usmc4x4
Contributor
New to the board but I thought I would share a recent "scare" I had while in Cozumel.
While floating on the surface at the end of an absolutely amazing drift dive my wife and I were discussing the dive and patiently waiting for the dive boat to pull up. Then I heard a rush of air and lots of bubbling. Around that time I also noticed a lack of bouyancy and noticeable need to tread water to remain comfortably on the surface. I reached back to check my BC dump valve suspecting that was the culprit (not that I could have done anything about it at the time anyways). Next I check my power inflator and discovered that it had been blown from the hose leading back to my BC (I don't know the proper name for it). My simple solution was to blow into the hose and then hold the open end below the water level. At that same time the dive boat pulled up and I graciously accepted the offer to board first.
While it is drilled into your head as a diver not to freak out your never really sure how you will react and if your training would apply. In this instance I remained calmed and went into a self check mode and determined that I had sufficent bouyancy and time to assess the problem. However had I felt that I was in danger of being "pulled" under at any time I would have dropped weights in a heartbeat.
While floating on the surface at the end of an absolutely amazing drift dive my wife and I were discussing the dive and patiently waiting for the dive boat to pull up. Then I heard a rush of air and lots of bubbling. Around that time I also noticed a lack of bouyancy and noticeable need to tread water to remain comfortably on the surface. I reached back to check my BC dump valve suspecting that was the culprit (not that I could have done anything about it at the time anyways). Next I check my power inflator and discovered that it had been blown from the hose leading back to my BC (I don't know the proper name for it). My simple solution was to blow into the hose and then hold the open end below the water level. At that same time the dive boat pulled up and I graciously accepted the offer to board first.
While it is drilled into your head as a diver not to freak out your never really sure how you will react and if your training would apply. In this instance I remained calmed and went into a self check mode and determined that I had sufficent bouyancy and time to assess the problem. However had I felt that I was in danger of being "pulled" under at any time I would have dropped weights in a heartbeat.