dont take diving for granted. Remeber if you lose your mask you can still breath, dont think you cant breath, you can exit normally with the help of a buddy, keep your reg in your mouth, and try to be familiar with the equipment you are wearing so that you can remember or by instinct know where are the buttons. My Buddy could have been more responsive, but he was just Certified for Rescuse a month ago no even a dive master with no real life experiance,
Aftermath
I got a bit of counceling from my instructor, i calm myself my instructor told me to come next day to do skilz refresher, but i could not convince myself on that day and that is when i went on net looking for other peoples dive experiance and joined this board, today on 4th i finally did my skilz again in 14 meters, mask removal still made me a bit paniced but i did not give up and made it to clear 100% , I am back to diving now i dont want to give up , I thank my instructor to help me out of it, i thank my buddy to staying close to me it did help to know that somone is watching you
I hope this post will help someone else, we gain confidence from the lessons we learn.
Cheers
Faaz
I am posting this since it could be useful for most new divers, I have got my OW and AOW in 2004, I Strated Regular Diving in about June this Year, and went good and will be going on good, my dive centre instructor told me to do mask clearing and regulator recovery to check if i am ok with the skilz i passed at the time
But last week, on Sep the 2nd 2005 i made a dive to 25 Meters, and was my first nitrox dive, which because a nightmare dive for me due to a lot of reasons,
:sprite10:OK, first, i had difficulties decending, i used 4 KGs like i always do but i dont know may be the clyinder or something kept me from being properly weighted, but i made it,
:thinkingo Secound, Half way to the bottom i realized that there is a minor sprinking ok water when i breath, Ok now i am think is it because of regulator, second stage first stage or is it just because nitox feels wet. FOR THOSE OF U WHO DIVE FIRST TIME WITH NITROX , Nitox feels like normal air dont expect any changes than normal air , and that is my first error, I convinced myself that it is because of nitox, so i continue the dive
:new_puppy Thrid, We are down 25 Meters and nice i had my digital camera with me taking picture good and happy dive, my buddy was beside me, and here it all begins, He told me to take his picture so i did , he removed is mask so that he can get a nice picture of his face, i got it nice 1, then i told him to take mine, and voila i tried to copy him take off my mask confident that i can put it back on , took my picture nice but i could not put my mask back on at first, then i put it on and clear it blow into it once did not clear , second time did not clear, and third i inhale with my nose and that is where it starts, i paniced totaly i held on to my nose and started breathing like hell from my reg on top of this now i am thinking that water thing in the reg is not nitrox and my reg is leaking. I was totaly blind good enough my buddy was with me he held on to me. I signalled i want to go up. Still Breathing Rapidly He Helps me and we start ascending slowly in about 2 mins i become a bit calm, and try to clear my mask again, no use more water in my nose and back to panic attack.
:11: Forth, we are going up i gave up on mask, we might be about 22 - 20 meters , I feel equiliztion in my ears, we are going down , Why ? i dont know, i equilized signal again for up sign, still going down, i leave my buddy and start accent alone, ok hold my nose with one hand regulator with the other and hear my computer beeping high assecnt rate try to let air out of my bcd could not find my bcd inflator my hand back on the nose try to find the exhaust value on bcd no luck, try to look up with my eye with water flood , nothing, but i know that i am going up, and then i completely gave up , and boom like a rocket to the surface, my cheat was going to burst, i shouted to the boat and tried to exhale in knew what i have done and i need this air out of my lungs , they were hurting, and after 2 mins and a huge burp i got all the air out, good a bit relaxed swam to to boat and got out no sign of my buddy yet, computer beeping fast acent alarm, i tried to relax on the boat and i thought it would be better to keep beathing nitrox since the oxygen was on the shore not on the boat. ( Kinda Pointless )
10 Mins later my buddy surfaced and come on board, guess what my camera droped and my buddy was decending to pick it up, and in the end he got my camera. but could not find me. looked arround and surfaced normally.
Very Dangerous Experiance
Bad Side
I have not had removed my mask 100% for a year
I just did a partial flood when i as refreshing in June
I Did other stuff on my Nitox Traning Dive ( Why the camera in first place )
My Buddy was not my instructor
I did not do enough skill practice on any dives
My Buddy went for the camera , instead of me ( I dont know is it bad cause he did get the expensive camera out )
I was at 25 Meters
I was using rental equipment ( It is time to buy my own )
We did not have oxygen on boat ( Not so much releavant in this case )
Good
I was only on 10 mins in my dive ( no deco )
I was using nitrox
I was still able to breathe
I managed to get the air out of my lungs
Leason Learned
Always keep practicing basic skilz we learn in open water classes, dont take diving for granted. Remeber if you lose your mask you can still breath, dont think you cant breath, you can exit normally with the help of a buddy, keep your reg in your mouth, and try to be familiar with the equipment you are wearing so that you can remember or by instinct know where are the buttons. My Buddy could have been more responsive, but he was just Certified for Rescuse a month ago no even a dive master with no real life experiance,
Aftermath
I got a bit of counceling from my instructor, i calm myself my instructor told me to come next day to do skilz refresher, but i could not convince myself on that day and that is when i went on net looking for other peoples dive experiance and joined this board, today on 4th i finally did my skilz again in 14 meters, mask removal still made me a bit paniced but i did not give up and made it to clear 100% , I am back to diving now i dont want to give up , I thank my instructor to help me out of it, i thank my buddy to staying close to me it did help to know that somone is watching you
I hope this post will help someone else, we gain confidence from the lessons we learn.
Cheers
Faaz
