Lessons Most frightening moments

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After seeing how the post I wrote about the reverse block resonated with people, I would like to make another post today, namely about the most frightening moments I've ever had.

It's easy, particularly for novice divers, to think that people like myself, with decades of experience, thousands of dives and a deck of c-cards have everything under control and nothing bad ever happens.

I wrote about the reverse block because of that. I wanted to show that I am still human and I can still make mistakes. On the internet there is a strong tendency for (technical) divers and instructors with a lot of experience to project an image of themselves as always solving problems correctly, always making the best decisions, and in the case of instructors in particular, having a monopoly on good ideas that lead to perfect students diving perfectly.

None of that, of course, reflects reality at all.

So I will start. I urge experienced divers to share their own stories.

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First
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1985. I was certified as AOW and we were making a deep dive along a wall. The bottom, for all intents and purposes, at the bottom of the wall was unsurvivable. A diver who diving with a group slightly ahead of us got caught in a large ball of discarded fishing line that he didn't see. He started sinking. The incident started at 42 meters. My buddy and I had just started our dive and we saw this happening. Nobody in his group did. We went after him. This was the first time I had dived deeper than 42 meters. I couldn't tell how deep we were when we caught him because the (analogue) depth gauge I was using was pinned at its maximum depth. This was also my first deco dive or at least my first dive where I was "off the tables" and unable to to know how to ascend. I was, at that time, unaware of oxygen toxicity, gas management and ascent protocols. We returned (at a rapid pace) to 30ft. (10m) and waited there until our tanks were empty on the assumption that any damage done by our deep incursion would be fixed by that. Upon surfacing we didn't know if we were going to get the bends or not. I was, frankly, scared. It still gives me the heebiejeebies to think about this incident more than 30 years later. We did something there that was completely out of control (also the rescue) and we got off easy.

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Second
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2002, I think. I was working as a DM. We temporarily lost a diver during a dive. The situation was that we were on a platform at 25m and doing some exercises for the AOW (deep) dive. A group of divers (maybe 6) descending LANDED on us and kicked up so much silt in their attempts to slow down before impacting the bottom that the visibility went from 5m to black-out in a matter of seconds. I grabbed the two divers right in front of me and dragged them out of the silt cloud. One of them turned out to be our diver and the other one turned out to be one of the idiots who landed on us. We were missing a diver. We surfaced. Naturally our divers were told to surface if they became separated but this diver did not. He remained where he was and waited to be rescued. On the surface we decided that I would search for the missing diver because I had the most experience of everyone (including the instructor). At that point I was a DM but I was already technically trained. I had very limited time. I went back down and eventually found him but it was luck. He survived and my beard got grayer overnight. If I couldn't have found him in the next 5 min his death would have been on my conscience until I died. This was so frightening to me that I nearly abandoned all plans I had to become an instructor.

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Third
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The accident. My team saved the life of a diver who ran out of air during an AOW training dive (by another group, not mine) and was left for dead on the bottom at 18m. We acted quickly and professionally and got him into the hands of paramedics within about 10 min. As an aside, the fact that the Dutch paramedics were able to be on scene so quickly was no small part of this! He looked dead when we retrieved him. He lay in coma for several weeks after the incident. Doctors had basically written him off when -- unexpectedly to all -- he woke up and subsequently made a reasonable (albeit not full) recovery.

The impact on myself and on the members of my team was substantial, particularly because of what we viewed as our 'mistakes'. One diver (the DM) stopped diving. He started hyperventilating during the descent to find the "body" and after that he started to hyperventilate on EVERY dive. He stopped diving.

To me it changed EVERYTHING about how I view training and my role as an instructor. I didn't organize things on the surface as well as I could have, if I had had a second run at it. Yes, I had the EMS on site in 10 min. Police, paramedics, trauma doctor, helicopter, fire department with a boat, a private boat.... all of that I had..... but I was overwhelmed and not communicating as well as I could.

Someone tried to chase my (uncertified) OW students into the water to go search. He didn't know that they were uncertified and I ripped him a new one in a way that I regret, giving in to the emotion. An NOB (CMAS) instructor showed me by example how to control the dive site in a way I had never learned, I missed seeing a diver (the DM who caused the accident) displaying passive panic. It only became apparent to me when they had to take him away by ambulance when he collapsed.... it was MUCH more messy scene than I had ever imagined and I was not in control as well as I would expect from myself. At one point, once the EMS had control of the surface situation I grabbed another diver (a DM) and went searching myself. This was a mistake. I can't get over the mind set that drove me to ACT when I SHOULD have been coordinating! I'm like the guy who charges into a burning building because I can't fight the urge to DO SOMETHING! I HATE that about myself.

Since that time (it's been years) I've been replaying that event in my mind and thinking, "if I had only done XXXX then YYYY". It drives me CRAZY to think that if we were sharper we could have found him 30 seconds or a minute earlier and his recovery could have been better. The fact that he survived is utterly astounding. These things never end like that.... but I feel responsible for the fact that it took so long.

This was a formative moment in my diving. I considered stopping as well but eventually decided not not to. To this day I cannot -- and will not -- teach or participate in the Rescue course, even though I may be the one instructor in my circle who is most qualified to talk about the differences between theory and practice. It's just too intimidating.
 
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Once he left the fuel cap off the plane and I mention that one also, that can end poorly

His overall safety score is still excellent but hyper vigilant he is not


does he have an excessively large life insurance policy on you? I mean, planes losing fuel, air tanks shutting off. Its not paranoia if its true lol
 
does he have an excessively large life insurance policy on you? I mean, planes losing fuel, air tanks shutting off. Its not paranoia if its true lol


He has a policy on him for a million dollars

I am worth zero as my former husband states to the financial advisor “no, if she dies, I would have plenty of money”

Every time JB does something stupid, he says “at least you’d get a million dollars”
 
I'm only 19 dives in, so this "most frightening moment" probably does not compare at all with all of yours. This was on my previous dive with a Divemaster in Puerto Galera, Philippines. We were descending upon the Alma Jane Wreck (97 ft), when we met some very strong current. The current knocked my octo out of its holder, and also knocked my red filter/fish eye lens off the gopro hero 5 case. This current caught us both by surprise. We both swam across the current to the wreck (used up A LOT of air), and I managed to take some stunning photos (without the red filter... oh well). And then we turned the rest of the dive into a drift dive. The current soon died down, and the DM checked my air consumption. (I was still thinking about the current...) He signaled for an ascent, and I signaled okay. When we got to 15 ft for our 3 minute safety stop, that was when I first looked at my spg, and it read around 450 psi. I was stunned that I managed to use up so much air in the 20 minutes of the dive. And then realized that I was huffing and puffing to get across the current, and that it was also a deep dive. Lesson learned: I need to check my spg A LOT more!

I do love this sport, but this experience was a good wake-up call for me...


19 dives and hitting a 100 ft deep wreck? You are adventurous. And using a gopro which is very distracting. I can see any diver at 19 dives with a heavy current knocking you about and using a gopro at 100 ft losing track of air. Im at 31 dives and going to dive P.I. again in feb. I am finally thinking about maybe getting a gopro as ill hit Coron and some wrecks but dont want to combine 120 ft deep with a camera yet.
 
He has a policy on him for a million dollars

I am worth zero as my former husband states to the financial advisor “no, if she dies, I would have plenty of money”

Every time JB does something stupid, he says “at least you’d get a million dollars”

Ha ok then at least I can see why he has a policy on himself looool wow. stay safe :)
 
In the Philippines I was diving with a group of 6 friends. Most of us had 50+ dives and everyone was AOW with the exception of one person. He had less then 10 dives and it had been a almost a year since those dives. We were diving a plane wreck that was in 70' of water. I'm use to the U.S. and diving with a buddy. We had two dive masters with us. I stayed with the most un-experienced diver (an older gentlemen) and I watched his air supply closely. When he hit 1000 PSI I was still around 2000. I found the dive master and relayed the air totals and informed him we were surfacing. This is where it got interesting...he said no. He said stay put and wait as he went to round of the other two groups (4 divers). Well, it took in a while. He came back and by this time my buddy was around 600 (and getting nervous). Again, I relayed that we needed to ascend. He again said no and motioned for us to wait. He came back a few moments later with the last pair and all 6 of us (plus the two divemasters) ascended together. At this point the dive master was with my buddy and I watched as my buddy took the last breath of air in his tank while at the 15' safety stop. He then had to buddy breath with the dive master.

Moral of the story, I was pretty inexperienced and should have just bolted and started the ascent when my buddy reached 1000 PSI. That's what I would have done state-side. I was not use to having to descend and ascend as a group. Never again... The sad part is that my buddy was totally freaked out and I doubt that he will ever dive again.


hey thats on Cebu near mactan right! I just dove there in march. its about 65 to 70 feet depending on tide.
 
In the Philippines I was diving with a group of 6 friends. Most of us had 50+ dives and everyone was AOW with the exception of one person. He had less then 10 dives and it had been a almost a year since those dives. We were diving a plane wreck that was in 70' of water. I'm use to the U.S. and diving with a buddy. We had two dive masters with us. I stayed with the most un-experienced diver (an older gentlemen) and I watched his air supply closely. When he hit 1000 PSI I was still around 2000. I found the dive master and relayed the air totals and informed him we were surfacing. This is where it got interesting...he said no. He said stay put and wait as he went to round of the other two groups (4 divers). Well, it took in a while. He came back and by this time my buddy was around 600 (and getting nervous). Again, I relayed that we needed to ascend. He again said no and motioned for us to wait. He came back a few moments later with the last pair and all 6 of us (plus the two divemasters) ascended together. At this point the dive master was with my buddy and I watched as my buddy took the last breath of air in his tank while at the 15' safety stop. He then had to buddy breath with the dive master.

Moral of the story, I was pretty inexperienced and should have just bolted and started the ascent when my buddy reached 1000 PSI. That's what I would have done state-side. I was not use to having to descend and ascend as a group. Never again... The sad part is that my buddy was totally freaked out and I doubt that he will ever dive again.


It sounds like the divemaster knew you had good air supply and were there to buddy with the guy in case of emergency and that he could round everyone up in time. Thats the pro of the story i get out of it. the con is that you should never wait to run out of air on the way up just to keep everyone together. Im too inexperienced at 30 dives to weigh in on that scenario.
 
It's funny, my most frightening experience wasn't the one where I (or others) were in the most real danger.

It was my first checkout dive. I was comfortable breathing underwater, buoyancy wasn't bad, and I had no problem clearing my mask, ditching gear underwater, etc.. But I'm pretty sure I was still wide-eyed at the murky, cold water of Puget Sound.

Suddenly, something bolted out FROM DIRECTLY UNDERNEATH ME! I was freaked. It was a small rock sole (think flounder, maybe 10 inches, 25 cm, long). They're pretty cryptic, and I hadn't seen it as I floated over it, but it saw me and bolted from about 18 inches, 45 cm, below my chest.

I can think of a couple others that were a little hairy; I wasn't scared so much as thinking "well this would be a really stupid way to go." I had a weight belt come undone and fall off while supervising students doing research diving. You might recall the old Wile E. Coyote cartoons: Where the coyote runs off a cliff, stops, looks down, realizes there's a problem, and only then starts falling? I swear that happened to me. Weight belt is off. "Huh, that's my weight belt on the bottom. If my weight belt is there, then I ..... OH @#%@#%$!" Let me tell you, a motivated man CAN swim a 7 mm full wetsuit (farmer john+jacket) down, at least a few meters. To this day I can't figure out what dislodged the weightbelt, and it never happened before or after.

Another time was my own pure stupidity. I was helping with a Rescue course, and we'd already had to use Rescue maneuvers twice on one of the students (once because the diver bolted horizontally for no apparent reason, later because he lost buoyancy and started to ascend). Not sure why I assumed he'd be able to pass me his octopus when I asked. I indicated "out of air, buddy breathe" and he looked at me blankly. I signaled again, then made my mistake: I took my second stage out of my mouth to emphasize the point. Being the "good" assistant, I also dutifully exhaled while the reg was out of my mouth. Until I was completely out of air. I couldn't find my second stage, so I went for my octopus. I didn't realize how sticky the clip was I had it on until that moment. I ended up pushing away from my "rescuer," starting to do a CESA, then managed to get my own primary back and purged before I'd ascended more than 4 feet or so. Lessons learned: 1) Leave the second stage in your mouth even if out of air (as students are taught, but I'd ignored), 2) Don't expect a student to do something right just because they've theoretically already demonstrated it in OW training, demonstrated it for you in a pool, and were briefed that it was one of 3 skills they'd be asked to show on that dive. 3) Know for sure how to use your equipment, not just theoretically. I subsequently tried getting my octopus out of its clip, and its easy enough but requires a touch more force than I thought. 4) In hindsight, keeping multiple options open (not committing to the CESA, but still trying to recover my own second) worked for me. Or less generously, maintaining my wits a bit as I started to panic helped reduce the severity of the situation. I went back to the diver, we tried again, and he did it correctly.


ok i admit it, I laughed at the 10 inch flounder fright lol
 
I believe when acting in an official capacity the diver in question was a dedicated Instuctor and played by the rules. On pleasure dives with competent buddies ... threw the rule book out the window and became the buddy from hell. We did 4 dives together with discussions about buddy separation and how difficult it was to keep track. Last dive before the fatal dive we spent trying to keep track of her in limited viz, When we complained we were told. "You can always find me from my strobes flashing! I don't like diving too close."

Her son told me "I quit diving with her over the buddy separation thing for quite a while. If I couldn't get her to listen she sure wasn't going to list to you! Don't blame yourself. I always thought she would go that way"

Sad the pain that attitude caused so many people. Instructors remember the safety rules are not just to keep your clients safe but to keep YOU safe. Even someone with thousands of dives can have something go wrong. IMHO she passed out (history of low blood pressure and hadn't eaten much for breakfast so possibly even hypoglycemic as well). ... lost her reg and it free flowed to empty tank when found.

We searched immediately, found her quickly and got O2 and AED attached while continung CPR. Ambos can and told us to stop. As an ex paramedic I know it was too late by your gotta give it everything you can just in case. Sad end and a lot of people hurt very badly in the aftermath.

I am convinced the only way to prevent her from dying on that dive was to not do it and it would have happened with someone else based on reports from those who had been buddies. At least we had our O2, AED , got the body back and gave it a full effort to safe her.

2013 and it still effects our diving.


Just did my first liveaboard in the channel islands CA. One of the people I dove with early had about 50 dives. I had about 22 then. This guy and his gopro were all over creation. in kelp forest under around overhangs just bugging out flying trying to get fish on his gopro. I had to try to follow him and would stilll lose him then have to scan around for his bubbles several times. luckily visibility was forever that day but if either of us had a problem we were on our own. I didnt dive with him again except for when another person was with us and that time the new guy kept bumping into me the whole dive and i mean literally bumping into me whenever i stopped. he had a gopro too.
I will take the bumps all day vs a guy that had no fear and would never stay nearby. Every time I hear about a diver passing it seems to be someone alone.
 
I was snorkeling on the Big Island, at Kaunaʻoa (Mauna Kea) Beach. Swam out of the bay to follow the reef, and the surge was getting to 15 ft or so because it was still pretty shallow. I was a bit on edge already, being by myself and not accustomed to the surge, when I checked behind me and saw a huge creature emerge from the blue, heading straight for me! I was terrified until I realized it was just a sea turtle that had managed to get close. In retrospect, seeing a mature turtle that close was a pretty awesome encounter, but it came with a huge adrenaline spike.
 
I went in to some cave in Palau to see turtle skeletons (tomb of doom?) and my Halcyon inflator got stuck open so I disconnected it ok.
It did make me inflator shy in caves and I prefer to dive with it disconnected.

My scariest moment was once on a night dive in Hawaii I was doing a long safety stop in poor viz and current and something went by my mask that had 4” wide gill slits and I had that fear sensation that curses through your spinal cord and makes you want to wet your pants. I just focused on listening to my breath and I surfaced but the whole time I was waiting to be bit in half —I have a vivid imagination and when something happens I have trouble controlling my mind.

Another time I was leading a drift dive over by Sea Caves off Koko crater with these two bonehead Marines just back from Iraq. The swell was pretty big and the boat couldn’t find us but we could barely see him on the swell. After about 40 minutes I started freaking out and telling them to get the SMB higher and they just laughed and laughed like idiots. I told them this was a “very serious situation” and they were being jerks but they just continued to act like this idiots and finally the boat found us about an hour later. I have never hated two “men” so much in my life. And now I am married to one of them and he still mocks me all the time. I really am convinced that he would be dead if it were not for me. I took him to Palau when he had about five dives and he was a terrible buddy and air hog. On the walls he would go down in every downdraft and I never thought I would see him again but miraculously he always made it back to the boat. He was the bravest WORST diver I had ever seen, totally oblivious and always running out of air and leaching off mine. I’m willing to fly with him because he has a lot of natural ability and I’ve never seen him choke but I have to watch things like the GAS CAP and that he remembers where the flaps are on take off.

So you married the guy you hated to no end. Im dying here. This explains alot about my life. I cant understand WHY any woman would want to be around me. Glad I found scubaboard. Alot of scary but also alot of funny
 

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