Reg Blow Out at 60 ft

[GrumpyOldGuy]

It actually sounds like a very cool dive, as much for the history as anything else. Maybe I'll get a chance to dive it one day.

It is a cool dive and was on my bucket list, did it 2 years ago. Buddy told me it was a combination deep (110ft), night & wreck dive (the bottom is stacked with scrap steel from the structure). Add altitude, cold water (for Texans anyway) and the muck that gets stirred up in a confined space by multiple training groups and you have the potential for problems if you are not prepared. If you are prepared, its a blast (pun intended).

 

[diver_pirate]

You did solve the issues. Otherwise there would not be a thread Good job. If the front cover comes off your regulator and the large rubber diaphram falls off your regulator will shut off air flow and not freeflow. The diaphram requires a slight inhalation effort of the diver to push on the silver lever to allow air to flow. You could manually press the lever to cause air to flow but using your octo is a much better first choice. If a rubber mouthpiece falls off then no big deal you just hold reg in your mouth with a hand while ascending. I do not know the signal for second stage falling apart. A thumbs up and ascend. There were lots of issues. Check your gear before each dive. Hand signals work in total darkness, you just need to illuminate them. In total darkness or with poor vis you should never be more than the distance your arm can reach (18-24" max) from your buddy. In total darkness the tank light should always be in view or your buddys light. In a crowd, a handhold to buddy's BC works. Your buddy should be doing the same thing. If this was not agreed to before the dive then its on you. If you were being trained by an instructor then he should have told you of the conditions and matched you up with a better buddy or trained you seperately. There are lots of issues here.
-dp

 

[Texasguy]

Have you heard of a "secondary drowning"? By having and then expelling some amount of water in your lungs opens you to a possibility to die right after, some hours later on the surface. Some water stays and slowly blocks some oxygen from entering your blood stream to the point where you asphyxiate gradually, without noticing.

One should be checked every hour for signs of blue lips, unintelligent responses, other signs of lack of oxygen, not allowing to sleep, etc.

 

[agilis]

I'm so lucky to have taught myself to scuba dive from a guidebook, and introduced myself to the use of scuba slowly in shallow water after carefully triple checking my equipment, untouched by anyone but me.

I think there is a lot to be said for solo self- instruction, if the neophyte is an experienced snorkeler, very comfortable in the water, and has access to a quiet safe shallow water environment. The requisite slow and careful investigation and analysis of equipment is one of reasons solo self-instruction can be so effective.

I've seen too many moronic headkickers and incompetent instructors.

 

[NAM001]

every dive is a lesson learned

 

[diversteve]

3 year old thread guys...OP hasn't been back since.

 

[bakodiver391]

Just throwing a wild thought out to the pundits. A large lungs-full of water could be a difficult situation to recover from, and throw in a significant deco obligation as well, you are not bolting to the surface. I wonder if one had the presence of mind to go fully inverted whether the water and/ or puke would drain more naturally, aiding a recovery and cutting down the time period of coughing/ puking. Thoughts?

 

[scagrotto]

fully inverted whether the water and/ or puke would drain more naturally, aiding a recovery and cutting down the time period of coughing/ puking. Thoughts?

Your lungs aren't like balloons. Or bags of water, as the case may be. They're more like sponges with lots of tiny little pores. 1 cubic centimeter of lung has about 170,000 alveoli, so each one is small. Really small. If they were little cubes they'd be less than 1/50th of a centimeter on each side. That's 1/5th of a millimeter. I feel confident in saying that orientation isn't going to matter on that score. That said, if you actually had a lot of water in your trachea and or throat being inverted might help. Your trachea would be very much like a snorkel that has been submerged and is full of water, requiring a forceful exhalation or inversion to remove the water.

I didn't read the whole thread to see if it was addressed, but I suspect that the OP only got a very small amount of water beyond the larynx. That would mean that there wasn't very much water that had to be expelled by coughing. We've all had something "go the wrong way", and we all know that a very small amount of water (or ham sandwich) can produce a very powerful reaction.