On Verge Of Panic!!!

[OnceLoyal]

JimLap.....
I did have a depth, air, compass console and a wrist watch. I tried to time everything from my descent and even my ascent. The DM stayed with me through the whole ascent and we followed his comp., which I also payed attention to my times via my wtch and depth gauge. I may have made an ignorant decision by accepting this dive, but I would never go without some form of self reliance.
My insta buddy?? LOL, he was gone.. About 30 yards ahead of me. Yeah I didn't think much of him after that. As for the snagging I am pleased that I didn't freak out and handled it. I guess I didn't have time to like pull my reg out and suck in water or something weird lol I just tried to stay calm and fix the problem at hand. I would still like to say I didn't experience Narco. It is possible, but if I did it cleared up after ascending about 10-15 feet and relieveing some pressure I had.
I

OnceLoyal, thank you for your honesty in posting on ScubaBoard. The point of this Board is to allow posters to share their experiences so that others can learn. Thank you for your contribution.

I'll make three comments and then ask several questions.
1) Thank goodness that you are okay.

2) Please do not EVER penetrate a wreck again unless you get the appropriate training, certification and equipment to do so. Wreck penetration, especially on a deep wreck, is dangerous. Quite frankly, you could have died on the dive. I am glad you are okay.

3) You are to be commended for staying calm. That may have saved your life.

OnceLoyal, please answer a few questions for me. I ask them for the purpose of trying to get a fuller understanding of the incident. Here are my questions:

1) Where did this incident occur? If it was in Florida, do you know the name of the wreck?

2) How did you access the Dive Site? By boat? If so, was it a commercial dive charter or was it by personal craft?

3) You had a DM with you. Was he or she a hired Dive Guide? Or was your DM a friend? Do you know what agency (PADI, NAUI, etc) the DM is a DM for?

4) Do you know how much air was in tank when your returned to the surface (boat or shore)? An answer in either PSI or cubic feet would be great.

5) When and where did you get certified? What agency?

6) It sounds like there were three divers in your team. Whose idea was it to do this dive? Did anyone object to the dive plan?

Thank you again, OnceLoyal. Please keep diving - just do it more safely from now on..

I will try to answer

1) I would prefer not to say. I would prefer to leave this be. I spoke with them and expressed my concerns and would like to leave it at that. No it was not in FL.

2) Via a small charter boat.

3) Hired DM PADI and would prefer to say no more. (maybe it is possible he thought my skills were greater than they were. I dived with him on three previous dives. Al else consumed their air and had to ascend 20 min before me. SO We kind of stayed down a little longer together. (Maybe thats why he thought I was a little more experienced?) Again Thank god I don't use much air lol even with the minute of my huffing and puffing trying ot relax myself.

4) I had 700 PSI in tank on surface and was within reach of bottle at 30 Ft. if needed. Trust me at that point I knew excactly were the bottle was

5) NAUI in FL about 1 year ago.

6) This was a scheduled dive and seemed to be pretty routine. The others that went didn't seem to know much more than me, but I am not one to talk of anothers experience level.

 

[OnceLoyal]

Also I guess I should say that we planned 130 Ft. My max recorded was 138 hence the 140Ft. Bottom time was origionally planned at 17 min according to the DM. I would say it was about 15ish.. Ascent rate, well I crawled to the surface. Like stated before I think I was stopping at about every 10 feet up the line...with a good 6 min at 15 feet. The exact times are a little fuzzy to me now sorry. I think my whole ascent was equal to a deco stop it took forever.. I was very relaxed at that point though. Slightest discomfort and I leveled off. Like I said I had plenty of air and had an air bottle standing by. I think I handled the situation very well,just never should've gotten into it in the first place

 

[ItsBruce]

As I see it, there are two distinct issues here. One is the depth of the dive. The other is the penetration. That there was a convergence of the two suggests you buy a lottery ticket ... just to see if you used up ALL of your luck at once.

As to depth, 140 fsw is too deep for a recreational dive, especially for a less experienced diver. Until one has experience and practice at shallower depths, one cannot be truly confident while diving that deep, or anywhere near that deep. Do not confuse bravado with confidence. They are different things. Other than gas management issues, there are not a lot of things that can go wrong at 140 fsw that can't go wrong just as easily at 100 fsw or 70 fsw. However, at 70 fsw, one is less likely to panic than at 140 fsw. It is largely a matter of having enough time at or near that depth to know how you will react to a problem and to really know that you know how to solve it.

Last year I did a dive, with a qualified instructor, to 120 fsw. It was my first dive that deep. What I discovered a confidence issue: I was concerned that I had not properly planned my gas management. In truth and in fact my planning was spot on, but at depth, I kept questioning it. I expect that next time I'm at that depth, I will trust my planning more, and the time after that, even more still. Once my confidence in my planning returns, I will consider a deeper dive, but I will anticipate concerns with my gas planning.

Bravado is no substitute for experience on progressively deeper dives.

As to wreck penetration, that is unsafe at 30 fsw without proper training and equipment, though it gives you a bit more time before you run out of gas and die.

 

[DCBC]

It's hard to say how much experience is required before a person goes deep. It depends upon the person, his experience, physiology and a number of other factors that include perspective. I've done a bell-bounce saturation dive to 630 feet in the North Sea with less than 1000 hours under my belt. Imagine, to many commercial divers I was too inexperienced to do the dive...

We are talking about lessons learned here. So I for one really try to keep this in-mind. OnceLoyal, forgive me but you seem to be on the defensive here. I don't read a lot of posts that say how often the poster screwed-up on a dive. Personally I may have screwed-up more than the greatest majority of all members here. I say this out of honesty, not that it gives me any pleasure to admit it. The more you dive, the more you learn, the more mistakes you make. Welcome aboard! Remember, any dive you walk away from is a good dive! We live, we learn.

 

[OnceLoyal]

Thx., and I hope I am not being to defensive. I was a little erked at the begining because I feel as if I got assaulted lol. I thought it would be good to post for new divers and DMs, or experienced divers also. Obviously I know I made a mistake from taking the dive. I didn't type this thread for people to let me know how ignorant they think I am. Re-living this especially with the help of people questioning me help me learn by retracing all of my steps. On a personal level people can bash all they want, it can be somewhat comical. I just get frustrated when it gets out of hand, because it can cause more harm than good for a lot of people. I like to compare diving to flying. When you have a new pilot and he/she makes a istake and the controller starts yelling at him/her does it help? No, it can do the opposite. I am pleased that people take their time to post on this thread. Good or bad.. I will keep checking from time to time just to see what other questions pop up. A few popped up that I never even thought about. So thanks again so far to all. Even the people who bash!!

 

[TSandM]

OnceLoyal, one of the ways divers get into trouble is that we simply don't know what we don't know . . . I followed an instructor to 130 feet on my 10th dive of my life, because I didn't know any better, and he was an INSTRUCTOR. (We didn't penetrate a wreck, though )

The way to avoid having this kind of thing happen again is to learn more. So I'm going to give you some resources: One is NWGratefulDiver's article on gas management, which can help you decide what gas resources are appropriate for a given depth of dive, and whether you are carrying those resources or not. Another is Dr. Edmund Kay's video on equalization, which has some information about anatomy of the ears and sinuses.

As far as chronic sinus problems go, it would probably be well worth your while to see a doctor about them, especially one who is savvy about diving. The point about rebound that was made above is a very valid one. Topical decongestants are, in general, poor strategies for divers, especially if used over multiple days. If you have chronic problems, long acting antihistamines, topical steroids, or even sinus surgery may be much safer alternatives. As you found out, the one mandatory maneuver is surfacing, and if doing that is unbearably painful, you have a long, unpleasant ascent ahead of you.

This dive was a great example of way too much, way too soon, and being very, very lucky. I hope you can use this excellent resource of ScubaBoard, and the links it provides, to get some more good education that will help you to keep yourself out of situations where luck is necessary for a good outcome.

 

[udtfire]

YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOU DONT KNOW. welcome back to the sunshine and if you cant pick out at lease 10 thinks you can and should change about that dive then please stay in the sunshine when you die in the deep wet stuff dont call it an accident. good luck dive safe

 

[Web Monkey]

This med usually lasts me for -8-12 hours. Maybe at that depth for some odd reason it stopped working.

It's effective for less and less time each time you use it, and if it's your "go to" solution you can really screw up your nose and sinuses (you can end up with permanent congestion)

Terry

 

[OnceLoyal]

GREAAAT!!! I am probably in the permenant congestion stage already lol. I spoke with a Dr. on here and he is pointing me in the right direction. My name is Terry also so thx Terry. This board has already answered numerous questions and keeps opening me up to new questions. I am very glad I joined.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

My bad. From your one post where you said you did not have your computer and were keeping track of things in your head led me to believe you were using nothing more than an spg. In any case without having a computer what tables were you using for the dive and what was the plan and whay backup plan did you all have in case someone had an issue and went into deco.