My Colombia Deep incident... Need your advice

[SapphireMind]

The only other reason I can think to put the reg in the victim mouth first is - you don't know where in their breath cycle they lost their air. If the hose went bad on an exhale, it's much harder to hold your breath for a longer period than if you happened to be on an inhale. Obviously, not an expert, just thinking about the breathing mechanics and how we hold our breath normally.

I agree it definitely sounds like you kept your head overall. You may have started to get that panicky/anxiety feeling, where you know you *could* truly panic eventually, but not yet. I'm glad you were ok and even able to continue the dive! Definitely scary and a great reminder of another part of the equipment to double check!

 

[Saniflush]

Glad it worked out and sounded like you kept your head as well or better than most anyone.

Can't believe that we are on page three and nobody has broke out a "vote for Pedro" comment.

 

[Yellowdog]

Glad you are okay and good for you for not panicking.
I am wondering about the 90* fitting and what actually happened. I would have thought that if it was so loose as to actually detach from the second stage that there would have been an air leak when you pressurized the system. It must have been screwed in at least a couple of revolutions for the o ring to have been compressed enough to hold pressure and since the dm was able to reattach underwater the threads were not stripped so I must be missing something but don't understand why it actually detached completely.

 

[DryCaver]

It doesn’t sound like you panicked at all. Sure you were startled and a bit unprepared but you recognized the problem, took action and found a solution. A panicked diver would likely have shot to the surface. The fact that you were still focused enough to safely continue the dive also supports the lack of true panic.

After the missed loose connection on your predive check, and most of us are guilty of something similar in our past, I think not going to your backup sooner and the DM turning off your gas before giving you his secondary may be two other errors in the dive.

As for exploring alternative actions you could have taken, besides the dive precheck, what do you feel you could have done better?

I'm finding it interesting contemplating the differing ways we define panic. I tend to default to thinking of panic as a physiological response to the brain sensing danger- the adrenaline and related cascade that increases fight, flight, or freeze responses, as well as causing a host of physical and mental responses fine tuned to manage fear. I think often a more commonly used definition is to be behaviorally out of control due to fear.

I think the difference in definition matters because physiological panic developed as a evolutionary helpful mechanism, and it is very often a positive coping response. In the best of times, it gives you extreme focus and strength. Even when it isn't helpful, it's useful to be able to recognize it and accept its role in shifting how your body is currently working. Knowing how your body feels under physiological panic, and accepting that it is present, and not physiologically dangerous in itself, is a huge step towards being able to remain behaviorally in control during its presence.

I guess where I'm going with it is it sounds to me like you did panic, but you did an excellent job managing your behavior safely in that situation, and I think knowing those two things can go together might make it easier for you to remain safe in additional challenging situations.

AM

 

[johndiver999]

If you can control your actions and neither freeze up nor mindlessly try to escape a situation in an instinctive manner, then you have not panicked.

Obviously getting in a scary and life threatening situation is going to cause a stress response and cause adrenaline release and other physiological responses, but if the person retains the ability to reason and act in accordance with a logical thought process, then they didn’t panic.

In some situations a person may need to respond entirely instinctively and this might not be considered panic. Ever fall off a ladder?

If you somehow instinctively protect yourself and roll and use your arms and prepare yourself for impact these are neither thinking responses, nor a panic response. Unless you freeze and land on your head.

Anybody can get really scared and be subject to adrenaline release, but this is not necessarily panic.

 

[Fastmarc]

I'm grateful you shared this with us.
I'm leaning with those who thought you handled it well. Your actions as you stated it doesn't sound like a panic state to me.

I'm also curious as to how that 90 undid without leaking before. As someone who just switched to having one on my primary... I'm really curious.
Will be checking every dive now for sure.

 

[Charred]

I am actually very interested in the root cause here and the corrective action for that?

How did your reg fall off?

 

[Divingblueberry]

Now you’ve made me second guess my choice of going with the blue colored deep 6 reg set. Now I need an orange one lol

Ha ha !
The orange cap clearly stood out, but it was on a sandy bottom.
I think it would have been much more difficult to find if the reg had fallen in the corals.

 

[Divingblueberry]

Thank you all for your comments. I greatly appreciate your input ; you are helping me seeing the situation with more perspective. That is very useful !

Regarding the 90 degree elbow, I am sure I didn't see any air leaking from the joint at any time before it unscrewed totally (I think I would have seen a leak since it is right in front of my eyes).

My 5' hose goes under my right arm and it's not attached or clipped to anything. The thread weren't stripped or damages in any way. It obviously unscrewed slowly but how ? When I am out of the water, I clip it to my right D ring. Maybe that movement alone would have unscrewed the reg after 3 days of diving ?

Will be checking every dive now for sure.

I don't think you'll be surprised if I tell you that I kept checking that joint during the end of that special dive and the whole second dive.

I would spend some time practicing a valve shutdown. You might have been able to preserve more air. Just as important, if you are comfortable with a shutdown, you should also be able to feather the valve to provide much needed air on demand.

I will definitely go spend time in the pool and practice shutdowns. This memorable dive is a good incentive to do so.

 

[Tournesol2000]

Thanks for sharing your story. I found it very informative.
Question: if OP kinked his hose, would that have stopped air flow?