During my last trip to Palau, I encountered another instance of a "close call". See this post for my report from the first trip: http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=28885
I went back to Palau and dove on the BIG Blue again. Had some of the same crew from the first trip a year earlier and was looking forward to diving without the typhoon conditions that we encountered during the last trip.
NOTE: These are all seasoned divers
BLUE CORNER
It was a calm day in Palau and we were all going to dive the Blue Corner. There was a group of 12 of us and 2 DM's. One of the DM's I dove with was ther during my trip a year ago. He was a very experienced diver from Australia with over 5000 dives under his belt. He also was a technical diver as well and in very good shape.
First Sign
We took the diveboat from the Big Blue and were heading to the dive site. As we were slowing down one of the divers started frantically looking around the diveboat.
"!@#$, I guess I'm sitting this one out...I forgot my fins!!!". Luckily the DM had an extra pair of fins that the diver could use albeit they were pretty small for his feet. He looked pretty funny wearing them and we all of course gave him a little grief for forgetting his fins back at the Big Blue. He took it with a chuckle and we all continued to suit up.
Second Sign
We all got in the water and began to descend when all of a sudden I notice one of our divers has surfaced with their buddy. We're all at about 25ft. when I realize he's out and heading towards the dive boat. I signal to both the DM's that he's out...we wait for a few seconds, abort the dive and surface to see what's going on. Seems that when the diver did a back-roll, he must have dislodged his computer which was attached to his hose. He didn't even realize it until he tried to look at his console and it wasn't there. Again, Luck was on our side (or so we thought...keep reading) since we had another spare computer that he could use.
Third Sign
OK...we all get back into the water. Start our descent again and get to about 50 ft. I look up and see a diver go into panic mode. He bolts towards his wife grabs the octo and starts sucking on it like a "baby from his mothers teet". I could see his wide-eyes and I was about 30 ft. away. Seems that he ran out of air...well technically speaking. You see once we all surfaced earlier and got into the boat, he turned his air off and forgot to turn it back on.
Fourth sign
At this point I seriously thought to myself..."Maybe this is a bad idea".
We begin our descent and I'm at about 70 ft. The DM is at about 80ft. and about 20ft. away from me. Directly above him is another diver at about 70ft.
Then it happens...KABOOM.
I instantly am startled...see the DM's tank shooting air out. The diver above him ascends about 20 feet from the impact of the air hitting him. I immediately nose dive towards the DM kicking as fast as my split fins allow. As I'm going towards him I grab my AIR SOURCE, put it in my mouth and grab my primary in my right hand ready to share air. I get to the DM, holding my primary in front of him waiting for him to grab it. His tank is still shooting air out albeit at a slower pace now. He looks at me quizically and then shakes his finger "no" and gives me the "OK" signal. I'm still holding the reg in front of his face and thinking "Dude, you're really going to want this since you've just disintegrated your O-ring". Again I shake the reg at him and he gives me the "No" and "OK" signal. I'm not relenting. He checks his gauge...he's at 1000 psi. His eyes get big like saucers and grabs my reg.
I take ahold of his jacket and he grabs mine. Takes a couple of deep breathes and I'm waiting for him to gather his composure. He gives me the "OK" and then signals me to "shut off his tank valve" which I do. We make a controlled ascent...realllllly slow and surface.
Fifth sign- We're not done yet. :11:
The DM gets out and we get him a new tank.The O-ring was blown to bits...really wild. He tells me he's never experienced that underwater and told me he'd buy me a beer on the Big Blue when we got back. I chuckled and thanked my lucky stars I was dealing with a cool headed guy in that type of a situation.
MY golden rule is STOP-THINK-REACT. And we followed that to a tee.
Well, we get a new o-ring and get back in after a surface interval.
I notice the currents pretty strong and as we're approaching the site we all grab our hooks ready to hook into the dead coral. As I approach the site I grab some dead coral and am looking for a spot to hook into. The current is whipping us around. As I look up I see the back of a tank heading towards me. The diver can't obviously see me and basically he's wanting the right of way whether I like it or not...lol. I release and the current sweeps me up...and there's no way for me to kick back down.
I give the DM's the abort dive (for me) and give them the OK. They respond back and I see the entire group at a distance struggling for spots on the reef. I surface and have the dive boat pick me up. "Great"...I'm thinking..."so much for that dive, I bet they're having a blast". 5 minutes later everyone surfaces. Seems they couldn't handle the current being hooked in. One of the guys in the groups fingers were all bloody and scraped from the dead coral trying to claw his way across the reef.
Well we all got back safe and the DM and I got buzzed that night and swapped diving stories. I think we all got some great experience during that dive. Now that I look back I chuckle to myself at the look on his face when the DM checked his gauge and it read 1000 psi.
Hope all of you gain something positive from this
I went back to Palau and dove on the BIG Blue again. Had some of the same crew from the first trip a year earlier and was looking forward to diving without the typhoon conditions that we encountered during the last trip.
NOTE: These are all seasoned divers
BLUE CORNER
It was a calm day in Palau and we were all going to dive the Blue Corner. There was a group of 12 of us and 2 DM's. One of the DM's I dove with was ther during my trip a year ago. He was a very experienced diver from Australia with over 5000 dives under his belt. He also was a technical diver as well and in very good shape.
First Sign
We took the diveboat from the Big Blue and were heading to the dive site. As we were slowing down one of the divers started frantically looking around the diveboat.
"!@#$, I guess I'm sitting this one out...I forgot my fins!!!". Luckily the DM had an extra pair of fins that the diver could use albeit they were pretty small for his feet. He looked pretty funny wearing them and we all of course gave him a little grief for forgetting his fins back at the Big Blue. He took it with a chuckle and we all continued to suit up.
Second Sign
We all got in the water and began to descend when all of a sudden I notice one of our divers has surfaced with their buddy. We're all at about 25ft. when I realize he's out and heading towards the dive boat. I signal to both the DM's that he's out...we wait for a few seconds, abort the dive and surface to see what's going on. Seems that when the diver did a back-roll, he must have dislodged his computer which was attached to his hose. He didn't even realize it until he tried to look at his console and it wasn't there. Again, Luck was on our side (or so we thought...keep reading) since we had another spare computer that he could use.
Third Sign
OK...we all get back into the water. Start our descent again and get to about 50 ft. I look up and see a diver go into panic mode. He bolts towards his wife grabs the octo and starts sucking on it like a "baby from his mothers teet". I could see his wide-eyes and I was about 30 ft. away. Seems that he ran out of air...well technically speaking. You see once we all surfaced earlier and got into the boat, he turned his air off and forgot to turn it back on.
Fourth sign
At this point I seriously thought to myself..."Maybe this is a bad idea".
We begin our descent and I'm at about 70 ft. The DM is at about 80ft. and about 20ft. away from me. Directly above him is another diver at about 70ft.
Then it happens...KABOOM.
I instantly am startled...see the DM's tank shooting air out. The diver above him ascends about 20 feet from the impact of the air hitting him. I immediately nose dive towards the DM kicking as fast as my split fins allow. As I'm going towards him I grab my AIR SOURCE, put it in my mouth and grab my primary in my right hand ready to share air. I get to the DM, holding my primary in front of him waiting for him to grab it. His tank is still shooting air out albeit at a slower pace now. He looks at me quizically and then shakes his finger "no" and gives me the "OK" signal. I'm still holding the reg in front of his face and thinking "Dude, you're really going to want this since you've just disintegrated your O-ring". Again I shake the reg at him and he gives me the "No" and "OK" signal. I'm not relenting. He checks his gauge...he's at 1000 psi. His eyes get big like saucers and grabs my reg.
I take ahold of his jacket and he grabs mine. Takes a couple of deep breathes and I'm waiting for him to gather his composure. He gives me the "OK" and then signals me to "shut off his tank valve" which I do. We make a controlled ascent...realllllly slow and surface.
Fifth sign- We're not done yet. :11:
The DM gets out and we get him a new tank.The O-ring was blown to bits...really wild. He tells me he's never experienced that underwater and told me he'd buy me a beer on the Big Blue when we got back. I chuckled and thanked my lucky stars I was dealing with a cool headed guy in that type of a situation.
MY golden rule is STOP-THINK-REACT. And we followed that to a tee.
Well, we get a new o-ring and get back in after a surface interval.
I notice the currents pretty strong and as we're approaching the site we all grab our hooks ready to hook into the dead coral. As I approach the site I grab some dead coral and am looking for a spot to hook into. The current is whipping us around. As I look up I see the back of a tank heading towards me. The diver can't obviously see me and basically he's wanting the right of way whether I like it or not...lol. I release and the current sweeps me up...and there's no way for me to kick back down.
I give the DM's the abort dive (for me) and give them the OK. They respond back and I see the entire group at a distance struggling for spots on the reef. I surface and have the dive boat pick me up. "Great"...I'm thinking..."so much for that dive, I bet they're having a blast". 5 minutes later everyone surfaces. Seems they couldn't handle the current being hooked in. One of the guys in the groups fingers were all bloody and scraped from the dead coral trying to claw his way across the reef.
Well we all got back safe and the DM and I got buzzed that night and swapped diving stories. I think we all got some great experience during that dive. Now that I look back I chuckle to myself at the look on his face when the DM checked his gauge and it read 1000 psi.
Hope all of you gain something positive from this
