Panic!!!

[Dan]

Honing your buoyancy skill is the key in being able to stop, think and act. Obviously you were still positively buoyant when you tried to clear your mask.

On the first descent to the bottom or to a certain depth agreed upon with my buddy, my first task is to equalize as often as I can. Once I reach the bottom, I stop finning and get neutrally buoyant. Deflate the BCD if I am still rising. Inflate the BCD if I am still sinking. Once I am neutrally buoyant, then stop, think and act on whatever problem I need to fix.

 

[crofrog]

Practice swimming under water without a mask on until it’s second nature. Have a buddy hold your arm to guide you after swimming 20ft replace the mask and clear it. Just cycle through this until doing it is a non factor. You don’t need to enjoy doing it just not care about doing it.

 

[lermontov]

I have seen this said so many times on this forum, and each time I have to laugh. There are MANY problems or issues that can happen underwater which are significantly more urgent or serious than simply not being able to breathe!.

getting eaten by a shark is up there but what other serous issues are there more than not being able to breathe

 

[gschaut]

Recently on my second dive after Open Water Certification I had a mild panic - say 4-5/10 while clearing a full mask. Enough to make me ascend from16m without a safety stop!

I do feel I learned a lot from it though, enough to send me off practicing mask clearing and better self control next time. It gave me the knowledge that I could sit there with a full mask if needed until I calmed down, or even ascend safely with a full mask (hold nose if needed, that kind of thing).

Got me thinking, how often / common are panics? Does everyone have one at some point during their diving 'career'? What are peoples opinions?

One of my instructors said, "As long as you are breathing, everything is cool".

A snoot full of water is annoying but harmless. May I suggest spending some time (in shallow water) breathing on regulator or snorkel with NO mask. When you get used to not having a mask, then a flooded mask is a non-event.

Also, when you start diving below 20m or so, the surface is NOT your friend. An uncontrolled ascent can kill you. What ever happens, you deal with it at depth and make a slow, controlled ascent.

 

[ch66nerja]

You don't need to be on scuba to practice mask drills. I use a weight belt with 13 pounds. Get in about 3 and 1/2 foot, 1 meter of water, pool, or shore. Put mask on, sit down in water, partially fill with water, clear, stand up. Then do it taking mask off underwater, put it back on, then clear, stand up. Do it many times. After a few sessions of this you will panic less if it happens on scuba unexpectedly.

Not everyone is a natural in this skill. I am not.

Great idea. The weight part ... am lucky enough to have a pool but couldn't think of a safe way of holding myself under ... seems obvious now you've said it

 

[ch66nerja]

One of my instructors said, "As long as you are breathing, everything is cool".

A snoot full of water is annoying but harmless. May I suggest spending some time (in shallow water) breathing on regulator or snorkel with NO mask. When you get used to not having a mask, then a flooded mask is a non-event.

Also, when you start diving below 20m or so, the surface is NOT your friend. An uncontrolled ascent can kill you. What ever happens, you deal with it at depth and make a slow, controlled ascent.

Thank you.

That's one of the drills I've been working on. I even snorkel swim in the pool with no mask now ... to get moving water around my nose. Very comfortable with it -- all as a result of the 'incident' - have used it to make myself better.

Have no intention of diving deeper than 18m until I'm very experienced and comfortable there ... and now happy I can execute a safe(er) ascent if there is a next time.

 

[LI-er]

A safety stop following an uneventful single tank dive to 16 meters is pointless.

 

[boulderjohn]

I'm going to take a semi-wild guess that your mask-clearing episode, which obviously did not go well, involved a lot of failure to breathe properly. When you do not exhale properly, you get a carbon dioxide buildup, and a carbon dioxide buildup creates a sense of panic.

 

[ch66nerja]

I'm going to take a semi-wild guess that your mask-clearing episode, which obviously did not go well, involved a lot of failure to breathe properly. When you do not exhale properly, you get a carbon dioxide buildup, and a carbon dioxide buildup creates a sense of panic.

At some point I definitely was not breathing properly which contributed. The 'instructor' - person leading the dive tried to calm me - I actually alerted him to my distress and he tried his best but by that time I was adamant the solution was to ascend. Lesson learned.

 

[happy-diver]

Yeah I was panicking and breathing heavily, as I was fighting the ocean becoming increasingly out of breath
so without the ability to grab hold of anything or slow myself down I bolted for the surface before I couldn't

A good healthy sensation, or did I experience the one before panic