Leea, I'm glad you're ok and rebounded after your panic episode. If you don't dive frequently, it's very important to do the refresher because you do lose the skills. You live in the best state to dive. Just do it more. 
my near drowning
- Thread starter leeawinters
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OP
leeawinters
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Let's see if I can answer all the different questions:As I was close to the surface I did add air in BC to get up quickly, typically at end of dive, as usual vent air and kick up. I was stressed with one thought in mind, get to the surface to get help. The DM said he heard me surface saw I had spit my reg and even before I signalled for help( classisc large arm wave and yeleld HELP) he was moving to rear of boat to untie from the mooring ball. We were in small boat ( 6 divers) so he could easily manuver it towards me so that he could hang onto the ladder and reach down with one arm and get a hold of my BC and pull me close enough to the boat that he could reach over my shoulders and grab my wet suit under the arms and haul me on. (No mean feat as I weigh 170 without all the gear.) Then he got tank and BC, weights off, got me in seated positon with back against the boat and opened my airway with jaw thrust and did rescue breathing. By this time the paramedic from other boat had swum over and climbed on to help. When I came around they were behind me, holding me on the platform and reassuring me I was okay and to BREATHE. They started 02. I could see the dive group on the surface behind the boat, probably came up the line and then they swam over with the other DM getting the 3 other divers onto the private boat and my husband told to swim to our dive boat. The instructor came back over once the others were in the boat and husband and DM got my fins off and then I stood up and they peeled my wet suit off and I was able to get over into the boat to lie down.then husband and instructor got on board and they helped me while captain/DM took us back to shore. EMS had been radioed to meet us at a site. I am not sure what caused the leak. I thought maybe my purge valve had cracked but it was intact and no other obvious leak when the mask was checked. I had my reg in as I never start dive with snorkel. I think I breathed in water thru my nose as I thought "I'm breathing water" and maybe coughed my reg out. I have no recall of losing the reg. But DM. assured me it was not in my mouth when I surfaced. I think I passed out from air in lungs or maybe just stress ( I am an RN by profession by the way) No the DM responded immediately. The current was stronger than I realized as I started my descent. Yes I agree the repsonse by 2nd DM was great. My husband said he was looking around for me and did not realize I had gotten past him. The DM signalled where's your buddy and he pointed up and the DM made a circling motion to the other divers and pointed up and they all ascended from about 40 feet.
DennisW
Contributor
leeawinters:
Quiescence is a great operation. I've used them many times and I really like the small boats and the operation in general.
OP
leeawinters
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A few more answers for inquiring minds. I reviewed my dive log and got certified in feb 2000 and did 20 dives that year, none the next ( can't explain that), 21 in 2002 including 5 days in Gr Cayman, 11 in 2003, 17 in 2004 when some dive plans were cancelled due to multiple storms in Florida. We were in Key LArgo for 3 days of diving the week that Charlie was brewing and had to leave the keys earlier than planned due to evacuation and of course the storm hit here and not the keys. Then the other storms and some damage to dive operators on the coast made it diffcult to plan a dive trip. 3 in 2005. We had 2 dives with no problems the day before this incident, too. I have been diving in cayman, cozumel, belize, roatan in addition to our usual in key Largo/Tavernier or West PAlm, Boynton beach area. Also variety of dive types: drift, wrecks, mostly reef dives off boats, some shore diving. My husband has been diving since 1996, dives computer, and my oldest son, 35, was certified in 2003 and comes to Florida to dive with us. Also nitrox certified. I had worked with DM the week we were in Cayman and had improveed my skills but probably rustier than I realized when we made this trip. What we are doing now is as someone else noted staying together as we descend face to face so he can see if I am getting down okay and clearing ears, etc then we stop at depth and make sure all okay and I am swimming a little ahead of him or next to him. MAybe we need to check out dive group in Orlando as we usually just make our own plans.
I am most grateful that we were diving with a small group though and not in a "crowd" I wonder if I would have been noticed if the DM was busy getting other divers into the water. This operation was first rate and safety oriented. Their DMs do regular training and rescue drills and it certainly paid off for me.
I am most grateful that we were diving with a small group though and not in a "crowd" I wonder if I would have been noticed if the DM was busy getting other divers into the water. This operation was first rate and safety oriented. Their DMs do regular training and rescue drills and it certainly paid off for me.
In response to question earlier in thread, the reason, IMHO, that it is taught to deflate BCD and swim-up, and keep that inflator in hand and venting it is quite simple.
The average n00b doesn't have a good sense of bouyancy yet and it's quite easy for them to hit the UP button at 60 feet to add a little air and forget to vent it. So it's taught that it's ALL ABOUT VENTING FROM THE GET-GO. To avoid novices from thinking of the power-inflator as the UP button and then losing track of things. If they swim up they usually do much better if a bit more tired. See what I mean? Otherwise they hit 20-30feet and become a Polaris missile due to expansion of the gas bubble in the BCD.
If I'm doing a free ascent in the ocean, cold water here, darn right I get close to neutral or at least only a little negative before starting up and vent it as I ascend. You know how much work it is it swim up a 6-9 lb's negative tank and 20 pounds of lead with a compressed wetsuit? But I wouldn't recommend this to people who are not confident and natural about their bouyancy skills. I've long reached the point where I do things they tell you not to do in OW class.
To original poster, sounds like you did okay. If the situations seems to be getting out of hand, I see nothing wrong with adding air to BCD and/or ditching weights as in worst case you are unconscious on the surface instead of at depth. Although I'm a bit confused by a dive plan which says it's a drift-dive, but apparently you were fighting current to make some buoy descent line? Typically drift dives I've done are supposed to be no-worky gigs from the second you backroll off the boat. They drop your flag-group and you descend and drift with the flag-carrier. What was the dive plan you were engaged in?
The average n00b doesn't have a good sense of bouyancy yet and it's quite easy for them to hit the UP button at 60 feet to add a little air and forget to vent it. So it's taught that it's ALL ABOUT VENTING FROM THE GET-GO. To avoid novices from thinking of the power-inflator as the UP button and then losing track of things. If they swim up they usually do much better if a bit more tired. See what I mean? Otherwise they hit 20-30feet and become a Polaris missile due to expansion of the gas bubble in the BCD.
If I'm doing a free ascent in the ocean, cold water here, darn right I get close to neutral or at least only a little negative before starting up and vent it as I ascend. You know how much work it is it swim up a 6-9 lb's negative tank and 20 pounds of lead with a compressed wetsuit? But I wouldn't recommend this to people who are not confident and natural about their bouyancy skills. I've long reached the point where I do things they tell you not to do in OW class.
To original poster, sounds like you did okay. If the situations seems to be getting out of hand, I see nothing wrong with adding air to BCD and/or ditching weights as in worst case you are unconscious on the surface instead of at depth. Although I'm a bit confused by a dive plan which says it's a drift-dive, but apparently you were fighting current to make some buoy descent line? Typically drift dives I've done are supposed to be no-worky gigs from the second you backroll off the boat. They drop your flag-group and you descend and drift with the flag-carrier. What was the dive plan you were engaged in?
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