My loser moment

[caymaniac]

While diving with a boat at Molokini Crater, I made sure my air was on, put on my weights&tank&gear, I was about to jump in when the DM said to me "just a minute let me check your air", well he turned it off without me knowing it. Needless to say at 4 ft. down I was sucking absolutely no air out of that reg. when it occurred to me the DM shut my air off. DUH!

 

[DiverBizz]

[SIZE=-1] Just FYI for all - I didn't know either...Hog Snapper is widely recognized as the best tasting seafood of all the reef species. This is according to google search.
[/SIZE]

 

[JodiBB]

When I was doing my OW check outs on the boat, my instructor requested we rig up our tanks. I confidently rigged up and was proud that I did it "right." My instructor came over and began to laugh! I wasn't sure what she was laughing at and felt kinda foolish.

I had forgotten to take the bungy cord off (that secures the tank on the boat) of the tank when I put my first stage on. I wouldn't have gotten too far had I put on my BC. Since then, I "always" remember that dumb cord.

 

[DiverBeth]

I was diving with my son in a local quarry. I got in the water first. While waiting for him (he had a minor problem) my mask started to fog so I took it off, used a little spit, rinsed and put it back on my face. What I didn't do was then put the strap back over my head.

When we descended my son saw how the mask was just sitting on the top of my head and signaled to me. I signaled back I was ok and we went on with our dive. For the first half of the dive I kept thinking the blue gills really were nipping at the top of my head as I kept feeling something moving up there. The mask strap finally flapped down in front of the lens and I realized what had happened. :11:

I was amazed the mask never fell off (good fit and seal!) and though I had a few more drops of water in it than usual nothing really seemed wrong. My son thought I was just showing off how good a seal I got on my mask. He did say that I looked like a with the mask strap flapping on my head.

 

[NC myerssl]

The first time I crewed on one of the dive boats I was supposed to go down and release the anchor. Went down fine and released the anchor with no problem. I was so proud of the fact that I did it that I just stared at the anchor/line drift away as the current and wind took the boat away. Then I realized that's my ride back to the boat!

Had to fin like hell to catch that line.

 

[HowDidIGetIntoThis?]

When about to start the second dive of the day my regulator hose seemed to be extra long and easy to handle. The captain very kindly, and discretely, pointed out that it would be a good idea to have the regulator connected to the tank...

While not wishing to avoid responsibility for my own screw-ups in any way, there does seem to a be large percentage of messages in this thread that relate to inadequate buddy checks.

 

[Mack Diver]

Like many shops, we cover the tank valve with a piece of tape after its been filled. One particualr day, I grabbed my tank and headed to the lake to meet up with our course director. When I hooked up my gear, I noticed that the tank only had 1100 psi. It seems someone had put the tape back in place after they had used the tank. Now i allways do a pressure check before I take a tank out of the shop.

 

[bmcsteve]

I just remembered another "loser moment" I experienced....

Last year my wife, another buddy, and I were diving for crab at our favorite hole on the Oregon coast. After the usual gearing up and buddy checks we waded in and put our fins on, then descended along the wall to the bottom. Once there, we headed inshore against the slight outbound current with our buddy leading off, my wife in the middle, and me picking up the rear. After about 5-6 kicks, I noticed that my left foot felt awfully light. I looked back to find that my fin had come off.... apparently I hadn't made sure the quick release was clipped properly.... Anyway, I stopped and looked around for it for a quick second and when I turned back to signal the others.... they were gone.... should have expected that in 6 ft vis... so I waited a couple minutes for them to realize that I was gone and come back. When they did, I showed them my delemma and signalled that they should go on and get us some crabs while I looked for it. I made myself negative, took off my other fin and walked around the bottom back in the direction from which we came looking for my wayward fin.... to no avail. I spent the entire 45 min dive walking around.... when the other two caught back up with me to head up, I was feeling pretty down because we still had another dive planned for the day and it was looking like I would have to sit it out on the beach... Anyway we began our ascent, with me "rock climbing" my way up the wall to our safety stop, all the while I knew they were laughing at me.... So we continue to the surface to find some lady standing there pointing to my fin and asking if it was ours..... I guess it had floated up and washed ashore. Needless to say I was both elated and feeling pretty foolish at the same time... I had no idea that my fins were positively bouyant in salt water...

 

[rawls]

A bit of background...

We take our students to a rock jetty in between Beaufort and Morehead City, NC for their open water dives. There is a fence we stay on one side of and about 20 yards away from. We are in the sand there. Their are rocks along that fence you don't want to be on. They have alot of sharp shells, nails from old pilings, etc... The year before when I was almost done with my DM I had to pluck a new DM candidate out of the current, which is hell when it turns. I grabbed her and headed for the closest thing I could find to grab onto...the fence. I grabbed the fence, brought her around in front of me and we walked along holding onto the fence until we got out of the current. At that point my heel hit on of those sharp objects and I got a bad cut.

Skip ahead a year...I am now an instructor. My instructor went down the jetty with me the first couple of O/W sessions to see if I was doing ok. I was cleared and could now take students down the jetty by myself. So I get 2 students. One holds on to my octo and the other holds on to their buddy's octo and away we go. Unbeknownst to me, instead of going straight I took a 90 degree turn heading over to...yep...the fence. I finally heard some one yelling and I surfaced and saw where I was. S**T I thought. My instructor got the students safely away from the rocks. I stand up and lose my balance and fall ass first back into the water knowing I was going to impale my ass on something. Luckily I didn't. Happens to be it was a big class and almost everyone from the dive shop who could assist were there and witnessed the event. I still haven't heard the end of it. And...My instructor decided I needed a few more observations I have no problem with it today and know my way around the jetty even in low visibility...but that day was one of my most embarrassing moments...

Great thread btw

 

[highdesert]

Back rolled off the boat and started to descend, then figured I'd better surface as long as I was still close and turn my air on. I'd taken one test breath before going overboard; that was the only one I was gonna get without going back up.